Witless and Dangerous? Challenging the Assumptions of the ‘Schizo’ Paradigm
Despite growing awareness that ‘schizophrenia’ is not a scientifically valid concept, the old assumptions still drive clinical practice.
When Medication Changes More Than Symptoms: Antipsychotics’ Effect on Identity
Recent research reveals how antipsychotic medications can significantly impact users' identity and self-image, challenging existing clinical approaches.
Tapering Strips: A Practical Tool for Personalised and Safe Tapering of Withdrawal-Causing Prescription Drugs
Tapering strips are one of the practical tools mentioned in the new Maudsley Guidance.
Bad Science, With Robert Whitaker | Where Is My Mind? Podcast
From Where Is My Mind?: Niall Breslin and Robert Whitaker discuss the paradigm shift needed in mental health to ensure people have informed consent and a true understanding of their distress.
Antidepressant Trials “Hijacked for Marketing Purposes,” Researchers Say
About half of the large antidepressant trials are biased enough to be considered “seeding trials,” according to the researchers.
From the Dopamine Theory to the Outcomes Paradox
Why does long-term use of neuroleptics correlate with poorer social and occupational outcomes?
Debunking the Myths About Depression and Antidepressants
From EmpowerUAmerica: Psychologist and author Bruce E. Levine is interviewed about the problem of depression in America and how it's being treated.
Mom’s 911 Call for Her Son’s Mental Health Ends With His Death After Police...
From MedPage Today: Taylor Ware's August 2019 death was among more than 1,000 over a decade after police used common use-of-force tactics that are meant to stop people without killing them.
The Significance of Semiotics in Social Work
Mental health treatment requires more than words; it demands a deep understanding of the unspoken, the symbols and signs that permeate our lives.
Against Her Will
From Investigative Journalism Foundation: Under Canada's Mental Health Act, doctors don’t have to get a patient’s consent for treatment — or the consent of a substitute decision maker. They have what’s known as the patient’s “deemed consent” to administer any treatment that’s been approved by the director of the mental health facility.
Study Links Prenatal Antipsychotic Exposure to Developmental Delays and ADHD
A comprehensive review indicates that children exposed to antipsychotics in the womb face an increased risk of ADHD and developmental delays.
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."
What Needs to Change at the FDA? A PharmedOut Report
In the past 30 years, repeated regulatory failures and a shift in the FDA’s mission from protecting public health to speeding drugs and devices to market has tarnished the agency’s reputation and, more importantly, harmed patients.
On the Brink of Murder Because of an Antidepressant
After being put on antidepressants, Katinka started hallucinating wildly, thinking in very violent images.
STAR*D: It’s Time to Atone and Retract
From Psychiatric Times: “Our patients, our field, and our integrity demand a better explanation of what happened in STAR*D than what has thus been provided," argue two San Diego psychiatrists.
Bad Science Revisited: “The Bell Curve” Turns 30
Critiquing the wildly popular 1994 eugenicist book, which purported to link IQ and race, by reviewing the supposed genetic evidence.
BetterHelp to Pay $7.8 Million for Deceiving Customers After Promising to Keep Sensitive Data...
From FTC: The FTC has moved to ban BetterHelp from revealing people's data, including sensitive mental health information, to Facebook and others for targeted advertising.
Long-term Outcomes Better for Those Who Stop Taking Antipsychotics
Research undermines the prolonged use of antipsychotics in schizophrenia treatment, suggesting improved social functioning and quality of life with discontinuation.
STAR*D: It is time to atone and retract
From Psychiatric Times:
Two psychiatrists write in the Psychiatric Times that the response of the STAR*D investigators to a reanalysis of STAR*D data by Ed...
Szasz and the Liberation of the “Mental Patient”
By setting standards of equality, competence, and accountability, Szasz worked for the liberation of the "mental patient.”
Three Causes of Spiritual Illness: A Shamanic Perspective
From Shared Wisdom: From the shaman’s perspective, illness can be caused by either disharmony, fear, or soul loss: negative internal states that appear within us in response to negative or traumatic life experiences.
The Experience of Survivors of Psychiatry in Brazil
The suffering caused by physical, sexual or psychological violence, common in women's lives, is pathologized by psychiatry.
How Chronic Stress Feeds Suffering by Eating Up Our Dopamine
From Gary Sharpe Substack: This mechanism applies to all "dopamine deficiency" issues including Parkinson’s, dystonia, restless leg syndrome, ADHD, chronic conditions more generally, trauma, and addictions of all sorts.
Medical Journals Refuse to Retract Fraudulent Trial Reports That Omitted Suicidal Events in Children
The published articles underreported suicide-related events and provided false claims that the drugs were effective.
A Neuroscientist Evaluates the Standard Biological Model of Depression
This is a talk at UPenn by neuroscientist Peter Sterling, who, in his writings for Mad in America, has critically assessed the “biological model of depression."
