A black and white photo of Andrew Rich

In Andrew’s Honor: Attorney Elizabeth Rich’s Fight Against Unjust Commitments

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Anyone detained and then formally committed under Wisconsin’s civil mental health laws can initially be held and forcibly drugged for six long months. Yet, for years, not a single person has been able to appeal the six-month commitments in court.

“Holy Shit!” Psychiatry’s Cognitive Dissonance on Display

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Even those who would seek to reform the profession of psychiatry cannot confront the reality that exists in the research literature

Psychiatry, Fraud, and the Case for a Class-Action Lawsuit

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For decades, psychiatry committed medical fraud when it told the public that antidepressants fixed a chemical imbalance in the brain.

Suicide Hotlines and the Impact of Non-Consensual Interventions

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Those struggling with suicidal thoughts may stay silent instead of reaching out to suicide hotlines because they fear non-consensual intervention and the harmful impact of police involvement.

Medicating Preschoolers for ADHD: How “Evidence-Based” Psychiatry Has Led to a Tragic End

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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.
Two photos. On the left, a woman cries while holding a phone to her ear. On the right, two police officers peer into the glass door of a home.

Roll-out of 988 Threatens Anonymity of Crisis Hotlines

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Even after their own advisory committee criticized call tracing, leaders of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline have been lobbying government for cutting-edge mass surveillance and tracking technology. Privacy experts are raising concerns.
A collage depicting women using cell phones and hallucinogenic mushrooms, against a psychedelic purple background

Fireside Project: Peer Support for Psychedelic Experiences

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A new nonprofit support line takes a harm-reduction approach and helps people process their psychedelic experiences.
A prescription bottle. The label reads "Healthy diet" and "Exercise."

Art, Music, Exercise, and More: What Are the Recommended Doses for Improving Mental Health?

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Researchers have calculated the dose-response benefits of ordinary hobbies, habits, and lifestyle practices that are available without any trip to a doctor or a drug store.

Crisis on Campus: Mental Health Counselors Are Feeling the Crush

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A dramatic rise in demand for college mental health services has led to counselors feeling burned out. Counseling center directors are looking for solutions.

Anatomy of an Industry: Commerce, Payments to Psychiatrists and Betrayal of the Public Good

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Pharmaceutical companies paid psychiatrists $340 million from 2014 through 2020, corrupting every aspect of the testing and marketing of new psychiatric drugs.
Photograph of East Wing and a field of buckwheat

Inner Fire: Where Seekers Have a Choice

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A Vermont residential community program helps people taper or stay off medications with holistic care embedded in a pastoral setting.

Greg Hitchcock: Voices, Visions, and the Power of Creating

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Greg Hitchcock is standing and schmoozing with a cluster of people in the soaring, glass-domed rotunda of what once was a grand old bank...

Screening for Bipolar: Have You Ever Been “Unusually Happy” for More than a Week?

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A new questionnaire funded by AbbVie conflates antidepressant side effects with bipolar disorder and doesn’t actually meet the criteria for being considered “screening.”
Members of Rethinking Psychiatry at the 2014 symposium with James Gordon, M.D., who delivered a keynote talk on journeying out of depression.

Grassroots Activism: Rethinking Psychiatry Builds A Community

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In the United States and abroad, a growing number of groups have devoted their mission and mindset to rethinking psychiatry, doing their best to...

The Surprising Mental Health Benefits of Volunteering

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A program offers psychotherapy in exchange for voluntary service in the community. But the act of volunteering itself can have mental health benefits of its own.

The Lessons of Music: Nurturing Mental Health in Cultures Around the Globe

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Music is an ancient and omnipresent tool for wellness, a carrier of peace for individuals, and a bonding agent for communities throughout history and the world.

The False Memory Syndrome at 30: How Flawed Science Turned into Conventional Wisdom ...

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Soon after states finally began providing adults who remembered childhood abuse with the legal standing to sue, the FMSF began waging a PR campaign to discredit their memories—in both courtrooms and in the public mind.

Music Aids Mental Health: Science Shows Why

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What can science tell us about music’s impact on our cognition and on our mood, on our capacity for empathy, and our sense of connection with others? How does it change the brain? How does it change us?

Making Music, Healing Souls

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The healing power of communal singing is at the heart of two organizations in England and Ireland: Sing Your Heart Out and 49 North Street.

Suicide Hotlines Bill Themselves as Confidential—Even as Some Trace Your Call

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Every year suicide hotline centers covertly trace tens of thousands of confidential calls, and police come to homes, schools, and workplaces to forcibly take callers to psychiatric hospitals.

The Latest “Breakthrough Therapy”: Expensive New Drugs for Tardive Dyskinesia

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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.
illustration of a voter box in a stormy ocean with a ladder

Voting While “Mentally Ill”: A Legacy of Discrimination

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Legal and practical barriers to voting disenfranchise people judged "mentally incompetent." The centuries-old, unclear laws and regulations also disproportionately affect people of color.
Illustration of the Queer Eye cast

Diving into Your Soul: Lessons from “Queer Eye”

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"Queer Eye" has a fresh, therapeutic twist: Installment after installment, it sends the repeated messages: Take care of yourself. Be kind to yourself. You’re beautiful. You’re good. We love you. Love yourself. Or, in the words of Van Ness: Yass, queen!

An FDA Whistleblower’s Documents: Commerce, Corruption, and Death

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In 2008, a reviewer of psychiatric drugs at the FDA, Ron Kavanagh, complained to Congress that the FDA was approving a new antipsychotic that was ineffective and yet had adverse effects that increased the risk of death. Twelve years later, a review of the whistleblower documents reveal an FDA approval process that can lead to the marketing of drugs sure to harm public health.

World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day 2020

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This week on MIA Radio, we present the second part of our podcast to join in the events for World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day 2020...