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."
Christy Huff, Medical Director of Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, Dies
From Benzodiazepine Information Coalition: Dr. Huff was a cardiologist who experienced a benzodiazepine injury firsthand, leading her to become a fierce advocate for better education and safe tapering of these drugs.
Undisclosed Financial Conflicts of Interest in the DSM-5: An Interview with Lisa Cosgrove and...
On the Mad in America podcast we talk with Lisa Cosgrove and Brian Piper about their BMJ paper entitled "Undisclosed Financial Conflicts of Interest in the DSM-5 TR: Cross-Sectional Analysis"
From a Paranoid Schizophrenia Diagnosis to a Peer Researcher in Nigeria
The mental health system needs to adopt the principle of holistic care, promoting fundamental rights and the relevance of family support.
Parents Must Reclaim the Central Role If Growing Crisis Among Children Is to End:...
From Irish Examiner: "Parents must surrender their point of view that there’s something wrong with the child and see that it’s the relationship that’s in trouble and the child’s behaviour is just a function of that," says physician Gabor Maté, who works with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness.
Beyond Greenspaces and Mental Health: The Power of the Wild
Tensions of sustainability, climate change, and global mental health: grassknots, greenspace, and climate psychology.
ADHD and the Pitfalls of Reification: An Interview With Sanne Te Meerman
From Terapeutiska Tankar: Reification happens when constructs that describe but do not explain behaviors, such as ADHD, are mistaken for causes of behavior.Â
Can Madness Save the World? Where R.D. Laing—and Star Trek—Meet
What if the only choice we can really make, and trust, is the irrational, even mad, choice to love? What would saving the world look like then?
Putting JAMA Psychiatry and MIA to the Genetic Test
We can assess whether Mad in America readers or JAMA Psychiatry readers are being provided with the most robust scientific literature.
How Scapegoats Experience Traumatic Invalidation
From Rebecca Mandeville, LMFT - Scapegoat Recovery: Traumatic invalidation is usually found in systems where people are marginalized; so this would be, for example, the family scapegoat, who is the marginalized person in the family system.
Animal Theory of Emotion: Emotion Is Not a Disorder
Too many people see themselves as having mental disorders when what they have is emotion, and in some cases, a great deal of it.
Charles Spencer’s Story of Boarding School Abuse Is Haunting
But parents are still sending children away to board, and it’s still dangerous.
Antidepressant Use in Pregnancy Harms Child Development, Untreated Maternal Depression Shows Benefit
In this new study, exposure to maternal anxiety in utero also harmed child development.
Psychiatrist for UK’s Most Dangerous Prisoners Campaigns for a Trauma-Informed Justice System
From Shaun Attwood: "What's happened with the child trauma, the child abuse, the childhood neglect...is lack of agency in the adult. And unless they've got agency, they can't stop doing bad things," says UK psychiatrist Bob Johnson.
Interpersonal Caring as an Act of Resistance Among Socially Marginalized
Some of the most marginalized and stigmatized people in a community are those with psychiatric diagnoses and those who are HIV positive.
Trapped in a Psych Ward: Michigan Doc Pre-Signed Blank Forms That Can Rob You...
From ABC7/WXYZ Detroit: Patients, parents, and employees are coming forward to talk about their experiences at some Michigan hospitals with psychiatrist Dr. Nagy Kheir. 
In Defense of Open Dialogue Research
One of the original Open Dialogue researchers responds to a paper presenting a prejudiced and selective review of the scientific literature.
Psychedelics Doctor Admits Relationship With Former Patient Who’s Now Dead
From BristolLive: Dr. Ben Sessa has said he knew the woman had a history of self-harm and overdoses but was not aware that she had tried to take her own life during the course of their relationship.
Deprescribing Psychiatric Drugs to Reduce Harms and Empower Patients: Interview with Psychiatrist Swapnil Gupta
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews psychiatrist Swapnil Gupta on psychiatric drug discontinuation, drug cocktail risks, patient choice, and the need for trust and transparency.
Never Waste a Good Depression: Family Therapy Challenges the Seductive Shortcut of Psychiatric Drugs
The widespread use of psychiatric drugs reduces important conversations about the problems of being human while limiting our options for problem-solving.
