From Wounds to Labels to “Mental Illness”
We don’t need to understand someone’s entire past to exercise a little emotional humility—to see behavior as adaptation, not brokenness.
A Relationship Imbalance, Not A Chemical Imbalance
With DSM-III, everything we knew about relationship dynamics was buried under the tidal wave of the pharmaceutical industrial complex.
Screen Time for Children Under Three: A Trigger for Virtual Autism?
"A Stone Unturned" weaves together the research and stories of autism symptoms reversed by removing screens and adding more parent engagement.
How the Troubled Teen Industry Turns Pain Into Profit
These programs, though marketed as "therapeutic," are nothing more than profit-driven enterprises that exploit families at their most desperate.
Fighting Forced Treatment in Court: A Victory to Be Celebrated
It is very difficult to get off a mental health commitment. The counties fight tooth and nail to keep people in the system.
Family Traditions and the Inheritance of “Madness”
Families are not merely a source of comfort and support but also a breeding ground for dysfunction, unhealed trauma, and emotional neglect.
We Can’t Help People With Trauma If We Can’t Say Trauma
Although the medical care Cary received was excellent, no one mentioned “trauma” or counseled us on how it might manifest emotionally.
Psychiatric Butchery: What I’ve Seen at a Homeless Shelter for Women with Children
Children are being given psychiatric drugs, “treated” for the abuse they receive in the harsh world of the homeless.
SAFE: Survivors And Families Empowered—An Update
We hope to combat the increasing reliance on force, too often used with the justification “for your own good.”
Elder Eyes Wide Shut
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.
To Young People of Color with Lived Experience: Pay it Forward; Become a Peer
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
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 mother’s path ahead.
The Birth of The “Just Stop It” Movement: A Family’s Journey Through Mental Health...
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 Son’s Story
It's hard, if not impossible, to impose on my son’s story any kind of literary “sense.” As a writer and a mother both, this has been my challenge.
Stealing My Mother From Me: The Horrors of Conservatorship
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
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 – From Disassociation to Embodiment
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
Sam Ruck shares his fourth excerpt from his book Healing Companions, which describes his life with, and love for, his wife and her “alters.”
Giving Caregivers a Platform: Meagan, Mother of Matt
A mom describes her son's descent into the harms of psychiatry—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 Wife’s First ‘Alters’
Sam Ruck shares his third excerpt from his book Healing Companions, which describes his life with, and love for, his wife and her “alters.”
My Lived Experience Helps Others Heal: Working with Families on the Path to Recovery
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
A psychiatrist and mom reflects on teen suicide clusters in Palo Alto and discusses alternative ways to address adolescent mental health.
Enlarging the Treatment Lens for Postpartum Depression
Drugs, social support, placenta encapsulation: How can we approach the specter of postpartum depression?
As a Psychologist, I’ve Seen Many Children Misdiagnosed as Autistic—It’s a Clinical Catastrophe
The ASD diagnosis glosses over the many developmental specifics that might underlie a child’s challenges related to social communication.
“Get Over It”? A Response to Empower Parents to Repair Instead of Victim Blame
An epidemic of children blaming their parents in therapy? In my 20 years as a psychologist, I've seen the opposite.
