Lessons from a Global Psychiatric Conference: The Good, the Bad, and the Complicated
Has the global mental health movement truly reformed its tone-deaf universalist attitudes?
From Compliance to Activism: A Mother’s Journey
Through years of turmoil and confusion, Cindi Fisher’s enduring love for her involuntarily committed son gradually changed her from compliant mom to mental health civil rights activist. That’s when authorities banned her from even contacting her son. But could she be a bellwether of a coming nation-wide wave of protestors?
Kids Are Not the Problem: An Interview With Gretchen LeFever Watson
In this interview, Brooke Siem, who is the author of a memoir on antidepressant withdrawal, May Cause Side Effects, interviews Gretchen LeFever Watson, PhD.
Gretchen...
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.
The Radical Politics of Madness: An Interview with Micha Frazer-Carroll
MIA's Justin Karter interviews Micha Frazer-Carroll about her new book, "Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health."
For Life: Opera on Psychiatry and Its Drugs
An interview with composer Dawn Sonntag and librettist Kermit Cole about their new opera about the harms that can come from psychiatric drugs.
Tanya Frank—Zig-Zag Boy: My Family’s Struggles With Broken Mental Healthcare
Author Tanya Frank discusses her book 'Zig-Zag Boy A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood', which chronicles the experiences of her son Zach who experienced psychosis as a 19-year-old.
Questioning the Moral Panic Around Teletherapy: An Interview with Hannah Zeavin
MIA's Emaline Friedman interviews Hannah Zeavin about what the history of teletherapy reveals about its limitations and radical potential.
Tensions in Mental Health Care in China: An Interview with Zhiying Ma
Anthropologist Zhiying Ma explores mental health care in China, including tensions between Western psychiatry and socially-oriented local frameworks.
“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.
Art and Transformation: Creating Justice in Mental Health
An upcoming conference focuses on the perspective of artists and activists in answering what it means to have a just mental health care system: Who decides who is labelled as mad?
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...
In Andrew’s Honor: Attorney Elizabeth Rich’s Fight Against Unjust Commitments
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.
David Carmichael—The Antidepressant Safety Tour
Drug safety advocate David Carmichael joins us to discuss his upcoming antidepressant safety tour and the importance of fully informed consent when prescribing SSRI antidepressants.
Diving into Your Soul: Lessons from “Queer Eye”
"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!
Psychology, Personhood, and the Crisis of Neoliberalism: Jeff Sugarman on Theoretical and Critical Psychology
Tim Beck interviews Jeff Sugarman on the psychology of personhood, the influence of neoliberalism on mental health, and the need for a more philosophically informed psychology.
Mental Health and Emotion in the Digital Age: An Interview with Ian Tucker
MIA's Tim Beck interviews psychologist Ian Tucker about the relationships between digital technologies, emotion, and mental health.
Embracing the Shadow—Charlie Morley on Lucid Dreaming as Therapy
On the Mad in America podcast, we hear about the potential of lucid dreaming therapy to aid those struggling with post-traumatic stress.
Psychosocial Disability Rights and Digital Mental Health: An Interview with Piers Gooding
MIA's Emaline Friedman interviews legal scholar Piers Gooding on his work on disability rights and digital mental health technologies.
Narrating Asylum History Through an Anti-Racist Lens: An Interview with Author Mab Segrest
Mab segrest is Professor Emeritus of Gender and Women's Studies at Connecticut College and the author of Administrations of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting...
Live and Learn: An Interview with Laysha Ostrow
MIA’s Peter Simons interviews Laysha Ostrow about her mental health research and consulting company, the inclusion of peer specialists in mental health care, and her personal experience with the mental health system.
“Making a Silk Purse Out of a Sow’s Ear”: Erick Turner on How Publication...
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Erick Turner about publication bias in antidepressant trials, compromised psychotherapeutic research, and a culture of journal worship.
Jim Flannery: Sorry It’s Not Funny – Comedy, Hip-Hop and Activism
Born and raised in suburban Weathersfield, Connecticut, Jim Flannery was committed at four mental hospitals across the United States. There he received the best care available in the modern world…torture.
Breaking the Cycle: How I Overcame Intergenerational Trauma and Became a Peer Advocate
How did that young Puerto Rican girl who very much disliked seeing a therapist when locked up in the juvenile system end up working in the mental health field as an adult?
Giving Caregivers a Platform: Meagan, Mother of Matt
A mom describes her son's descent into the harms of psychiatry—and his way out. "It was really difficult to watch Matt decline. He had given up hope that he could get well."
