Can Psychiatry Respond to Mad Activism?
Psychiatrist Mohammed Abouelleil Rashed explores a way forward for psychiatry in responding to the Mad activism of service users.
“Hidden Valley Road” and Schizophrenia: Do Genes Tell the Story?
The āgenetics of mental disordersā story told in Kolker's "Hidden Valley Road" involves omission and misrepresentation of genetic research.
Born Addicted to Valium: Understanding a Lifetime of Symptoms
Withdrawal felt like: evil feeding on my soul, my spirit being tortured, not being able to feel love, constantly feeling like I was falling in a dark tunnel, and wanting to get out of my body.
A Peek Inside the Modern Asylum
The psychiatric hospital of today is a panopticon, a modern prison for the daring mind and for weird behavior. I was once inside and thus, am inviting you to have a look. I will take your hand, and encourage you to join me, on an exploration of the inside of the psychiatric institution. We'll have a small peek, but in reality, it is much more distressing for the one who is being observed.
Stalked by Stress, Abandoned to Predation: The Appeal of Suicide in a Modern World
It's not just weapons and fangs that kill me. Being stalked by industry, bureaucracy and social sentiment is deadly too. Mammalian bodies are not wired to endure chronic, pervasive threat and vulnerability. Yet this stuff is ubiquitous and embedded into mainstream culture.
Re-establishing My Credentials: Psychiatric Survivor Activists Are Needed Now!
For more than four decades, I have worked as a psychiatric-survivor human rights activist. Then, at the end of 2012, I broke my neck. As readers of my blog posts, such as those on Mad in America, know, I have devoted the past few years to rehab and activism. But it has been a while since my last personal blog. Let me sum up my Mad Pride journey today, because a lot is changing.
Back to Basics: Whatās Wrong with NAMI
It seems one mostly needs to already know what theyāre looking for in order to find the most established criticisms of this particular organization. And even with knowledge and intent, it can require some fairly persistent Googling efforts to unearth all there is to be found.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook Chapter 12: Electroshock
Peter GĆøtzsche discusses the poor body of research for the efficacy of ECT and the common effect of amnesia, which indicates brain damage.
Study Shows Clozapine Can Result in Serious Gastrointestinal Complications
A large observational study published in CNS Drugs sheds light on serious adverse effects of the āgold standardā antipsychotic Clozapine.
Mad in MĆ©xico
Mad in MĆ©xico, which launched in September of last year, exists to make ālos abandonadosā heard. It aims to amplify those voices, empower them, embolden them.
Why Social Isolation Leads to Inflammation
We are wired for community. If we disconnect, our bodies will call us back to the sense of human connection that we are wired for, using the unexpected language of inflammation.
Pharma Data Sharing Efforts Off to a Slow Start
Researchers discuss the preliminary results of clinical trial data sharing efforts by pharmaceutical companies and other groups.
Cured: A MemoirāSarah Fay on Giving Everyone the Chance to Heal
Author Sarah Fay joins us to discuss why "cured" is such a seldom-used word in psychiatry.
Would Discovering the Biology of “Mental Illness” Explain its Cause?
Researchers are constantly hunting for chemical variations in people with emotional problems. But even if chemical differences are someday found, why would we assume that these chemical processes cause abnormal behaviors or moods, as opposed to being mere correlates of them at the chemical level?
How Psychiatric Drugs Really Work
A case study of a former soldier illustratedĀ that mefloquine can cause persisting brain injury with unrelenting, permanent emotional and cognitive problems.Ā As my fellow psychiatrists commonly do, they diagnosed the former soldier with psychiatric disorders and treated him with multiple drugs, worsening his brain injury and overall mental condition.
How Does the Soteria House Heal?
The alternative treatment model of Soteria helps individuals suffering from schizophrenia without relying on medication or coercion.
New Research on Patient-Centered Deprescribing for Antipsychotics
Researchers review the risks and benefits of deprescribing from antipsychotic drugs and advocate for a patient-centered approach to tapering.
Scaling Up Psychiatric Interventions Globally May Impede UN Goals
Peter Lehmann argues that administering psychiatric drugs in low-and-middle-income countries works at cross purposes with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Abandoned in VA Purgatory ā Misdiagnosed, Overprescribed & Fighting for Answers
Today Iāve recovered a semblance of my old life, and I, like millions of others, deserve answers. What have these drugs actually done to us? Everything Iāve learned thus far shows that antidepressants were poorly researched, and society, especially our military service members and veterans, were used as test subjects.
Tapering Strips for Benzodiazepines
One size fits all does not work. It is not possible to use the same tapering schedule for all patients who wish to stop with a certain drug. Therefore we had to come up with a flexible solution that was both practical and allowed doctors and patients to make the choice they deemed appropriate.
The Real “Mental Illness” Epidemic: Withdrawal from Antidepressants
If the incidence of mental illness has remained the same, but an ever-increasing percentage of the population takes psychiatric medications, then these drugs are being over-prescribed. Now there is an epidemic of people trying to stop SSRI antidepressants, and the effects can be crippling.
New Study Finds Limited Effectiveness for Antidepressants After Stroke
The researchers found that although antidepressants had a slight short-term effect on reducing the likelihood of depression diagnosis, there was no long-term improvement, nor any improvement in motor functioning.
Collaborative Strategies for Re-Visioning the Public Mental Health System
The beauty of sticking around for a while is that weāre living to see some of our āoutsiderā ideas beginning to challenge modern psychiatric doctrine in the public arena, and our āradicalā mental health stance is slowly re-visioning important conversations and practices.
The Global ‘Mental Health’ Movement – Cause For Concern
On October 10th, 2018, World Mental Health Day, The Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development published a report outlining a proposal to āscale upā mental health care globally.
How Would We Know If We Overthrew the Mental Health System?
What would it take to go about abolishing psychiatry? If we truly eliminated all the horrid practices that are currently committed by the mental health system, what would the world look like?Ā What follows are 15 ways our society would need to change before we could be confident that we are free from the tyranny of the mental health system.
