Illustration of DNA structure. At the top left it is dissolving into dots.

Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at the Crossroads: Mary Boyle Interviews Jay Joseph

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The psychiatric genetics field is historically based in eugenics and diverts our attention from evidence-backed causes of human suffering and dysfunction.
Vector style illustration of a woman hugging her knees with cloudlike scribbles on a blue-gray background

Splitting Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder

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Recognition of C-PTSD might be a double-edged sword, further marginalizing the very individuals it aimed to assist.
Red and white pills have spilled from a crystal dish along with red liquid

Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part Eight)

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Researchers have again and again demonstrated that depression pills double suicides both in children and adults.
Ekaterina Netchitailova

Stigma: But What if I Don’t Want to Be Like Everyone Else?

Should I keep silent when I am well, or continue talking about it, knowing that I will probably deal with stigma for the rest of my life?

Only When It Poured

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Disposable toothbrushes and sporks. Crayons instead of pens. Little pills in little paper cups. Someone would come. Someone would go. The days turned into nights and back again.

Embodying Emotional Taboos: Musicians and Mental Health

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Mia Berrin is a songwriter, producer, and recording artist based out of Brooklyn, whose project, Pom Pom Squad, has garnered attention over the last...

NIMH’s It-girls: The Genain Quadruplets and the Whiteness of Psychiatry

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The poster-children of psychiatric genetics, who endured abuse throughout their lives, were also the product of a racist culture.
Illustration depicting a row of people being erased by a broom-like object

Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part Seven)

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Peter Gøtzsche continues to detail the increase in suicide attempts and deaths found in studies of depression pills.
Letter blocks spelling "CANCER" and spilled pills in various colors on a white background

Cancer Risk Higher for Those on Clozapine

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The antipsychotic clozapine, considered the “gold-standard” treatment for psychosis, was found to increase the risk of blood and lymph system cancers.
Chalkboard with white arrows and one red pointing in different direction

The APA’s Apology for Racism Omits Psychiatry’s Essential Bigotry

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Psychiatry has acknowledged its history of racism, but can they ever acknowledge that the entire edifice is built on fundamental bigotry?

Children Are Vulnerable Cogs in the Psychiatric Machine

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My guardian decided to seek out “professional” advice about how to diminish my “outbursts.” I was perceived as a problem that needed to be extinguished into a compliant state.

Changing Brains, Changing Minds: Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal and the Marital Relationship

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As family support people for those caught in the mental health system, our job is to mitigate as much of the trauma as we can.

For Native People, the Past is Present: David Edward Walker on Oppressive Mental Health...

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David Edward Walker is the author of Coyote’s Swing: A Memoir and Critique of Mental Hygiene in Native America, which was published in February...

Akathisia: Historical Perspective for Healing

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I'm still tapering from medications, but I am better, which is how I know recovery is possible. Understanding the systems that were impacted by medications was an essential piece of the puzzle.
Illustration depicting a pencil eraser erasing a person from a row of businessmen in suits

Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part Six)

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On the pharmaceutical industry's spinning of results of clinical trials to hide suicide attempts and deaths on depression pills.
brain against blue dna strand with chemical structures

No Difference in Antidepressant Effectiveness After Genetic Testing

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Genetic testing may help reduce the length of time people experience the harmful effects of antidepressant drugs, but it is not helpful for predicting efficacy.
Illustration including the words "MYTHS" and "FACTS"

Cochrane’s Demise: Misleading Denigration of Benzodiazepines for Acute Psychosis

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On a misleading Cochrane review of benzodiazepines for acute psychosis, and how Cochrane responded to criticism.

Reclaiming My Yin and Yang

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Western psychiatry has done a lot of harm to people, especially when it is forced upon people as their “only” option. People’s experiences are wildly diverse, and only a diversity of options can do justice to our differing needs.

State Hospital Memories: More of My Story

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The Detroit Free Press did an excellent job in bringing to light the conditions at Pontiac, its loss of accreditation, and closing. Still, they didn't quite grasp the severity of violence there.
Photo of a white child covering ears with hands

Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part Five)

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Peter Gøtzsche continues the discussion of the pharmaceutical industry’s manipulation of depression pill trials for children and adolescents.
Vector illustration of a crowd of many diverse faces

Should Everyone Be in Therapy?

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A new study finds that those with mild distress are three times as likely to feel worse after therapy than to receive some benefit.

Gabapentin Withdrawal: One Year Later

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Even though I was only on the medication for a little over six months, I am still traveling down the long road of psychiatric drug withdrawal. This is the hardest thing I have ever endured.
Photo of a man in a suit holding money and making a shush sign with his finger on his lips

Psychiatrists: The Criminals Behind the Scenes of the Conservatorship Business

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We need to dig deeper into the doctors who conduct these evaluations, who hide behind their sealed documents with no transparency and zero accountability.
Illustration depicting birds on wires. One bird sits far apart from the crowd.

Not Everyone Agreed With FDA Approval of Antipsychotic Rexulti for Agitation

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Providing the sole "no" vote on the approval of Rexulti, the consumer representative on the FDA's advisory committee shares her reasoning.
Close-up of a gold padlock hanging from a man's belt

Antidepressants Have Destroyed My Sexual Function and Range of Emotions

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In 2012, in a period of low mood and anxiety, my GP prescribed an antidepressant. Little did I know that this would derail my life.