MIA Today

Headlines of Today's Posts

A Black mother and daughter sit on the couch. Mother is explaining something to a sullen-looking girl.

The Psychiatric Peddlers in Your Schools

27
Educators and parents must equip children with the necessary tools to meet the normal problems of childhood that psychiatry attempts to address.

Antidepressant Use Linked to Sexual Dysfunction, Why Aren’t Prescribers Discussing It?

1
Research sheds light on the impact of antidepressants on sexual dysfunction, emphasizing the need for patient-physician communication.

Antidepressant Use Tightly Correlates with Increased Suicide Rates

4
While the study can’t confirm causality, it does contradict the notion that antidepressants reduce suicide at the population level.
Photo of a girl surrounded by bullies holding cell phones

“A Dangerous Substance”: The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health

6
This is what social media does, she says. It draws people in. It hurts people. In the worst cases, it kills people.

Reflections on the Silicon Valley Teen Suicides-by-Train: Fifteen Years Later

8
A psychiatrist and mom reflects on teen suicide clusters in Palo Alto and discusses alternative ways to address adolescent mental health.
hand behind barbed wire with dark background

The “Madness” of Inpatient Psychiatry

50
Inpatient psychiatry is not a place of psychological healing; it is devoid of compassion and full of human rights abuses.

Irish Psychiatry Says Chemical Imbalance Is a Figure of Speech—So, What Now?

22
Don’t researchers and clinicians have an ethical responsibility to inform the public that the "chemical imbalance" story is false?
Illustration of a mother holding a baby with dark clouds in the background; pills fall like rain

Enlarging the Treatment Lens for Postpartum Depression

5
Drugs, social support, placenta encapsulation: How can we approach the specter of postpartum depression?
Doctor looking perplexed or angry pointing at a clipboard

How the Medical Profession Pathologizes Emotions and the Damage to Patients

29
Doctors’ diagnostic inflexibility and unwillingness to take an integrative approach limits patients’ autonomy in their own treatment.

Despite Safety Risks, Prescribers Receive Little Guidance of Monitoring Antipsychotic Clozapine

5
A new review finds a lack of available guidance on how to effectively monitor adverse effects of antipsychotic drug clozapine.
Artistic background made of elements of human face, and colorful abstract shapes

I Heard Some Voices and They Were Magnificent

21
Even though my 'psychoses’ have been beautiful, you also need a safe place to be able to process them.
A syringe and a bottle labeled ketamine.

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 7)

3
On antidepressants versus CBT, the buzz around ketamine, and drugs for postpartum depression.
A young man sitting on steps outside looking sad

Trauma and Resources Within Social Context

12
What is seen as pathology is a complex web of surviving strategies learned in aversive circumstances that can cause distress later.
Young boy looking through the window

As a Psychologist, I’ve Seen Many Children Misdiagnosed as Autistic—It’s a Clinical Catastrophe

25
The ASD diagnosis glosses over the many developmental specifics that might underlie a child’s challenges related to social communication.
A woman looks to the side in distress, while holding a wedding band and a pen to sign divorce documents

The Social-Emotional Distress Field, or How I Divorced “Mental Health”

18
At this crisis point, I realised that resigning from my job was not enough. I needed to divorce from the Mental Health field as a whole. 
Man with hands against glass, out of focus, looking distressed

Are “Trauma/Addiction Experts” and Psychiatrists Misleading Us?

55
“Experts” refer to an ill-defined concept of “trauma,” but unique traumatic experiences should not be generalized.
Photo of an open hand on a deep red background with scattered white pills

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 6)

0
Les Ruthven addresses the research showing that psychiatric hospitalization increases suicidality.
Climber snaps the safety carabiner on the rope. A climber on a cliff ties a safety knot

RADAR and the Dignity of Risk-Taking

6
The goal may not be to eliminate risk, but to respect the risk that people are willing to take, and to help make tapering as safe as possible.
Unhappy Woman In Converstion With Friend Or Counsellor

“Get Over It”? A Response to Empower Parents to Repair Instead of Victim Blame

27
An epidemic of children blaming their parents in therapy? In my 20 years as a psychologist, I've seen the opposite.
3D illustration of a matrix with tablets and the words risks and benefits. Concept of clinical trials results

Two Out of Three Find Antidepressant Effects Not Worth Burdens

1
New study reveals: 2 in 3 people need more than the current antidepressant benefits to consider them worthwhile.

The Dangers of Precision Medicine: Mental Health Is Not a Battlefield

22
Rather than a war to be fought within individuals, we should envision mental health as a garden to be carefully nurtured.
Pattern of blue and yellow pills or tablets on a pink background. concept of medicine, pharmacy and coronavirus. copy space

SSRI Withdrawal has Social, Cognitive, and Emotional Consequences

0
New research finds that the non-physical aspects of withdrawal from SSRIs are often overlooked.
A male doctor looks slightly angry at a woman who looks sad in profile

“Impairment: Says Who?”: The Fundamental Question of Mental Health Treatment

46
The criterion of "impairment" is defined not by the person seeking treatment, but by other people: parents, clinicians, courts, employers, and so on.
Miniature hazmat team inspects hazardous pills

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 5)

1
Les Ruthven addresses increases in suicide and homicide caused by antidepressant drugs.
AI-generated image of a snowy yeti and an ice-crusted double-helix

Searching for the “Psychiatric Yeti”: Schizophrenia Is Not Genetic

173
After decades of study, billions of dollars spent, and thousands of studies conducted, the failure to identify any genes for schizophrenia should definitively put to rest the notion that schizophrenia is a genetic disorder, according to E. Fuller Torrey.