Reading Books Is Not Just a Pleasure: It Helps Our Minds to Heal
From Psyche: Through my own struggles and in teaching bibliotherapy to students, I know that books can help to heal minds and hearts.
Psychiatrogenesis (Whither Psychiatry or Reform)
Preying on the privatisation of distress comes the medical-industrial complex perverting the mental health landscape.
Federal Judge Finds Texas Use of Psychotropic Drugs on Foster Children ‘Appalling’
From KERA News: "These children are being repeatedly raped in [DFPS's] care," said Judge Janis Jack. "They’re being drugged in your care if they complain. If their behavior is not up to snuff, they’re getting psychotropic drugs. And that is not safe."
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part One)
On the drug industry’s influence in defining disorders and the lack of efficacy for depression pills.
Breaking Blind: Antipsychotic Drug Efficacy May Be Overestimated
Only 4 of 188 antipsychotic trials assessed blinding, and in all 4 cases, the blind was broken, potentially leading to an overestimation of the drug effect.
Campaign Against ECT Gains Traction in UK
"Across the pond," campaigners’ efforts against electroshock are gaining public notice. Can their approach work in the US?
Governments, Treatment Providers Don’t Want to Expose “Dark Heart” of Mental Health System
From The Walrus: "People are suffering," said psych survivor and counselor Tracy Myers. "The idea that sticking them in a cell and giving them drugs is a solution for this is insanity."
Orlando Psychiatrist’s Practice Restricted After Sexual Assault Allegations
From Orlando Sentinel: Multiple women have accused Dr. Iftikhar Rasul, founder of Serene Behavioral Health, of groping them under the guise of a medical procedure.
White Paper Presents Case Against Forced Treatment
"I see the white paper as the culmination of my 40+ years of advocacy for people subjected to psychiatric incarceration and forced drugging."
She Redefined Trauma. Then Trauma Redefined Her.
From The New York Times: Dr. Judith Herman, who helped launch the field of trauma studies, has returned to publishing after a long, mysterious ordeal.
Self-test for Adult Symptom Deficiency Disorder (ASDD)
In the spirit of the thinking behind the DSM, I have worked out a test for a new disorder for those who don't meet criteria for anything else.
We Don’t Have a Health Care System. We Have a Medical-Industrial Complex
From John Abramson, MD/Hillsdale College: Instead of a health care system, we have a medical-industrial complex that is sucking America’s wealth away from the things that would actually make us healthier.
Can Listening to Heavy Metal Be Therapeutic?
Many enthusiasts of heavy metal will say things like "Heavy metal saved my life," and there is a fairly established narrative amongst fans of the wellbeing benefits.
Patients Given Aripiprazole (Abilify) ‘Should Be Told of Gambling Addiction Risks’
From The Guardian: The UK's National Problem Gambling Clinic has observed growing numbers of patients who have developed a gambling addiction after starting to take aripiprazole.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Six)
Discussing the damage psychosis pills cause to the brain, and how that manifests in many clinical harms, like tardive dyskinesia.
In Defense of Incoherent Psychiatry
In JAMA Psychiatry, the authors claimed we have no way to assess outcomes, and no way to know whether outcomes are "continuing to improve."
Can’t Be Trusted: A Book Review Review
My book is a memoir written around the denial of my medical certificate required to fly light aircraft for mental health reasons.
Warning Over Antidepressants as Top Experts Say They May Raise Risk of Suicide
From The Daily Mail: A study examining almost 8,000 inquests which mentioned antidepressants shows the drugs may "not be having the intended effect on suicide outcomes," said researcher Mark Horowitz.
Q&A: What Is Informed Consent, and What Should I Know to Help My Child?
My experience caused me to look into the origin of including the patient in decision-making about treatment and informed consent.
The Hidden Injuries of Oppression
Oppression is the single greatest factor contributing to human suffering. To treat it as an individual problem amounts to blaming the victim.
Indiana Jail Let Man ‘With Schizophrenia’ Starve to Death in Solitary, Lawsuit Alleges
From The Appeal: Sheriff’s Office employees locked a man having a psychotic episode in solitary confinement for three weeks—without mental health care or even toilet access—until he died of malnutrition.
Listen to the Victims: Senate Holds Hearing on Guardianship
I have seen the exploitation wreaked by court-appointed guardians. It is up to us to use our voices for those who cannot speak out.
One of America’s First Workplace Shootings Had an Unlikely Suspect: Prozac
From The Washington Post: Following a deadly 1989 attack in Louisville, survivors and victims’ families filed a suit against Eli Lilly, alleging that Prozac had contributed to the massacre.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Five)
Discussing the studies that have compared the different psychosis drugs, as well as the harms of adding more psychosis drugs to the regimen.
Mental Health ‘Industry’ Issues Outlined in New Book About Forced Treatment in North America
From Ashland Source: "It is an industry — and it needs to be understood in that way," said Rob Wipond, author of Your Consent Is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions, Forced Treatment, and Abusive Guardianships.
