Inside A Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Where I’ve Come From and Where I’m Going
I will begin with a story of my youth. Then I will explore what my life has looked like since my release from custody. Finally, I will offer my own perspective on the country’s problems with gun violence, articulated from my unique positionality.
Why Some Experts and Patients Want to Rename Schizophrenia: Interview with Raquelle Mesholam-Gately and...
MIA interviews Matcheri Keshavan and Raquelle Mesholam-Gately on their research with service users and consumers on renaming schizophrenia.
Learning a Different Way: An Interview with Maori Psychiatrist Diana Kopua
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Diana Kopua about the Mahi a Atua approach, the global mental health movement, and the importance of language and narratives in how we understand our world and ease our suffering.
Surviving Antidepressants: An Interview with Adele Framer
That is the truth about withdrawal syndrome: It’s like a 50-50 chance that you’re going to have a problem. If you’re in the unlucky half, you’re gonna be really unlucky.
The Dying of the Light: Norway’s “Medication-Free” Services for Psychotic Patients Are Fading Away
Despite their successful outcomes, Norwegian non-coercive and medication-free programs are being threatened with closure.
Medicating Preschoolers for ADHD: How “Evidence-Based” Psychiatry Has Led to a Tragic End
The prescribing of stimulants to preschoolers diagnosed with ADHD is on the rise, which is said to be an "evidence-based" practice. A review of that "evidence base" reveals that claims that ADHD is characterized by genetic and brain abnormalities are belied by the data, and that the NIMH trial of methylphenidate in this age group told of long-term harm.
Reporting the COVID Crisis at Psychiatric Hospitals: A Missed Opportunity
In its coverage of the impact of COVID on psychiatric hospitals, the media missed opportunities to challenge stereotypes and interrogate problems with current carceral approaches to mental health treatment.
The Media’s New Hashtag: #GuardianshipIsGood for Britney Spears
Recent press coverage of top star Britney Spears, who remains under a personal and professional guardianship, reflects conventional attitudes about “mental illness” that are both stigmatizing and encourage legislation that promotes forced treatment.
The Medicalization of Women’s Suffering: An Interview with Dana Becker
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Dana Becker about how therapeutic culture fails to adequately address women’s suffering.
Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Earning the Right to Sleep on the Floor
Life in the DC was far too complicated for me to be able to just listen to my body and sleep on a thick yoga mat placed on the floor to alleviate my severe back pain.
Adverse Effects: The Perils of Deep Brain Stimulation for Depression
Hundreds of people have been given remote control deep brain stimulation implants for psychiatric disorders such as depression, OCD and Tourette’s. Yet DBS specialists still have no clue about its mechanisms of action and research suggests its hefty health and safety risks far outweigh benefits.
Depression: Psychiatry’s Discredited Theories and Drugs Versus a Sane Model and Approach
Psychiatry’s depression outcomes are poor because its bio-chemical-electrical treatments are based on a depression model that science has flushed down the toilet.
Answering Awais Aftab: When it Comes to Misleading the Public, Who is the Culprit?
The research literature from the WHO, NIMH, and others does not support a narrative of therapeutic progress, of psychiatric treatments that have “continued” to improve over time.
Why Isn’t There a Popular Hashtag for Involuntary Commitment?
As uses of psychiatric force expand, can social media be better used to focus critical attention?
WHO and the Sea Change in Mental Health: Interview with Michelle Funk
MIA's Ana Florence interviews Michelle Funk about her leadership of the new WHO guidelines on rights-based mental health.
Our Medical System Protects Wrongdoers and Punishes Whistleblowers: An Interview with Carl Elliott
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Carl Elliott about scandals in psychiatry and the challenges faced by whistleblowers.
“I Found My Lion’s Roar”: Ro Speight on Combining Peer Support and Open Dialogue
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.
Robert Whitaker Answers Reader Questions on Mad in America, the Biopsychosocial Model, and Psychiatric...
On the Mad in America podcast this week we have Robert Whitaker with us to answer questions sent in by readers and listeners.
Popular Obesity Drugs Monitored for Suicidal Thinking
Concerns rise about the adverse effects and longer-term harms of GLP-1 injections like Ozempic and Wegovy.
The New York Times Is Now Engulfed in the STAR*D Scandal
The New York Times published yet again the fraudulent result from the STAR*D trial. Will the mainstream media ever tell of this scandal?
The Failings of “Mental Health”: How a Seemingly Benign Concept Might be Dangerous
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Bruce Cohen about dismissive psychiatrists, pervasive psychiatry, and the field's ties to neoliberal capitalism.
Addressing the Roots of Racial Trauma: An Interview with Psychologist Lillian Comas-Díaz
MIA’s Hannah Emerson interviews Comas-Díaz on the need for culturally competent care in a medicalized and individualistic society.
Jim van Os and Peter Groot: When Assessing Antidepressant Withdrawal Methods, RCTs Fall Short
Jim van Os and Peter Groot discuss their paper: “Successful Use of Tapering Strips for Hyperbolic Reduction of Antidepressant Dose: A Cohort Study” published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology.
Books Under Review: Spring 2022
Reviews of four recent books reflecting various perspectives on the mental health system.
The Latest “Breakthrough Therapy”: Expensive New Drugs for Tardive Dyskinesia
The increased prescribing of antipsychotics, which frequently cause a brain injury that manifests as tardive dyskinesia, has provided pharmaceutical companies with a lucrative new market opportunity.
