Peer Support

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

From GoodTherapy.org: Research shows the tremendous impact we each have on one another's emotional and psychological health; our emotions, especially those that are negative, are...

From The Independent: Mental health awareness campaigns inundate us with lifestyle tips for managing stress such as mindfulness, meditation, exercise, and nutrition. But these tips...

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

Minn Post did a feature story last week on Vail Place, an alternative mental health treatment center run on a community “clubhouse” model where the nearly 900 members and staff work side by side to run the center’s activities. Vail Place was founded in Hopkins, Minnesota in the early eighties by mental health activists and family members as a community for psychosocial rehabilitation. “The work isn’t therapy,” a member explains. “It’s growth. It’s ‘I cans’ rather than ‘I can'ts.’ And that’s important for mental health and survival.”

Researchers argue that a structural competency and social determinants of health approach must be made central to psychiatry training.

Long-term treatment with antipsychotic drugs is currently considered the standard treatment for patients diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia.’ A new study challenges this practice, however. The...

Dr. Gail Hornstein, author of Agnes’s Jacket: A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness, discusses the importance of personal narratives and service-user activism in the context of the global mental health movement.

From The Atlantic: A true-crime podcast has played an important role in improving some listeners' mental health and sense of community. "There’s a deeper connection, however,...

In this video for NowThis, Yana Jacobs critiques the mental health industry standard of prescribing drugs as the first-line treatment for "mental illness." She emphasizes...

From Kotaku: Therapists across the country are running Dungeons & Dragons therapy groups to help socially isolated kids open up by participating in role-playing games. "There...

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...

From Harper's Magazine: People who hear positive, encouraging voices often seen as spiritual guides or messages and people diagnosed with schizophrenia are usually thought of as...

In this creative nonfiction piece for Literary Hub, one woman shares her story of trauma, depression, and suicidality, and recounts the unconventional approach of the...

Researchers recommend a ‘politically-informed focus', including activism, when assessing children and designing interventions in areas of chronic political violence.

A new study examines the benefits of collaborating with mental health consumers in research.

In this piece for Vice, Laetitia Laubscher discusses the Hearing Voices Network, a non-medical approach to hearing voices and experiencing extreme states. "...a key goal...

A new study examines the preventative effects of cultural engagement has on depression among older adults.

Study finds that traditional healers in South Africa, whose services are widely used by the country’s population, perform important suicide prevention work.

Study questions how international psychiatric treatment of street children in Cairo could be reinforcing their marginality and vulnerability.

Researchers seek to identify adaptive coping responses to discrimination for the transgender and gender diverse community.

In this piece for The Independent, Rachel Waddingham describes her experience with hearing voices as well as learning to live with and understand her voices. "When...

A qualitative study explores young adults’ childhood bullying experiences.

Mental Health Europe and the British Psychological Society are looking for signatories to a letter endorsing the recent United Nations Special Rapporteur's report on...

When Wilda White recovered from a manic episode triggered by her ADHD medication, she had lost her relationship, her home, and her dream job as a public interest lawyer. She reached a turning point when, she told Seven Days newspaper, "in the course of trying to figure out what had happened to me, I went on the website Mad in America.” Through the site, she connected with a job listing from Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, a non-profit dedicated to empowering and protecting the rights of people labeled “mentally ill.” She is now their executive director.