A Racist Movement Cannot Move
Our movement is just as racist (and sexist, and classist, and transphobic, etc.) as any other. There are many reasons why this remains so, yet all of it co-exists alongside the fact that people of color are substantially more likely to be given what are seen as the harshest psychiatric labels, subjected to force, and injured or killed.
Warning: A Psychiatric tsuNAMI is Upon U.S.
Call your legislators to VOTE NO on H.R. 34! Among the most problematic issues this bill presents are multiple provisions for forced psychiatry. H.R. 34 also includes: SAMHSA reorganization, condoning of HIPPAA violations, and a host of other potential human rights violations.
Is the Mental Health System Yet Another Form of Institutional Racism?
With the political tide shifting across the United States and reports of hate crimes increasing daily, examining the systems that promote social control and act as tools of racism is paramount. Is it possible that the mental institution is just another venue for imprisoning Blacks unjustly?
Have You Ever Wondered Why Labels on Supplements are so Vague?
If it wasnāt evident before, these newer regulations make it crystal clear that prescription drugs have a monopoly over the terms āmedicineā and ātherapeutic benefit,ā and that it is very difficult for anything that isnāt a Big Pharma drug to make a therapeutic claim.
My Baby, Psychosis & Me: A lesson in how not to make a documentary...
The issue of how women in crisis are supported after a birth is personally relevant. One day I hope to have a child. As someone whose distress sometimes takes the form of psychosis, I was eager to connect with the stories of women who had trodden this path before me.
How the Technologically-Immersive Culture is Wrecking Our Youthās Health & Well-Being
The devices that have been left to our kids are not āchildās play,ā and should not be treated as such. At any given time, our youth can run up thousands of dollars in bills, view graphic and disturbing sexual images, be awoken with frightening messages, reach anyone, anywhere, at any time, and live an otherwise distracted, detached life.
The ACE Survey is Unusable Data
Do the effects of trauma matter more, or a person's ACE score? I think this is unusable data that harms people when you gather it. Here's why.
Troubled by Individual and Collective Psychosis? Maybe Compassion and Dialogue Could Help!
We need to learn to listen and respond in a caring way to the disturbed and disturbing voices within the populationāto really engage with them, while also not believing any lies or distortions or letting destructive forces take over.
Understanding Extreme States: An Interview with Paris Williams
In this interview we will explore often-contentious topics including the non-validity of the biological model, the link between parenting problems and psychosis, and how best to help psychotic people who are fighting both emotional conflicts and a psychiatric system drugging them into silence.
Antidepressants Increase the Risk of Suicide and Violence at All Ages
Although the drug industry, our drug regulators and leading psychiatrists have done what they could to obscure these facts, it can no longer be doubted that antidepressants are dangerous and can cause suicide and homicide at any age.
Curing Schizophrenia via Intensive Psychotherapy
I believe that an Intensive Psychotherapy can lead to healing and, often, a cure of psychotic states. By cure I mean the cessation of delusions and hallucinations, and a gradual titration off of antipsychotic medication, with the cure lastingāeven without continuing psychotherapy.
In a Post-Trump Election World: What is Insanity?
Insanity is often the result of chronic oppression, trauma, and a sense of injustice and hopelessness. Is it possible we are in the midst of a collective psychosis?
Going On or Off Psych Drugs: One Reason or Many?
Many people report having one reason to go off psychiatric drugsāfeeling that they just know they need to, sensing they will die if they donāt come off, etc. It is far less common to hear of someone going on psych drugs because they know they must.
Whatās the Harm in Taking an Antidepressant?
We know that all drugs have side effects. Thatās just part of the deal right? But is it really possible that an antidepressant can cause a sane person to act like a cold-blooded criminal?
Dual-award Winning Play and Film About Human Beings, not Psychopathology
[M]y play, SHADES, and my film, "Is Anybody Listening?" are about people who have experienced major troubles, even trauma or other tragedies, who have dark secrets that torment them, but who use connection, love, humor, and creativity to come through, even to heal. And no one in the play or the film is pathologized.
Exploring Psychiatry’s “Black Hole”: The International Institute on Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal
When Carina HĆ„kansson sent out an invitation for a symposium on "Pharmaceuticals: Risks and Alternatives," some of the world's top scientists, along with experts-by-experience, came from 13 countries to explore better ways to respond to people in crisis.
Mad in Brasil: Part of a Global Effort to Create a New Paradigm of...
It is with great satisfaction and great hope that we are launching our Mad in Brasil website. Ours will be a collaborative effort. We look forward to being part of a global effort that will succeed in creating a new paradigm of care, one that will promote true robust recovery from psychiatric crises.
A Bill to Explore the Relationship Between Veteran Suicides and Prescription Medication
The objective of [these] bills is to combat suicide deaths by ensuring that accurate information is available on the relationship between suicides and prescription "medication". At the present time, 20 US veterans a day are dying by suicide.
ADHD: A Destructive Psychiatric Hoax
Nobody is denying that inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity can be real problems. The issue at stake, however, is whether it makes any sense to conceptualize this loose cluster of vaguely-defined problems as an illness.
Psychiatry: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Psychiatrists have invented terms such as āmental illnessā and āmental disorder,ā the diagnosis and treatment of which is their bread and butter, their supposed area of expertise. People generally trust doctors.
The Hidden Epidemic Exposed: The New Tardive Dyskinesia (TD) Resource Center
The Tardive Dyskinesia Resource Center offers a simple yet thorough introduction to the drug-induced disorder, a list of offending medications, and illustrative videos. It is is one more step in the direction of educating the public, as well as the professions.
The Helping Room
Every culture has its share of individuals who break down in bewilderment. People who hallucinate, behave beyond norms, seek to die, think in strange ways.
Antidepressants and Pregnancy: The Risks and Potential Harm to Normal Fetal Development
For the past several months, MIA Continuing Education has been working with a small online education company to remake our CME/CEU lectures into full-bodied courses. Our first such course is on the risks that antidepressant use in pregnancy pose to the developing fetus. We think it covers a subject of utmost importance to our society.
Go Figure: Murder or Accident?
While Shipmanās killing spree with opiods was unfolding, North America was sinking into a prescription opioid epidemic that now accounts for 100 deaths per day, over 30,000 per year, over half a million since the epidemic began, perhaps the single greatest cause of death in America today.
The Case for Neuroleptics Reducing Recovery from 80% to 5%
On October 7th I gave a talk titled "The Transformation Triangle: Public Education, Alternatives & Strategic Litigation." In thinking about my talk, I realized that I could piece together a very short video on neuroleptics reducing the recovery rate from 80% to 5%.
