More Students Than Ever Suffer Mental Ill Health
From The Guardian: The number of children and young adults experiencing mental health problems is rapidly rising. More than ever, young people are growing up in...
“I Work in Mental Health But Colleagues Don’t Understand My Depression”
-An anonymous mental health nurse describes how struggling with her own depression has given her new insights into the state of mental health care.
The “It’s All in Your Head” Diagnosis Endangers Women’s Health
From Los Angeles Times: Many physicians are quick to dismiss women's serious health concerns as psychological issues, leading to the delay of proper treatment and...
The Paradox of White Americans’ Mental Health
Are White Americans’ poor mental health outcomes caused by Whiteness?
What if ACEs (Adverse Childhood Events) Were the Basis of Mental Health Treatment?
What would happen if the mental health system fully recognized the pervasive and profound impacts of trauma on their clients? How might a deeper appreciation of the multi-faceted sequelae of childhood maltreatment and toxic stressors reshape mental health services? While the implementation of trauma-informed care in mental health programs has made significant inroads, the dominant bio-reductionist model continues to constrain and undermine progress.
Living With Depression Under Capitalism
In this piece for rs21, Kate Bradley writes about the depression she has experienced as a result of capitalism and societal oppression, and the way...
“Brains Aren’t Actually ‘Male’ or ‘Female,’ New Study Suggests”
New research on gender and the brain found that only a very small number of people have brains that are “entirely male, female, or intermediate between the two.” “The vast majority,” they write, have “a mosaic.”
Interventions that Promote Disclosure Among Voice-Hearers
The perspectives of the voice-hearers featured in the research underscore that stigma and negative perceptions of voice hearing present significant obstacles within early intervention programs.
Many are Depressed Because They’re Expected not to be
From The Conversation: New studies suggest that Western cultural values - specifically the high value we place on happiness - may be the reason that...
What New Zealand’s “Unfortunate Experiment” Can Teach Us
From the Boston Review: In his new book Doctors in Denial: The Forgotten Women in the "Unfortunate Experiment," Ronald W. Jones chronicles the history of New...
How to Integrate Culture into Mental Health Care
Researchers explore how culturally responsive services can create greater equity in mental health care.
Mad Pride Rises in Mexico
The Mad Pride movement continues to spread around the world, with a first-ever march in Mexico City.
Crazy Talk: The Dangerous Rhetoric of Mental Illness
In this piece for Eidolon, Jessica Wright discusses the ways that labeling people as "crazy" and "mentally ill" has served to justify oppression throughout history....
The Nazi History Behind “Asperger”
From The New York Times: Although the official diagnosis of Asperger's disorder has recently been dropped from the DSM, it is still included in the...
“How We Label People with ‘Mental Illness’ Influences Tolerance”
Honor Whiteman reports on a study in The Journal of Counseling & Development, which found that people may be less tolerant of an individual...
School Discipline is Racially Biased and Increases Misbehavior
School discipline that punishes minor misbehavior may increase adolescents’ misconduct and lead to racial inequalities in school discipline.
Antidepressants Often Prescribed to Enforce Heteronormativity, Study Concludes
A new study investigating fifteen years of patient records at a Midwestern hospital found that psychiatrists almost always responded to patient complaints about their relationships by prescribing antidepressants, despite the fact that these complaints had little to do with the DSM criteria for depression. The study’s lead author, Jonathan Metzl, a professor of Sociology and Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt, suggests that after the decision in 1974 to remove homosexuality from the DSM, psychiatry continued to enforce socially accepted forms of relationships through the prescription of antidepressants.
When Psychologists Deny Guantanamo Torture
Psychologist Roy Eidelson comments on the Society for Military Psychology’s criticism of the Hoffman report, which exposed the collusion between the APA and the CIA’s torture program. He writes, “the leaders of APA’s military psychology division have offered a very dark vision for the profession of psychology – a vision that we must reject, both individually and institutionally.”
Mental Illness Weaponry and Shrink Hypocrisy
In this piece for CounterPunch, Bruce Levine critiques the pervasive hypocrisy among U.S. mental health professionals, who on one hand claim they hope to abolish the...
Outcomes of Childhood Bullying on Young Adults’ Wellbeing
A qualitative study explores young adults’ childhood bullying experiences.
“The Great ‘Mental Illness’ Hoax: Rampage Killings and the Gun Culture”
Over at CounterPunch, Carl Boggs takes on the knee-jerk mental illness response that pervades the airwaves after every mass shooting. He writes: “What the mental-health fixation lacks is any semblance of historical or social context. Given the persistence of U.S. imperialism and militarism — and mounting fascination with combat and guns in a society transfigured by its warfare state — Washington remains a thriving center of global violence: repeated armed interventions abroad have found their domestic parallel in the world’s largest prison system, a deepening gun culture, home-bred terrorism, police atrocities, and a media culture filled with spectacles of warfare and bloodshed.”
Depression Discrimination More Severe in High Income Countries
According to a study published in this month’s British Journal of Psychiatry, people diagnosed with depression in high-income countries are more likely to limit...
Inequality is Bad For Your Health
From Pacific Standard: In a recent study featuring a group of American twins, twins who experienced greater levels of inequality showed more physiological signs of...
How to Talk to Somebody Who is Hearing Voices
In this piece for MetroUK, Lucy Nichol explains how to best support people in "psychosis," emphasizing the need to believe individuals who hear voices and recognize...
Western ‘Depression’ is Not Universal
Derek Summerfield, consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, challenges the assumption that Western depression is a universal condition.
