MIA Today

Headlines of Today's Posts

The Functions of the Mental Health System Under Capitalism

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The mental health system is a system of care and control, legitimated by the concept of mental illness, and playing an important role in capitalist and Neoliberal societies.
Illustration of man sitting on a red and white pill. He holds his head with pain symbols in the air above him.

Adding Antipsychotics Worsens Outcomes in Psychotic Depression

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Outcomes were worse for all, with young people on combination therapy twice as likely to experience rehospitalization or death by suicide than those on antidepressants alone.

Despite Safety Risks, Prescribers Receive Little Guidance of Monitoring Antipsychotic Clozapine

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A new review finds a lack of available guidance on how to effectively monitor adverse effects of antipsychotic drug clozapine.

Suicide Hotlines Bill Themselves as Confidential—Even as Some Trace Your Call

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Every year suicide hotline centers covertly trace tens of thousands of confidential calls, and police come to homes, schools, and workplaces to forcibly take callers to psychiatric hospitals.

Robert Whitaker Answers Reader Questions on Mad in America, the Biopsychosocial Model, and Psychiatric...

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On the Mad in America podcast this week we have Robert Whitaker with us to answer questions sent in by readers and listeners.

DOOCE: A Case Study on the Failure of Psychiatry

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Heather Armstrong’s life was taken by psychiatry, and our unwillingness to scrutinize their methods of madness.
Pattern of blue and yellow pills or tablets on a pink background. concept of medicine, pharmacy and coronavirus. copy space

SSRI Withdrawal has Social, Cognitive, and Emotional Consequences

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New research finds that the non-physical aspects of withdrawal from SSRIs are often overlooked.

Antidepressants No Better Than Placebo for About 85% of People

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Researchers can’t predict the 15% who benefit from antidepressants, and the other 85% are unnecessarily exposed to the harms of the drugs.

Q&A: What Is Executive Function, and How Can Parents and Teachers Help Kids Focus?

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Ask anyone who’s ever taught kids, and they’ll tell you a story about one student who sticks in their memory.
Green stick figure, chalk on a blackboard, standing on its head, amid a crowd of identical white stick figures

Unattached Burdens: IFS Helps Us Understand What Psychiatry Ignores

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To heal from unattached burdens requires an understanding of the mind that psychiatry lacks.

Embracing the Shadow—Charlie Morley on Lucid Dreaming as Therapy

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On the Mad in America podcast, we hear about the potential of lucid dreaming therapy to aid those struggling with post-traumatic stress.

Can Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Hurt You?

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What I was able to learn about the injury inflicted by TMS and the culture surrounding it is an incredible insight into the treatment itself and the nature of the medical model in its current form.
Richard "Dick" Schwartz alongside the cover of his book, "No Bad Parts"

The Parts Within Us: An Interview with Richard Schwartz, Creator of Internal Family Systems

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IFS is a different paradigm, which says that rather than being a sign of pathology, it’s the nature of the mind to have “parts." We’re born that way because they're all valuable.
open dialogue

Re-humanising Mental Health Systems: A Discussion with Jaakko Seikkula on the Open Dialogue Approach

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Clinical psychologist, researcher, and professor Jaakko Seikkula, along with Markku Sutela, created the Open Dialogue approach to acute crises in Finland.
Photograph of two faces in psychedelic colors with dark background

Ending The Silence Around Psychedelic Therapy Abuse

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All the new hype about miracle psychedelic treatments as the next wave of cures for mental disorders leaves out the risk of therapy abuse.
Illustration of a mother holding a baby with dark clouds in the background; pills fall like rain

Enlarging the Treatment Lens for Postpartum Depression

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Drugs, social support, placenta encapsulation: How can we approach the specter of postpartum depression?

The WHO and the United Nations: Let Freedom Ring for the Mad

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This is a call that challenges how psychiatry is practiced today and ultimately challenges its power in society.
Photo depicting a close-up of hands handcuffed behind someone's back, holding a cell phone

Psychiatric Detentions Rise 120% in First Year of 988

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As contacts to the new 988 suicide hotline number have risen, so have call tracing and police interventions.

Medication-free Ward in Tromsø, Norway May Soon Close

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The Tromsø ward has shown that offering patients the option to forgo psychiatric medication, or to taper from the drugs, can be a successful model of care.

Catherine’s Story: A Child Lost to Psychiatry 

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A year ago today, our youngest child died, thanks to the adversarial actions and toxic treatments foisted on her by medical-model psychiatry. By telling her story, we hope to promote systemic change.

The Making of a ‘Madness’ That Hides Our Monsters: An Interview with Audrey Clare...

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In this interview, Audrey Clare Farley reveals how our understanding of schizophrenia was built to avoid acknowledging sexual trauma, religious abuse, and racism.
Pile of pills in blister packs background

Psychiatric Journals’ Pro-Pharma Publication Bias Hides Suicide Risk of Antidepressants

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Selective publication bias in top psychiatry journals was not explained by the quality of the studies, but by financial ties to pharma.
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I Heard Some Voices and They Were Magnificent

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Even though my 'psychoses’ have been beautiful, you also need a safe place to be able to process them.
Boy with wings in the field in the afternoon against the blue sky

Trying to Fly Above—An Example of Sequencity

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I consider synchronicity and sequencity connections to be gifts. The meaning involved is often much deeper and more personal than other people will recognize.
Vector style illustration of a woman hugging her knees with cloudlike scribbles on a blue-gray background

Splitting Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder

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Recognition of C-PTSD might be a double-edged sword, further marginalizing the very individuals it aimed to assist.