Peer Support

From Openforwards: The biomedical model of mental illness does not reduce prejudice against those who are suffering from mental health concerns. Words like "illness" and...

From The Times: In an age in which benzodiazepine dependence is increasingly becoming a global problem, online forums serve as a lifeline for numerous benzodiazepine...

Benedict Carey at the New York Times covers the push for new programs that emphasize supportive services, therapy, school and work assistance, and family education, rather than simply drug treatment.

Emotional support, religion, and searching for meaning are positively correlated with posttraumatic growth among prisoners.

In this interview for The New Inquiry, two co-editors and three writers of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements discuss prison abolition and...

Honor Whiteman reports on a study in The Journal of Counseling & Development, which found that people may be less tolerant of an individual...

Practitioners and public leaders identify methods and barriers for integrating those diagnosed with mental health issues into community life.

Kev Harding argues against conceptualizations of therapy as a ‘cure’ to an ‘illness’ and instead offers alternative approaches.

I am a person labeled with “severe and persistent mental illness,” and so I have been trying to break the cycle of oppression that comes with a label like that. At the same time, I am trying to find ways to heal and to accept things about myself that are different from others, while also seeking to raise up my brothers and sisters in this desolate and dark place. This morning, I had an epiphany upon awakening. While it's hard to put into words, it feel's vital, and I want to try and get it down.

In this piece written in honor of World Mental Health Day, Peter Kinderman emphasizes the importance of challenging the biomedical model of mental health and paying...

I remember clearly thinking, “I’m done. I’m not putting myself through this again.” I wasn’t going to settle for the side effects of a marginally better than placebo treatment again. Here is a brief look into my rollercoaster journey of recovery, returning to work, having my trauma re-triggered, finding a way through, and finally living well.

Mental health policy does not sound exciting. It is - you’ll just have to take my word for it-, but even if you don’t, you might agree with me that it’s crucial. Mental health policy shapes mental health legislation, and mental health legislation shapes issues such as consent, access, equal opportunities and de-institutionalisation, to name but a few. Influencing policy is key to reframing the debate around mental health, and changing the reality on the ground for people with lived experience. With this in mind, here is an introduction to Mental Health Europe’s work on the revisions to ICD 10, and a call to action, for you to get directly involved in this international debate.

From Metro: Poverty can have a dramatic effect on people's mental and physical health, as it can impact diet, healthcare access, sleep, and socialization. "There are plenty...

The Pacific Standard covers a study out of Florence, finding that adolescents in mental health crisis who received animal-assisted therapy had better school attendance, higher global functioning, and spent less time in the hospital.

Participatory action approaches in bioethics research used to decrease coercion and seclusion in psychiatric treatment.

Dr. Raskin discusses psychotherapists’ dissatisfaction with current psychiatric diagnostic systems and explores alternatives.

From The Guardian: The oldest asylum in the Balkans has now been transformed into an unlocked mental health center. The patients have begun living in...

For three days in December, I was fortunate enough to attend the Hearing Voices Facilitator Training held in Portland, OR. This training expanded my understanding of the voice hearing experience and equipped me with a number of tools to use in facilitating hearing voices support groups. Grounded in a feeling of community, the training was dynamic, emotionally therapeutic, and educational all at the same time – a crystal clear example of how support groups themselves might manifest in the lives of their members.

From Kaiser Health News: Peer support for people diagnosed with serious mental illness is becoming increasingly common. In places like Texas, where there is a...

In this piece for The Atlantic, Joseph Frankel compares and contrasts the voice-hearing experiences of self-described psychics and mediums with the experiences of people diagnosed with...

In this special report for the Journal Sentinel, Meg Kissinger tells the story of Amanda Farrell, a woman labeled severely mentally ill who eventually recovered...

A new review highlights the effects that psychiatric diagnosis has on children and adolescents’ social relationships and views of self.

Studies of modern Native Americans have shown that “historical trauma,” the name that social workers give to the perception of historical loss passed down through...

In this piece for The Atlantic, David Dobbs delves into the life of former NIMH director Thomas Insel, his critiques of research within the field of...

Since the time of Freud, the field of psychotherapy has assumed that modalities and techniques were the instruments of change in psychotherapy. But the evidence is mounting that modalities and techniques have relatively little to do with effectiveness; evidence shows that it is the human elements of psychotherapy that are the most potent agents of healing