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 MatĂ©, 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 canât 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 friendsâ son for 20 years soured the manâs relationship with his parents and ruined his inheritance, a new lawsuit charges.
Addressing the Social Determinants of Mental Healthâor 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 Yearâs 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.
When Tapering Antidepressants, is Going Slow Always the Best Strategy?
Do we take enough account of total drug exposure time when devising antidepressant tapering strategies?
Darby Penney, Who Crusaded for Better Psychiatric Care, Dies at 68
From The New York Times: She shed light on marginalized peopleâs lives by examining the contents of suitcases left in the attic of a psychiatric hospital. She went on to become a prominent activist.
The Crisis in Psychiatry and The Slow Way Back: Interview with Vincenzo Di Nicola
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews psychiatrist and philosopher Vincenzo Di Nicola about his call for "slow psychiatry" and a renewed social psychiatry.
The Psychiatric Hospital Is an Institution of Social Control
Psychiatry is an institution of control. It is easier to keep society in check when unwanted behavioral traits can be considered pathology.
Take Your Time: A ‘Slow Thought’ Manifesto
From Aeon: "Our basic needs never change. The need to be seen and appreciated...to belong. The need for nearness and care, and for a little love! This is given only through slowness in human relations." ~ Norwegian philosopher Guttorm FlÞistad
Tragic Schoolboy Was Prescribed Huge Increase in Anti-Depressants
From Belfast Telegraph: Johnny Shields, 14, who tragically took his own life had been prescribed up to a 700% increase of controversial anti-depressant drugs in the months leading up to his death.
Common Statistical Method Conflates Withdrawal with Relapse
Researchers argue that common study methods for psychiatric drugs may inadvertently minimize withdrawal effects and inflate drug efficacy.
