The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Light: Five Lessons Learned This Month
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.
Rates of Opioid Use Remain High Among US Adolescents
Researchers investigate trends in opioid use, prescriptions, misuse, and access reported by adolescents and young adults.
How Race and Class Impact Schizophrenia and Substance-Use Diagnoses
A new article explores how psychiatric diagnoses are differentially applied to people of different racial and class backgrounds.
Seven Strategies to Avoid Retraumatization While Working with Psychosis
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.
Dissecting the DSM Debate: Researchers Analyze Critiques Across Audiences
A new study systematically explores critical reactions to the DSM-5 and identifies unifying themes.
Despite Claims, EPA Supplement Does Not Improve ADHD Symptoms in Youth
A new study reports that the supplement EPA improved ADHD symptoms but a closer look calls these results into question.
Reflections on a Decade of Assertive Community Treatment
Sometimes I am crazy and sometimes I need help, but that help must not be forced upon me. I need to direct my own care; I need to be listened to. ACT is a method of social control that has more to do with saving money than assisting those in need. Money is saved by turning patients' homes into hospitals.
MIA at Eight Years: Are We Fulfilling Our Mission?
Mad in America is about to turn eight years old, and as we are launching a fundraising effort to keep us going through 2020, I think it’s appropriate to ask the relevant question: Are we accomplishing what we set out to do?
Parachute NYC Peer Support Program Presents Challenges and Opportunities
Anthropologists study Parachute NYC to identify challenges and opportunities for implementing peer support and Open Dialogue practices.
New CDC Data Underscores Need to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences
New prevention strategies are needed based on our increasing understanding of the impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
On Human Rights and Surviving Race: A Conversation with Celia Brown
An interview with Celia Brown: psychiatric survivor, human rights activist, and president of MindFreedom International.
No Matter Which Measure You Use, Antidepressants Aren’t That Effective
Researchers compared the efficacy of antidepressants using different rating scales and found them to be no different—just slightly better than placebo, and not meeting the criteria for clinical significance.
Anthropologists Contemplate the Future Role of Psychiatry
Anthropologists who study the psychiatric field recently had papers published in two highly influential journals. While they both call for or describe reform initiatives, they point us in different directions with regard to the future role of psychiatrists. With a shift in resources, might psychiatry finally get it right?
Psychotherapy Less Effective for People in Poverty and Those on Antidepressants
A new study finds poorer depression and anxiety outcomes in psychotherapy for people in economically deprived neighborhoods and those on antidepressants.
Lindsay Church: Military Mental Health – Journey from the Brink to Recovery
US Navy Veteran Lindsay Church describes how a surgical procedure led to her being prescribed 16 medications in 18 months and ultimately to consider taking her life. Lindsay now focuses on supporting minority veterans through social engagement and community building.
Involuntary Obedience: Rituals of Humiliation Disguised as ‘Care’
Like slavery took such a long time to be ‘officially’ forbidden, psychiatric hospitals will be with us for some time yet. Their masters, the doctors or administrators, no longer give beatings with their hands but with the far more treacherous chemicals that allow them to keep a good conscience and distribute what are beatings nevertheless.
Hearing Voices Network Launches Family & Friends Support Group
One of the HVN's fundamental principles is that "the person having these experiences is in the best position to decide or discover what they mean" and thus each person must "not try to speak for" another. The challenge for a family group will likely be for members to move past speaking about our loved ones to find or imagine the space where we ourselves are liberated.
Dehumanization Linked to Poorer Mental and Physical Health
A new review finds that dehumanizing language, including self-dehumanization, is connected to anxiety, depression, and disordered eating.
High Time for Anarchism in Mental Health
Anarchism has much to offer the debate. It can present a clear voice saying: Liberty is not an obstacle for quality treatment, it is rather the very basis of it. Research shows that the anti-authoritarian elements in methods such as Open Dialogue and Stabilizing Homes actually promote a stronger, fuller recovery in patients.
Parent Marijuana Use Associated With Substance Use in Children
A new study examines longitudinal, intergenerational patterns associated with marijuana use.
Deep Brain Stimulation and Deeply Biased Researchers, Revisited
In the Washington Post last week, a new treatment was being advanced as a breakthrough for opioid addiction. What was this miraculous new intervention? Implanting electrodes deep in the brain, and using a battery implanted elsewhere in the body to zap the addict and keep him from relapsing.
Fear and Belief in “Chemical Imbalance” Prevent People from Coming Off Antidepressants
Researchers interviewed people who were given medical advice to discontinue antidepressants.
Refugees and Immigrants Experience Increased Medical Coercion
Refugees and first-generation immigrants of African descent are at greater risk of experiencing medical coercion when compared to immigrants of other visible minority communities in Canada.
Training Health Workers in Therapy Leads to Improvements and Less Medication Use
A Nigerian study finds that more than three-quarters of patients improved, even when only 13% were prescribed medication.
“We Need a New Paradigm” — Rethinking Psychiatry’s Hospitalization Survey
Rethinking Psychiatry put out a survey on people’s experiences of psychiatric hospitalization in the Pacific Northwest. The results showed tremendous dissatisfaction, with the overwhelming majority of respondents reporting that they did not feel safe, secure or respected in the hospital.
