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.
Are We No Longer Just Consumers, but the Consumed?
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."
Chronic Stress and “Mental Illness”
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’
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.
To Promote Mental Health, We Must Teach It
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
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
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
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.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 7: Psychosis (Part Four)
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
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
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.
A Case Before the U.S. Supreme Court Could Surge the Psychiatric Labelling and Drugging...
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
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
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?
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
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
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
Study reveals most patients are dissatisfied with prescribers' support when discontinuing antidepressants.
Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Revitalized World
We need to experience less comforting (though potentially highly rewarding) edges if we are to lead more fulfilling individual and collective lives.
