Soteria Israel: A Vision from the Past is a Blueprint for the Future
In Israel, there is a budding Soteria movement that foretells of a possible paradigm shift in care. The thought is that such care may become a first-line treatment for newly psychotic patients.
Voting While âMentally Illâ: A Legacy of Discrimination
Legal and practical barriers to voting disenfranchise people judged "mentally incompetent." The centuries-old, unclear laws and regulations also disproportionately affect people of color.
In Andrewâs Honor: Attorney Elizabeth Richâs Fight Against Unjust Commitments
Anyone detained and then formally committed under Wisconsinâs 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.
A Neuroscientist Evaluates the Standard Biological Model of Depression
Current evidence does not support a biological hypothesis of depression. It is far better predicted by levels of childhood trauma, life stress, and lack of social supports.
The Rise of the Digital Asylum
The digital pill Abilify MyCite, which is now being introduced into the market, foretells of a future where such technology is used to monitor the behavior, location and "medication compliance" of a person 24 hours a day.
âYou Canât Coerce Someone into Wanting to Be Alive”: The Carceral Heart of the...
âYou canât coerce someone into wanting to be alive. Force just doesnât work. People must be invited to live while supporters (healthcare professionals, social workers, loved ones) make their lives and world more habitable.â
Inner Fire: Where Seekers Have a Choice
A Vermont residential community program helps people taper or stay off medications with holistic care embedded in a pastoral setting.
Bedlam: Public Media, Power, and the Fight for Narrative Justice
A new mental health documentary awakens longstanding tensions around voice, representation, and the power to define problems and solutions.
An Open Letter to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie: A Plan for Deprescribing Veteran Suicides
Through my research and experiences, I've found that what the Veterans Administration has been doing to fight the veteran suicide epidemic isn't working and appears to be unintentionally exacerbating it. These problems are fixable. But I need your help.
Why Isnât There a Popular Hashtag for Involuntary Commitment?
As uses of psychiatric force expand, can social media be better used to focus critical attention?
From Compliance to Activism: A Mother’s Journey
Through years of turmoil and confusion, Cindi Fisherâs enduring love for her involuntarily committed son gradually changed her from compliant mom to mental health civil rights activist. Thatâs when authorities banned her from even contacting her son. But could she be a bellwether of a coming nation-wide wave of protestors?
Mad Pride Rises in Mexico
The Mad Pride movement continues to spread around the world, with a first-ever march in Mexico City.
Campaign Against ECT Gains Traction in UK
"Across the pond," campaignersâ efforts against electroshock are gaining public notice. Can their approach work in the US?
In the Courts, a Partial Win for Informed Consent and ECT Justice
Price Hancock views the Thelen verdict as a partial win. "The jury agreed that the manufacturer 'failed to warn.â That's huge. It's a step in the right direction."
The Algorithmic Managing of ‘At-risk’ Children
Part two of a Mad In America investigation into the expansion of psychological screening and electronic surveillance of children and youth. Experts point to mounting evidence that scientifically dubious mental health screening programs are just one part of an international governance shift towards creating all-pervasive surveillance systems for diagnosing 'pre-crime' and managing 'at-risk' children and youth. And not only is this not helping kids, critics argue, itâs demonstrably harming them.
âNot Fragileâ: Survivor-Led Mutual Aid Projects Flourish in a Time of Crisis
During the current pandemic, the practice of mutual aidâdefined broadly as the ways that people join together to meet one anotherâs needs for survival and relationshipâhas become mainstream. Yet, often missing from major media coverage of mutual aid is any acknowledgment of its roots in movements led by marginalized people, including Black and Brown people, disabled people, mad people, and psychiatric survivors.
Veterans Find A Path to Healing Through Shakespeare
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 Serotonin Zombie: Authors of New Study Try to Breathe New Life into the...
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.
Art, Music, Exercise, and More: What Are the Recommended Doses for Improving Mental Health?
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.
A New Paradigm for Testing Psychiatric Drugs Is Needed
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.
Making Music, Healing Souls
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.
Fireside Project: Peer Support for Psychedelic Experiences
A new nonprofit support line takes a harm-reduction approach and helps people process their psychedelic experiences.
Prescribing an Epidemic: A Veteranâs Story
Had I known what I know now, I never would have taken any of these drugs, and I absolutely would not have taken a role in which my outreach efforts to get veterans into mental health treatment might place thousands of lives at risk.
Beyond Labels and MedsâCloser Look: Isabella Castillo
At times I tend to feel invisible. Sometimes I donât feel like I fit in with everyone else; I feel like an outsider.
Exploring Psychiatry’s “Black Hole”: The International Institute on Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal
When Carina HĂĽkansson sent out an invitation for a symposium on "Pharmaceuticals: Risks and Alternatives," some of the world's top scientists, along with experts-by-experience, came from 13 countries to explore better ways to respond to people in crisis.
