Immigration Detention: The Mental Health Impacts
Solitary confinement is not a substitute for medical isolation and its conditions are not conducive to care or recovery, but rather a tool to manage and silence those struggling with trauma exacerbated by conditions they are trapped in indefinitely.
It’s Always Stage 4 in Locked Mental Health Wards
From Right Now: Human Rights in Australia: "I have a terror of seeking help from any health practitioner, for fear I may end up subjected to these practices again... mental health services did enormous long-lasting harm." ~ Indigo Daya
Stop Saying This, Part 6: It Takes Two, Life’s Not Fair, and More
It’s common that both people are contributing to the issue in one way or another. However, there is at least one instance that renders “it takes two” unavailable for blanket-statement use, and that is abuse.
Increasing Numbers of Children Prescribed Multiple Psychiatric Medications
According to researchers, children are being increasingly prescribed multiple different psychiatric medications.
Insane Medicine, Chapter 3: The Manufacture of ADHD (Part 2)
Sami Timimi discusses the lack of findings for a genetic or neurobiological basis for ADHD, and explores the short- and long-term effects of stimulant drugs.
Stopping Antidepressants: Exploring the Patient’s Experience
From the Royal College of Psychiatrists: Professor Wendy Burn of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and expert-by-experience James Moore discuss the challenges of stopping antidepressants and what more is needed to better support patients.
For George Floyd and Black Men in Recovery, ‘Everything Piles Up’
From The Washington Post: Finding a way to live has never been a sure thing for Black men in America, who are taught from an early age that any misstep could lead to a prison cell or a coffin.
How Culture Influences Voice Hearing: An Interview with Stanford Anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Tanya Luhrmann about cultural differences in voice-hearing, diagnosis and damaged identities, and conflicts in psychiatry.
Understanding Mental Illnesses, and Ourselves
I trained in psychiatry in the 1950s. I saw psychiatry switch from trying to help patients to understand themselves better to trying to find a drug that would relieve their symptoms.
Podcast of the Ottawa Institute of CBT Interviews Robert Whitaker
From the Ottawa Insitute of CBT: The Thoughts on Record podcast speaks with Whitaker about the core themes of his book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America.
Charity: Hundreds of Thousands With Mental Health Conditions Being Chained
From The Guardian: “Shackling people with mental health conditions is a widespread, brutal practice that is an open secret in many communities,” said Kriti Sharma of Human Rights Watch.
Teenage Hockey Player Working to Destigmatize ‘Mental Health Issues’
From ESPN: "No one with mental health issues should be called a burden," said Morgan Urso. "And that is the stigma I am trying to end."
Insane Medicine, Chapter 3: The Manufacture of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Part 1)
Both the idea that there are some characteristic brain-based abnormalities for those diagnosed with ADHD, and that the medications used have specific properties that target a disease process—like a chemical imbalance—are false.
Promising Preliminary Results from a Small Study of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy
A new study offers promising results for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for depression.
Who’s to Blame for the Lost Soul of Psychiatry?
An interview between Drs. Aftab and Pies reveals a deep mistrust of patients' reports of their own experiences, and devolves into a game of semantics in an attempt to prove psychiatry's relevance.
‘Mental Health’, Extreme States and Shamans
From holisticelephants: The extreme ‘symptoms’ in our modern age are trying to tell us about problems we need to solve as a community before society blows up like a volcano.
Researchers: Antidepressant Use in Children Increases Suicide, No Evidence of Benefit
Noted antidepressant researcher, Michael Hengartner, summarizes the latest research on the use of antidepressants in children and adolescents.
Stepping Into One’s Inner Radiant Space
It is hard to step out of the space of diagnoses because of the power it holds. The “doctor” who inflicted on you the awful label of “schizophrenia” or “bipolar” damages you because of the power he holds.
Insane Medicine, Chapter 2: The Scientism of Psychiatry (Part 2)
Paying attention to the science tells us that we need to look beyond formal services. People need connection and meaning as well as basics such as safety, housing, and work.
Would More Social Justice Make You Happier?
From Greater Good Magazine: A new study finds that, after social capital, a country’s level of social justice is the second strongest predictor of people's life satisfaction.
‘Where Is Rudy?’: Giuliani’s Checkered Track Record as a Pharma Consultant
From STAT News: As a consultant, he has the dubious distinction of having advised two of the most notorious prescription drug makers, whose business practices jeopardized the health of countless Americans.
The Psychologist Who Sparked the Gay Rights Movement
From Aeon: “What is called this year ‘evil’ and whatever, next year may constitute the blessing of the human race.” ~ U.S. psychologist Evelyn Hooker
‘We Need Prison Time’: Purdue’s Belated Guilty Plea Gets Skeptical Reaction
From The Guardian: "Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family were directly responsible for inflicting immeasurable harm on communities around this country," said the lawyers for plaintiffs in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation case.
When Psych Diagnosis Means Life-or-Death
One label in the DSM that applies to cognitive abilities—“Intellectual Disabilities”—is crucial in determining whether people accused of crimes in some US states will be executed.
The Need for Acknowledgment of Context Within Approaches to Mental Distress
Mental distress is often perceived as something devoid of context, as an individual medical condition or a failure instead of a human condition linked to the social context one exists in.
