Psychedelics—The New Psychiatric Craze
Psychedelics have become popular through the potent mixture of financial interests and desperation. Evidence for their beneficial effects is lacking.
How Little We Really Know About Psychiatric Drugs
Joanna Moncrieff reflects on what has and has not changed in the field of psychiatric drug treatment in the years between the first and newly published second edition of the Straight Talking Introduction to Psychiatric Drugs.
Mad Parenting: On Becoming an Unlikely Family Man
I’ve often been told I shouldn’t have kids because I’m “bipolar.” But since my twins’ birth, I’ve been way more stable than I thought I would be, and I’ve found what I’ve always been looking for.
We Must Not Be Silent On George Floyd & Systemic Racism.
Dear Mad in America community: How much have we grown? Can we join together in working toward our liberation, bound together as activists?
Beyond Drugs: The Universal Experience of Addiction | Gabor Maté, MD
From drgabormate.com: Most addicted people use no drugs at all, and addiction cannot be understood if we restrict our vision of it to substances, legal or illicit.
Lessons from the Pandemic: Panic Attacks Are Not Random
The ease and confidence with which many clients assume they are prone to panic attacks reflects larger cultural trends truncating and framing human suffering in medicalized terms.
Ethical Issues Raised Over FDA Collaboration with Biogen on Failed Drug
The FDA collaborated with Biogen to conduct repeated re-analyses of aducanumab for Alzheimer's and FDA committee members are raising concerns.
How Drugmakers Influence Our Beliefs About ‘Mental Illness’
From Medium/Markham Heid: "Greater awareness” campaigns can often be little more than pharmaceutical marketing tactics that turn normal human feelings into illnesses.
Mass Shootings and the News Media: Catching Up to the Science of PACEs
From ACEs Too High: Over the last 25 years, the main development that has changed our understanding of violence is the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study.
Cindi Fisher on Hunger Strike: Free My Sidd
Cindi Fisher has gone on a hunger strike to demand that her adult child, Siddharta, be freed from Western State Hospital after being suddenly removed from the discharge list without explanation.
Why Do People Self-Harm, and How Can We Stop It?
The psychiatric treatments I underwent did nothing to help me come to terms with my troubled past. Self-harm did not serve me well either. We must re-learn what to expect from ourselves.
Mold, Benadryl, & Antipsychotic Drugs: Report Raises Alarms About a Mass. Mental Facility
From The Boston Globe: Potent drug cocktails have replaced physical restraints at Bridgewater State Hospital, a medium-security facility that was sued in 2014 over conditions and use of restraints and seclusion.
Podcast of the Ottawa Institute of CBT Interviews Robert Whitaker
From the Ottawa Insitute of CBT: The Thoughts on Record podcast speaks with Whitaker about the core themes of his book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America.
COVID-19: What’s Equity Got to Do With It?
From GW Milken Institute School of Public Health: The virus has exposed long-standing inequities, driven by social policies that created disparities in resource access to resources.
Allowing Human Nature to Work Successfully | Jean Liedloff
From ContinuumConcept.org: In her book The Continuum Concept, Jean Liedloff argued that the psychosocial ills of modern society result from our misconception of human nature as something inherently bad or problematic.
Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Access to the Courts—A Right and Survival Tool
Being stuck in the custody of a malicious treatment team could mean death. I had to resort to the Mother of All Tactics Hegemony (a lawsuit).
The Shady World of Shock Treatment
The risk of undergoing shock treatment remains. As the FDA warns, “The long-term safety and effectiveness of ECT treatment has not been demonstrated.”
Why Albuquerque’s Latest Experiment in Policing Involves Social Workers, Not Officers
From Christian Science Monitor: The city has become one of the first to push public safety in a new direction with its new stand-alone Community Safety department.
How Many Times Must the “PTSD” Label’s Harm Be Exposed?
A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article and a recent American Psychiatric Association (APA) press release reveal the power the APA has wielded through its various DSM editions in pathologizing the effects of trauma.
FDA OKs New ‘Antipsychotic’ Drug Combo That ‘Limits the Pleasure of Food Intake’
From MedPage Today: A newly approved 'medication' for 'schizophrenia' and 'bipolar disorder' promises to reduce usual weight gain with olanzapine (Zyprexa) by making it less pleasant to eat food.
Allen Frances, MD: Save Trieste’s Mental Health System
From The Lancet: For people who have never seen the Trieste model in action, it might sound too good to be true. Dr. Allen Frances was once among the profound skeptics.
New Lancet Commission Looks at the Medicalization of Death
From Lown Institute: "How people die has changed dramatically over the past 60 years, from a family event with occasional medical support, to a medical event with limited family support." ~ Libby Sallnow, co-chair, Lancet Commission on the Value of Death
UK ‘Sleepwalking’ to Mental Health Crisis as Pandemic Takes Its Toll
From The Guardian: Health experts and charities have said that lockdown uncertainty, fear, isolation and loneliness will be exacerbated by the colder and darker months ahead.
Minimal Medication Alternatives for Psychosis Needed
Researchers question the long-term use of antipsychotics and suggest increased research and investment in psychosocial interventions.
Can You Punish a Child’s Mental Health Problems Away?
From The New York Times: Future generations will look back on the tactics used in the troubled teen industry and ask: How did we allow these practices to pass off as mental health treatment for so long?
