Consternation of the Bees
How do we get back to the place where bees know how to hive, where unstressed mothers teach each other to breast feed, stop and rock and to discipline gently? Where artists are heard?
Mad in Brasil
As is true of all Mad in America affiliates, Mad in Brasil want to see a transformation of the current drug-based paradigm of care, says Fernando de Freitas, psychologist and co-creator of the site.
Save the Date! Kids in Crisis: The Overprescribing of Psychiatric Medication
Mad in America presents a live Town Hall featuring a special, private screening of "Luna" followed by a panel discussion.
The New DSM Is Coming and That Isn’t Good News
Binge Eating Disorder is one of many invalid diagnoses we’ll continue to receive as a result of the APA’s failure to correct the mistakes of past versions of the DSM.
Evidence Distortion in Medicine Explained in One Single Chart
15 positive and 15 negative studies of antidepressants were reported to the FDA. But while all 15 positive trials were published, only 7 negative trials were.
Why Is Psychiatry So Defensive About Criticism?
Although I disagree with much of Dr. Aftab's article, it is, nevertheless, a courageous piece of writing. He calls out many of psychiatry's contradictions and errors.
Why Is Child Sexual Abuse So Common in Institutions?
Where ableism and adultism allows disabled children to be seen as unreliable narrators of their own experience, sexual violence in institutions will continue to be pervasive.
Home Alone: Finding Connection During the Pandemic
This wave of emotional distress is a perfectly reasonable human response to living our lives in an increasingly isolated and uncertain world.
Grief: A Shamanic Perspective
From a shamanic perspective, the biggest mechanism for soul retrieval is not anything mystical at all. It is something with which any adult is familiar. It is grief.
New NICE Guidelines for ECT Are Dangerously Inadequate, Say 50 Patients and Professionals
An open letter from patients, psychiatrists, and professors calls on NICE to rewrite the new ECT guidelines to avoid putting patients’ safety at risk.
When It Comes to Mental Health Problems, The Disability Framework Fails: A Response to...
A response to the thought-provoking comments and concerns on the previous blog, furthering the discussion about disability and mental disorder.
“Mental Health” Is a Euphemism for Policing Social Deviance
"Mental health" discourse conceals the fact that mental illness is still treated as a social deviance by the authoritarian institution of psychiatry.
Can Anything Good Come Out of Therapy?
I used to think therapy could be beneficial if only you went through the trials of finding a good therapist. What I didn’t ever question was the process itself or if I really needed to do it at all.
Addressing the Social Determinants of Mental Health—or Perhaps Not
An article by the APA president merely pays lip service to the psychosocial causes of mental health problems.
When Tapering Antidepressants, is Going Slow Always the Best Strategy?
Do we take enough account of total drug exposure time when devising antidepressant tapering strategies?
The Psychiatric Hospital Is an Institution of Social Control
Psychiatry is an institution of control. It is easier to keep society in check when unwanted behavioral traits can be considered pathology.
Getting A Diagnosis Meant That My Sister Never Had the Chance to Resolve Her...
My sister was told if she took medications everything would be fine. But everything was not fine, and the medications sent her down a path of no return.
Mental Health Care Must Support Consent and Basic Human Rights
Despite the UN’s strong stance against involuntary treatment, many countries continue to uphold legislation that encourages it.
When It Comes to Mental Health Problems, The Disability Framework Fails
Treating those struggling with emotional distress and troublesome behaviors as mentally disabled is a barrier to arriving at humane and dignified ways of assisting them.
Institutionalized 18 Years Ago, I May Never Be Released
Bill Sutherland took a plea deal for a crime he says he didn't commit. Almost two decades later, he was still being held in a psych unit.
Book Review: “Opening Up: The Parenting Journey”
This is a book about stories, urging families to recognize their own strengths and create new narratives on the path ahead.
Psychotherapy Has an Enduring Effect on Depression—in Contrast to Depression Pills
A meta-analysis published last month showed that psychotherapy has an enduring effect on depression—in contrast to depression pills.
ADHD as Cargo Cult Science
Barkley’s theory on ADHD was akin to what Richard Feynman called “Cargo Cult Science,” only more misleading and dangerous. In contrast, there is no evidence of brain abnormality in ADHD. The airplanes have not landed, nor are they likely to.
Tower of Babel: The Meaning and Purpose of Voicehearing and Psychosis
A bottomless well of ideas and stories and seeming fantasies emerges from the mouths of voicehearers, psychotics, and schizophrenics. Is anyone taking the time to actually listen?
The DSM Files: Investigating the Incoherence of Psychiatry’s Bible
A critical view of the way the DSM categorizes internal suffering and makes sense (or sometimes nonsense) of it—full of inconsistencies and bad logic.
