Brave New Apps: The Arrival of Surveillance Psychiatry
Large, centralized, digital social networks and data-gathering platforms have come to dominate our economy and our culture. In the domain of mental health, huge pools of data are being used to train algorithms to identify signs of mental illness. I call this practice surveillance psychiatry.
Blaming the “Mentally Ill”: This is Hate Speech
As could be expected, in the wake of the mass murders in El Paso and Dayton, we have politicians such as President Trump and others such as E. Fuller Torrey blaming the killings on the “mentally ill.” We have heard this over and over again, and I think it is time to call this out for what it is: Hate Speech.
Study Explores Service Users’ Views on Diagnostic Criteria
Researchers investigate service users' lived experiences and their views on mental disorder classifications.
Derek Blumke – The Mad in America Veterans Initiative
On MIA Radio we interview Derek Blumke, who tells of his time serving in the military, his experiences taking and coming off psychiatric drugs and his role as editor of MIA's new Veterans Initiative.
How Biotechologies Preserve the Idea of the Disordered Brain
Social scientists explore how psychiatry’s use of biotechnology is being used to reinvent and secure the idea of the disordered brain
Antidepressants and the National Suicide Epidemic
We encourage young people to see themselves as fragile creatures whose brains can go haywire for any reason, or no reason at all. Then we tell them they have the “disease” of depression and ply them with drugs with a known link to worsening depression and suicidality going back for decades. How many more will have to die before this changes?
Risk of Cardiovascular Death Increased After Psychiatric Hospitalization
The rate of death due to heart-related problems is more than double the rate in the general population after psychiatric hospitalization.
Adding Fluoxetine to Therapy Not Superior to Therapy Alone in Depressed Teens
The addition of fluoxetine to CBT did not further reduce depressive symptoms in young people with moderate-to-severe depression.
How “Safe Messaging” Gaslights Suicidal People
Suicide prevention constructs a reality in which the problems of suicide lie within suicidal people. Sanity is constructed around wanting to live, insanity around wanting to die. Within this paradigm, the suicidal person can never be trusted. They are fragile, vulnerable, demanding protection, surveillance, and management.
Craig Wiener – ADHD: A Return to Psychology
On MIA Radio this week, Miranda Spencer, Mad in America's Parent Resources editor, interviews Dr. Craig Wiener, a licensed psychologist who specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents, and families. He discusses approaches to helping children with "ADHD" behavior that don't involve drugs and constant monitoring.
Improving Mental Health Research through Community Participation
Clinical mental health research that includes community participation circumvents problems with traditional research.
Toward a Critical Self-Reflective Psychiatry: An Interview with Pat Bracken
MIA’s Justin Karter interviews critical psychiatrist and philosopher Pat Bracken about the necessity of challenging received wisdom.
Helping People Come Off Medication—Bad for Business?
The message in journal editorials, comments and opinion articles, is that 'this new study shows great promise' and that 'we need further research'. My interpretation is: 'give us the money and we will be happy to carry this out'. With the implied promise that, once this new research has been done, we will get a better world. Sadly this is rarely ever the case.
How Community Environments Impact Mental Health
Drawing on the relationship between nature and wellbeing, researchers propose a model to improve community environments to improve mental health.
Psychiatric Eugenics Then and Now—You Betcha It’s Still Happening
Most are oblivious to the fact that psychiatric eugenics initiatives continued to exist—and beyond that, to flourish—long after the end of what is normally thought of as “the eugenics era” (roughly, late nineteen century to 1945). Sadly, we are not learning from history what we direly need to learn.
The Complexity of the Indigenous Historical Trauma Concept
Researchers explore how the processes of colonization may impact the well-being of indigenous populations today.
Antidepressants Blunt Ability to Feel Empathy
A new study suggests that taking antidepressants impairs empathy, while the experience of depression itself does not.
Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood: A Tale of Psychotherapy
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and not knowing which one to take, I stood straight, watching my life pass me by. But in therapy, I began to feel the knots of my life come alive inside me. The point is not just to talk, it is to feel your story inside, to hear your silences, and to realize who you are… and who you can be.
An “Even-Handed” History of Psychiatry as Damning as the “Polemics”?
Where Professor Harrington's book seems to differ from books that others might call polemics is that she does not attribute nefarious motives to the psychiatric establishment. I worry that she underplays the ways in which the current model causes harm, but I support her suggestion for a retraction of psychiatry's scope.
We Lost a Giant Today: A Tribute to Janet Foner
Janet Foner, a longtime mental health liberation activist, passed away on July 24, 2019. Many people do not know that Janet helped form the very early Alternatives Conferences in the U.S. and she co-founded MindFreedom International and continued serving on its board to this day. Here we honor her wisdom, tenacity and courage.
Review Finds FDA Approval of Digital Antipsychotic Misguided
The approval of the digital antipsychotic may open the door for more pharmaceutical company profits without evidence of benefits to patients.
Responding to “The Case Against AOT”—Next Steps for Change
Many will direct their efforts toward repealing involuntary outpatient commitment statutes in their states—an extremely challenging and uphill battle—or reforming abuses. Their arguments will be strengthened immensely by the findings in MIA's report. What follows are suggestions about what kinds of interventions to consider.
When Attempts to Localize Global Mental Health Miss the Mark
Researchers find that efforts to integrate the Cambodian idiom baksbat (broken courage) into local mental health care may have served to pathologize adaptive responding.
The Chemical Imbalance Theory: Dr. Pies Returns, Again
Psychiatrist Ronald Pies published a recent piece in the Psychiatric Times titled "Debunking the Two Chemical Imbalance Myths, Again." The subtitle: "A little learning is a dangerous thing." And indeed it is. But not nearly as dangerous as a psychiatrist with a head full of spurious diagnoses and a ready prescription pad.
The Light in the Dark
Darkness began to consume my life, both literally and metaphorically. My surroundings and even my own thoughts would become distorted into something terrifying. As the nights droned on, shadows in my dorm room would contort themselves into threatening figures. The whispers continued to grow, overcoming the thoughts in my head.
