The Failings of “Mental Health”: How a Seemingly Benign Concept Might be Dangerous
MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Bruce Cohen about dismissive psychiatrists, pervasive psychiatry, and the field's ties to neoliberal capitalism.
Opposition Mounts Against Newsom’s Plan for Court-Ordered ‘Treatment’ of Unhoused People
From the Los Angeles Times: Advocates say the California governor's proposed "CARE Court" "flies in the face of any evidence-based approach to ending homelessness."
The Shady World of Shock Treatment
The risk of undergoing shock treatment remains. As the FDA warns, “The long-term safety and effectiveness of ECT treatment has not been demonstrated.”
Why Forced Addiction Treatment Fails | Maia Szalavitz
From The New York Times: Since the data shows that the best treatment is compassionate and inviting, coercion should be the last resort, not the first.
How to Build a Culture of Good Health | Gabor Maté, MD
From Yes! Magazine: The medical profession is traumaphobic, and the results for patient care—whether physical or psychiatric—are devastating.
Psychiatry and Abuse | A Letter to Alice Miller
From Alice Miller: Child Abuse and Mistreatment: Psychiatry is a crucial factor in eliminating victims’ voices, abusing them "for their own good," and "protecting" society from the outcry of the abused.
The Alternative to Psychiatry Has Been Discovered—We’re Just Not Using It
The psychiatric solution and the psychological solution to psychopathology are fundamentally incompatible with each other.
‘Mental Illness’ Is Not in Your Head
From Boston Review: Two recent books by historians explore the crisis in biological psychiatry, tracing the factors that led psychiatrists to attempt to pin the reality of "mental illness" on the brain.
Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and Its Management
From BJGP Life: The IIPDW has produced a 1-hour training video to help GPs implement the newly-published NICE guidelines on how to safely stop antidepressants.
Peer Support Research: Is It Time Yet?
Researchers could be doing a better job of defining peer support. We could also have a better understanding of what the “positive effects'' of peer support really are.
NHS Data: 41% Rise in Antidepressant Prescribing to Children Aged 5-12 Since 2015
From The Pharmaceutical Journal: The majority were males, and peaks in antidepressant prescribing to young people in England coincided with periods of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Tools to Support New Moms: An Interview with Jennifer Barkin, PhD
A maternal mental health expert shares how perinatal stress and the climate crisis are affecting women’s everyday lives.
The Emperor’s New Clothes: The Upcoming NICE Depression Guidelines
The new NICE depression guideline is a reflection of the field: you don’t really know what you’re doing, and you lack confidence that it’s doing any good.
Review of the Conference on Withdrawal and Side Effects: IIPDW
The online conference Withdrawal From Psychiatric Drugs was held on Friday May 6th and 7th. Here we summarize each of the speakers' points.
Sonic Doom: The Effects of Noise Pollution on Physical and Mental Health
From The Guardian: We live in a world where peace and quiet is increasingly a luxury item and noise and stress are baseline conditions for the disadvantaged.
Allowing Human Nature to Work Successfully | Jean Liedloff
From ContinuumConcept.org: In her book The Continuum Concept, Jean Liedloff argued that the psychosocial ills of modern society result from our misconception of human nature as something inherently bad or problematic.
Is Mad in America Doing More Harm Than Good?
A dialogue between Dr. Jim Phelps—a psychiatrist who questions whether MIA is doing more harm than good by reporting the results of long-term trials of psychiatric drugs—and Robert Whitaker, founder of MIA.
Psychiatry in Aeromedicine: Who Is Denied the Privilege of Piloting an Aircraft?
Urging aviation students at the summit to seek help if they need it is a noble cause, but it sounds hollow when the FAA regulations are built on stigma.
“My Doctor Is Lacking Insight”: Alternative Experiences of Insight in Mental Health
From Psychiatry Is Driving Me Mad: "Insight" in mental health is usually thought of in relation to people with mental health difficulties; rarely do we consider the insight (or lack thereof) of the professionals themselves.
Bringing Integrative Community Therapy to Pittsburgh: An Interview with Alice and Kenneth Thompson
Father and daughter Ken and Alice Thompson run the Visible Hands Collaborative, bringing Integrative Community Therapy to the US.
The Bear in the Classroom – Trauma-Informed Teacher
From Ransom for Israel: Here’s the reality; if you are a teacher or you work in any capacity with children, then you are working with children with Complex Trauma.
From Horse Ranch to Home Ground: Healing Families via Telehealth
Since COVID, NISAPI has transitioned our collaborative therapy setting from barns and fields to kitchens and living rooms. Our clients report similar positive outcomes with telehealth as in person.
Who Are the New ‘Patient Influencers’ on Social Media?
From HealthDay: 'Patient influencers' are being seen as an increasingly popular direct-to-consumer marketing tool by pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers.
Unity in Diversity: Rethinking Mental Health and Our Connection to Nature
Meditation, walks in nature, and artistic and musical activities: These all have something in common—they have the power to dissolve the boundaries between us.
Wireless Mind, Gullible Mind | Chellis Glendinning
From CounterPunch: Somehow a population with DDT, Love Canal, the Dalkon Shield Intrauterine Device, asbestos, Three Mile Island, and Agent Orange under its belt is mustering up the same old psychological defenses it used to not learn from those debacles.
