Stigma & Bigotry

In this interview for ABC Australia, leading psychology professor Peter Kinderman discusses why we need alternative ways of understanding and supporting people in distress that take...

If we are to demand justice for our brothers and sisters in hospitals, jails and community-based programs, then we must demand justice for women, Blacks and other POC who are being discriminated against. We cannot continue to be silent while 50% of us are regulated to the back, and not allowed space at the table. Our fellow community members are wounded by the silence. We expect and are now demanding to be treated better.

There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that being exposed to bullying in childhood can contribute to mental health problems later in life. In a new study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, the researchers found that children who reported being bullied at age eight were significantly more likely to seek treatment for mental health problems by age twenty-nine.

I believe that those who understand psychiatry’s self-serving claims and want to be most effective in a campaign of re-education must never lose sight of the critical role of language in the forming of public opinion. Here I will use the example of stigma to illustrate psychiatry's “War of the Words.”

One-third of adults with an intellectual or developmental disability are dispensed antipsychotics, despite having no existing psychiatric diagnosis.

Researchers explore neoliberal influences on interactions in psychotherapy and question whether the radical potential of psychotherapy can counter prevailing social systems.

Experiencing emotional pain is a necessary part of life. Emotional pain often contains valuable lessons to help us on our journeys. We need to make sure we are not numbing our hearts to those that are hurting. We need to de-stigmatize the struggles, joys and pains that come with being human. We need to not just mindlessly pursue happiness - though we might think of that as an inalienable right - and avoid pain. We need to do the only thing that brings true joy: embrace all of life and each other, as we experience together all that makes us human.

In this piece for Me, Myself and Disability, suicide attempt survivor Chris Coombs challenges the common misconception that people who attempt suicide always regret it and...

Over and over I've seen the aftermath of that ritual of receiving and internalizing a lifelong, pathologizing diagnosis. I don't think we can underestimate the uncanny power of receiving such proclamations about our personhood by people sanctioned by our culture to serve as arbiters of truth.

From Medical Xpress: Racism is a major public health issue that is correlated with physical and mental health problems including depression, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, breast...

A new meta-analysis claiming to prove once and for all that antidepressants are an effective treatment for moderate to severe depression was published just a few days...

Despite the promises of two successive governments to end forced shock treatment in Ireland, unwilling patients are still being forced to undergo the therapy, according to the Sunday Independent. “Writer Ernest Hemingway, who committed suicide shortly after ECT, is reported to have said before his death: ‘It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient.’"

A case analysis of an American Indian woman illustrates how the DSM diagnostic criteria misrepresent the lives of indigenous people.

In this piece for Community Care, Anjum Shah argues that social work academics need to pay more attention to the work of the philosopher Frantz...

In this piece for The Atlantic, Joseph Frankel compares and contrasts the voice-hearing experiences of self-described psychics and mediums with the experiences of people diagnosed with...

In this essay for the Psychiatric Times, Dr. Edward Khantzian reflects on the pain and grief caused by all forms of racism and bigotry, from...

A new study explores how “psychosis” and “schizophrenia” are viewed within the Māori community in New Zealand.

Medical sociologist David Pilgrim argues that mental health care is neither effective nor “kindly,” as it often relies on flawed research and ineffective treatments.

In this piece for The Guardian, Dean Burnett critiques Johann Hari's new book challenging what we know about depression. According to Burnett, many of the points...

From Discover Magazine: Headlines in various news sources reporting on a new study claim that women's brains have been found to be more active than...

BPS releases report encouraging behavioral interventions for people with dementia, rather than antipsychotics

From The New York Times: In recent years, politicians have shown increased awareness of the opioid epidemic and have made statements about the need for treatment,...

14-year study of a rural sample in China shows those who were married had higher rates of remission from schizophrenia.

For the North Carolina Law Review, Katie Rose Guest Pryal writes, that “ a psychiatric diagnosis, or involuntary civil commitment to a psychiatric ward—which is...

In this piece for The New Yorker, Junot Diaz reflects on the impact of his experience of childhood sexual abuse and the ways that therapy...