MIA Reports

In-depth reporting on psychiatry and its impact on society.

Michael Hengartner – Evidence-biased Antidepressant Prescription

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We talk with Dr. Michael Hengartner about his new book which addresses the overprescribing of antidepressant drugs and critically examines the scientific evidence on their efficacy and safety.

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?
Helena Hansen

Combatting Structural Racism and Classism in Psychiatry: An Interview with Helena Hansen

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MIA interviews psychiatrist and anthropologist Helena Hansen about bringing structural competency to psychiatry while rebuilding communities.

The New York Times Is Now Engulfed in the STAR*D Scandal

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The New York Times published yet again the fraudulent result from the STAR*D trial. Will the mainstream media ever tell of this scandal?
Black and white 3D illustration of a face made of gears and a crank emerging from the top of the head

Psychiatry’s Control-Freak Medical Model Versus Healing and Healers

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Following psychiatry’s repeated failures, a sane society would not give it increased status and power. However, our insane society uncritically accepts, celebrates, and worships anything promoted as technologies of control.

Robert Whitaker Answers Reader Questions on Pharma Marketing and Psychiatric Drugs

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In Part 2 of our reader Q&A podcast, MIA founder Robert Whitaker answers questions on pharmaceutical marketing and issues with psychiatric treatments including psychiatric drugs and electroconvulsive therapy.

Winding Back the Clock: What If the STAR*D Investigators Had Told the Truth?

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The STAR*D Study has been cited as real-world evidence of the efficacy of antidepressants. In truth, it told of a failed paradigm of care.

The TikTokification of Mental Health on Campus

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Many people view their social media feeds as reflections of their identities—and when posts center on a specific diagnosis, it can feel like the platform is diagnosing them.
Elia Abi-Jaoude

Understanding the Youth Mental Health Crisis: An Interview with Elia Abi-Jaoude

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The child psychiatrist talks about the importance of seeing the big picture and why parents shouldn't "be afraid if their kid is in distress."

The Crisis in Psychiatry and The Slow Way Back: Interview with Vincenzo Di Nicola

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Ayurdhi Dhar interviews psychiatrist and philosopher Vincenzo Di Nicola about his call for "slow psychiatry" and a renewed social psychiatry.

Pathologized Since Eve: Jessica Taylor on Women, Trauma, and “Sexy but Psycho”

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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...

How Mad Studies and the Psychological Humanities are Changing Mental Health: An Interview with...

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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.

Giovanni Fava – A Different Psychiatry is Possible

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In this podcast, we hear from the renowned clinician and researcher Dr. Giovanni Fava about his latest book entitled “Discontinuing Antidepressant Medications”.

The Impact the DSM Has Had On All of Us: An interview with Sarah...

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"You're not going to sell many drugs by saying your problem is your life experiences. It's far more effective to say your problem is in the brain. It's an imbalance, we can correct that imbalance, just take our product."
Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris’s ‘Mental Health’ Plan: Why It Still Matters

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Harris’s plan was met with vociferous condemnation from psychiatric survivors, civil libertarians, and disability justice advocates, who vowed to fight it. While Harris has dropped out of the presidential race, the ideas behind her policy proposal have existed for decades, and are likely to endure.
RESPONSE Act

Here We Go Again: RESPONSE Act Pushes Forced Treatment of the “Mentally Ill” As...

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In the name of preventing mass shootings, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced a bill that calls for "enhanced mental health services," including involuntary treatment and long-acting antipsychotic injections. It also calls for increased collaboration between mental health and law enforcement authorities, and promotes online monitoring of American students.

Jock McLaren – The Biopsychosocial Model is a Mirage, Time for a Biocognitive Model?

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Dr. Niall McLaren joins us to talk of his experiences working in Australian psychiatry and explains why the models that purport to guide psychiatric diagnosis and treatment are not what they seem.

Fascist Subjectivity and the Subhuman: An Interview with Critical Psychologist Thomas Teo

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MIA's Tim Beck interviews critical psychologist Thomas Teo on how theory and research can do justice to the people it means to describe and explain.

How Western Psychology Can Rip Indigenous Families Apart: An Interview with Elisa Lacerda-Vandenborn

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An interview with Elisa Lacerda-Vandenborn about the consequences \psychology and mental health treatment can have for indigenous children.

WHO and the Sea Change in Mental Health: Interview with Michelle Funk

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MIA's Ana Florence interviews Michelle Funk about her leadership of the new WHO guidelines on rights-based mental health.

The Medicalization of Women’s Suffering: An Interview with Dana Becker

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MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Dana Becker about how therapeutic culture fails to adequately address women’s suffering.

Responsibility Without Blame in Therapeutic Communities: Interview with Philosopher Hanna Pickard

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Hanna Pickard on the elusive middle ground between personal responsibility and systemic factors in our understandings of addiction.

Challenging Western-Centric Child Psychology: An Interview with Nandita Chaudhary

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Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Nandita Chaudhary about children’s lives across cultures, the problems with global aid agencies and their interventions, psychology’s bias in the study of children, the limits of attachment theory and more.

“Reimagining Psychiatry:” An Interview with Peter Stastny

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Peter Stastny is a New York-based psychiatrist, documentary filmmaker, and a co-founder of the International Network toward Alternatives and Recovery (INTAR). He has been...

Looking Beyond Self-Help to Understand Resilience: An Interview with Michael Ungar

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Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Michael Ungar about how complex systems make us vulnerable and how resilience emerges in context-specific ways.