Chemicals Have Consequences—Antidepressants and Pregnancy: An Interview With Adam Urato, MD
Adam joins us to discuss what we do and don’t know about the effects of antidepressants on babies and mothers and the importance of counselling in order to aid families in making important decisions about pharmaceutical drug use.
Beyond Labels and Meds—Closer Look: Aurora Ramos
Meet another talented teen behind the pieces in MIA's art exhibition, who says: "I think art is underrated sometimes because of its seemingly uselessness, but I highly believe it can cure many minds."
Beyond Labels and Meds—Closer Look: HoJin Kwak
This is the first of 4 spotlight interviews with some of the talented youth behind the pieces in MIA's art exhibition. HoJin states: "The original idea for my drawing started with the brain. The complexity of its sudden twists and curves fascinates me."
Teen Arts Exhibition: Beyond Labels And Meds: What It Feels Like To Be Me
28 teen artists share the power of their creativity in this collection of profoundly moving, courageous, and beautiful artwork.
Psychiatry’s Cycle of Ignorance and Reinvention: An Interview with Owen Whooley
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews sociologist Owen Whooley about psychiatry's stubborn perseverance in the face of recent DSM embarrassments and the failures of the biomedical model.
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?
Threatened for Telling the Truth: Polish Journalist Speaks Out
Now I’m under attack, with threats of violence flung at me alongside threats of lawsuits. And all because I shared the large body of peer-reviewed research that contradicts the mainstream assumptions of psychiatry.
Allies for Human Rights in Mental Health: Psychiatric Survivor David W. Oaks Interviews WHO...
"Psychiatric practice is too often violating human rights, too often incapable of understanding the suffering of people, too often unable to provide help to people who need housing, work, money, respect, inclusion and instead are receiving psychotropic drugs, electroshock, physical restraint, isolation."
Project LETS: Building Peer-Led Mental Health Alternatives on Campus
Founder and Executive Director Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu talks about the organization's work to support struggling students and end discrimination against them.
“You Can’t Coerce Someone into Wanting to Be Alive”: The Carceral Heart of the...
“You can’t coerce someone into wanting to be alive. Force just doesn’t work. People must be invited to live while supporters (healthcare professionals, social workers, loved ones) make their lives and world more habitable.”
Leading Psychiatrists Unwittingly Acknowledge Psychiatry Is a Religion, Not a Science
Leading figures in psychiatry acknowledge that DSM psychiatric diagnoses and the chemical imbalance theory of mental illness are not scientifically valid, but are useful fictions that help people manage their emotions and comply with their medication treatments.
A Revolution Wobbles: Will Norway’s “Medication-Free” Hospital Survive?
We interview Ole Andreas Underland, Director of the Hurdalsjøen Recovery Center in Norway which provides “medication-free” care for those who want such treatment or who want to taper from their psychiatric drugs. Ole Andreas explains why the success of this pioneering approach might threaten its future.
Why Isn’t There a Popular Hashtag for Involuntary Commitment?
As uses of psychiatric force expand, can social media be better used to focus critical attention?
Ten Years of Rocking the Boat: Reflecting on Mad in America’s Mission and Work
Continuing our 200th podcast, staff members join us to discuss reinvigorating MIA continuing education, science writing and blogs, personal stories, community commenting and family resources.
Changing Narratives: Reflecting on Mad in America’s Mission and Work
For our 200th podcast interview, we are joined by members of MIA staff to reflect on Mad in America's mission and work over the last decade.
And Now They Are Coming for the Unhoused: The Long Push to Expand Involuntary...
Mayor Adams' plan to "involuntarily remove" unhoused people has met with backlash from activists and the unhoused, who say it violates their rights and further entrenches systemic racism.
Books Under Review: Fall 2022
Reviews of three recent books reflecting various perspectives on the mental health system.
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?
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.
The Nurtured Heart Approach Goes Mainstream: Research and Experience Support “Celebrating Greatness in Every...
The Nurtured Heart Approach represents a massive shift in thinking—about schooling, about children and how to raise them, about how we regard those with intensity, and about the medical model pathologizing them.
Breaking Academia’s Silence on Inpatient Psychiatry: An Interview with Researcher Morgan Shields
Morgan Shields discussed her experiences in inpatient psychiatry and her efforts to bring patient-centered care to this oft-neglected field.
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.
Anders Sørensen – Tackling Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal Through Research and in Practice
Anders Sørenson is a Danish clinical psychologist with a special interest in psychiatric drug withdrawal. He has undertaken research which assesses the state of guidance on psychiatric drug withdrawal and paid close attention to tapering methods with the aim of identifying approaches which might make withdrawal more tolerable for people.
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.
Exploring the Fault Lines in Mental Health Discourse: An Interview with Psychologist Justin Karter
Justin Karter discusses his journey to Mad in America, competing models of mental health, and how we navigate these stories in psychotherapy.
