An “Even-Handed” History of Psychiatry as Damning as the “Polemics”?
Where Professor Harrington's book seems to differ from books that others might call polemics is that she does not attribute nefarious motives to the psychiatric establishment. I worry that she underplays the ways in which the current model causes harm, but I support her suggestion for a retraction of psychiatry's scope.
We Lost a Giant Today: A Tribute to Janet Foner
Janet Foner, a longtime mental health liberation activist, passed away on July 24, 2019. Many people do not know that Janet helped form the very early Alternatives Conferences in the U.S. and she co-founded MindFreedom International and continued serving on its board to this day. Here we honor her wisdom, tenacity and courage.
Responding to “The Case Against AOT”âNext Steps for Change
Many will direct their efforts toward repealing involuntary outpatient commitment statutes in their statesâan extremely challenging and uphill battleâor reforming abuses. Their arguments will be strengthened immensely by the findings in MIA's report. What follows are suggestions about what kinds of interventions to consider.
The Chemical Imbalance Theory: Dr. Pies Returns, Again
Psychiatrist Ronald Pies published a recent piece in the Psychiatric Times titled "Debunking the Two Chemical Imbalance Myths, Again." The subtitle: "A little learning is a dangerous thing." And indeed it is. But not nearly as dangerous as a psychiatrist with a head full of spurious diagnoses and a ready prescription pad.
An Open Letter to Howard Stern, the “Poster Boy for Psychotherapy”
Dear Howard Stern: What may come as a surprise to you is that the quality of talk therapy that was available to youâtime-intensive, in-depth sharing of feelings, exploring childhood traumas, examining and changing difficult personality traitsâis steadily becoming unavailable to the average American.
End Kendraâs Law Now: Racist, Classist Practices in Involuntary Psychiatry Persist
In addition to involuntary outpatient commitment being an assault on and targeting people who are living in or near poverty, the statistics demonstrate racial disparities in the application of involuntary outpatient commitment.
System Change Toward a Green Movement in Mental Health
As a counter narrative, I believe that understanding system change and reform in mental health with a "green" lens makes use of a powerful theme which is increasingly accepted â and it lays out a road map to make innovative programs and initiatives the new norm for system-wide responses to mental health challenges.
Equal Legal Capacity or ‘Supported Decision-Making’?
At a recent conference on legal capacity, I was struck by the failure of another invited expert to adhere to the paradigm of supported decision-making as articulated by the CRPD Committee. We still need to work to ensure that this paradigm is well understood and appreciated, despite the progress made in national reforms.
On Cognitive Liberty: A Principle to Rally Behind
The concept of cognitive liberty is valuableâone might even say necessaryâprecisely because it goes to the core of what we are as human beings. Correspondingly, it unmasks psychiatry for the profound human rights violator that it is. It reveals such transgression as the essence of what psychiatry is actually all about.
Being-Towards-Suicide
Is it not the very capacity for suicide that makes us human? This capacity, this freedom, of autonomyâs jurisdiction to extend to the outermost seconds of life, namely death, is an innate part of humanity and thus consciousness. Accepting death as a possibility embraces the finitude of our existence.
Why Mad in Italy?
The Italian mental health system, like the majority of them around the world, struggles with accepting a model based on principles of Recovery, which highlights individual and communal mental health needs, social determinants of emotional distress, integration of physical and psychological care and quality of life.
A Guide to Long-Acting Neuroleptics: Education or Promotion?
The National Council for Behavioral Health has released a new pamphlet titled âGuide to Long-Acting Medications for Providers and Organizations.â By downplaying some aspects of the available science, the pamphlet implicitly acts as a promotional tool for the pharmaceutical industry.
The Pill Shaming Phenomenon: Whatâs It Really About?
At best, the underpinnings of the âpill shamingâ accusation are misguided. At worst, they represent a concerted effort on the part of the current power structure to use us against ourselves (and they donât need any more help). Itâs the same old story packaged up as if it were something new and ultra woke.
The Voices My Daughter Hears
The voices were extraordinary; in a way, they were like ghosts. I could not see them, but only divine them by the turmoil they stirred up in Annie. They were not polite house ghosts who knew when to leave; they were neâer-do-wells she could not get rid of. They were tormentors and torturers, testing the limits of her sanity, blackmailing her into submission.
Madness, Sexuality and Legacies of Strategic Sanism
There has been little engagement between the survivor and LGBT movements despite a shared interest in critiquing and resisting the normalization project of the psy disciplines â that is, psychiatry and psychologyâs clinical categorization of what is ânormalâ and âabnormalâ or âhealthyâ and âsickâ. Why might this be?
“Three Identical Strangers” and the Nature-Nurture Debate
Three Identical Strangers is a riveting film describing the story of identical triplets separated at six months of age and reunited in early adulthood. Their story provides no evidence in support of the genetic side of the nature-nurture debate, but it does supply some evidence in favor of the environment.
To Warn or Not to Warn? A Critique of MIA’s Use of Diagnostic Terminology
I have concerns about how Mad In America deals with diagnostic terminology. When psychiatric diagnoses are used without signaling that they are constructs and unscientific, I feel alarmed for those who will be strengthened in their mistaken beliefs about the labels.Â
ECT Litigation Update: Are Patients Being Warned of Brain Damage Risk?
Upon review of hundreds of the "informed" consent forms received from those suffering permanent cognitive impairment after receiving ECT, the overwhelming majority do not provide the patient with any form of disclosure that "brain damage is a risk that can potentially occur from ECT, whether performed properly or not."
A Smashing Victory â And an Insidious New Threat
Afraid of facing me in court, the state gave up entirely and a young man was freed from involuntary ECT treatment. It was a total victory. Meanwhile, the Psychiatric Industrial Complex is finding more subtle ways to inflict electrical energy upon the brains of children labeled with ADHD.
When ‘For Your Own Good’ Actually Means ‘For My Own Good’
âFor your own goodâ is oppressive. Embedded in that four-word phrase is the idea that each of us doesnât understand who we are or what we need. Someone else is the expert. Someone else has the privilege to hold all the answers, and if those answers don't work for us then somehow it's our fault.
Public Purse a Cash Cow for Pharma: Could Taxpayer Dollars Be Better Spent?
In Oregon, which has only about 1% of the national population, medical expenditures for psychiatric drugs in fiscal year 2017-2018 were $82.2 million for adults, and another $8.7 million for youth. Every advocate in the US should request these figures from their state Medicaid offices.
Tough Love for Thomas Szasz: A Book Review
Dr. Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) was one of the greatest thinkers and prose stylists of the last 100 years. Enough time has passed since he died that we can start to take stock of his legacy. This important new collection of essays by former colleagues, psychiatrists, philosophers, and legal experts does just that.
I’m Introverted, Not Depressed!
Urging introverts to act more extroverted as a pathway to greater life satisfaction is wrongheaded. Elizabeth's case is one where the demoralization and despondency she experiencesâforced to sacrifice her needs as an introvert to comply with the social scripts required to live in an extroverted worldâmasquerades as depression.
Blaming the System May Be the Best Therapy
If this were an old sci-fi movie, psychiatry would be the evil alien race on a collision course with earth that plans to completely take it over as soon as it can. That we are not treating psychiatry as the malevolent invader that it is shows only how deeply weâve fallen for its facade of helping people.
Helping Children to Overcome OCD: 6 Creative Strategies for Parents
Here, Dr. Ben Furman offers a creative approach to helping children who struggle with OCD. Explaining why behaviors like reasoning, reassuring, and superstitious rituals donât work, he suggests engaging alternatives that teach kids how to manage their âworry monsterâ and make sense of their distressing experience.