Why Does a Parent Medicate a Child? An Interview with My Mother
When Brooke Siem was 15 years old, her father died. Her mother, Dee Barbash, sought help for her daughter that led to a prescription for a psychiatric drug. In this interview, they look back on that fateful decision.
How Mad Studies and the Psychological Humanities are Changing Mental Health: An Interview with...
In this interview with MIA's Justin Karter, psychiatrist Bradley Lewis discusses the value of art, the humanities, and mad studies in shaping a richer understanding of psychological experiences.
What Does Our Species Require for a Healthy Life? An Interview with Peter Sterling
In his book "What is Health," Peter Sterling asks this provocative question: What does our species require for a healthy life? And can we achieve this with drugs?
“All Real Living Is Meeting”: Brent Robbins on Love, Death, and the Possibilities of...
Psychologist and existential thinker Brent Robbins reflects on a lifetime of work, the limits of psychiatric diagnosis, and what facing mortality has taught him about joy and human connection.
David Healy – Polluting Our Internal Environments: The Perils of Polypharmacy
On the MIA Podcast, Dr David Healy discusses World Tapering Day, antidepressant treatment and sensory neuropathy and the difficulties that can be encountered when trying to deprescribe.
Andrew Scull—Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness
Sociologist and author Andrew Scull discusses the history of psychiatry's "Desperate Remedies," from lobotomy and the asylum to the failures of today's drugs and the fads of ketamine and deep brain stimulation.
Is Madness an Evolved Signal? Justin Garson on Strategy Versus Dysfunction
Philosopher Justin Garson discusses the potential benefit of looking at madness not as disease or defect, but as a designed feature.
We Should Listen to Our Emotional Pain: An interview with Paul Andrews
Dr. Paul Andrews is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Psychology in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University. His research focuses...
One Person’s Journey from Celebrity Medical Model Advocate to Skeptic: An Interview with Rose...
Rose Cartwright is a screenwriter and the author of Pure, a hugely successful memoir which was then turned into a series for Channel Four....
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.
The Connection Cure: An Interview with Julia Hotz
Julia Hotz is a solutions-focused journalist based in New York City. She is the author of the forthcoming book, The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive...
Context and Care vs. Isolate and Control: An Interview on the Dilemmas of Global...
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar explores with Arthur Kleinman how healthcare systems often overlook personal stories, focusing on treating diseases rather than individuals. Discover why this renowned Harvard psychiatrist and medical anthropologist believes in restoring humanity to medicine.
Demedicalizing Depression: An Interview with Milutin Kostić
Justin Karter interviews Milutin Kostić on the fundamental flaws in depression research and its neglect of human complexity.
Leaving Biological Psychiatry Behind: An Interview With Rodrigo Nardi
Rodrigo Nardi is a psychiatrist and psychologist. He obtained his psychology degree in the year 2000, and following that, he obtained a certificate in...
Pathologized Since Eve: Jessica Taylor on Women, Trauma, and “Sexy but Psycho”
Our guest today is Jessica Taylor, author of Sexy But Psycho: How the Patriarchy Uses Women’s Trauma Against Them, which was published in March...
The Path from Trauma to The Power of Nature: An Interview with Banning Lyon
Our guest today is Banning Lyon, author of The Chair and The Valley: A Memoir of Trauma, Healing, and The Outdoors. An account of...
Psychology is Not What You Think: An Interview with Critical Psychologist Ian Parker
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Ian Parker about critical psychology, discourse and political action, and whether psychology has anything left to offer.
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.
Deprescribing Psychiatric Drugs to Reduce Harms and Empower Patients: Interview with Psychiatrist Swapnil Gupta
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews psychiatrist Swapnil Gupta on psychiatric drug discontinuation, drug cocktail risks, patient choice, and the need for trust and transparency.
Beverley Thomson–Antidepressed: Antidepressant Harm and Dependence
We talk with author Beverley Thomson about her latest book, entitled Antidepressed: A Breakthrough Examination of Epidemic Antidepressant Harm and Dependence.
Psych Concepts Creep Into Our Everyday Experiences: An Interview with Nicholas Haslam
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Nicholas Haslam about how psychiatric terms get diluted and creep into everyday language, altering our experiences.
The Social Unconscious and Character Formation in Neoliberal Culture: An Interview with Lynne Layton
MIA’s Javier Rizo interviews Lynne Layton about social psychoanalysis and how normative unconscious processes can help illuminate how oppressive systems get internalized and reproduced.
Jill Nickens – The Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research
This week on the Mad in America podcast we turn our attention to prescription-drug-induced akathisia and joining me to discuss this is Jill Nickens. Jill is the president and founder of the Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research, a nonprofit organization formed by people who have personal experience of akathisia.
Looking Beyond Self-Help to Understand Resilience: An Interview with Michael Ungar
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Michael Ungar about how complex systems make us vulnerable and how resilience emerges in context-specific ways.
When Healing Looks Like Justice: An Interview with Harvard Psychologist Joseph Gone
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Joseph Gone about how a history of dispossession, conquest, and colonization shapes mental health outcomes in Native American communities.
