Blogs

Essays by a diverse group of writers, in the United States and abroad, engaged in rethinking psychiatry. (The directory of personal stories can be found here, and initiatives here).

A syringe and a bottle labeled ketamine.

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 7)

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On antidepressants versus CBT, the buzz around ketamine, and drugs for postpartum depression.
A young man sitting on steps outside looking sad

Trauma and Resources Within Social Context

12
What is seen as pathology is a complex web of surviving strategies learned in aversive circumstances that can cause distress later.
Young boy looking through the window

As a Psychologist, I’ve Seen Many Children Misdiagnosed as Autistic—It’s a Clinical Catastrophe

25
The ASD diagnosis glosses over the many developmental specifics that might underlie a child’s challenges related to social communication.
A woman looks to the side in distress, while holding a wedding band and a pen to sign divorce documents

The Social-Emotional Distress Field, or How I Divorced “Mental Health”

18
At this crisis point, I realised that resigning from my job was not enough. I needed to divorce from the Mental Health field as a whole. 
Man with hands against glass, out of focus, looking distressed

Are “Trauma/Addiction Experts” and Psychiatrists Misleading Us?

55
“Experts” refer to an ill-defined concept of “trauma,” but unique traumatic experiences should not be generalized.
Photo of an open hand on a deep red background with scattered white pills

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 6)

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Les Ruthven addresses the research showing that psychiatric hospitalization increases suicidality.
Climber snaps the safety carabiner on the rope. A climber on a cliff ties a safety knot

RADAR and the Dignity of Risk-Taking

6
The goal may not be to eliminate risk, but to respect the risk that people are willing to take, and to help make tapering as safe as possible.
Unhappy Woman In Converstion With Friend Or Counsellor

“Get Over It”? A Response to Empower Parents to Repair Instead of Victim Blame

27
An epidemic of children blaming their parents in therapy? In my 20 years as a psychologist, I've seen the opposite.

The Dangers of Precision Medicine: Mental Health Is Not a Battlefield

22
Rather than a war to be fought within individuals, we should envision mental health as a garden to be carefully nurtured.
A male doctor looks slightly angry at a woman who looks sad in profile

“Impairment: Says Who?”: The Fundamental Question of Mental Health Treatment

46
The criterion of "impairment" is defined not by the person seeking treatment, but by other people: parents, clinicians, courts, employers, and so on.
Miniature hazmat team inspects hazardous pills

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 5)

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Les Ruthven addresses increases in suicide and homicide caused by antidepressant drugs.
3d illustration of pawns over black background with red, orange and green circles

Toxic Interactions: Social Circumstances and Well-Being

28
Social circumstances are indisputably connected to psychological well-being, but this has gained no traction in policy and service provision.
Lonely, suffering man in a crowd of people who do not notice him.

Accounting for Mental Disorder: Time for a Paradigm Shift

86
Many people continue to be victimized by psychiatry’s adherence to a model that exists to satisfy guild interests, not science.
pills and money

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 4)

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Les Ruthven addresses a ghostwritten study claiming effectiveness of antidepressants for children and adolescents.

Arrested Development: Britney Spears’ Memoir Is a Survivor’s Tale of Generational Trauma, Psychiatric Abuse,...

74
Miranda Spencer discusses Britney Spears' new memoir and the harms of conservatorship.

Giving Caregivers a Platform: Sherita, Mother of Tony

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This is the story of Sherita and her son Tony, and her efforts to help him following years of psychiatric drugs and hospitalizations.
Suffering young man on couch and compassionate woman.

What Helped—and What Didn’t Help—My Recovery

20
In order to recover, it was necessary to give up the psychiatric treatment system, and the idea that I need something from that system, that I belong there.
Illustration depicting a face with hypnotized eyes, strings like a puppet

It’s Health’s Illusions I Recall, I Really Don’t Know Health at All

8
There is a core concept shaping the ‘market’ in health, the concept of an assay, that few doctors or patients understand.
3D render of placebo pills in row

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 3)

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Les Ruthven addresses the lack of evidence for antidepressants being better than placebo, as well as a note about ECT.
Vector illustration of a person looking upset, a dark ghost appears to torment them with red hands

A Psychotic Experience can Help to Process Difficult Memories

36
The patient is talking, if sometimes more or less metaphorically, about real experiences. Hallucinations and delusions are not meaningless.
A black couple holds hands out of focus in background. In foreground, a therapist's hands on a clipboard taking notes.

De-privatizing Our Relationships

9
I’m glad we’re chipping away at the cracks in psychiatry and psychology and de-privatizing our lives.
Miniature people - The worker at work with medicine pills

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 2)

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Les Ruthven addresses the scientific literature on antidepressant efficacy and FDA approval.

Mad in America’s 10 Most Popular Articles in 2023

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A roundup of Mad in America's most read blogs and personal stories of 2023 as chosen by our readers.
Dr. Gordon Warme, an older man, on a black background, with blue painted scribbles lighting up his legs

Dr. Gordon Warme: The Curious Case of an Unconventional Psychiatrist

20
Dr. Warme bucked convention, examining the cultural role that shamans, witch doctors, and placebo cures played in medicine.

Conservatorship: The Racket That Ruined My Father’s Last Years

24
I have watched as my father’s pursuit of happiness was swept away by the court system in his senior years.