The Systemic Harms of Psychiatry
My research into psychiatry began in late 2016 after being admitted to a mental "health" facility. There was nothing healthy about that experience!
Psychiatrogenesis (Whither Psychiatry or Reform)
Preying on the privatisation of distress comes the medical-industrial complex perverting the mental health landscape.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part One)
On the drug industry’s influence in defining disorders and the lack of efficacy for depression pills.
White Paper Presents Case Against Forced Treatment
"I see the white paper as the culmination of my 40+ years of advocacy for people subjected to psychiatric incarceration and forced drugging."
Self-test for Adult Symptom Deficiency Disorder (ASDD)
In the spirit of the thinking behind the DSM, I have worked out a test for a new disorder for those who don't meet criteria for anything else.
Can Listening to Heavy Metal Be Therapeutic?
Many enthusiasts of heavy metal will say things like "Heavy metal saved my life," and there is a fairly established narrative amongst fans of the wellbeing benefits.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Six)
Discussing the damage psychosis pills cause to the brain, and how that manifests in many clinical harms, like tardive dyskinesia.
In Defense of Incoherent Psychiatry
In JAMA Psychiatry, the authors claimed we have no way to assess outcomes, and no way to know whether outcomes are "continuing to improve."
Can’t Be Trusted: A Book Review Review
My book is a memoir written around the denial of my medical certificate required to fly light aircraft for mental health reasons.
Q&A: What Is Informed Consent, and What Should I Know to Help My Child?
My experience caused me to look into the origin of including the patient in decision-making about treatment and informed consent.
The Hidden Injuries of Oppression
Oppression is the single greatest factor contributing to human suffering. To treat it as an individual problem amounts to blaming the victim.
Listen to the Victims: Senate Holds Hearing on Guardianship
I have seen the exploitation wreaked by court-appointed guardians. It is up to us to use our voices for those who cannot speak out.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Five)
Discussing the studies that have compared the different psychosis drugs, as well as the harms of adding more psychosis drugs to the regimen.
Chronic Stress and “Mental Illness”
Could it be possible that what we call “mental illness” is a direct consequence of the changes that occur in the body as a result of trauma and chronic stress?
To Promote Mental Health, We Must Teach It
When we are quick to pathologize suffering, yet do not provide the fundamentals for healthy living, it is inhumanity of the highest order.
Lost Poetry: Psychiatry and Creativity
A poem can be destroyed when psychiatry treats a poet without reverence and honor for their creativity and their diversity of mind.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Four)
How cold-turkey withdrawal is mistaken for "relapse," and how the largest drug companies have paid billions in fraud settlements related to these drugs.
Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Revitalized World
We need to experience less comforting (though potentially highly rewarding) edges if we are to lead more fulfilling individual and collective lives.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Three)
Peter Gøtzsche discusses the lack of evidence for benefit, and the evidence of harms, of psychosis drugs used for early intervention/first-episode psychosis.
LGBTQIA+ Peer Respites: The Personal Is Political
Peer respites have great value. Affinity peer respites—such as an LGBTQIA+ peer respite—may have even more.
Medically-Assisted Suicide Is Not a Win for Mental Health
Medically assisting someone in suiciding because they’re poor or experiencing mental or emotional distress does not value life; it shows a blatant disregard for it.
Emotional Crisis Response: The Peer-Run Respite/Soteria House Approach Compared to the Conventional Approach
The peer respite/Soteria house model responds to emotional crisis with compassion and curiosity, rather than pathologizing.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Two)
Peter Gøtzsche reviews the evidence that psychosis pills substantially increase mortality.
Mad Poetry Slam!
Poets with lived experience with mental distress are invited to perform their poetry live at MIA's Mad Poetry Slam on Zoom on May 7th, 12PM EST.
Acute Religious Experiences: Madness, Psychosis, and Religious Studies
It is the capacity of mad studies to advance the idea that mad is not necessarily bad. Acute Religious Experiences are always phenomenally mad, but not necessarily pathological.
