Kendra’s Law Must Be a Beginning, Not an End
I believe that, as things are right now, forced treatment can be justifiable. But we need to move studies and research forward, move mental health treatment forward into an era where forced treatment is obsolete.
Denver Program That Replaces Cops With Counselors Is Reducing Arrests
From Denverite: The Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program represents a more empathetic approach to policing that keeps people out of an often-cyclical criminal justice system.
Trauma and Mental Health in Social Movements: An Interview with Janice Haaken
MIA's Emaline Friedman interviews psychologist and filmmaker Janice Haaken about how mental health discourse impacts social movements.
Left-Wing Behavioral Genetics? A Closer Look at the Genetic Evidence in “The Cult of...
Behavioral genetic “discoveries” are a mirage, a house of cards that ignores contradictory evidence from countless real-world examples and research findings from other fields, that collapses under serious critical analysis.
A 9-Year-Old Was Pepper-Sprayed by Police. Here’s What Should Have Happened Instead
From USA TODAY: To expect a child to be able to overcome a biological stress response for the sake of compliance demonstrates a lack of understanding, said child advocate Deb Rosen.
Insane Medicine, Chapter 9: The Worried Parent (Part 2)
Once you have managed to shift the relational dance for a while, you will start to get on with your new life; hopefully you have got far enough forward to establish a new “script”; a new family relational dance.
A New Tool in Treating ‘Mental Illness’: Building Design
From The New York Times: New research into the health effects of our surroundings is spurring the development of facilities that feel more residential.
The False Memory Syndrome at 30: How Flawed Science Turned into Conventional Wisdom ...
Soon after states finally began providing adults who remembered childhood abuse with the legal standing to sue, the FMSF began waging a PR campaign to discredit their memories—in both courtrooms and in the public mind.
Psychologists Should Now Lead the Call to Close Guantánamo
From Psychology Today: Calling for the permanent closure of Guantánamo would be an important milestone in the APA's fraught journey to reset its moral compass.
Parting the Clouds | Charles Raison on New Treatments for Depression
From The Sun: Many "new" treatments for depression have been a part of human cultures for millennia: compassion meditation, sweat lodges, fasting, and psychedelics like psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.
A Nurse’s Nightmare: Child Nearly Dies from ADHD Drug
My hope and prayer is that this dramatic look at a negative effect of this class of drugs will help you understand that, in my professional assessment, their risks outweigh their benefits.
Dr. Pies’ Non-Apology
Dr. Pies' summary of Schroder et al's study is misleading. In fact, the researchers found that the more times a person was hospitalized, the more likely they were to believe the chemical imbalance myth.
Intensive Home Treatment for Acute Mental Disorders: An Alternative to Hospitalization
Unlike hospital treatment, IHT is attentive to family issues and helping negotiate re-entry into work or school. It is also consistent with the recovery principle of least intrusive interventions.
CRPD Consultation on Deinstitutionalization: A Reparations Approach
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has announced a series of regional consultations on deinstitutionalization.
They Called for Help. They’d Always Regret It.
From The Atlantic: Two families called 911 to get help for their sons. They didn’t know that they’d be thrusting them into a complex and often brutal system.
Insane Medicine, Chapter 9: The Worried Parent (Part 1)
A discussion of a diagnosis-free approach to working with families called the Relational Awareness Program (RAP) and how family relationships become solidified through “Emotion WARS.”
The Problem With Mental Health Awareness
From The Nation: Campaigns telling people to become “aware” and “reach out” are, at best, an incorrect diagnosis of the problem and at worst, gaslighting.
Some Principles of Human Design for a Post-COVID World
This essay contributes a biologist’s perspective to identifying humanity’s fundamental needs in our necessary transition to a new world order.
How Frightened People Should Be Treated by Doctors – RD Laing
From Did You Used to be RD Laing?: "The ‘treatment’ that we give someone, is the way we treat that person. It should not be a noun, but an active verb."
An American History of Addiction, Part 5: Vietnam, Veterans, and Vermin
If addictions are existential, and not biological, at their core, then we can start to understand why addiction is not always chronically and progressively compulsive and obsessive.
Psychiatrists and Open Dialogue
Please join our international panel of psychiatrists on Friday, February 12 at noon Eastern U.S. time (5:00 pm London time) to discuss the crucial questions of bringing Open Dialogue to a world in crisis.
Asia’s Largest Psychiatric Clinic for Women
From DW Documentary: Asia’s largest psychiatric facility is home to 1,700 female patients—or "ghosts." Many were victims of violence, or simply rejected by their families.
Mainstream Mental Health Is Hazardous for Your Mental Health
"Mental health" going mainstream has not actually translated into more connection and healing. Instead, what is mainstream is an individual, isolating notion of "disease."
New Research Questions Safety of Esketamine for Depression
An analysis of FDA adverse event reports related to esketamine shows the potential for negative effects such as suicidal and self-injurious ideation.
Psychiatry and the Counterculture: An Interview with Health Historian Lucas Richert
Richard Sears interviews pharmaceutical industry scholar Lucas Richert about American counterculture and psychiatry in the 1970s.
