If You Don’t Have a Brain…
When we force people to take psychiatric drugs, or lie to get them to take the drugs, we are not only harming the organ of their body called the brain—we are harming their capacity to think and to feel and to know themselves. We are limiting their personality and identity, and the expression of their soul.
Half of First-Episode Patients Respond to Antipsychotics
No placebo controlled trials provide evidence of antipsychotics in first-episode psychosis.
Brief Trauma-Focused Psychotherapies Effective for Children with PTSD
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Writing Therapy both reduce PTSD symptoms in children who experienced a single traumatic event.
New Study Examines User Experience of Discontinuing Psychiatric Medications
Researchers find that support and self-care were helpful for users during discontinuation, but that mental health professionals were not very helpful.
A System Built on Fear
Experiences such as pain, turmoil, trauma and grief aren’t separate from the person—they shape how that person sees the world, how they cope with the world. To separate those experiences from the person, to call them sick, feels barbaric. It feels as if humans are being taught to fear being human.
Is Xanax Really the Bad Guy?
While any effort to generate awareness and potentially curb the benzodiazepine epidemic is commendable, we have to ask ourselves, is Xanax just the scapegoat in this situation? Will legislative action and media attention for only one benzodiazepine out of so many make any difference?
Providers Fail to Report Information on Suicide Prevention Services
Researchers investigate services related to suicide prevention across mental health providers in England.
Has Psychiatry Gone Uniquely Astray?
Science is supposed to be evidence-respecting and thereby open-minded; psychiatry is presently not. But is psychiatry really unique in this respect? Is it the only field of medicine where dogmatically held theories contrary to evidence have held sway for long periods?
9 Questions the US Senate Should Ask Dr. McCance-Katz
Mental health agencies are mainly asking about her positions regarding “recovery” and “peers,” but here are some tougher questions for President Trump's new "mental health czar": Do you support court-ordered psychiatric drugging? Do you endorse the use of federal money for it? Why aren’t non-drug alternatives offered to Americans?
Makers of Risperdal Sued for Breast Development in Boys
Thousands of boys and young men are lined up in courthouses around the country to sue J&J for gynecomastia caused by taking Risperdal as young children. The condition is irreversible except by surgical removal. Collectively, they have become known as the Risperdal Boys.
People of Great Britain! Our Beast Descends Upon Your Children
Scientific evidence indicates that antidepressants do not help children. In light of such high risks to the child’s wellbeing, these psychiatric chemicals are clearly doing more harm than good. What kind of society would permit this assault on its children?
Study Finds Hearing Voices Groups Improve Social and Emotional Wellbeing
Hearing Voices Network self-help groups are an important resource for coping with voice hearing, study finds.
“Maybe You Need Meds”: From Passive Patient to Finding My Voice
I made journaling non-negotiable. I started sitting in nature and running trails. I practiced being present and prioritized sleep. These things are often seen as what you do if your problems aren’t really that bad. But to me, these are the things I do to save myself every day.
Methylphenidate: How to Avoid Importing the American Disaster?
Even though it is extremely unlikely that in France we would reach the kinds of percentages we see in the USA, where in some states nearly 10% of children are treated with methylphenidate or other psychostimulants not used in France, overprescription is highly probable. Why?
Researchers Identify Patterns in Antidepressant and Long-Term Benzodiazepine Use
The researchers found that, of those who were initially prescribed both antidepressants and benzodiazepines, approximately 12% went on to engage in long-term benzodiazepine use.
Over 1,000 Antidepressant Users Describe how Their Personal Life has Been Affected
Survey examines adverse personal and interpersonal effects of antidepressants and the impact of polypharmacy
While Psychiatry Slept (Part II)
The new wave of psychosocial treatments is encouraging, but does not go far enough in recognizing psychosis as an attempt by the psyche to heal itself. Until psychiatrists receive training in metaphor and symbol, we will continue gluing the pieces of Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
“Heartbeats of Hope: The Empowerment Way to Recover” – A Book Review
We seldom have a chance to hear from someone who combines the perspective of a longtime psychiatric survivor and activist with that of being a psychiatrist. I disagreed with only one significant point — that a person does not have to be off all medications to show “complete recovery” from “mental illness.”
Hearing Voices in the USA
The World Hearing Voices Congress will be landing in Boston, Massachusetts in August. The Hearing Voices movement is up against a lot in this culture where there's so little tolerance for uncertainty and exploration. This movement, this event, and so many people's lives depend on all of us to carry this perspective forward.
Large Study Confirms Elevated Risk of Diabetes When Prescribed Antipsychotics
A large longitudinal study finds once more that being prescribed antipsychotics significantly increases the risk of diabetes.
Why World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day?
I am participating in World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day today, and you should too, because you know somebody right now who is taking a benzodiazepine and that person might just be dealing with chronic health problems, unaware that they are result of taking the medication as prescribed.
Three Suicides: Honoring Lives Lost to Benzodiazepines
I am still trying to reconcile what these chemicals are capable of, how the urge can morph into an action, how we maybe just don’t understand suicide all that well. For me, the suffering was so intense it was too painful to stay alive. I understand how my friends felt in their last moments.
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.
Researchers Discuss the Strengths of Children who Face Adversity
Experiencing adversity may result in the development of unique strengths and abilities that are often overlooked.
“Benzo Blue”: a Song of Protest and a Search for Liberation
In commemoration of World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day coming on July 11th, I am providing an early first time debut at Mad in America of a new song and music video titled “Benzo Blue,” along with a brief commentary on the evolution and significance of this song.
