A Reflection on “Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance”
The act of diagnosis is so influential on a person’s sense of self that its limitations need to be repeated again and again and again.
The Curious Case of Empty Asylums and the Birth of Psychiatry
Psychiatry has cut, burned, shocked, drugged, and subdued its way through history—leaving behind compliance, not cures.
False Information in UK Package Inserts for Antidepressants About a Chemical Imbalance
To state something that is blatantly false is not a “paradigm,” it is a lie, plain and simple.
Confessions of an Advertising Writer: How I Helped Pharma Sell Antidepressants
As a former pharmaceutical ad writer, I not only witnessed the explosive growth in antidepressant drugs, I contributed to it.
De-Meaning Psychotherapy: The New Psychiatric Critic
I reject psychiatry. But I also reject the critic. In the final analysis psychiatric abolition must be a deeply personal act.
Symptoms and Surface Psychology
Given the lack of objective signs, surface psychology can only ever be the treatment of subjectively distressing symptoms.
Rethinking Mental Health in Ireland: Why Not a Trieste-Style Approach?
Those with mental health difficulties continue to face systemic barriers to holistic, person-centred care.
When Narratives Clash: Unshrunk and The Cognitive Dissonance of the NY Times
For the mainstream media, reviewing Laura Delano's memoir "Unshrunk" is an exercise in cognitive dissonance.
Psychiatry: Medical Science of Mind or Moral Ideology?
Psychiatry is a moral ideology, making and enforcing judgments about the appropriateness of people's experiences.
What I Have Learned in Working With 300+ People in Their Journey of Tapering
Tapering is stepping into each individual’s complex world of biology, history, psyche, circumstance, and tolerance for discomfort.
Mad Camp Europe: My Journey from Ward Violence to Healing and Community
If we want to advocate for a better mental health system, we have to integrate our own shame. And that is what happened to me at Mad Camp.
From Public Service to Private Practice: The Collapse of the Social Work Profession
Can we resist turning to private practices masked in social justice rhetoric as a substitute for genuine movement building and advocacy?
Everything About Us Without Us
Between 1883-1955, there was little attention given to the value and contributions of those who were “patients” at the Oregon State Insane Asylum.
Sexual Sanism: Why Anti-Queer Rhetoric Is a Threat to the Mad, Too
Our response to this moment should be understanding our shared queer/Mad history and solidarity across lines of oppression.
The Ethics of Long-Term Psychiatric Drug Use and Why We Need a Better Way
Many of these so-called “treatment-resistant” conditions aren't underlying illnesses—they're caused by the drugs themselves.
Jo Watson Chats With Rob Wipond About His Work and His Book
Wipond exposes abuses in mental health systems, including forced treatment, psychiatric detentions, and surveillance.
Usorum: A Peer Led Collective Wisdom Project
I built Usorum around the belief that we can tap into our collective experience and begin building the generational knowledge to improve everyone’s quality of life.
Managing Nonconformity: Lessons from Quality
Psychiatry is akin to the outdated and unhelpful way that industry used to understand the assembly line.
Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: Harm Reduction, Not Judgment
Good advocacy does not rely on fear or shame. No one can predict the future for any individual.
Suicides Increase After National Suicide Prevention Introduced
Researchers have consistently found increasing psychiatric services associated with higher suicide rates.
Mad in Ireland
Although Jennifer Hough’s older sister, Valerie, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was fifteen, Hough never saw her sister as mentally ill. “To...
RFK Jr. May Be Wrong on Many Medical Issues, But He’s Right About Antidepressants
Documented cases show a link between SSRIs and school violence, but pharma has suppressed the data that could prove this link.
Upcoming ECT Legislation Needs to Be Revised
Testimony submitted to the Connecticut state legislature in opposition to a bill expanding forced ECT.
Observational Studies Confirm Trial Results That Antidepressants Double Suicides
Depression drugs don’t work, and they increase suicide.
Schizophrenia in Philosophy and Theology
From Socrates to Jesus to Nietzsche, all experienced divine Beatific Visions, just as I have.
