Identity, Oppression, and the Culture of âThe Mentally Illâ
A "mental illness culture" means that full time work is seen as impossible and discouraged, and your social world only consists of other mental health "consumers" and mental health workers.
âNHS Sends Too Many MH Patients to Hospital for Expensive, Ineffective Careâ
From The Bristol Cable: People are being sent away to private mental health providers for specialist treatment, but this often means poorer outcomes at higher costs, says occupational therapist Keir Harding.
IFS: The Revolutionary Treatment That Could Change Psychotherapy Forever
From Elemental: "If it is true that these things we think of as our inner enemies are really heroes stuck in time, that allows people to relate inside with a lot more compassion and love."
Dozens of ECT Patients Sue NHS Over Brain Damage Claims
From The Daily Mail: They say they were never informed that ECT could cause permanent memory loss as well as trouble with basic tasks like facial recognition, walking, and reading.
Kicking Over a Straw Woman
The Galvin family is the quintessential example of "genetic" schizophrenia. But their history of sexual abuse, violence, and trauma provides a clearer and simpler explanation.
A Recovery Movement Jedi Master, Bill Anthony, Died Recently
The first time I met Bill was in 1991. I was just a couple years out of residency, and he was already the legendary âfather of psychiatric rehabilitation.â
On Addiction: ‘You Just Need a Hand to Hold to See You Through’
From The BMJ Opinion: The enduring judgments around addiction in our society have long been a problem. But I hadnât expected to face this even within healthcare services.
Trauma in a Place Where Peace Should Be
It should have been safe and healing for me in the hospital. Instead, it was like being at home with my stepfather: I was abused and invisible, just trying to protect myself.Â
Natives Foster Happy People Without Overthinking
From Psychology Today: Jean Liedloff's 1975 book The Continuum Concept: In Search of Happiness Lost revealed how native groups in the Amazon intuitively raised healthy and intelligent adults.
The Importance of Having a Breakdown
From The School of Life: Our crisis, if we can get through it, is an attempt to dislodge us from a toxic status quo and an insistent call to rebuild our lives on a more authentic and sincere basis.
Strategies for Tapering and Discontinuing Antidepressants
A new review of strategies to support both patients and practitioners through the process of discontinuing antidepressants.
How to Know What We Donât Know: An Interview with Psychologist and Novelist Jussi...
MIA's Gavin Crowell-Williamson interviews the neuropsychologist and novelist Jussi Valtonen about how novels can lead us to see the limits of our understanding.
Drs. Pies and Ruffalo Still Rattling Their Wooden Swords
Pies and Ruffalo argue that psychiatric diagnoses are "diseases" because the word "disease" can't be defined, and suggest that circular logic is scientifically valid.
Why Grooming Is So Hard to Spot: The Truth
From the VictimFocus Blog: Grooming should be reframed as a common, normal human behaviour that we all engage in. That's why teaching children and women to "spot the signs" doesn't work.
NZ: Homeless Most Likely to be Fed Antidepressants When Seeking Help
From Stuff: Again and again, homeless people tell their story to officials and agencies. The most common thing they get back, new research suggests, is a script for anti-depressants.
Police Keep Using âExcited Deliriumâ to Justify Brutality. Itâs Junk Science.
From The Washington Post: Several analyses have found that the majority of deaths attributed to 'excited delirium' are associated with the use of physical restraint.
How 1 Panic Attack Led to 15 Years of Psychiatric DrugsÂ
My brain zapsâsymptoms of benzo withdrawalâwere like having a mini seizure on a daily basis. But my doctor kept telling me that my âunderlyingâ anxiety was causing all my distress.
An American History of Addiction: Ardent Spirits
Our fears about drugs and drug addiction have allowed our society to accept court mandated treatment and the continuing militarization of police.
Overdose Deaths Soar Across Country Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
From The Appeal: "COVID-19 really highlights the risk factors [for deaths of despair] that we know are most prevalent: unemployment, social isolation, disconnection. Those are huge risk factors."
Service-User Knowledge Helps Researchers Develop Psychiatric Drug Tapering Approaches
New strategies for tapering psychiatric drugs achieved by acknowledging withdrawal symptoms and valuing service-usersâ first-hand knowledge.
Professional Mental Health Leaders: Experts in Humanity or in Marketing?
A lot of people, perhaps especially Americans, like a quick fix. Unfortunately, for those of us who get the âhelpâ of the mental health system, the results can be disastrous.
Embrace the Messiness! An Interview with Pediatrician Claudia Gold
An interview with Claudia Gold, M.D., pediatrician, infant-parent mental health specialist, author, teacher, and speaker based in western Massachusetts. We discuss the importance of human interaction in child development.
Whose Finger is Taking the Pulse of Americaâs Shock Treatment Controversy?
My doctors presumed I had agitated catatonia and ran 450 volts of electricity through my head 116 times to ârebootâ my brain. They called it electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). I call it Electroconvulsive Trauma.
Mental Health and Emotion in the Digital Age: An Interview with Ian Tucker
MIA's Tim Beck interviews psychologist Ian Tucker about the relationships between digital technologies, emotion, and mental health.
People in Mental Health Crises Need Help, Not Handcuffs
From STAT News: A mental health crisis can be a frightening thing. Those in its throes need help, but all too often get handcuffs
