MIA Reports

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

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”.

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.

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.

Why Some Experts and Patients Want to Rename Schizophrenia: Interview with Raquelle Mesholam-Gately and...

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MIA interviews Matcheri Keshavan and Raquelle Mesholam-Gately on their research with service users and consumers on renaming schizophrenia.

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."

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.

World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day 2020

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This week on MIA Radio, we present the second part of our podcast to join in the events for World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day 2020...

America’s Psychiatric Facilities Are ‘Incubators’ for COVID-19

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As the novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc around the globe, whistleblowers at American psychiatric facilities paint a picture of mismanaged COVID-19 responses and lax safety protocols, putting patients, workers, and the surrounding communities in harm’s way. Some even allege coverups of deaths.
Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders’ ‘Revolutionary’ Disability Plan Opposes Expanding Involuntary Treatment

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Candidate Bernie Sanders' 'disability rights as civil rights' plan is distinctive in its explicit inclusion of people with psychiatric disabilities and diagnoses, an orientation that runs counter to prevailing policy discourse in the U.S. 

Renee Schuls-Jacobson – Psychiatrized: Waking up After a Decade of Bad Medicine

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We interview Renee Schuls-Jacobson about her book Psychiatrized: Waking up After a Decade of Bad Medicine which details Renee's experiences being prescribed the benzodiazepine clonazepam (Klonopin) for seven years.

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.

What Does Our Species Require for a Healthy Life? An Interview with Peter Sterling

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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?

Government Forum Reveals 988 Call Tracing Remains a Threat

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Keris Myrick, Shelby Rowe and others warned of harms caused by crisis lines that covertly trace calls, but it may not be enough to turn the tide.

Leading Psychology in Existential Times: An Interview with Kirk Schneider

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MIA’s Justin Karter interviews humanistic-existential psychologist Kirk Schneider about how psychology can play a role in confronting the political, social, and climate crises facing humankind.

“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...

Opening Doors in the Borderlands: An Interview with Liberation Psychologist Mary Watkins

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MIA’s Micah Ingle interviews Mary Watkins about reorienting psychology toward liberation and social justice.

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.
Photograph of a modern prison's front gate

Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: The Ground Where Death Meets Life

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How the unrelated murder of an inmate on another unit led to Sean's transfer, his escape from forced medication, and eventually, his release.

The Making of a ‘Madness’ That Hides Our Monsters: An Interview with Audrey Clare...

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In this interview, Audrey Clare Farley reveals how our understanding of schizophrenia was built to avoid acknowledging sexual trauma, religious abuse, and racism.

And Now They Are Coming for the Unhoused: The Long Push to Expand Involuntary...

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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.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA - September 8, 2018 The Indian Summer Festival, Child wearing traditional native american clothing, dancing at the pow wow competition.

A Case Before the U.S. Supreme Court Could Surge the Psychiatric Labelling and Drugging...

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If the Brackeen v. Halland case is successful, Native children are more likely to be placed with non-Native foster parents, and face a surge in psychiatric labeling and drugging.

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.

Climate Change, Mental Health and Collective Action: An Interview with Jennifer Freeman

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In an interview with MIA's Akansha Vaswani, narrative therapist Jennifer Freeman calls for a shift away from individualistic approaches to 'eco-anxiety' and toward responses that connect us all to a counter-tsunami of action for the planet.
prison

The Management of Captive Populations with Psychiatric Drugs: An Interview with Anthony Ryan Hatch

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Dr. Anthony Ryan Hatch is a sociologist and associate professor of Science in Society, African American studies and Environmental Studies at Wesleyan University, who...

How to Know What We Don’t Know: An Interview with Psychologist and Novelist Jussi...

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MIA's Gavin Crowell-Williamson interviews the neuropsychologist and novelist Jussi Valtonen about how novels can lead us to see the limits of our understanding.