Rethinking the Nature of Our Woes
Parents must inform themselves about the flaws in the current paradigm if they are to have any chance of thinking sensibly about what might be distressing their child. Toward that end of providing information about those flaws, I interviewedĀ Richard Hallam,Ā author of the new bookĀ Abolishing the Concept of Mental Illness: Rethinking the Nature of our Woes.
Connections Between Climate Change Concerns, Mental Health, and Pro-Environmental Actions
Concerns about the impact of climate change on animals and nature results in more effective coping to reduce hopelessness about climate change and promotes pro-environmental behaviors.
Should We Screen for Adverse Childhood Experiences?
One author outlines the foundations of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) research, addressing its dimensions, limitations, and potential future directions.
Painted Boxes: Death of an Activist
I am an activist, and I am tired. I seem to be living what life would look like if āpainted into a corner,ā met āput in a boxā in a car wreck, leaving the two a tangled idiomatic mess. Here are eleven examples of how activists and advocates are asked to cough up boundless energy while simultaneously being demoralized, devalued, diminished, and used.
Large Study Finds Epigenetic Changes Associated with Trauma Explained by Smoking
A new study suggests that epigenetic changes that have been associated with trauma may actually be due to environmental toxins.
If āMental Illnessesā Arenāt Real Illnesses, What Are They?
Szasz clarified what mental illnessĀ isn't, but not what it is, and itĀ isĀ something. I will show that it's just a concept that evolved in order to dehumanize those who cope in ways that don't further society's survival, and thus to justify their exclusion so as to maximize society's efficiency.
Underestimating Social Determinants of Health Linked to Right-Wing Authoritarianism
Social determinants have been seen to have an equal, if not greater, influence on health as individual behaviors, yet this evidence is largely ignored. Researchers investigate why this is the case.
Kelli Foulkrod: Integrating Yoga with Psychotherapy
An interview with Kelli Foulkrod, who has been integrating yoga and the healing arts into traditional psychotherapy for over eight years and is passionate about offering holistic mental health treatment options. Ā
Vitamin B6 Effective in Reducing Antipsychotic Induced Akathisia
A recent RCT showed that vitamin B6 is as effective as propranolol for the treatment of akathisia.
All in the Family: 4 Steps Toward Healing Adverse Childhood Experiences
It turns out that our stress response and inflammatory modeling are set early in our childhood. While ourĀ infant microbiomeĀ certainly lays a foundation, our beliefs and the thoughts that run like a ticker tape under our life experience cannot be underemphasized. How can we heal our pasts?
Life Sentence: Life Behind the Bars of the Mental Health System
The minute you sit down in the chair in a mental health professional's office, youāre no longer seen as a person. The mental health system is incapable of seeing past the solid wall of your current label. Their only cure is drugs. "First Do No Harm" are powerful words. Itās unfortunate they donāt apply to psychiatry.
From Picket Lines to Worry Lines
In Politics of the Mind: Marxism and Mental Distress, Iain Ferguson aims to use the marxist approach ānot only to make sense of mental distress but also help us address and change the material conditions that give rise to it.ā He begins by describing the ācrisis in mental healthā that disproportionately affects the unemployed, poor, and oppressed.
Trauma Resiliency Model: A New Somatic Therapy for Treating Trauma
Report presents new body-based therapeutic approach for shock and complex developmental trauma.
What Should We Really Call Psychiatric Drugs?
There is no rational way to argue against putting psychiatric chemicals into the category of neurotoxins. All psychiatric substancesĀ alterĀ āthe structure or functions of the nervous system,ā disruptĀ āthe normal function of nerve cellsā andĀ actĀ āspecifically on nervous tissue.ā It is time to clean up the misleading mess of words in psychiatry.
Study Investigates Factors that Foster Posttraumatic Growth in Prison
Emotional support, religion, and searching for meaning are positively correlated with posttraumatic growth among prisoners.
What National Health Surveys Tell Us About Nutrition and Mental Health
We have been interested in the broad public health implications of nutrition, such as the findings from national health population surveys. What conclusion can be drawn from these studies?Ā Improving peopleās diets may protect them from experiencing poor mental health.Ā
Failed TB Vaccine Exposes Concerns Regarding Research Ethics
An investigation exposes violations to research ethics, finding that researchers failed to disclose risks and even misled government agencies.
Brain Implants: Spinning the Trial Results to Protect the Product
The published report of the Broaden Trial of Deep Brain Stimulation for Depression whitewashed the results: although the efficacy results were negative, the investigators concluded that the therapy still showed "promise", and adverse events suffered by the patients were downplayed or attributed to the disease, and not the treatment. An in-depth investigation of how the trial results were spun, and interviews with patients that tell of harm done.
Our Sexualized Culture and the Prejudiced Roots of Psychiatry
The problem with the DSM is that it not only pathologizes asexuality, but also pathologizes the distress asexual people feel due to marginalization and prejudice. In attributing peopleās distress to their lack of sexual attraction or interest, rather than their environment, psychiatry fails to recognize oppression.
Publication of the Power Threat Meaning Framework
The Framework is an ambitious attempt to outline a conceptual alternative to the diagnostic model of mental distress. It builds on the Division of Clinical Psychologyās 2013 Position Statement recommending work in conjunction with service users to develop a multi-factorial and contextual approach.
The Medicalization of Conversation
Language, and how we use it, are important to counsellingās conversational work. As a counsellor, my language for understanding and addressing client concerns often fits poorly with the diagnostic and treatment language used to manage services within that system.
Neoliberalism Drives Increase in Perfectionism Among College Students
Meta-analytic study detects upsurge in patterns of perfectionism in young adults and explores how neoliberalism contributes to this trend.
The Scientism of Psychiatry
Psychiatry likes to portray itself as a scientific discipline, and indeed there is a lot of useful science to draw on when evaluating the evidence base connected to mental health problems. Sadly, most of the mainstream psychiatric literature of recent decades has shown a marked preference for rhetoric over scientific accuracy.
Psychiatrist Calls for Increased Attention to Therapeutic Alliance
Sandra Steingard, writing in the journal Psychiatric Services, reviews a recent article finding that the quality of the therapeutic relationship impacts the efficacy of medication treatment.
Interventions that Promote Disclosure Among Voice-Hearers
The perspectives of the voice-hearers featured in the research underscore that stigma and negative perceptions of voice hearing present significant obstacles within early intervention programs.
