A hand holds out pills. A child is out of focus in the background.

For-Profit Healthcare Is a Predator; Its Main Prey Is Our Young

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Labeling kids with ā€œbrain diseasesā€ sets them up for failure. This explains why the U.S. has so many youth crises.

School Phone Bans and ā€œMental Healthā€

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Banning school phones is not an answer to improving mental health.
Family silhouettes against a green and yellow background of a tree

SAFE: Survivors And Families Empoweredā€”An Update

9
We hope to combat the increasing reliance on force, too often used with the justification ā€œfor your own good.ā€
An older man holds his hands together obscuring his face, head dropped in sadness

Elder Eyes Wide Shut

24
There is no universal moral code: Elder law and the injustice and inhumane practice of legal guardianship are a calculated effort by the court, the attorneys, and the healthcare system.

Impacting Parenting from a Place of Strength: Looking Back to Move Forward

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You may forget what people did for you, but you will never forget how they made you feel.

To Young People of Color with Lived Experience: Pay it Forward; Become a Peer

3
A Peer Support Specialist tells her story and issues a callout to the BIPOC LatinX community, advocating for change.

Giving Caregivers a Platform: Leigh, Mother of Melissa

2
This is the story of a young woman who suffered through the agony of "kindling" and other drug-related harm, eventually dying by suicide. This is also the story of her motherā€™s path ahead.

The Birth of The ā€œJust Stop Itā€ Movement: A Familyā€™s Journey Through Mental Health...

6
Will was plunged into an extreme state following exposure to a synthetic street drug, which led to repeat hospitalizations and psych drugs.

Did Something Happen?! The Power of Poetry in Telling My Sonā€™s Story

6
It's hard, if not impossible, to impose on my sonā€™s story any kind of literary ā€œsense.ā€ As a writer and a mother both, this has been my challenge.Ā 

Stealing My Mother From Me: The Horrors of Conservatorship

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My beloved mother was mistreated, cheated, abused mentally, and alienated from her family by her conservator and the courts.

When the Help Becomes Part of the Problem

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The feeling of being institutionalized and medicated over minor ailments is difficult to shake. I have been to countless therapy sessions attempting to deconstruct the feelings of dehumanization into digestible morsels.

A Felt Sense of Safety ā€“ From Disassociation to Embodiment

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I know now that I can trust myself and listen to my intuition. Within the mental health system, I trusted everyone but myself.

Engaging Voices, Part 2: Working Our Way Toward Connection

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Sam Ruck shares his fourth excerpt from his book Healing Companions, which describes his life with, and love for, his wife and her ā€œalters.ā€Ā 

Giving Caregivers a Platform: Meagan, Mother of Matt

5
A mom describes her son's descent into the harms of psychiatryā€”and his way out. "It was really difficult to watch Matt decline. He had given up hope that he could get well."

Engaging Voices, Part 1: Validating The Arrival of My Wifeā€™s First ā€˜Alters’

6
Sam Ruck shares his third excerpt from his book Healing Companions, which describes his life with, and love for, his wife and her ā€œalters.ā€Ā 

My Lived Experience Helps Others Heal:Ā Working with Families on the Path to Recovery

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If one person is struggling, everyone in the family is struggling. Families need support.

Reflections on the Silicon Valley Teen Suicides-by-Train: Fifteen Years Later

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A psychiatrist and mom reflects on teen suicide clusters in Palo Alto and discusses alternative ways to address adolescent mental health.
Illustration of a mother holding a baby with dark clouds in the background; pills fall like rain

Enlarging the Treatment Lens for Postpartum Depression

5
Drugs, social support, placenta encapsulation: How can we approach the specter of postpartum depression?
Young boy looking through the window

As a Psychologist, I’ve Seen Many Children Misdiagnosed as Autisticā€”It’s a Clinical Catastrophe

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The ASD diagnosis glosses over the many developmental specifics that might underlie a childā€™s challenges related to social communication.
Unhappy Woman In Converstion With Friend Or Counsellor

“Get Over It”? A Response to Empower Parents to Repair Instead of Victim Blame

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An epidemic of children blaming their parents in therapy? In my 20 years as a psychologist, I've seen the opposite.

Arrested Development: Britney Spearsā€™ Memoir Is a Survivorā€™s Tale of Generational Trauma, Psychiatric Abuse,...

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Miranda Spencer discusses Britney Spears' new memoir and the harms of conservatorship.

Giving Caregivers a Platform: Sherita, Mother of Tony

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This is the story of Sherita and her son Tony, and her efforts to help him following years of psychiatric drugs and hospitalizations.

Conservatorship: The Racket That Ruined My Fatherā€™s Last Years

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I have watched as my fatherā€™s pursuit of happiness was swept away by the court system in his senior years.

‘Delusions’ and ‘Paranoia’: What Are They, Really, and How Can We Engage Them in...

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Sam Ruck shares a second excerpt from his book "Healing Companions," which describes his life with, and love for, his wife and her ā€œalters.ā€Ā 

Escaping The Shackles of Psychiatry: What Iā€™ve Seen and Survived, as Both Doctor and...

100
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,ā€ said Edmund Burke. This is as true on...