The Woeful Underfunding of Psychotherapy by Health Insurers
Psychotherapy reimbursement rates have been in decline for decades, even though insurance premiums have risen sharply. This is mystifying given that the vast majority of people prefer psychotherapy over medications, science shows it rivals the benefits of medications, and it saves insurance carriers money.
ECT Shock Treatment Class Action ā Case Update April 2018
In March, 2018, the Court issuedĀ an Order denying class certification in the case filed against the manufacturers of ECT shock devices. Attorneys for the ECT victims strongly disagree with the Court's assessment, and have now petitioned the Ninth Circuit Court of AppealsĀ for permission to appeal the ruling denying class certification.
On Being Mad in Public
Even as you are being shown amazing and mystical things and having all sorts of mysteries clarified in your mind, you are also being placed in a position where no one will pay any attention to what you have to say, or if they do, the results of that attention will be negative (such as being locked up). The mysterious and powerful journey you are on is almost invisible to other people.
āPsychiatric Meds Saved Your Life,ā and Mine
It's not about whether it's right or wrong, true or false that psychiatric drugs save lives. It's about telling the stories that aren't being told. That's why psychiatric drugs saved my life after theyĀ destroyed my health and nearly killed me. They gave me something I care about and am passionate about writing about. They gave me a pathway to bring healing to others.
Metacognitive Training (MCT): A New Treatment Approach for Delusions
Since psychosis does not occur instantaneously and suddenly, but is often preceded by a gradual change in the appraisal of oneās cognitions and social environment, empowering metacognitive competence may act prophylactically to prevent or hinder a psychotic breakdown.
Your Pharmacist is Tattling On You!
A CVS pharmacy recently sent me a standardized form by fax with a dire warning about one of my patients. The form was called āMEDICATION NONADHERENCE THERAPY ADVISORYā and it said: āA review of your patientās retail and mail prescription history indicates that the patient has not obtained his or her first refill.ā
Book Review: The Other Mrs. Smith by Bonnie Burstow
InĀ The Other Mrs. Smith, Dr. Burstow chose to use the fiction format, presumably because she felt it was the best wayĀ for readers to understand what it is like to experience electroshock and deal with the aftermath of massive memory loss. In this she succeeds spectacularly.
Debunking The Latest Gene Study
The researchers suggest that their finding implies a common genetic cause behind five different ādisorders.ā This is big news! If true, it validates the biomedical view of mental āillnessā and suggests that future medical treatments could ācureā these conditions. However, that grand conclusion is not supported by the data.
Letter to The New York Times: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Canāt Quit
Ten years ago, the recent New York Times article entitledĀ āMany People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Canāt Quitā would have shocked me. I would have dismissedĀ serious medication withdrawalĀ as rare. But I tell my patients something different today.
“How Did This Happen?” ā Being Injured By Pharmaceuticals Once Again
How did it happen to me? It happened because none of us have enough resources for the sort of brain injury and impairment the psychopharmaceutical drugs impart upon us. No one knows what is really being done to our brains and some of us are clearly more sensitive than others.
Neurodiversity is Dead. Now What?
The neurodiversity movement is a public relations campaign that emphasizes the positive qualities associated withĀ someĀ presentations of autismācreativity, increased tolerance for repetition, enhanced empathy, and exceptional memoryāwhile erasing or minimizing the experiences of autistics who are severely disabled.
The Scientism of Autism
Autism is now simply assumed to represent a real, tangible, identifiable āthing.ā But no one is asking the obvious question: On what evidential basis can you conclude that autism represents a natural category that can be differentiated from other natural categories? According to the real science, autism should be seen as a fact of culture, not a fact of nature.
Apply Yourself, Your Whole Self, and Nothing But Yourself
Now, personality tests are being used to determine which side of the wealth gap people will fall on. Who you are is not neutral ā the lens your personality-test results will be viewed through is: āare you a good worker?ā Any definition of this will likely exclude psychiatric survivors, those labeled by the DSM and those who see, think, hear, speak and feel differently.
