Writing Is My Best Medicine
For me, writing is a powerful tool for wellness and healing, whether that involves an escape into science fiction or simply putting my dreams, emotions, memories, and observations on paper.
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.
Enlarging the Treatment Lens for Postpartum Depression
Drugs, social support, placenta encapsulation: How can we approach the specter of postpartum depression?
Family Traditions and the Inheritance of âMadnessâ
Families are not merely a source of comfort and support but also a breeding ground for dysfunction, unhealed trauma, and emotional neglect.
Beyond Labels and MedsâCloser Look: HoJin Kwak
This is the first of 4 spotlight interviews with some of the talented youth behind the pieces in MIA's art exhibition. HoJin states: "The original idea for my drawing started with the brain. The complexity of its sudden twists and curves fascinates me."
Giving Caregivers a Platform: Sherita, Mother of Tony
This is the story of Sherita and her son Tony, and her efforts to help him following years of psychiatric drugs and hospitalizations.
For-Profit Healthcare Is a Predator; Its Main Prey Is Our Young
Labeling kids with âbrain diseasesâ sets them up for failure. This explains why the U.S. has so many youth crises.
Beyond Labels and MedsâCloser Look: Madeline Aliah
Meet another talented teen behind the pieces in MIA's art exhibition. She writes: "This poem was written in my first year at a queer-positive school and is processing the new forms of guilt and shame I experienced and was exposed to."
Giving Caregivers a Platform: Chandra, Mother of Sophia
This is the story of Chandra and her daughter Sophia (not their real names), who has been in the mental health system since the age of 10.
Words from My Heart to ‘My Heart’: What Might Have Helped My Late Friend?
More than two and a half years later, Iâm still processing my grief, still picturing our happiness and innocence as kids, and still acknowledging our struggles and pain.
Beyond Labels and MedsâCloser Look: Aurora Ramos
Meet another talented teen behind the pieces in MIA's art exhibition, who says: "I think art is underrated sometimes because of its seemingly uselessness, but I highly believe it can cure many minds."
Call for Teen Art in All Media!
MIA's Family Resources and Arts sections are co-sponsoring an online teen multimedia art exhibition with the theme âBeyond Labels and Meds: What It Feels Like to Be Me.â
We Canât Help People With Trauma If We Canât Say Trauma
Although the medical care Cary received was excellent, no one mentioned âtraumaâ or counseled us on how it might manifest emotionally.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part Eight)
Researchers have again and again demonstrated that depression pills double suicides both in children and adults.
Home Alone: Finding Connection During the Pandemic
This wave of emotional distress is a perfectly reasonable human response to living our lives in an increasingly isolated and uncertain world.
SAFE: Survivors And Families EmpoweredâAn Update
We hope to combat the increasing reliance on force, too often used with the justification âfor your own good.â
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 âalters.âÂ
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 motherâs path ahead.
From Wounds to Labels to âMental Illnessâ
We donât need to understand someoneâs entire past to exercise a little emotional humilityâto see behavior as adaptation, not brokenness.
Good Damage: How Community-Led Healing Challenges the Campus Mental Health System
Being re-grounded in my community reminds me that mourning and love are inseparable, and that ânothing about us, is for us, without us.â
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.
Usage of Depression Pills in Children and Young People Must Stop
Our citizens would be far better off if we removed all the psychotropic drugs from the market, as doctors are unable to handle them.
Beyond Labels and MedsâCloser Look: Isabella Castillo
At times I tend to feel invisible. Sometimes I donât feel like I fit in with everyone else; I feel like an outsider.
From Horse Ranch to Home Ground: Healing Families via Telehealth
Since COVID, NISAPI has transitioned our collaborative therapy setting from barns and fields to kitchens and living rooms. Our clients report similar positive outcomes with telehealth as in person.
‘The Invisible Cage Called Freedom’: My Work, My Kids, My Mental Health
I
see my 3-year-oldâs innocent smile as she plays and rides her tricycle, and I canât help but feel sad and worried about my daughtersâ...
