Blogs

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

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Iatrogenic Practices in Psychiatry: Kindling

16
Psychiatric practices can have very painful and destabilizing consequences, including "kindling" or neuronal sensitization.
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What Are We Overlooking? Reviewing Current and Alternative Treatments for Psychosis

57
We should explore a raft of interventions, as susceptibility to psychosis isn’t separable from a person’s general well-being.

Who Is Being Targeted for Forced Medical Treatment in NYC? We Require Answers

8
I’m concerned for those forcibly drugged under Mayor Adams' policy. But also because New York City sets a national precedent.
Illustration of poison jars labeled with a skull and the words "COGNITIVE DISSONANCE"

It’s You, It’s Not Me: Treatment Resistant Depression and the Psychiatric Breakup

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"Treatment resistance" is best explained not as a medical issue but as a way for psychiatry to resolve cognitive dissonance.
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Prescription Drugs: The Hidden Costs to Health and the Planet

1
Pharmaceuticals seem to overtake every facet of life, but it’s important to start thinking critically about what we are putting in our bodies.
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Doctors Are Not Trained to Think Critically

26
University students are expected to to ask questions, but medical students are expected to give "correct" answers.
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Reframing Mental and Emotional Pain from a Buddhist Psychology Perspective

45
The Five Hindrances perspective encourages exploring the underlying causes of suffering and developing strategies for coping and resilience.
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How to Explain Top Psychiatrists’ “Dr. Strangelove Exuberance” Unchecked by Reality

42
Leading psychiatrists appear unfazed that their theories and treatments are repeatedly proven to be scientifically invalid and discarded.

Dorothea Buck’s Memoir Tells of the Horrors of Twentieth Century Psychiatry: A “Hell Amidst...

8
Sterilized under Nazi law, Dorothea Buck fought throughout her life for psychiatric reform.

Don’t Call Me a Therapist

32
Psychology is closer to philosophy than medicine, laying a foundation for personal development that can lead to better adaptation.

Remembering Bhargavi Davar: A Global Leader in the Struggle for Human Rights

3
Bhargavi Davar was a global leader in the struggle for human rights, with her work as a psychiatric survivor activist simply one aspect of that work.

When HVN Ireland Meets HVN Athens

0
Chairperson of Hearing Voices Network Ireland Owen Ó Tuama on the joy and power of community for voice-hearers across the globe.

Can We Talk About Spirituality? The Medicalization of Transpersonal Experiences

13
Even social work and psychotherapy rarely leave space for lived experiences of spirituality, though it instills hope, strength, and meaning.

Deconstructing the Word Trauma: What Does it Mean Today?

5
"Trauma" is a pandora's box of a narrative. Most writings on the subject emanate from the Global North. Is trauma the 'same' in the Global South?
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Is Public Psychiatry Responding to the Mental Health Crisis or Just “Treating the Chart?”

22
What sense did it make that he had been through hundreds of pages of notes worth of treatment and yet was still essentially un-helped?
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Psychosis Treatment: Numbing the World of Spirit

38
In my experience, antipsychotic drugs aimed at “managing” schizophrenia work by numbing the individual’s sensibility to the world of spirit.
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Who Do We Leave Behind When We Ignore the Body? Why Critical Neuroscientists and...

21
Implications for those at the intersection of mental health and chronic illness.
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How Danish Journalism Misleads About Psychiatry

6
On the multiple errors found in a Danish newspaper article about adult ADHD.
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Irish Open Dialogue Shut Down—Despite Expert Report Stating It Should Be Scaled Up

3
The value-base and proven positive outcomes of Open Dialogue need to be expanded, not closed.
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Prescription Drugs Are the Leading Cause of Death

29
Overtreatment with drugs kills many people, and the death rate is increasing. Why have we allowed this drug pandemic to continue?

What Is “Care” in a Psychiatric Medical Camp for the Unhoused in India?

8
Indian doctoral scholar Neha Jain wonders what kind of ‘care’ and ‘help’ are possible in the absence of real consent.
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Witless and Dangerous? Challenging the Assumptions of the ‘Schizo’ Paradigm

11
Despite growing awareness that ‘schizophrenia’ is not a scientifically valid concept, the old assumptions still drive clinical practice.
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Tapering Strips: A Practical Tool for Personalised and Safe Tapering of Withdrawal-Causing Prescription Drugs

19
Tapering strips are one of the practical tools mentioned in the new Maudsley Guidance.
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From the Dopamine Theory to the Outcomes Paradox

7
Why does long-term use of neuroleptics correlate with poorer social and occupational outcomes?
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The Significance of Semiotics in Social Work

9
Mental health treatment requires more than words; it demands a deep understanding of the unspoken, the symbols and signs that permeate our lives.