Leon J. Kamin (1927-2017): A Nemesis of Genetic Determinism and Scientific Racism
Leon Kamin should be remembered for his role as an intellectual nemesis of the purveyors of the false ideologies of scientific racism and genetic determinism. The Science and Politics of I.Q., Not in Our Genes, and Kaminās other writings remain works of major importance.
āHow Long a Timeā: Ten Cold Hard Truths For Ending Psychiatric Abuse
Here are theĀ Ten Cold Hard TruthsĀ we must ALL confront in our organizing efforts. If we fail to understand and grasp these truths we will ALL be susceptible to āburnoutā and/or a slide into dead-end reformist type strategies that will only derail our efforts to reach the day when we can truly end all forms of psychiatric abuse.
How the Human Stress Response Explains Away “Bipolar Disorder”
Here we'll take a look at so-called 'mania.' We'll go through the criteria for a 'manic episode' symptom by symptom so you can see how the stress response is potentially operating. There's practically nothing that happens in human minds and bodies that the stress response doesn't potentially affect.
The Concerned Parents’ Project: 31 Questions
The Concerned Parentsā Project grew out of the idea that there may be parents out there who are confused and bewildered by the mixed messages on what it is to have normal and healthy childhood experiences. We posted a new question and answer for parents each day in March.
10 Things I Learned in 5 Years Consulting With People Coming Off Psych Drugs
It's been over 5 years since I started offering non-medical consultations to people in the process of coming off or hoping to come off psych drugs. I wanted to share here some things I have learned in this process. Despite how far we have come, we have a long way to go in the quest to liberate all who wish to be liberated from psychiatry.
National Institute of Mental Health Violates Law on Posting Clinical Trial Results
Last year, over twenty major institutions worldwide jointly committed to posting the results of all their clinical trials within a 12 month time frame. NIMHās frequent failure to do so is especially concerning because evidence distortionĀ appears to be remarkably widespreadĀ in journal articles discussing trials of psychiatric drugs.
Institutionalization: An Unacknowledged Cause of Psychiatric Outpatientsā Deterioration
Psychiatry didnātĀ reallyĀ stop institutionalizing people; it just found new ways to do it. Institutionalization, rather than drug toxicity, best explains patientsā downhill course and their
worsening after coming off meds, as they have lost the skills needed to cope with lifeās challenges due to disuse.
A Tale of Two Studies
With increasing evidence that psychiatric drugs do more harm than good over the long term, the field of psychiatry often seems focused on sifting through the mounds of research data it has collected, eager to at last sit up and cry, hereās a shiny speck of gold! Our drugs do work! One recently published study on withdrawal of antipsychotics tells of long-term benefits. A second tells of long-term harm. Which one is convincing?
Psychiatry and a Near Mass Shooting at Cornell
Nearly all perpetrators of mass violence have had some contact with psychiatry or related mental health services. The idea of giving more power and money to psychiatry to prevent violence is a great political talking point but it is disastrous for public health and safety. Psychiatry seems averse to recognizing violent patients but eager to give them violence-inducing drugs.
The Antidepressant Wars in the Post-Truth Era
We have at least some solid, incontrovertible evidence available to all that the claims about antidepressants in the press do not directly match the text of the source article in the Lancet. Nowhere in the original article did the authors make the extreme or even controversial claims appearing in the mainstream media.
Changing Mental Health, One Published Case Report At A Time
Lifestyle interventions are the only corrective measures that are sufficiently complex to resolve the stress response factors that drive pathology. This case draws from twenty years of published scientific literature on psychoneuroimmunology and the connection between the gut, immune system, endocrine system, and the brain.
School Shootings: Who to Listen to Instead of Mainstream Shrinks
Teenage boys and young men tell me they have no hope that school shootings will decrease because all they hear in the news are authoritiesā ideas about how better to control them. They are angered by compulsory mental health screenings and are certain that the effect on kids with greater potential for violence could be disastrous.
