Kids Are Not the Problem: An Interview With Gretchen LeFever Watson

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In this interview, Brooke Siem, who is the author of a memoir on antidepressant withdrawal, May Cause Side Effects, interviews Gretchen LeFever Watson, PhD. Gretchen...
Two women, one looking sadly at the viewer and the other standing out of focus in the background. Magazines and chocolates on the bed. A pink convertible out of focus through the window in the background.

I Am Looking for People I Miss

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It’s a community of like-minded people; we should stick together. Maybe, hopefully, I will find my hospital friends.
A white-coated white male with glasses looks skeptical; an ouija board is the background

The Ouija Board and the Skeptic

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Skepticism, especially from those with lived experience, is necessary. It forces us to question whether our tools and methods truly help.

A Psycho-Spiritual Journey

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The Wellness approach, despite years of deliberate suppression, has survived and proven itself to be highly effective.
The universe inside us, the profile of a young woman and space, the effect of double exposure. scientific concept. The brain and creativity. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.

Guided Dreaming Can Transform Psychosocial Issues: 11 Case Studies

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Dreaming problem-solves various waking concerns creatively through memory consolidation and emotional processing.
3D illustration of a green tree emerging from an unlocked prison-cell like door shaped like a head

Schizophrenia and Homosexuality: My Experience and Case Studies

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During my confinement, I became convinced that the forced repression of my homosexuality was the true etiology of my schizophrenia.

Burnout: How Mental Health Systems Fail Neurodivergent Professionals

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Many neurodivergent professionals are burning out quietly in a field that prides itself on empathy while treating its providers like machines.

Reframing Antipsychotic Discontinuation: A Psychiatrist’s Personal and Professional Call for Epistemic Justice

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A psychiatrist with lived experience advocates for a more humane, collaborative approach to antipsychotic discontinuation that respects diverse ways of knowing.

Peer Support and Resistance: Becky Brasfield’s Vision for Mental Health Justice

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In this interview with Ayurdhi Dhar, Becky Brasfield calls for radical truth-telling in the mental health system.

Summing up the STAR*D Scandal: The Public was Betrayed, Millions were Harmed, and the...

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American psychiatry, the NIMH, the larger medical community, and mainstream media have betrayed the American public by failing to make this scandal known.

My Involuntary Metamorphosis

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After day treatment, I went once a week to a “continuing care” group. What was “continued” was the lesson that you had a fault that was shameful, volatile and dangerous.
Engraving-style art of a person looking out the door of an asylum room

From Auctions to Moral Treatment

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In less than 25 years Oregon moved from auctioning off the “care” of the "insane" to the lowest bidder to creating a safe place focused on recovery.

Mad in America’s 10 Most Popular Articles in 2024

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A roundup of Mad in America's most read blogs and personal stories of 2024 as chosen by our readers.
Medical Students In Lecture Hall 6th March 2022 Hyderabad India — Photo by rajastills

Modern Psychology and Its Colonial Legacy

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I question the modern rhetoric of ‘primitive’ cultures not having enough ‘knowledge’ about mental health and needing to be ‘educated’.
Close up of document titled "Informed Consent" being held

Who Can Consent to Research—and What Does That Mean for Forced Treatment?

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What the doctors are not seeing is the health in people—except when it’s convenient for them and their research projects.
Person sitting in the distance, yellow light corridor

The Fallacy of Modern Psychiatry: Treating Symptoms, Ignoring Causes

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To truly understand a person’s actions and behaviors, one must ask: What was this person exposed to? What did they experience?
Stock image of a person holding a warning sign in front of their face.

Mental Illness Prophesies Society’s Spiritual Sickness

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The rising prevalence of mental illness in the west is a warning to society to take a good, hard look at itself.
comic book style see, hear, speak no evil, psychedelic background

Set, Setting, Forgetting: Silence on Abuse in Psychedelic Therapy Histories

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The failure to address therapist abuse in MDMA-AT perpetuates a dangerous silence that distorts the field's history and compromises future practice.
Train Station in Sopot, Poland, Europe. Attractive man waiting at the train station. Thinking about trip, with backpack. Travel photography. tourist with backpack stand on railway station platform.

Exile: My Cure for Psychosis

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Psychiatry infantilizes the patient. Living in exile allows formerly psychotic people to achieve mature, healthy independence. 

Rights, Responsibilities and Resources–Peer Support in Mental Health Services

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Service users and peer support experts should be taking inspiration from the Recovery movement and the defense of rights.
Aliens in a cornfield

The Schizophrenic and the Dreamer

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If delusions contain symbolic content, like dreams, then the language of the schizophrenic may be intelligible after all.

Mad Sisters: An Interview With Susan Grundy

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Susan Grundy on her lifelong caregiving journey for an older sister diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 13.
watercolor portrait of a sleeping woman

What Are Waking Dreams, and Why Should You Care?

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Indigenous cultures around the world recognize and intentionally cultivate waking dreams for both personal and community well-being.

Benzodiazepines Linked to Suicide, Study Finds

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A new study finds that benzodiazepines—alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Ativan), and diazepam (Valium)—are associated with an increased risk of suicidal events.

The Consciousness of Voices and Visions

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Alan Robinson reviews a 30-year journey working with his voices and visions in directing actors and creative writing.