Starting the New Year with a Bang: A Medley of Antipsychiatry Resolutions
Every year at this time, from Canada to Ireland, from Turkey to South Africa, both determined and not-so-determined folk make a very unusual list, known traditionally as New Year's resolutions. What follows are antipsychiatry resolutions—ones that people may borrow from at will.
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.
Prescribing Benzodiazepines As-Needed Leads to Abuse
A new study reported on in Medscape, examined risk factors for misuse of benzodiazepines (drugs such as Xanax, Ativan, and Klonopin). The researchers found that patients who had been prescribed the medication on an as-needed basis were more likely to end up abusing it than those who had been prescribed a standing dose.
Dialogue with a Psychiatrist
“You need to realise that what we see and hear in our madness might be very real!” I tell the psychiatrist. “It isn’t just delusions, hallucinations or nonexistent voices! What if it is indeed all real? And magic does exist?”
Industry Funded Trials Favor Drugs Over Psychotherapy
The researchers conclude that industry funding appears to bias studies towards pharmacotherapy over psychotherapy for the treatment of depression.
The Right to Refuse Psychiatric Treatment
It doesn’t have to be like this. Give us back our autonomy. Grant us the legal right to refuse psychiatric coercion based on our own preferences and experiences. It’s urgent. We don’t have another survivor to lose.
Mental Health Nurses Do Not Routinely Assess for Effects of Antipsychotic Medications
Researchers believe that side-effect monitoring is critical because of the increase in the use of antipsychotics
Study Finds Excess Pills Prescribed for Post-Operative Pain
Researchers find that patients are prescribed more pills than necessary after common surgical procedures
Opening the Door to a New Year: Some Christmas Thoughts and Wishes
So many people are feeling so hopeless these days. Sometimes I think twice before I turn on the radio. I don’t want to be reminded of all those being abandoned to their fate, in Aleppo and Mosul as well as other places ravaged by drought, famine and war. But the darkest stories are bearable if there is some ray of light at the end.
Pets Play Central Role in Management of Mental Health Problems
Individuals with long-term mental health conditions identify pets as valuable supports in their daily lives.
Better Mental Health Care Needed for Pilots
A new study shows that airline pilots are at elevated risk for depression, yet encounter barriers to accessing mental health services.
Shock, Lies… and a Duvet
“I am going to make an official complaint,” says the mother. “You are welcome to do that,” says the psychiatrist, and you can almost hear the laughter—for they know, as others do, that the psychiatric laws trump both the country's own laws and that of human rights.
Seven Reasons Why the US’s New Mental Health Law Is Dangerous
This week, President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act, touting the bipartisan mental health measure as "bringing to reality the possibility of new breakthroughs to some of the greatest health-care challenges of our time." However, the reality behind this legislation is not quite what it appears to be.
Dear Boston Globe, Part V: Thanks for Nothing
A final response to the Boston Globe's Spotlight on Mental Health series, including a review of their last three installments in addition to their most recent, the dubiously titled “Solutions.”
Study Suggests Long-Term Antipsychotic Use May Result in Poorer Cognitive Functioning
Association found between long-term antipsychotic use and poorer performance on cognitive tasks in adults diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia.’
An Outsider’s Observation
People are encouraged to visit their GP for help with all manner of symptoms — many of which may originate in conditions of stress and distress encountered in our lives and may actually be self-limiting given time, appropriate support and perhaps some change in circumstances.
Learnings from Earthworms: The Ecstasy of an Antipsychiatry “Breakthrough”
As an activist, you work for a long, long time seeing no signs of change, and perhaps you are tempted to throw your hands up in despair. However, very, very often something utterly profound is shifting beneath the surface.
1 in 6 Adults in the US Takes a Psychiatric Drug
Overall, 16.7% of 242 million US adults reported filling 1 or more prescriptions for psychiatric drugs in 2013.
The Prescription that Changed My Life
What I have learned is that benzos don’t discriminate. They don’t care that you have a master’s degree or that you are a good person in the community or that you were just doing what the doctors told you to do and you were woefully ignorant and misinformed of their dangers.
Certain Antihypertensive Drugs Linked to Mood Disorders
A new study suggests that some antihypertensive drugs are associated with increased risk of bipolar disorder and depression, while other antihypertensive drugs are actually associated with decreased risk.
A Mother’s Very, Very Worst Nightmare
I was Marci’s former psychotherapist. When I heard what had happened, I immediately informed the detectives that I suspected that the homicide and suicide attempt were related to psychiatric drugs.
Increase in ED Visits Due to Drug Related Adverse Events
A recently published article in the Journal of the American Medical Association highlights an increase in emergency department (ED) visits due to drug-related adverse or negative events.
INTAR India 2016: Community Development and Human Liberation
We are here to challenge how this thing called madness and mental health is in fact a reflection and a relationship, to redefine how society responds, and to insist that in the definition of madness we also see a reflection of the society looking at it.
Post-Election Considerations for Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
A variety of scenarios of social and economic collapse have gone through many of our minds since Election Day. Insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies want to keep people on drugs, but what if there was no government subsidy for those who can’t pay?
Collaborative Network Approach
A group of dedicated clinicians in Vermont have developed a training program that incorporates the values and principles of need adapted approaches including Open Dialogue and reflecting therapies. They are hoping this will allow them to embed these practices into the community mental health system in their state.