When Modern Medicine Made Me More Autistic
I think future research will reveal that autism is more complicated than neurodiversity advocates would like to admit. Environmental factors affecting our microbiomes can very clearly influence the extent to which people’s behaviors correspond with the current diagnostic criteria for autism.
Celebrating Dorothea Buck’s 100th Birthday
Mainstream psychiatrists celebrated the 100th birthday of their hero Kraepelin. Let us celebrate the 100th birthday of our Dorothea Buck, remember the many victims of psychiatric treatment, and stay together against violent psychiatric behavior and for humanistic support for people in distress.
Finding the Way to Mental Health
I love counseling, and helping people deal with their emotional and relational problems. But in addition, I encourage anyone suffering from mental issues to consider that nutritional issues are also involved in their distress.
The Third Director: Interrogating the Mental Health Discourse in Marat/Sade
Written at a time when advocates for mental health reform were pushing for deinstitutionalization, the play forces the audience to confront the ways that society constructs the definition of insanity and its treatment, and the systems of power involved in that construction.
A Healthier Diet Reduces Depressive Symptoms
The “Mediterranean diet” has been associated with reduced risk of depressive symptoms, and a new study demonstrates that dietary changes may be an effective treatment intervention.
The Torture in Treatment
In psychiatric hospitals we have set up the same environment as the Stanford Prison Experiment, but without a professor watching who has the authority to shut it down when things go horribly wrong. As a patient, there wasn’t any protection from the inescapable abuse of limitless power.
Professionals Push Back on Psychiatric Diagnostic Manual, Propose Alternatives
Criticisms of the DSM-5 spark alternative proposals and calls to reform diagnostic systems in the mental health field.
Two Thirds of Patients See Physicians Who Receive Payments From Pharma
Study finds more patients are visiting physicians who have ties to industry than previously thought.
Why I Don’t Like the Idea that Mental Disorder is a Disease
What we need to try and understand extreme and unusual states of being are not the specialised methods of natural science. In contrast, it is the ways in which we understand ordinary, everyday behaviour that can help to reveal the nature and meaning of madness.
‘CRAZY’: New Documentary about Forced Psychiatric Treatment
Lise Zumwalt’s new documentary “CRAZY” follows Eric, a young adult diagnosed with serious mental illness, and his father, who together want to change Eric’s treatment. However, the county does not want to give them a say.
Mainstream Western Psychiatry: Science or Non-science?
Because it is such an important question, because people's lives depend on this and psychiatry has a record of getting it seriously wrong, we need to be sure we can trust their claim. In practice, is it true that biological psychiatry has the science?
What Role Does Talk Therapy Have in Recovery from Psychosis?
In my graduate education, we were taught how to deal with a wide variety of human troubles — but one big exception was psychosis! For that, we were told to send our clients to the psychiatrist.
Not Going Quietly
A few years ago, I was asked to see a man called Chris Rushworth. He was referred to me for anger issues. Chris had a restlessness about him, frequently shifting his legs from side to side. He had been on antipsychotic medication for 25 years.
‘Do Antidepressants Work?’ is the Wrong Question
“This research points to the inadequacy of asking the simple question: ‘Do antidepressants work?’ Instead, the value or otherwise of antidepressants needs to be understood in the context of the diversity of experience and the particular meaning they hold in people’s lives.”
Eternal Sorrow: My Unexpected Descent into the Mental Health System
In searching for answers as to what went wrong with my treatment, my family and I discovered that there is already much scientific evidence demonstrating the dangers of antipsychotic medications and why they should not be used to treat illnesses such as Tourette Syndrome.
Animal Study Supports Influence of Probiotics on Resilience to Stress
Researchers experimenting on mice found that Lactobacillus—the probiotic commonly found in yogurt—may help reduce depressive symptoms in reaction to chronic stressors. But human studies have found mixed results.
Discussing Nutrient Formulas Without Naming Them: Who Benefits?
Do we not want our public to pay attention to the quality of science behind a treatment? By constantly dancing around the product names of nutrient formulas, we are doing a disservice to those who need accurate information.
Optimizing Mental Wellness Through Nutrient Therapy: A Gastroenterologist’s Perspective
It was hard to believe, initially, that nutrient therapy could have that profound an impact. My son’s remarkable recovery with “just nutrients” has made me question the entire medical model behind ADHD and other neurobehavioral disorders.
Patients More Likely to Refuse Drug-Only Treatment, Study Finds
The American Psychological Association (APA) recently published a study finding that patients assigned to drug-only treatments were more likely to refuse treatment, and more likely to drop out before treatment completion, than patients assigned to psychotherapy only.
Introducing the ‘Parent Resources’ Page
I know how difficult it is for the average parent to get educated about alternatives to the “diagnose a mental disorder and provide a chemical fix” paradigm. I hope that this new MIA parent resource section that I’ll be curating will help to educate you and point you in the direction of valuable resources.
Burn Baby Burn (Psychopharmacology Part 3)
In the 16 years from 1952 to 1968, the world changed in astonishing ways. In the 16 years since I first gave this talk, it has changed almost as much again. When some future historian looks back at this period, will they say it was a time when the field’s significant figures tweeted while psychiatry burned?
Where Do We Go From Here?
We need to spread the word to a much wider group. We need to connect with that silent skeptical majority, and deliver the message: your skepticism is well-founded; psychiatry is a destructive, disempowering, self-serving, drug-pushing hoax; your instincts are correct.
An Alternative Perspective on Psychotherapy: It is Not a ‘Cure’
Kev Harding argues against conceptualizations of therapy as a ‘cure’ to an ‘illness’ and instead offers alternative approaches.
Into the Woods: A Path Through Anxiety
As individuals, psychiatrists are undoubtedly well-intentioned. But the Prozac paradigm undermines the path of acceptance by its very agenda to “get rid of” or “fix” anxiety. It is by its nature a resistance — and what you resist, tends to persist.
Spirituality and ‘Mental Illness’
Is the suppression of spirituality in the West the reason for our struggle and suffering labeled as mental illness? Are we medicated to numb the pain and psychospiritual protest related to the felt wrongness in our modern lives? Here’s what I learned from my trip to India.
