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 donāt 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
āI am going to make an official complaint,ā says the mother. āYou are welcome to do that,ā says the psychiatrist, and you can almost hear the laughterāfor 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 āSolutions.ā
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 āschizophrenia.ā
An Outsider’s Observation
People are encouraged to visit their GP for help with all manner of symptoms ā 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 donāt discriminate. They donāt care that you have a masterās 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 Marciās 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 canāt 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.
INTAR 2016: A Global Call for a New Paradigm In Psychiatry
āWe need a new paradigm,ā said Alberto Vasquez, research coordinator of the office of the special rapporteur to the United Nations on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. āPeople are clamoring for change. We want to see something else.ā
Study Finds Sexist Attitudes Linked to Poor Mental Health in Men
Adherence to stereotypically sexist masculine beliefs such as self-reliance, power over women, and playboy behavior were linked to poor mental health outcomes
āNavigatingā Recovery: Difficult When the Map is a Psychiatric Fraud!
I was recently asked to contrast my views on psychosis and recovery with those offered by NAVIGATE, a US government (NIMH) sponsored program aiming to guide early intervention programs for psychosis. This inspired me to inquire into what NAVIGATE does tell people and families about psychosis and recovery. What I found, unfortunately, was quite disturbing.
What is Holistic Psychiatry?
Holistic psychiatry teaches that within each and every one of us there are great and latent powers, which are beyond the ordinary life. Daily progress in self-development is not the result of accident or chance, rather it comes from a steady practice of working on yourself.
A Racist Movement Cannot Move
Our movement is just as racist (and sexist, and classist, and transphobic, etc.) as any other. There are many reasons why this remains so, yet all of it co-exists alongside the fact that people of color are substantially more likely to be given what are seen as the harshest psychiatric labels, subjected to force, and injured or killed.
The Effects of Practicing Psychotherapy on Therapistsā Personal Lives
A new study, published in Psychotherapy Research, explores how having a career in psychotherapy affects therapistsā personal lives.
Warning: A Psychiatric tsuNAMI is Upon U.S.
Call your legislators to VOTE NO on H.R. 34! Among the most problematic issues this bill presents are multiple provisions for forced psychiatry. H.R. 34 also includes: SAMHSA reorganization, condoning of HIPPAA violations, and a host of other potential human rights violations.
I Want Change
Only two hours after we got home, Dan fearlessly told me of the suicide plan that he'd devised while in the hospital. He had all that time to think about it while nobody was listening. He'd lost his dignity, his identity and his place in society. He had lost the will to live.
