Blogs

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

Oregon State Hospital

Life in the Hospital Before Deinstitutionalization

3
Accounts of deinstitutionalization fail to describe recovery, peer support, or what it was actually like to be in the state hospitals.
A gavel and open handcuffs

Fighting Forced Treatment in Court: A Victory to Be Celebrated

10
It is very difficult to get off a mental health commitment. The counties fight tooth and nail to keep people in the system.
A wooden hand touches post it notes of smiling and sad faces on wooden figures

Family Traditions and the Inheritance of ā€œMadnessā€

46
Families are not merely a source of comfort and support but also a breeding ground for dysfunction, unhealed trauma, and emotional neglect.
Medical informed consent paper document with signature. Agreement with doctor and patient in clinic. Information and purposes of medical scientific research. Treatment in hospital vector illustration.

What Does Consent Mean in Practice? A Lived Experience Perspective

2
Every time I agreed to 'treatment’, I was told that it was necessary to save my life. I was sold a bunch of lies.
Sad lonely man in depression. Vector illustration. Flat.

We Can’t Help People With Trauma If We Can’t Say Trauma

20
Although the medical care Cary received was excellent, no one mentioned ā€œtraumaā€ or counseled us on how it might manifest emotionally.
Sticky notes on blue background. One shows a smiley face, one a frown, and one between them depicts a question mark.

Beyond the Pill Paradigm: Reclaiming Humanity in Mental Health Care

5
By tackling social causes of distress along with personal support, we prevent suffering rather than just reacting to emergencies.
3D Isometric Flat Vector Conceptual Illustration of Moral Issue, Ethical Dilemma, Decision Making.

Power, Privilege & Controlling the Narrative: Vested Interests in ā€˜Mental Health’

5
Alienating someone from their own meaning-making is a violent action, but that's what happens when professionals use unscientific, decontextualised diagnoses.
A male doctor appears to scream in frustration. His glasses catch the light

Are Psychiatrists More Mad Than Their Patients?

Misconceptions among psychiatric leaders are at variance with the scientific evidence. They suffer from a serious, collective delusion.

And You Thought They Were Side Effects: How Psychiatry Turned Chemical Disruption Into Medical...

41
There’s no cure beneath the disruption, just a chemical hit that alters perception or behavior.
Photo of young woman in a therapy group

The Quiet Crisis in Mental Health: The Medicalization and Deskilling of Psychotherapy

27
The focus on the "worried well" and the exclusion of the "mad" serves to legitimize psychiatric control and surveillance.

Jo Watson Interviews Cathy Wield, Author of “Unshackled Mind”

0
It’s never too late to seek another explanation for the problems you’re facing, to change your mind and get your life back.
Vector illustration; profile of person with capsules falling into their head

America’s Unhealthy Relationship with Antidepressants

7
Exhaustive research topples the conceptual house of cards in which the antidepressant hegemony resides.
Professional psychotherapist and patient in office, focus on hands with clipboard

The Moral World of Personality Disorder Assessment

23
Professionals in the field must recognize psychiatry's connection to social norms rather than portraying it as a neutral branch of medicine.

Dreaming with Purpose: How the Mind’s Hidden GPS Can Guide Us Toward Personal and...

17
By honouring dreams, we honour our innate creativity,Ā our shared humanity,Ā ourĀ capacity toĀ reimagineĀ reality.
Close-up of pill with smiley face on it. Woman's hand holding it toward the viewer

Behind the Smiles: Mental Health in South Korea’s High-Pressure Society

3
South Korea ranks among the highest in the world for suicide, and its people are turning to psychiatric drugs in record numbers.
A woman and her child holding hands, walking in the dark toward a bright crack in the ground

The Mental Health System in the UK Failed Us

8
The whole system is broken and I pray for my friends in Great Britain. They need a reform, not cuts or euthanasia.
Pile of Scrabble letter blocks on wood background.

Lost in Psychobabble? Cut Through the Jargon for Real Mental Clarity

10
The key to healing is to recognize that you are not dealing with a broken brain, but unlearning survival habits that no longer serve you.
Flat illustration of an anxios person holding their head with their hands.

A Reflection on “Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance”

62
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

15
Psychiatry has cut, burned, shocked, drugged, and subdued its way through history—leaving behind compliance, not cures.
Man on a white background reads the instructions for medicines. Male looks at the list and composition of the drug. The concept of home self-medication and the study of the properties of drugs

False Information in UK Package Inserts for Antidepressants About a Chemical Imbalance

6
To state something that is blatantly false is not a ā€œparadigm,ā€ it is a lie, plain and simple.
Closeup of a researcher's blue-gloved hands counting money

Confessions of an Advertising Writer: How I Helped Pharma Sell Antidepressants

30
As a former pharmaceutical ad writer, I not only witnessed the explosive growth in antidepressant drugs, I contributed to it.
Signpost showing many different directions

De-Meaning Psychotherapy: The New Psychiatric Critic

4
I reject psychiatry. But I also reject the critic. In the final analysis psychiatric abolition must be a deeply personal act.
Illustration of a diver disappearing into a human head full of water

Symptoms and Surface Psychology

20
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?

2
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

57
For the mainstream media, reviewing Laura Delano's memoir "Unshrunk" is an exercise in cognitive dissonance.