MIA Radio

Stevie describes her experiences taking antidepressant drugs and her severe and protracted reaction to trying to withdraw.

Does a diet without animal products improve mental health? Why can changing to plant based nutrition be so hard to sustain? And are people's food ethics a symptom of an eating disorder and neglected self-care?

Professor Peter Gøtzsche is Director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark and discusses his background in research, his views on antidepressant prescribing and how pharmaceutical manufacturers have influenced mental healthcare.

Kevin is a filmmaker, writer and journalist and his films have won numerous international Film and Television awards, he talks about his approach to film making and his thoughts on how we treat people that ask for help with their mental health.

Doctor Terry Lynch is a GP, psychotherapist, author and mental health educator. Ten years into his career as a GP, he became very concerned about the medical approach to emotional and mental suffering and was not prepared to remain silent.

What’s it like to be a teenager in a psychiatric hospital? What is it like to be a queer pregnant teenager? Is it true that friends do make the best medicine? Nina Packebush explores these questions and more in her groundbreaking debut young adult novel: Girls Like Me.

Professor John Read of the University of East London talks about the overuse of psychiatric medications and the alarming growth in the prescribing of antidepressants, benzodiazepines and other psychoactive medications.

What do depression, loss, frustration, and conflict have to do with global transformation? You can find the answers in this introduction episode to the Break Down. Wake Up podcast

Evelin Lindner was nominated 3 times for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work internationally to overcome the roots of violence and war. Her Dignity and Humiliation Studies initiative is showing a new way to treat each other — from our most intimate relations to our international foreign policies — and also in our response to mental health crisis.

What is it like to hear voices — and are all voices harmful or can they also be helpers? What does voice hearing say about the human mind – and the society we live in?

How a surprising solution to surgical complications helped a business director process her grief and embrace a new calling to help others heal themselves.

Jim van Os, professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology at Maastricht University and member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science with more than 700 publications, is one of the top one percent highly cited scientists in the world.

Megan talks about her experience with anxiety and insomnia, her attempts to withdraw from her medications and how she approached her tapering more carefully to minimise withdrawal effects.

Bhargavi Davar’s mother Bapu was a psychiatric abuse survivor persecuted for her religious devotion.

Simone talks about her experiences of postnatal depression, fibromyalgia and her treatment with antidepressants.

How his own madness inspired Matt Ball, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, to cultivate human connection, community and meaning in the mental healthcare system.

How a mysterious debilitating illness created a human foundation for breakthrough conversations in research and innovation.

How an unexpected business rejection launched a quest for a successful entrepreneur to understand his personal pain and protective strategies.

Nirali Shah, certified UCLA mindfulness facilitator and teacher at Spirit Rock, has spent thousands of hours meditating, as well as serving in one of the largest slum communities of Asia.

Marion Brown is Psychotherapist who works with the Human Givens approach to supporting people in emotional or psychological distress, she has become increasingly concerned about the effects of psychotropic medications on patients.

How experiencing both an abortion and motherhood inspired an approach to activism that transcends ideological divisions.

How a ski accident gave a practical philosopher the insight to liberate his own self worth from the judgments of others and to discover his own career path.

Joshua Haynes - How growing up in a world of constant change inspired an innovative business and commitment to equality. 

Gemma talks about her experiences with psychiatric drugs and the difficulties that parents of children with special needs encounter when they seek treatment for emotional or psychological distress

Daryl, who was only 9 years old when he was taken into mental health services and medicated, talks about being made to take both antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs and he describes the lies told to him to justify treatment.