MIA Today

From The New York Times: The mental health toll of the coronavirus pandemic is only beginning to show itself, and it is too early to predict the scale of the impact.

The psychiatric concept of insight rests on the assumption that the psychiatrist, designated sane, knows what’s best. But if we question that assumption and consider that the medical model of mental illness may be incorrect, then the question of which party actually possesses insight becomes less clear.

Although Mitchell and Murray cited twin studies as the main source of evidence in support of their claims, these studies are based on a long-controversial assumption which they were unable to defend in their books, or on Twitter.

From Scientific American: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has worrisome implications for patients receiving involuntary psychiatric care.

With these twelve facts, you are equipped to defend against the misinformation propagated by academic psychiatry, Big Pharma, and the laypeople they target. You are encouraged to use this knowledge to (firmly but respectfully) challenge statements you hear in passing or from loved-ones such as “He is mentally ill,” “I have a chemical imbalance and these drugs help correct it,” or any other commonly accepted falsehoods that the above facts expose.

From Hello Care: The use of psychotropic medications in residential aged care could be contributing to the poor outcomes of residents who contract COVID-19.

From Aeon: We don’t just see the world around us as dry facts, but experience the world as having immanent meaning. The world has meaning FOR us.

MIA's Ana Florence interviews United Nations Special Rapporteur Dainius Pūras about his own journey as a psychiatrist and the future of rights-based approaches to mental health.

For every person “Are you suicidal?” may assist, there are many more of us who are scared into silence when those words are uttered. Why? Well, “Are you suicidal?” is, in fact, the king of the suicide risk assessment questionnaire. “Are you suicidal?” has become the red, neon, flashing sign that screams “Stop! Don’t talk to me!” Perhaps this might just explain why suicide risk assessments are well known not to work.

From Nature: A detailed study shows that young migrants’ risk of developing psychiatric disorders rises stepwise with the number of traumas experienced.

From Matanuska Forensic Science: Developing novel therapeutics to treat thought disorders is long overdue. Rather than defending drugs that do not work, let's learn from them

Residents and workers are dying from COVID-19 exposure in Massachusetts state hospitals. One group of ex-psychiatric patients and allies has had enough.

Researchers suggest that because most antidepressant “success” is due to the placebo effect, they may never find a way to predict outcomes.

From Slate: Now is the ideal time to ensure platforms are designed with the highest ethical standards, and in ways that respect users’ digital rights.

The New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) is publishing false and misleading advertisements about electric shock services under the guise of educational materials without even acknowledging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) December, 2018 Rule.

From Psyche: Far from being separate entities that figure out each other externally, we are radically open beings in immediate contact with each other.

I have been involved in hundreds of commitment hearings in which psychiatric diagnoses were crucial. In that context, I have never witnessed the presence of all three factors: (1) the transparent (honest) use of diagnostic labels (which includes the acknowledgment of the inherent biases built into the labels as well as their limited validity), (2) allowing full voice to and full acknowledgment of the labeled person’s view of reality, and (3) using the labels in a manner that produced a useful understanding, which in standard mental health practice would require that the understanding be significantly more beneficial to the labeled person rather than the labeler.

James and I started talking about how we each fell on the path as seekers. He told me that he was a reiki master. A seed was planted within me. Even though my previous meditation practice did not work out, I still had spiritual longings and wanted to try again.

From GW Milken Institute School of Public Health: The virus has exposed long-standing inequities, driven by social policies that created disparities in resource access to resources.

Capitalists don’t discover new medicine; they invest in it. The incentive to do so, as everyone will admit, is to return a profit. Most would also agree that this profit shouldn’t be "too large," but enough to encourage adequate investment into new treatments. However, the idea that this is a well-functioning system, and indeed the best way of producing medicine, is a myth.