Inadequately Trained Therapists Pose a Risk to Childhood Trauma Survivors

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Mental health professionals must be trained in the dynamics of addiction and abuse if they are to help survivors of childhood trauma.
Illustration of paper airplanes flying diagonally as a fleet from bottom right toward upper left. One plane in the lead is colored orange.

Improving Therapy Outcomes: The Case for Deliberate Practice

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With Deliberate Practice, I doubled the number of sessions I had with my clients, cut the amount of unplanned dropouts in half, and improved the number who experienced clinical change.

David Healy – Polluting Our Internal Environments: The Perils of Polypharmacy

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On the MIA Podcast, Dr David Healy discusses World Tapering Day, antidepressant treatment and sensory neuropathy and the difficulties that can be encountered when trying to deprescribe.
A colorful illustration in blues and greens depicting a figure standing atop a globe, holding an orange ball in their hands.

Growing Good Mental Health with Choice Theory

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On those days when I’m experiencing discomfort, anger or frustration, I ask myself: Which need is not being adequately met and which is driving my discontent?

Lithium Use Leads to Chronic Kidney Disease

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New evidence suggests that lithium, commonly prescribed for bipolar disorder, can increase the risk of chronic kidney disease.

The Nurtured Heart Approach Goes Mainstream: Research and Experience Support “Celebrating Greatness in Every...

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The Nurtured Heart Approach represents a massive shift in thinking—about schooling, about children and how to raise them, about how we regard those with intensity, and about the medical model pathologizing them.

A Troubled Teen With a Pocket Full of Lithium and Nowhere to Go

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Despite the full awareness of Congress and hundreds of deaths in these facilities, little has been done to enact standards in private pay facilities that house troubled teens.
Close-up photo of hands writing in a journal or notebook

6 Good Things That Happened When I Stopped Believing in ‘Mental Health’

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The pursuit of mental health had made me mad. After 12 years, I quit Prozac and found a new psychoanalytic therapist. Life changed, almost overnight.

Breaking Academia’s Silence on Inpatient Psychiatry: An Interview with Researcher Morgan Shields

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Morgan Shields discussed her experiences in inpatient psychiatry and her efforts to bring patient-centered care to this oft-neglected field.
Close-up photo of the shift button on a computer keyboard, but it's labeled "Paradigm shift."

Are We Witnessing the Emergence of a New Paradigm?

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Increasing numbers of people are finding the perspective that sees mental distress as an isolated, static category, fixed within a biological predisposition or malfunction, to be insufficient.
A zombie hand bursts from a grave. On the headstone is written "Serotonin theory: Rest in peace?"

The Serotonin Zombie: Authors of New Study Try to Breathe New Life into the...

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Despite new claims that their study provides "clear evidence" linking serotonin and depression, their data actually supports the opposite conclusion: serotonin levels did not correlate with depression.

Anders Sørensen – Tackling Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal Through Research and in Practice

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Anders Sørenson is a Danish clinical psychologist with a special interest in psychiatric drug withdrawal. He has undertaken research which assesses the state of guidance on psychiatric drug withdrawal and paid close attention to tapering methods with the aim of identifying approaches which might make withdrawal more tolerable for people.

Healing From Transgenerational Trauma: My Mum, My Daughter, & Me

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Emotional trauma is the type of wound that, if not processed and integrated, can become a void that expands to swallow not just the traumatized person but also their children and grandchildren.
An illustration of a woman in a white dress, trapped inside a bottle full of blue and white pill capsules, against a gold background.

Why Detox Facilities and Psych Wards Are Not the Place to Come Off Psychiatric...

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In online communities, patients learn their strange symptoms may be due to the medications they are taking, and are offered solutions that provide hope.
A black teen in a hooded sweatshirt sits on the stairs, hiding their face, looking depressed.

The “S” Word: How the Culture of Fear Has Failed Youth in Crises

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I learned at a young age that my suicidal thoughts and feelings would be met with panic and punishment from adults.
A photograph of an archery target with three arrows in it. None have hit the bullseye.

From the Health Minister Down, Nobody Is Seriously Interested in the Quality Control of...

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The ultimate metric is whether psychological treatment makes a real-world difference to client’s lives. But the data cannot answer this key question.
A kaleidoscopic photograph depicting a busy street, reflected multiple times

The Problem of High Functioning Anxiety

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We have accepted that the busier we keep ourselves, the happier we can expect our lives to be. "Acceptable behavior" is defined by increased productivity across all aspects of life.

Antidepressant Withdrawal Linked to Suicide Attempt in Case Study

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Researchers suggest that antidepressant withdrawal can be a possible precipitant of suicide.

ADHD Diagnosis Leads to Worse Quality of Life, Increased Self-Harm in Kids

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When comparing kids with the same symptoms who were either diagnosed with ADHD or not, those who received the diagnosis had worse outcomes.

Dear Psychiatry

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Dear Psychiatry: We are done with your juvenile black-and-white bullying tactics that argue that because you cannot neatly contain Us in a box of your design that We are somehow the problem.
open dialogue

Re-humanising Mental Health Systems: A Discussion with Jaakko Seikkula on the Open Dialogue Approach

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Clinical psychologist, researcher, and professor Jaakko Seikkula, along with Markku Sutela, created the Open Dialogue approach to acute crises in Finland.

Exploring the Fault Lines in Mental Health Discourse: An Interview with Psychologist Justin Karter

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Justin Karter discusses his journey to Mad in America, competing models of mental health, and how we navigate these stories in psychotherapy.
A photograph of a bust of Cicero

A New-Old Way of Coping with Grief

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"How to Grieve" is a Renaissance recreation of a lost text from ancient Rome by Cicero, and it’s meant for a wide audience. It's packed with talk-therapy strategies for coping with grief.
marijuana psychosis

Mania or Marijuana?

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Is marijuana to blame for my mental health issues? Strange things started happening in my mind once I started using the medical-grade weed.
Perplexed, confused scientists looking at lab results. White background.

The Spravato Controversy: A Row Over the Drug’s Efficacy Compels a Reassessment of...

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The UK's drug regulator rejected Janssen's esketamine nasal spray. Why did the US FDA approve it?