“A System Built on Medication:” How Psychiatric Institutions Undermine Drug-Free Care
In 2015, the Norwegian Health Minister issued a directive ordering regional health authorities to create a plan for providing mental healthcare without drugs. A...
On the Autistic Spectrum or a Camus Anti-Hero? Rebellion Obtuseness in Psychiatry
There is much that human beings rebel against, and there are various forms of rebellion, many of which psychiatry pathologizes.
The Bargain
On my chest, I have a tattoo. It's the pagan symbol of Mephistopheles — the mark Faust signed with when he made his deal.
The Keto Diet + Drug Tapering: What Are the Possibilities?
The Accord program in Arlington Massachusetts will provide a test of whether an intensive ketogenic program, when combined with drug-tapering support, can lead to robust recovery over the long term, with diminished use--or no ongoing use--of psychiatric medications.
Kindling Our Inner Fire: A Residential Program Where Drug Tapering is the Norm
Robert Whitaker interviews Beatrice Birch, Founder and Director of Inner Fire, a residential program in rural Vermont.
With Veterans Demanding Action, Bipartisan Support Emerges for Written Informed Consent Bill
On the morning of April 29, representatives of 35 veterans’ service organizations (VSOs) gathered under cloudy skies on Capitol Hill for a press conference...
Remembering Brent Dean Robbins
Brent was one of humanistic psychology's clearest voices against the DSM’s narrowing of human suffering and the over-medication of distress.
Not Serotonin Deficiency: A Veteran’s Story of Misdiagnosis and Medication Harm
When my experience did not match what I had been told to expect, it was minimized and dismissed.
“It Was Like They Crushed a Beautiful Flower”: Families Speak Out on the Harms...
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a controversial practice, with recent research finding harm, as well as a lack of efficacy and informed consent. A new...
Desperate Cries for Help and the Copper Toxicity Doctors Missed
Although there is a known correlation between estrogen and copper, mainstream doctors don’t test copper levels or estrogen-dominance.
Which Would You Prefer: Electroshock or a Safe Taper?
Imagine you’ve spent your entire life as a healthy person, seven decades in fact, and suddenly being recommended ECT by the psychiatry department of a prestigious university.
Fighting Psychiatric Subjectivation and Helping Others Along the Way: An Interview with Prateeksha Sharma
Prateeksha Sharma reflects on her own experience of recovery from psychosis with the help of music, family, and dogs, sheds lights on the treatment harms that often go unnamed and thus unnoticed, and discusses how to claim narrative, dignity, and voice.
Research Reveals Pharma Profits Outweigh Anti-Kickback Penalties
The pharmaceutical industry has a well documented history of corruption and placing profit above public health. A new research letter published in JAMA Open...
The Fight for the Soul of Psychotherapy: An Interview with Linda Michaels
Linda Michaels is a psychologist in private practice in Chicago and a co-founder of the Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN).
She trained at the Illinois...
Are We Overlooking Homicidal Ideation in Psychiatry?
If patients are willing to bring these thoughts into treatment, psychiatry should be better prepared to receive them.
All Major Pharma Companies Implicated in Bribery Schemes, New Report Says
Pfizer, J&J, Eli Lilly, BMS, AstraZeneca, GSK, and more all engaged in systematic bribery schemes, according to decades of OECD reports. That's the finding...
Therapy Treats the Individual, but the Problem Is the Self We Were Taught to...
If human regulation is fundamentally relational, then well-being cannot be reduced to insight, learning, growth, or individual coping strategies alone.
Coercive Measures in Psychiatry are Increasing, Traumatic, and Linked to Systemic Failings
This week, Mad in America explores three studies related to the use of coercive psychiatric measures. The first finds that rates of coercive measures...
Undoing Thirteen Years of Iatrogenic Illness
No one was ever going to tell me that I was never mentally ill. It would mean that everything The System did to me was a lie.
Examining Psychiatric Medication Tapering and Withdrawal: The Evolving Role of Pharmacists — A Conversation...
Agnes Higgins and Cathal Cadogan join us to discuss their work on understanding the experiences of people tapering from psychiatric medication and the role that pharmacists could potentially play when people are considering stopping their psychiatric drugs.
Psychobabble of the Month: Depressed? Try Exercise-in-a-Pill!
Exercise consistently shows positive results for depression... so how about a prescription for "exercise mimetic" pills instead?
I Can Barely Breathe: The Journey Continues
I want more for myself than just being a sweet, docile, compliant mental patient. I want a voice and a seat at the table.
Spiritual Emergency and the Collective Work of Staying Alive: An Interview with Nisha Gupta
Nisha Gupta reflects on spiritual emergency, wounded healing, and why staying alive in times of profound pain is not only an individual task but a collective one.
TikTok Videos Portray ADHD Stimulants in Overwhelmingly Positive Light, Study Finds
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of pharmaceuticals is a controversial topic within healthcare and psychiatry, with only two countries (US and New Zealand) allowing this practice....
Mental Health and the Assault on Autonomy in the New America
These myths lead to seeing the homeless as mentally ill and the mentally ill as irredeemable and “other,” impeding effective care.
