I Live
Why is it such a “crime” to explore alternative realities, and look for something beyond our totally medicalized society? In some cultures, one would be revered instead, and not locked away.
Insane Medicine, Chapter 4: The Manufacture of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) (Part 2)
No one has come near to finding a genetic basis or a characteristic neurological abnormality for autism, and as a result there is no biological marker or brain scan used to diagnose ASD.
MadFreedom Interviews Jim Gottstein of PsychRights
From MadFreedom/MadMediaMatters: Attorney Jim Gottstein discusses the challenges and strategies involved in legal advocacy for people imprisoned in psychiatric facilities and drugged against their will.
Suicide Rates Did Not Decrease When Antidepressant Drugs Were Introduced
Researchers investigate the claim that the introduction of antidepressant drugs led to decreases in suicide rates internationally.
Suicide Hotlines Bill Themselves as Confidential—Even as Some Trace Your Call
Every year suicide hotline centers covertly trace tens of thousands of confidential calls, and police come to homes, schools, and workplaces to forcibly take callers to psychiatric hospitals.
Social Adversity, Mental Distress, and the Theatre of the Oppressed
The theatre of the oppressed directly challenges societal problems of oppression. Here the involved learn much from the enactment—concrete possible solutions and possible practices of resistance.
Dual Diagnosis Anonymous: Peer Support for Those Who Need It
What worked for participants is the compassionate, welcoming, inclusive and non-judgmental approach of DDA. It is about peer support, role modelling, hope, building skills… acquiring self-confidence and building a new identity.
Writing Is My Best Medicine
For me, writing is a powerful tool for wellness and healing, whether that involves an escape into science fiction or simply putting my dreams, emotions, memories, and observations on paper.
White House Killed Deal to Pay Mental Health Care of Separated Migrant Families
From NBC News: Sources said the White House counsel's office said no after checking with Trump adviser Stephen Miller. A White House official denied Miller had a role.
Rethinking Suicide Prevention: An Interview on Critical Suicide Studies with Jennifer White
MIA’s Samantha Lilly interviews critical youth suicidologist Jennifer White about what suicide prevention could look like outside of the medical model.
A Psychiatrist Critiques Psychiatry, and Does a Great Job!
Dr. Lieblich's critique of psychiatry is precise, hard-hitting, and uncompromising, a superb and compelling summary of the case against psychiatry.
For Hannah Arendt, Totalitarianism Is Rooted in Loneliness
From Aeon: Organised loneliness, bred from ideology, leads to tyrannical thought, and destroys a person’s ability to distinguish between fact and fiction – to make judgments.
Insane Medicine, Chapter 4: The Manufacture of Autism Spectrum Disorders (Part 1)
Because the “scientists” who study, categorise, and establish guidelines for autism can’t find anything definitive, they resort to scientism. Over time, it becomes part of our cultural “common sense.”
Journal Flags — but Does Not Retract — Decades-Old Paper on “Correcting” Gender Identity
From Retraction Watch: A psychology journal has expressed concern about a 46-year-old paper which described attempts to correct 'deviant' gender identity in a 5-year-old boy using physical violence.
‘How Did We Not Know?’ Gun Owners Confront a Suicide Epidemic
From The New York Times: The concern about suicides has led to an unusual alliance between suicide-prevention advocates and gun-rights proponents.
Does the NASW Code of Ethics Prohibit Peer Work?
An analysis of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics’ regulations on dual relationships: Indications for self-disclosure and problematic consequences for peers entering the social work workforce.
Could Calif.’s Psych Hospitals Be Ordered to Admit Inmates With COVID?
From CalMatters: The Department of State Hospitals is facing pressure in federal court to speed up admissions of 'mentally ill' inmates from the COVID-riddled state prison system.
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.
