Reporting the COVID Crisis at Psychiatric Hospitals: A Missed Opportunity
In its coverage of the impact of COVID on psychiatric hospitals, the media missed opportunities to challenge stereotypes and interrogate problems with current carceral approaches to mental health treatment.
Stop Saying This, Part Two: “Reframing” and More
Myths around reframing, having to love yourself before someone else can love you, and being triggered are all addressed in this blog.
Is COVID-19 Making Everybody Crazy?
The response to the pandemic promises a vast expansion of the market for therapists, but such claims carry great potential for harm, adding to the burdens of people with upsetting but understandable, deeply human feelings.
RCMP Officer Drags Student in Crisis, Steps on Her Head
From CBC: Wang says she was experiencing mental distress and her boyfriend called the RCMP. The officer did not provide assistance.
The Pandemic Claims New Victims: Prestigious Medical Journals
From The New York Times: Two major study retractions in one month have left researchers wondering if the peer review process is broken.
Racism and Radical Psychiatry
A radical caucus within the American Psychiatric Association tried to combat systemic racism in the 1960s. So why is the APA still behind the times?
‘Bear Our Pain’: The Plea for More Black Mental Health Workers
From NPR: Dr Rhea Boyd says racism's toll threads through the psyche, manifesting in many ways, and shaping the youngest of brains.
Child Abuse and Psychosis: My Healing Journey
Hospitalized for "grandiose delusions," I began to wonder: Was my dis-orientation really just a sickness? Or in "treating" it, was I missing a powerful re-orientation toward healing old wounds?
Professionals and ECT Recipients Request Suspension of ECT in NHS
From The University of East London: They hope that by this time next year, the UK will be the first country to finally put an end to this well-intentioned but calamitous error.
Randomized Controlled Trial Confirms That Antipsychotics Damage the Brain
A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry connects antipsychotics with damage to the brain in multiple areas.
Angela Peacock – Medicating Normal
An interview with Angela Peacock who talks of her experiences of being prescribed benzodiazepines, her journey off multiple medications, her continuing work in veterans advocacy and her thoughts about the film Medicating Normal which will be screened on World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day, July 11.
Bridging Critical and Conceptual Psychiatry: An Interview with Awais Aftab
MIA’s Justin Karter interviews psychiatrist Awais Aftab about how “conceptual competence” uses philosophy to transform psychiatry.
Snakes and Ladders: How Psychiatry Took Away My Choices
The psychiatric system takes away all choices and freedom and calls the resulting state "mental illness." Psychiatry justifies alienation rather than repairing it.
Bias in Clinical Algorithms Make Health Disparities Worse
From The Lown Institute: Because of bias that exists in many clinical algorithms, doctors are unintentionally giving people of color worse treatment.
The Battle for the Soul of Psychiatry: Ronald W. Pies, MD
From Psychiatric Times: Dr. Aftab and Dr. Pies revisit various criticisms of psychiatry, and discuss the profession’s relationship with its critics.
Psychiatric Disorders as an Imperfect Community: Peter Zachar, PhD
From Psychiatric Times: In this interview, Dr. Aftab discusses how psychiatric disorders can be viewed as an "imperfect community."
Drug-Drug Interactions Could Imperil COVID-19 Treatment
From Undark: Some of the most commonly prescribed medications can have strong and sometimes dangerous interactions with some experimental COVID-19 therapies.
COVID-19 Crisis: People Living in Institutions Must Not Be Written Off
From Deinstitutionalisation: Public authorities struggle to protect the well-being of people in need of care and support those living in residential institutions.
Worried About a Coronavirus Summer Slump? Boost Kids’ Brainpower With Nature
From National Geographic: Time spent outdoors has been linked with improved attention spans, better memory, and enhanced executive function.
How to Deal With Your Teenager’s Depression
From The Telegraph: Classic signs of teen depression can be tricky to spot now that pyjamas are acceptable daywear and many of our routines have vanished.
NCMHR Calls for Ending Police Role in Mental Health Crises
From National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery: NCMHR calls for using the increased mental health funding to expand voluntary, trauma-informed, community-based care.
The Year I Lost Everything, Psychiatry Offered Nothing
After a failed suicide attempt following my son's death, New York State incarcerated me in a mental institution for 21 days. The environment was degrading, stultifying, and downright depressing.
An Open Letter to National Association of Social Workers on Law Enforcement
From Medium: Rather than immediately endorsing President Trump’s executive order, we need to examine our existing relationships with law enforcement
Youth Antidepressant Use Associated With Increased Suicide and Self-Harm
National data on rates of youth antidepressant prescription, suicide, and self-harm in Australia sparks public health debate about drug safety.
The Secret History of “Criminally Insane”
From Aeon: Until the 20th century, little was known about mental illness. Judging whether a person was deranged – seriously mentally ill and irrational – was seen as a matter for common knowledge.
