MIA Today

Headlines of Today's Posts

De-Weaponizing Empathy

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I am not immune to what I call weaponized empathy, which I see as the pure intention of compassion for another tainted with aggression around eradicating pain, pain that could be a source of growth for the sufferer if allowed to arise and pass away without force.

The Surprising Mental Health Benefits of Volunteering

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A program offers psychotherapy in exchange for voluntary service in the community. But the act of volunteering itself can have mental health benefits of its own.

Sherry Julo, Ed White and John Read – Online Support Groups for Psychiatric Drug...

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This week on the MIA podcast, we discuss a recent paper that considers the support provided by online support groups when people seek help for psychiatric drug withdrawal. It was published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology in January 2021 and the authors are Sherry Julo, Ed White and John Read.
Illustration including the words "MYTHS" and "FACTS"

Cochrane’s Demise: Misleading Denigration of Benzodiazepines for Acute Psychosis

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On a misleading Cochrane review of benzodiazepines for acute psychosis, and how Cochrane responded to criticism.

It’s Always Stage 4 in Locked Mental Health Wards

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From Right Now: Human Rights in Australia: "I have a terror of seeking help from any health practitioner, for fear I may end up subjected to these practices again... mental health services did enormous long-lasting harm." ~ Indigo Daya
Profile of a bearded man head with a symbol of neurons in the brain

A Brain for Our Emancipation

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In times of crisis, we are required to adapt to conditions of suffering to safeguard capitalist production. We are asked to adapt our flexible brains to a hostile environment, and the possibility of transforming that environment is suppressed.

Listening to the Patient Voice: The Antidepressant Withdrawal Experience

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Patient advocates join with researchers and service users to present first-hand experiences of antidepressant withdrawal.

They Called for Help. They’d Always Regret It.

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From The Atlantic: Two families called 911 to get help for their sons. They didn’t know that they’d be thrusting them into a complex and often brutal system.

The BBC, Harrow, and a Public Left in the Dark

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The recent report by the BBC on medication-free treatment in Norway, when viewed in conjunction with the media silence on Martin Harrow's latest publication, reveals why the public remains misinformed about the long-term effects of antipsychotics.

New York’s Mayor: We’re out of Ideas, so It’s “Back to the Cuckoo’s Nest”...

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A psychiatrist obsessed with violence among the mentally ill, Torrey is dedicated to promoting involuntary hospitalization.
A young woman crouches in distress in a corner, while a doctor's hand reaches out to her. Everything is white

An Unacknowledged Role of Doctors: Suppressing Women

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Western culture has instilled the idea that women are inherently weak and must trust authoritative doctors to manage their distress for them.
Opening Up: The Parenting Journey by Anne Peretz

Book Review: “Opening Up: The Parenting Journey”

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This is a book about stories, urging families to recognize their own strengths and create new narratives on the path ahead.
Miniature people - The worker at work with medicine pills

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

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Les Ruthven addresses the scientific literature on antidepressant efficacy and FDA approval.
candy corn

Suicide & Candy Corn: The Utility and Challenges of Risk Assessments

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Researchers admit their suicide risk assessments work only about as well as random guessing, and they can lead to harm. We can instead focus on finding new ways to form connections that might help tether someone to this world.

Screening for Perinatal Depression: An Effective Intervention, or One That Does More Harm Than Good?

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Why does the U.S. describe perinatal screening as providing a proven benefit, while the task forces in the U.K. and Canada see no evidence of such benefit?
Closeup photo of pills on a sheet that reads "Anxiety Disorder"

Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 10: Anxiety Disorders

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Peter Gøtzsche discusses psychotherapy versus drugs as the preferred treatment for anxiety, panic attacks, and OCD.

New Official Guidance: People Should Come Off Antidepressants Slowly

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From MetroUK: The guidance from RCPsych is catching up to what many patients have been saying for years: antidepressant tapering should take much longer than a few weeks.

Antidepressants Not Clinically Useful for Back Pain

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While professional guidelines recommend antidepressants for back pain, researchers point out the lack of evidence for their usefulness.
A set of folders, one labeled "Conclusions"

Condensing “Anatomy of an Epidemic” into a High-Level Summary Document

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After reading "Anatomy of an Epidemic," I needed something that could be read quickly, summarizing the material at a high level, to share with the general public.

Black Movement Leaders: Lost & Found

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As some of us get caught up in lamenting the whiteness of our movement, we are actively losing the stories of Black leaders.
Red and white pills have spilled from a crystal dish along with red liquid

Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part Eight)

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Researchers have again and again demonstrated that depression pills double suicides both in children and adults.

Tower of Babel: The Meaning and Purpose of Voicehearing and Psychosis

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A bottomless well of ideas and stories and seeming fantasies emerges from the mouths of voicehearers, psychotics, and schizophrenics. Is anyone taking the time to actually listen?
Illustration of a tiny doctor opening up a cartoon brain to reveal a pill inside

Addressing the Social Determinants of Mental Health—or Perhaps Not

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An article by the APA president merely pays lip service to the psychosocial causes of mental health problems.

Exercise for Youth Mental Health in the Lockdown: Interview with Psychologist Scott Greenspan

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School Psychologist Scott Greenspan discusses how to promote exercise and mental wellbeing for adolescents stuck indoors during the pandemic.
Collage depicting Cleopatra and a snake

The Psychiatric Patient: Who Is She?

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The psychiatric patient is interesting—not your average person. She is the one who might tell you: “There is more to this reality, and I saw the proof.”