Grief: A Shamanic Perspective
From a shamanic perspective, the biggest mechanism for soul retrieval is not anything mystical at all. It is something with which any adult is familiar. It is grief.
Understanding the Youth Mental Health Crisis: An Interview with Elia Abi-Jaoude
The child psychiatrist talks about the importance of seeing the big picture and why parents shouldn't "be afraid if their kid is in distress."
Feds Open Investigation of SC Group Homes for Adults With ‘Mental Illness’
From The Post and Courier: "Most of them, they’re horrible. It’s nowhere that you would ever want your family member to be," said Kimberly Tissot, executive director of Able SC.
New NICE Guidelines for ECT Are Dangerously Inadequate, Say 50 Patients and Professionals
An open letter from patients, psychiatrists, and professors calls on NICE to rewrite the new ECT guidelines to avoid putting patients’ safety at risk.
Opioids Feel Like Love. That’s Why They’re Deadly in Tough Times.
From The New York Times: America can’t arrest its way out of a problem caused by the fundamental human need to connect.
Fireside Project: Peer Support for Psychedelic Experiences
A new nonprofit support line takes a harm-reduction approach and helps people process their psychedelic experiences.
Suicide, Indian Farmers, Indigenous North Americans… and the Shame of Shrinks | Bruce Levine,...
From CounterPunch: Mental health professionals must do their part to foment rebellion against the sociopolitical status quo, rather than enable it.
When It Comes to Mental Health Problems, The Disability Framework Fails: A Response to...
A response to the thought-provoking comments and concerns on the previous blog, furthering the discussion about disability and mental disorder.
Change.org: Coalition Against Coercive Psychiatry in Germany – Non-Violent Psychiatry Now
From the International Association Against Psychiatric Assault: The two Germany-wide "user" and survivor organizations, the BPE and die-BPE, have launched a joint campaign for a "violence-free psychiatry."
“Mental Health” Is a Euphemism for Policing Social Deviance
"Mental health" discourse conceals the fact that mental illness is still treated as a social deviance by the authoritarian institution of psychiatry.
Love Can Fuel the Deep Empathy Needed to Understand Psychosis
From Psyche: Understanding, being understood and sharing a meaningful life are central to feelings of belonging, which in turn are fundamental to wellbeing and recovery from mental health problems.
Critical Psychology for a Better Society: An Interview with Sebastienne Grant
Micah Ingle interviews Sebastienne Grant about her work developing a critical psychology program to reimagine and restructure social systems.
The New School: ‘CRAZYWISE’ Film Screening Feb. 2 with Dr. Gabor Maté, Phil Borges
From The New School for Social Research: The panel will explore finding meaning through suffering, how indigenous cultures identify 'psychotic' symptoms as an indicator of shamanic potential, and the growing severity of the mental health crisis in America dominated by biomedical psychiatry.
Guardianship Destroyed My Family
People who can’t take care of themselves need support and protection, but guardianship provides neither. I know: I've lived it.
SSRI Antidepressants Do Not Improve Depression After a Stroke
A study in JAMA Neurology finds that antidepressants do not reduce depression symptoms more than placebo in patients recovering from a stroke.
Reducing Mental Health Detention of People with Autism and/or Learning Disabilities
From Doughty Street Chambers: People with learning disabilities and/or autism who have experienced and survived institutionalisation often carry the psychological scars for many years.
‘Our Son Has Been Locked Up Like an Animal for 21 Years…for Being Autistic’
From The Daily Mail: Families give shattering testimony of their battle against a hidden injustice in the British care system.
Interview: Abuse and Neglect at Private “Troubled Teen” Centers
Parents, beware: Disability rights lawyer Diane Smith Howard shares disturbing findings on conditions at youth residential treatment facilities.
Unscientific Diagnoses Medicalize Normal Human Experiences
In this 30-minute podcast, Peter Simons reports on the latest scientific articles in psychiatry.
Westchester County Shrink Ruined Family Relationships, Suit Claims
From NY Post: A psychiatrist who treated his friends’ son for 20 years soured the man’s relationship with his parents and ruined his inheritance, a new lawsuit charges.
Addressing the Social Determinants of Mental Health—or Perhaps Not
An article by the APA president merely pays lip service to the psychosocial causes of mental health problems.
She Tweeted That Alan Dershowitz Might Be Acting Crazy. So Yale Fired Her.
From Intelligencer: The case of Dr. Bandy Lee involves conflicting interpretations of the Goldwater Rule, which itself has long been controversial.
New Year’s Resolution: Address Grief and Trauma in Healthy Ways
From Darcia Narvaez, PhD: Everyone needs to learn to grieve losses and deal with shock. Here are practices that build resilience in children (and everyone).
Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: The Ground Where Death Meets Life
How the unrelated murder of an inmate on another unit led to Sean's transfer, his escape from forced medication, and eventually, his release.
New Review: Antidepressants Come with Minimal Benefits, Several Risks
A review of research on antidepressant efficacy finds that an unfavorable risk-to-benefit ratio.
