Featured

An interview with Drs. Peter Breggin and Michael Cornwall who discuss their new initiative, Stop the Psychiatric Abuse of Children (SPAC!). SPAC! was formed in response to the introduction of the Monarch eTNS, an electrical stimulation device worn on a child’s forehead at night that was fast-tracked by FDA with little testing.

People should have real choice. The research and knowledge about how to work differently are already there. Now we need politicians and policymakers to force the change and make it happen in the established services. Mad in Norway will be a leading voice in ensuring this change.

Psychotherapy is dominated by contradicting schools of thought, exhibits a gap between research and practice, and repackages old ideas rather than finding clinical consensus.

Experts across the globe point to the harms of drug companies’ influence on research, practice, and education in healthcare noting that it compromises patient care.

Researchers critically examine the underlying assumptions and implications of a new WHO mental health technology designed to streamline psychiatric assessment internationally.

Antipsychotic drugs are prescribed on the basis of trials that demonstrate a higher rate of ‘relapse’ in people who are withdrawn from these drugs compared to those who continue to take them. Yet, incredibly, there is no consensus about what ‘relapse’ means in this situation.

A new study identifies significant links between food insecurity and sleep, anxiety, depression, and compromised wellbeing among young people in the United States

Current standards for clinical trials rely on statistical methods that allow for ineffective treatments to gain approval.

For the last forty years, psychiatry has been comprehensively critiqued from a myriad of disciplines including sociology, psychology, and the user movement. Is there anything that can be salvaged from the psychiatry project? How would a psychiatrist practice ethically in such a nefarious environment?

With deep regret, Mad in America announces another loss in our contributor community. Julie C. Greene, writer and antipsychiatry advocate, lost her battle with kidney disease on November 29 at her home in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Julie had been an MIA blogger since 2014, including several pieces on the dangers of lithium.

It gradually dawned on me that my back pain was another mask that depression wore. Instead of crying and feeling overwhelmed or giving up, my body was sending distress signals to help me realize that I was in a difficult spot. I began to realize some of the metaphorical aspects of the pain I experienced.

A new scale has been developed and validated to examine beliefs held by mental health professionals towards service users’ rights.

We discuss the release of guidance which has been specifically written to support UK psychological therapists and their clients in having discussions about taking and withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. The guidance is a collaboration between counsellors, therapists, psychologists, peer support specialists and psychiatrists.

The use of machine learning algorithms (known as artificial intelligence) in the medical field raises a slew of ethical concerns.

Stephen Boren, who posted here under the name Stephen Gilbert, passed away November 12 after a battle with cancer. Stephen offered a unique perspective, working as peer support staff at the same hospital where he had once been held as a patient. We will miss his daily presence on MIA.

Young women’s narratives indicate ways antidepressants have shaped their sense of self.

A closer look at a new study reporting that the supplement D-cycloserine improved anxiety when used with exposure therapy.

An interview with Jesse Zook Mann of Mental Health Media about trauma, medication withdrawal, and the possibility for recovery. Jesse was severely harmed by psychiatry, but uses language that reaches people who identify with the mainstream paradigm of mental health and mental illness.

During a period of self-doubt, I chose to see a psychiatrist because I was engulfed in negative thoughts and couldn't find a direction in life. The slightest joys came only when I was high. Though my weed addiction was likely causing all of my symptoms, my psychiatrist’s response was to prescribe antipsychotics.

New study links involuntary hospitalization with psychotic diagnosis, previous involuntary hospitalization, and economic deprivation.

One month ago I suddenly found myself in a very dark place. There is a depth of wisdom that comes from dark or challenging emotional states, that with good support and hard work looking at the underlying (and sometimes ancient) dynamics can lead to enormous insights and compassion.

Researchers investigate trends in opioid use, prescriptions, misuse, and access reported by adolescents and young adults.

A new article explores how psychiatric diagnoses are differentially applied to people of different racial and class backgrounds.

Stories related to psychosis can be intense, and can lead to traumatic recall when a sufferer retells them and does not feel contained or believed within the relationship. I have a number of suggestions for how to encourage the telling of stories without retraumatizing survivors in group settings and in individual encounters.

A new study systematically explores critical reactions to the DSM-5 and identifies unifying themes.