Making Peer Counseling Radically Accessible
I imagined a world in which anyone can hit a button on their phone and be connected with a compassionate and empathetic listener, 24/7. So in 2019, I founded Peer Collective. Today, there are 30 peer counselors on the platform offering 30-minute counseling sessions for just $14.
Antipsychotic Augmentation Increases Risk of Death
A new study finds that adding an antipsychotic to existing antidepressant treatment is associated with a 45% increased risk of early death.
Research Finds Ketamine Does Not Reduce Delirium or Pain After Surgery
Contrary to widely-held belief, a new rigorous trial finds that ketamine is ineffective for delirium and pain associated with surgery, and the drug carries harmful side effects.
Study Highlights Difficulty of Antipsychotic Withdrawal
New research finds insomnia, anxiety, and depression are common symptoms of antipsychotic withdrawal, highlighting difficulties of discontinuation.
So What is Mental Disorder? Part 2: The Social Problem
The English Workhouse was designed to deter people from seeking state assistance, and Victorian asylums were designed to care for poor people whose behaviour was disruptive to Workhouse routines. Madness, previously viewed as an interesting, if inconvenient, manifestation of humanity, came to be seen as a social problem in need of correction.
Jon Jureidini–Evidence-Based Medicine in a Post-Truth World
In this interview, Jon Jureidini talks about the issues with evidence-based medicine and describes what led to the debasement of a system originally conceived to challenge extravagant claims and poor science.
When Tapering Antidepressants, is Going Slow Always the Best Strategy?
Do we take enough account of total drug exposure time when devising antidepressant tapering strategies?
The Significance of Semiotics in Social Work
Mental health treatment requires more than words; it demands a deep understanding of the unspoken, the symbols and signs that permeate our lives.
Psychiatry, Capitalism, and the Recuperation of Psychedelics
For a psychiatrist trained to conceptualize within the medical model, psychedelics will at worst be a novel pharmacotherapy altering broken neural pathways, and at best remain an intervention targeting a multidimensional “mental illness” rather than a communion with the magical yet essential dimension of the human experience.
“Make Psychiatry Healthy”: Analysis of a Leaflet From the Danish Psychiatric Association
The Danish Psychiatric Association has a leaflet on its website entitled “Make Psychiatry Healthy.” I found that the suggestions would make psychiatry sicker than it already is.
Largest Survey of Antipsychotic Experiences Reveals Negative Results
A new survey exploring antipsychotic user experience finds that more than half of the participants report only negative experiences.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 2: Are Psychiatric Disorders Mainly Genetic or Environmental? (Part One)
Textbooks portray ADHD and schizophrenia as genetic disorders, despite the much stronger evidence for environmental factors.
Researchers Accuse Lancet Article and British Psychiatrists of Minimising Antidepressants’ Withdrawal Effects
A response to a seriously flawed review.
Mental Health Care Must Support Consent and Basic Human Rights
Despite the UN’s strong stance against involuntary treatment, many countries continue to uphold legislation that encourages it.
Beyond Labels and Meds—Closer Look: Isabella Castillo
At times I tend to feel invisible. Sometimes I don’t feel like I fit in with everyone else; I feel like an outsider.
Psychiatry Upgraded the Declaration of Independence
According to psychiatry, unhappiness is a medically treatable disease. No need to "pursue" happiness other than by swallowing pills called “antidepressants.”
Curing Schizophrenia via Intensive Psychotherapy
I believe that an Intensive Psychotherapy can lead to healing and, often, a cure of psychotic states. By cure I mean the cessation of delusions and hallucinations, and a gradual titration off of antipsychotic medication, with the cure lasting—even without continuing psychotherapy.
Study Reduces Over-prescription of Antipsychotics in Older Adults
New intervention shows promise in reducing over-prescription of off-label antipsychotics in older adults.
The New Yorker Peers into the Psychiatric Abyss… And Loses Its Nerve
The New Yorker's story on Laura Delano and psychiatric drug withdrawal is a glass-half-full story: It addresses a problem in psychiatry and yet hides the deeper story to be told. A story of how her recovery resulted from seeing herself within a counter-narrative that tells of the harm that psychiatry can do.
Creating Our Mental Health
We wanted to challenge the conventional assumption that mental health is a static condition or attribute by suggesting that it’s more useful to think of it as an activity that people do together, rather than a thing that individuals have or don’t have. This distinction matters because we can change what we do — what we are, not so much.
No, Jill Biden Should Not Be Called “Doctor”… But Only Because No One Should
Jill deserves all the defense she is receiving. However, this rush to defend Jill’s honorific usage is missing a much bigger and far more pervasive point: NO ONE should be called “Dr. Last-name.”
Compassion and Understanding Versus Drugs and Disease: Where Does Humanistic Psychology Stand Now?
Authors with lived experience of extreme states present a humanistic contrast to psychiatry.
Project LETS: Building Peer-Led Mental Health Alternatives on Campus
Founder and Executive Director Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu talks about the organization's work to support struggling students and end discrimination against them.
“Maybe You Need Meds”: From Passive Patient to Finding My Voice
I made journaling non-negotiable. I started sitting in nature and running trails. I practiced being present and prioritized sleep. These things are often seen as what you do if your problems aren’t really that bad. But to me, these are the things I do to save myself every day.
“Free Our People!” Ex-Psychiatric Patients Demand COVID-19 Accountability in State-Run Facilities
Residents and workers are dying from COVID-19 exposure in Massachusetts state hospitals. One group of ex-psychiatric patients and allies has had enough.
