MIA Today

Headlines of Today's Posts

Mental Health ‘Industry’ Issues Outlined in New Book About Forced Treatment in North America

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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.

Are We No Longer Just Consumers, but the Consumed?

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From Gary Sharpe: Our purpose in life seems to have become not just to be consumers of, but to be consumed by, monsters of our making, such as "The Markets" and "The Economy."
A Black man in a suit, in profile, with his head being fragmented digitally

Chronic Stress and “Mental Illness”

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Could it be possible that what we call “mental illness” is a direct consequence of the changes that occur in the body as a result of trauma and chronic stress?

Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing ‘Profound Risks to Society’

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From The New York Times: A.I. developers are "locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict or reliably control," said an open letter signed by tech leaders and researchers.
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To Promote Mental Health, We Must Teach It

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When we are quick to pathologize suffering, yet do not provide the fundamentals for healthy living, it is inhumanity of the highest order.

How Awais Aftab and Institutional Psychiatry Sidestep the Challenges Put to Them

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From ISEPP: Institutional psychiatry at its essence is fundamentally flawed. Thus it must resort to belittling and attacking its critics instead of answering their challenges honestly.

Lost Poetry: Psychiatry and Creativity

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A poem can be destroyed when psychiatry treats a poet without reverence and honor for their creativity and their diversity of mind.

Open Letter Re: John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ Episode on Psychedelic Assisted Therapy

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From Psymposium: Last Week Tonight joined a long and growing list of media outlets that have added fuel to the hype of psychedelic medicalization by omitting its potential risks and actual harms.
Stock photo of a doctor holding money and talking on the phone

Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Four)

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How cold-turkey withdrawal is mistaken for "relapse," and how the largest drug companies have paid billions in fraud settlements related to these drugs.

Extreme States with Michael Cornwall, PhD | Jung and the World

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From Jung and the World: Jungian psychotherapist Michael Cornwall talks about his experience helping clients through extreme states (psychosis) for over 40 years.

The Dangers of Being Too Nice | Gabor Maté, MD

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From Way of Thinking: The irresolvable tension between authenticity and attachment that many children in our society are faced with results in their self-suppression. And one possible outcome is the development of niceness as a coping mechanism.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA - September 8, 2018 The Indian Summer Festival, Child wearing traditional native american clothing, dancing at the pow wow competition.

A Case Before the U.S. Supreme Court Could Surge the Psychiatric Labelling and Drugging...

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If the Brackeen v. Halland case is successful, Native children are more likely to be placed with non-Native foster parents, and face a surge in psychiatric labeling and drugging.

Finding Mental Health – #SolutionsWatch | The Corbett Report with Bruce Levine

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From The Corbett Report: What is mental health and how can we achieve it? Is it only to be found in a trip to the psychiatrist's office and a prescription for a Big Pharma medication?

7 Patients Sue Arkansas Psychiatrist for False Imprisonment

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From Insider: "The scheme is this: Get as many patients in the door as possible, keep them there for as long as possible — even if that means illegally keeping them beyond the 72-hour hold, and holding them against their will," said an attorney working on the case.

Answering Awais Aftab: When it Comes to Misleading the Public, Who is the Culprit?

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The research literature from the WHO, NIMH, and others does not support a narrative of therapeutic progress, of psychiatric treatments that have “continued” to improve over time.

Nearly All Hospital Websites Send Tracking Data to Third Parties

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From MedPage Today: "Imagine you were browsing a hospital website for something related to your health, and you had [16 or 20 people] looking over your shoulder," said researcher Matthew McCoy, PhD.

Tanya Frank—Zig-Zag Boy: My Family’s Struggles With Broken Mental Healthcare

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Author Tanya Frank discusses her book 'Zig-Zag Boy A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood', which chronicles the experiences of her son Zach who experienced psychosis as a 19-year-old.

Prescribers Often Fail to Support Patients Discontinuing Antidepressants, Study Finds

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Study reveals most patients are dissatisfied with prescribers' support when discontinuing antidepressants.
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Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Revitalized World

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We need to experience less comforting (though potentially highly rewarding) edges if we are to lead more fulfilling individual and collective lives.

‘Your Consent Is Not Required’: When Psychiatric Treatment Isn’t Voluntary

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From Psychology Today: Forced 'treatment' is on the rise in North America, but an exhaustive new study finds that it does not actually improve mental health.
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Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Three)

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Peter Gøtzsche discusses the lack of evidence for benefit, and the evidence of harms, of psychosis drugs used for early intervention/first-episode psychosis.

Cultural Co-dependency | Barry and Janae Weinhold

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From The Weinholds: When people don't feel safe to feel their feelings, when they're not able to identify what their needs are, it keeps them feeling disconnected, lonely, afraid, and looking for an authority figure.

“Dominator” vs. “Partnership” Cultures: A Profound Re-Telling of Human History

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From Jordan Bates: The 'dominator' model of social organization permeates most aspects of modern life, causing pain, repression, and alienation. But it wasn't always this way.
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A New York City Psychiatric Hospital Patient Said Staffers Illegally Restrained and Drugged Her;...

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“No one is watching these hospitals,” Miranda warned. “No one is listening. Our rights are being violated left and right. They can do whatever they want.”

Pharmed Out Podcast: Paying Attention to ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment in Children

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On the latest Pharmanipulation podcast, hosts  Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman and Caroline Renko  interview psychologist Dr. Gretchen LeFever Watson and journalist Robert Whitaker about the...