Overheated, then Overtreated: My 10-Day Involuntary Hold
Had the hospital simply treated me for heatstroke, they would have made next to nothing. But 11 days in the hospital (10 on a locked ward) and a battery of tests and psych drugs? Well, I’ll let you do the math.
FDA Requiring Boxed Warning Update for Benzodiazepine Drug Class
From the U.S. Food & Drug Administration: The FDA is requiring the update for all benzodiazepines "to address the serious risks of abuse, addiction, physical dependence, and withdrawal reactions."
Suicidal Thoughts, Psychiatric Diagnosis, and What Really Helps: Part Two
This piece is the second of a two-part essay about suicide, diagnosis, what doesn't help, and what does help. This part is about barriers to seeking help and about the ways we actually can be of help to people who are considering suicide.
Suicidal Thoughts, Psychiatric Diagnosis, and What Really Helps: Part One
This piece is the first of a two-part essay about suicide, diagnosis, what doesn't help, and what does help. This part is about suicide, diagnosis, and some of what fails to help.
Psychiatry’s Intellectual Crisis: Giovanni Fava, MD
From Psychiatric Times/Conversations in Critical Psychiatry: "Psychiatry is going through an intellectual crisis [that] is shared by other areas of clinical medicine and stems from a narrow concept of science."
Leading Psychology in Existential Times: An Interview with Kirk Schneider
MIA’s Justin Karter interviews humanistic-existential psychologist Kirk Schneider about how psychology can play a role in confronting the political, social, and climate crises facing humankind.
VICE, MIA and The Movement Against Psychiatry
The Vice article was presented as an exploration of the “movement against psychiatry,” and yet you can see, once it is deconstructed, how it told a story that surely pleased the promoters of the conventional narrative, and put the “critics” on the defensive at almost every turn.
Nursing Homes Oust Unwanted Patients With Claims of Psychosis
From The New York Times: Across the U.S., nursing homes are looking to get rid of unprofitable patients and pouncing on minor outbursts to justify evicting them to emergency rooms or psychiatric hospitals.
The Thoughtful Counselor: Questioning Biological Explanations with Peter Simons
From The Thoughtful Counselor: MIA Science Writer and Blogs Editor Peter Simons questions the scientific methods and clinical utility of biological explanations for mental distress in a podcast interview with The Thoughtful Counselor.
Why Is the APA Proposing Sweeping Changes to Training Requirements?
The American Psychological Association has proposed sweeping changes to training, focusing on the behavioral health model, which reduces the complexity of the human experience to observable behaviors.
“I Found My Lion’s Roar”: Ro Speight on Combining Peer Support and Open Dialogue
MIA's Ana Florence interviews recovery advocate Ro Speight about her journey from receiving Peer Support to working as a facilitator in Peer Partnered Open Dialogue.
Somewhere for West Virginians to Turn with Covid-Related Stress
From West Virginia MetroNews: There's a big need for the new "emotional strength line" unveiled by First Choice Services, as a 2018 CDC study cited West Virginia as having the worst mental health of any state.
Up in the Air: Surviving 24 Hours with Akathisia
Flying from Anchorage to Cleveland while suffering from life-threatening akathisia was going to be a constant push-pull between the urge to freak out and maintaining my body and psyche so as not to scare the other passengers.
St. Elizabeths Has Increased Usage of Restraints on Patients, Report Says
From The Washington Post: “On multiple occasions, St. Elizabeths staff disregarded the legal and policy requirements of using restraint and seclusion that were promulgated to prevent widespread use and abuse,” the report said.
Malcharist: Fact or Fiction? Big Pharma, Psychiatry’s Key Opinion Leaders and their Ghostwriters
Malcharist, by Paul John Scott, is a fictional account of one of psychiatry’s most influential key opinion leaders (KOLs), his ghostwriter, and a journalist on the trail of a big scandal in the world of Big Pharma.
The Mirror Repeats: The Art of Phoebe Sparrow Wagner
It is uncomfortably difficult to look at Phoebe Sparrow Wagner’s art. That much is intentional. She shakes up the viewer’s sense of wellbeing and security so that they can better identify with the plight of the mental patient.
PharmedOut Webinar: Institutional Corruption and Clinical Practice Guidelines
From PharmedOUT: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are systematically developed statements to assist practitioners and patient decisions, but they are not immune to industry influence.
The Rebirth of People and Planet in a Time of Global Emergency: An Open...
From Medium: As humanity faces the existential threat of the climate emergency, the spiritual emergence/emergency community is uniting in a collaborative effort, as individuals who understand the process of awakening through crisis.
Painful Questions: What Happens When Doctors Uncover ACEs?
From The Imprint: Screening for adverse childhood experiences has been met with growing concern among health researchers and child welfare experts, but the California surgeon general says it’s critical not to wait.
Out of the Abyss (with a Little Help from My Friends)
An ER doctor told me I was experiencing venlafaxine withdrawal, then told me to go home and take care of myself. Unbeknownst to me, I was about to enter pure hell.
Police Shoot 13-Year-Old Autistic Boy After Mother Calls for Help
From Slate: Two officers went through the front door of the home and in less than five minutes were yelling 'get down on the ground' before firing several shots, the mother said.
Stop Saying This, Part Four: Does Time Heal All Wounds?
In part four of this series, Megan Wildhood takes on the tropes of "That's not about you," "The outer world is a reflection of your inner world," "I didn't mean to," and "Time heals all wounds."
CAUTION: Spin Ahead! There is No Evidence That Psychostimulants Reduce the Risk for Infection...
Debunking a recent study on ADHD and COVID-19: It suffers from a series of manipulations and spins that are inappropriate in scientific research that aspires to objectivity and that aims to reveal truths.
Tapering Strips Help People Stop Using Antidepressants, Study Finds
A new study by Peter Groot and Jim van Os investigated whether tapering strips can help people stop using antidepressants.
Hearing Voices: Let the Community Lead
A collective knowledge of lived experience is a straightforward answer for improving millions of lives, but it has become clear that it will take an organized community of voice-hearers and their allies to take back credibility and authorship on the narrative of our own lives.
