A woman holding a sign that says LA Jails are the Largest Mental Health Institution in the Country."

Bedlam: Public Media, Power, and the Fight for Narrative Justice

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A new mental health documentary awakens longstanding tensions around voice, representation, and the power to define problems and solutions.

The Whistleblower and Penn: A Final Accounting of Study 352

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After 18 years, the full story of the scientific corruption in a study of paroxetine for bipolar disorder, and the psychiatrist who blew the whistle.

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

3
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...
illustration of a voter box in a stormy ocean with a ladder

Voting While “Mentally Ill”: A Legacy of Discrimination

21
Legal and practical barriers to voting disenfranchise people judged "mentally incompetent." The centuries-old, unclear laws and regulations also disproportionately affect people of color.
A zombie hand bursts from a grave. On the headstone is written "Serotonin theory: Rest in peace?"

The Serotonin Zombie: Authors of New Study Try to Breathe New Life into the...

10
Despite new claims that their study provides "clear evidence" linking serotonin and depression, their data actually supports the opposite conclusion: serotonin levels did not correlate with depression.
A collage depicting women using cell phones and hallucinogenic mushrooms, against a psychedelic purple background

Fireside Project: Peer Support for Psychedelic Experiences

1
A new nonprofit support line takes a harm-reduction approach and helps people process their psychedelic experiences.

America’s Psychiatric Facilities Are ‘Incubators’ for COVID-19

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As the novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc around the globe, whistleblowers at American psychiatric facilities paint a picture of mismanaged COVID-19 responses and lax safety protocols, putting patients, workers, and the surrounding communities in harm’s way. Some even allege coverups of deaths.
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.
Photograph of East Wing and a field of buckwheat

Inner Fire: Where Seekers Have a Choice

11
A Vermont residential community program helps people taper or stay off medications with holistic care embedded in a pastoral setting.

Mad Pride Rises in Mexico

20
The Mad Pride movement continues to spread around the world, with a first-ever march in Mexico City.

DRC Will Challenge California’s Outpatient Committal Laws in Court

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Disability Rights California will challenge Los Angeles’ Assisted Outpatient Treatment program in court this fall, DRC attorney Pamela Cohen announced Friday. According to Cohen, California’s AB-1241 or “Laura’s Law” diverts funding from community mental health services and towards police, administrators and courts, doesn’t reach the people it purports to be trying to help, and violates people’s civil rights. “This is an illegal program,” said Cohen.

Campaign Against ECT Gains Traction in UK

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"Across the pond," campaigners’ efforts against electroshock are gaining public notice. Can their approach work in the US?

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...
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!

Screening for Perinatal Depression: An Effective Intervention, or One That Does More Harm Than Good?

2
Why does the U.S. describe perinatal screening as providing a proven benefit, while the task forces in the U.K. and Canada see no evidence of such benefit?

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.
Vector illustration depicting a hashtag symbol on the landscape, with people climbing upon it with cell phones out

Why Isn’t There a Popular Hashtag for Involuntary Commitment?

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As uses of psychiatric force expand, can social media be better used to focus critical attention?
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...
A prescription bottle. The label reads "Healthy diet" and "Exercise."

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

9
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.

Life Inside America’s Psychiatric Facilities During the Pandemic: Eyewitness Accounts

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Insiders paint a picture of chaos and fear in public and private psychiatric hospitals across the country. "Now that she has been discharged, Sevigny is getting the truth out, just as the nurse asked her to do. She also plans to continue to organizing in her state, with and on behalf of those who continue to be subjected to dangerous conditions in the name of care."

PsychRights Seeking Plaintiffs to Sue Physicians for Off-label Prescribing to Children

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The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights is eager to provide advice or assistance to US citizens who may wish to sue their physicians for prescribing off-label psychiatric drugs to children, said lawyer James Gottstein in an interview with Mad In America.

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.”
Illustration depicting prescription bottles on a grass background. One is tipped over and a magnifying glass examines the spilled pills

A New Paradigm for Testing Psychiatric Drugs Is Needed

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This paper reviews the problems with the usual double-blind, placebo-controlled trials on which drug approvals are based, and advocates for a stricter form of testing psychiatric drugs with patient-relevant outcomes, real comparators, long-term outcomes, and assessment of harms.
veterans do shakespeare

Veterans Find A Path to Healing Through Shakespeare

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Veterans struggling with a diagnosis of PTSD, or depression and other difficulties find that learning to perform Shakespearean monologues, and developing their own dramatic monologues, can help them "unwire" from the traumas of war.

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.