MIA Today

Headlines of Today's Posts

Wheat field

Heritability Explains Less About Mental Disorders Than You Think

41
The focus on diseased brains and genes obscures the significance of social and environmental influences.
Upset Black boy holding pills

Usage of Depression Pills in Children and Young People Must Stop

5
Our citizens would be far better off if we removed all the psychotropic drugs from the market, as doctors are unable to handle them.
Sad lonely man in depression. Vector illustration. Flat.

We Can’t Help People With Trauma If We Can’t Say Trauma

20
Although the medical care Cary received was excellent, no one mentioned “trauma” or counseled us on how it might manifest emotionally.
A man is sitting on a sofa and writing notes in a notebook

The Wound That Speaks

30
In my case, writing was the beginning of healing. It pulled me out of the abyss and gave me structure, voice, and purpose. It gave me a sense of authorship over a life hijacked by memory.
Sticky notes on blue background. One shows a smiley face, one a frown, and one between them depicts a question mark.

Beyond the Pill Paradigm: Reclaiming Humanity in Mental Health Care

5
By tackling social causes of distress along with personal support, we prevent suffering rather than just reacting to emergencies.

Father Kills Son Because of Antidepressants

4
From Josef Witt-Doerring's YouTube Channel: "In this interview, David Carmichael shares his devastating experience with psychiatric medications, describing how Paxil triggered a drug-induced psychosis leading...
3D Isometric Flat Vector Conceptual Illustration of Moral Issue, Ethical Dilemma, Decision Making.

Power, Privilege & Controlling the Narrative: Vested Interests in ‘Mental Health’

5
Alienating someone from their own meaning-making is a violent action, but that's what happens when professionals use unscientific, decontextualised diagnoses.
Vector of a sick sad patient man in depression drowning in medications sitting inside a bottle.

Antidepressant Withdrawal Is Common and Debilitating

0
Those using antidepressants long-term were more likely to experience withdrawal and to have severe withdrawal symptoms.
Empathy concept with nurturing hands reaching down to sustain a sad young woman in deep depression sitting under a thunder cloud with crying emoticons, vector illustration

The Roots of Emotional Illness: Emotional Conditioning

5
Psychodynamic psychotherapy gets at the root cause of the emotional distress—a person’s emotional conditioning in childhood.

Two Decades of PSSD: A Life Stolen by Antidepressants

20
Our two-year-long collaborative research project suggests that neuroimmune processes and related downstream mechanisms may play a role in PSSD.
Diagnosis: Placebo Effect

More Evidence That Antidepressants Work Via Placebo Effect

14
Antidepressants were more effective for depressed patients who were more “optimistic.” Still, only 30% responded to SSRIs.

Kermit Cole: Dialogical Therapy and Quantum Theory Walk Into a Bar…

10
On the podcast this week we are joined by Kermit Cole who shares his thoughts on how humor can help in creating a shared experience that is helpful to the healing process. Kermit, in his experiences of being with people in psychotic states, has seen humor as a moment when a connection can be made. In many ways, this project is bringing Kermit back full circle to his work as a film director, early in his professional career.

It’s Time for Psychologists to Become Activists

1
From The British Psychological Society: "As a forensic psychologist, I left the NHS when I realised I was complicit in a system that silenced...

Szasz and The Manufacture of Madness Today

0
From Meer: "In 1970, Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry emeritus at State University of New York, published his seminal work, The Manufacture of Madness....
A male doctor appears to scream in frustration. His glasses catch the light

Are Psychiatrists More Mad Than Their Patients?

81
Misconceptions among psychiatric leaders are at variance with the scientific evidence. They suffer from a serious, collective delusion.
Stock photo. Man in lab coat appears to scream in anger.

Criticisms That Establishment Psychiatry Can and Cannot Tolerate

79
Criticism that uniquely applies to establishment psychiatry but not to medicine in general threatens its existential legitimacy, and is not tolerated.

New York Makes it Easier to Commit People With Severe Mental Illnesses

1
From Politico: "ALBANY, New York — Gov. Kathy Hochul shored up her public safety agenda this week when state lawmakers agreed to loosen the...

And You Thought They Were Side Effects: How Psychiatry Turned Chemical Disruption Into Medical...

41
There’s no cure beneath the disruption, just a chemical hit that alters perception or behavior.

Chemically Imbalanced: Joanna Moncrieff on the Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth

48
Joanna Moncrieff joins Robert Whitaker to talk about her latest book, titled Chemically Imbalanced: The Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth. They discuss the serotonin story and the fact that there is no good evidence that a serotonergic deficiency is a primary cause of depression.
Photo of young woman in a therapy group

The Quiet Crisis in Mental Health: The Medicalization and Deskilling of Psychotherapy

27
The focus on the "worried well" and the exclusion of the "mad" serves to legitimize psychiatric control and surveillance.

Bristol Myers Squibb Schizophrenia Drug Fails Pivotal Test as an Add-On to Antipsychotics

0
From Med City News. "A Bristol Myers Squibb drug whose landmark FDA approval introduced the first novel mechanism for treating schizophrenia in decades has...

Jo Watson Interviews Cathy Wield, Author of “Unshackled Mind”

0
It’s never too late to seek another explanation for the problems you’re facing, to change your mind and get your life back.
A person, out of focus, holding a pill bottle in focus

Half of Those Who Take Antidepressants Are Labeled “Treatment Resistant”

20
Millions of people are trying multiple antidepressant drugs without success, and psychiatry labels them “treatment resistant.”

The United States is Witnessing the Return of Psychiatric Imprisonment

0
From The Guardian. “Across the country, a troubling trend is accelerating: the return of institutionalization – rebranded, repackaged and framed as “modern mental health...

The Garden of the Mind: Fictions Weeded Out by Psychiatry

4
Delusions are more than fleeting mental turmoil; they reveal the unconscious mind’s storytelling power.