Critical Psychology for a Better Society: An Interview with Sebastienne Grant

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Micah Ingle interviews Sebastienne Grant about her work developing a critical psychology program to reimagine and restructure social systems.

Peter Groot and Akansha Vaswani: Tapering Strips and Shared Decision-Making

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Doctoral candidate Akansha Vaswani interviews researcher and geneticist Dr. Peter Groot, who has led the development of Tapering Strips, a novel and practical method by which people taking certain prescription medications can gradually reduce their dosage.

MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy and Therapeutic Humility: An Interview with Marcela Ot’alora

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Richard Sears interviews Marcella Ot’alora, therapist and principal investigator for MAPS MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.

Michael O’Loughlin: Exploring Narrative Approaches to Psychological Distress

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Professor Michael O'Loughlin of Adelphi University talks about his childhood experiences and how they influenced his narrative and conversational approaches to supporting those suffering with psychological distress.

Exploring the Fault Lines in Mental Health Discourse: An Interview with Psychologist Justin Karter

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Justin Karter discusses his journey to Mad in America, competing models of mental health, and how we navigate these stories in psychotherapy.

Our Medical System Protects Wrongdoers and Punishes Whistleblowers: An Interview with Carl Elliott

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MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Carl Elliott about scandals in psychiatry and the challenges faced by whistleblowers.

The Nurtured Heart Approach Instead of Drugs: An Interview with Howard Glasser

6
This episode of “Mad in the Family” focuses on a non-drug method to bringing out the best in challenging children, particularly those diagnosed with “ADHD.” It is called the Nurtured Heart Approach® and its essence is that, in the words of our guest, “the same intensity that drives people crazy is actually the source of a child’s greatness."

Psychological Support for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal

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We discuss the release of guidance which has been specifically written to support UK psychological therapists and their clients in having discussions about taking and withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. The guidance is a collaboration between counsellors, therapists, psychologists, peer support specialists and psychiatrists.

Bonnie Burstow and Nick Walker: An Introduction to Cognitive Liberty

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This week on the Mad in America Podcast we launch our series on forced treatment, interviewing antipsychiatry scholar Bonnie Burstow and neurodiversity scholar Nick Walker. Central to both Nick and Bonnie’s work is the concept of cognitive liberty, or freedom and integrity of the mind.

Chemicals Have Consequences—Antidepressants and Pregnancy: An Interview With Adam Urato, MD

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Adam joins us to discuss what we do and don’t know about the effects of antidepressants on babies and mothers and the importance of counselling in order to aid families in making important decisions about pharmaceutical drug use.

Why Does a Parent Medicate a Child? An Interview with My Mother

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When Brooke Siem was 15 years old, her father died. Her mother, Dee Barbash, sought help for her daughter that led to a prescription for a psychiatric drug. In this interview, they look back on that fateful decision.

“I Found My Lion’s Roar”: Ro Speight on Combining Peer Support and Open Dialogue

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MIA's Ana Florence interviews recovery advocate Ro Speight about her journey from receiving Peer Support to working as a facilitator in Peer Partnered Open Dialogue.

Psychedelics, Transformative Experiences and Healing: An Interview with Katrina Michelle

12
Richard Sears interviews transpersonal psychologist Katrina Michelle about harm reduction practices with psychedelics in therapy.

Where Western Medicine Meets Indigenous Healing: An Interview with Anthropologist Ian Puppe

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MIA's Micah Ingle interviews the anthropologist Ian Puppe on how the imposition of psychiatric treatments can lead to harmful iatrogenic effects with Indigenous peoples.

Cured: A Memoir—Sarah Fay on Giving Everyone the Chance to Heal

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Author Sarah Fay joins us to discuss why "cured" is such a seldom-used word in psychiatry.

Jon Jureidini–Evidence-Based Medicine in a Post-Truth World

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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.

Sherry Julo, Ed White and John Read – Online Support Groups for Psychiatric Drug...

6
This week on the MIA podcast, we discuss a recent paper that considers the support provided by online support groups when people seek help for psychiatric drug withdrawal. It was published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology in January 2021 and the authors are Sherry Julo, Ed White and John Read.

Beyond Paternalism or Abandonment in Mental Health Care: An Interview with Neil Gong

12
Neil Gong exposes the false choice in mental health policy between tolerant containment for the poor and paternalistic surveillance for the rich.

Michael Fontaine: What the Ancient World Can Teach Us About Emotional Distress

8
An interview with Professor of classical languages and literature, Michael Fontaine. Michael is Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at Cornell University in New York. We discuss what Ancient Greece and Rome can teach us about psychiatry and the concept of mental disorders.

One Person’s Journey from Celebrity Medical Model Advocate to Skeptic: An Interview with Rose...

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Rose Cartwright is a screenwriter and the author of Pure, a hugely successful memoir which was then turned into a series for Channel Four....

Trauma and Mental Health in Social Movements: An Interview with Janice Haaken

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MIA's Emaline Friedman interviews psychologist and filmmaker Janice Haaken about how mental health discourse impacts social movements.

Psychiatry and the Counterculture: An Interview with Health Historian Lucas Richert

3
Richard Sears interviews pharmaceutical industry scholar Lucas Richert about American counterculture and psychiatry in the 1970s.

‘A Playground for Predators’: Diane Dimond on The Abuses of Guardianship

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Our guest today is Diane Dimond, a longtime, award-winning investigative journalist specializing in crime and justice issues. As a freelance journalist, syndicated columnist, and...

Amanda Burrill: Self-Advocacy and Self-Belief – Escaping Psychiatric Drugs

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An interview with Amanda Burrill, who, after a successful career as a Surface Warfare Officer and Rescue Swimmer in the US Navy, was on track to continue her career as a professional triathlete and marathon runner. Around the time of her discharge, she was prescribed a cocktail of psychiatric medications that caused physical injuries, leading to an early end to her rapidly accelerating career.

Peter Gordon: Addressing the Divide Between the Arts and Medical Sciences

4
An interview with Dr Peter Gordon who describes himself as a gardener with an interest in medicine. He trained in both medicine and architecture before specialising in psychiatry. In addition, he is an activist and campaigner and has a range of creative interests including filmmaking, photography, writing and poetry.