“Please Be Normal!” My Experience Working for NAMI
At my job with a NAMI affiliate, I heard daily from people who looked at family members with “mental illness” as non-people, non-human, the “other.” In the office, it was no different. If NAMI had a tagline, it would be “Please be normal like us.”
How to Involve Youth in Their Own Mental Health Care
Clinicians play a key role in empowering adolescents and their parents to make decisions about their mental health treatment.
Ben Furman – Understanding and Dealing With Adolescent Rage
A podcast interview with Finnish psychiatrist Ben Furman in which he discusses adolescent rage and how parents can come to understand and deal with teenagers and young adults who are angry and explosive.
Connectedness at School Related to Students’ Emotional Health
New research highlights differences in levels of school connectedness among students diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disorders,
William James’s Letter to His Depressed Daughter
If you discover that your child has been experiencing a bout with depression, what wise words might you share? Brilliant psychologist William James was forced to address this issue himself when his 13-year-old daughter, Peg, began to struggle with melancholy. I present his long, thoughtful reply for your consideration.
We Have Ruined Childhood
From The New York Times: Children today are more depressed than they were during the Great Depression and more anxious than they were at the height of the Cold War.
School-Based Mindfulness Leads to Stress Reduction, Study Finds
Researchers find improvements in stress-related outcomes among middle school students exposed to a school-based mindfulness training program.
Q&A: My Child Is Self-Harming. How Can I Help?
I walked in on my teenaged daughter cutting her upper leg with a razor. I have also noticed multiple cuts and what look like cigarette burns on her wrists and torso. She’s always made excuses about them, but now I realize she has been self-harming for a while. She swears she isn’t suicidal. What’s this all about, and what can I do?
Monarch eTNS Inspires “Stop the Psychiatric Abuse of Children!” (SPAC!)
The FDA approval of the Monarch eTNS device is the latest form of psychiatric-inspired child abuse. If not stopped, it will afflict millions of children in unimaginably damaging ways. It has inspired us to form Stop the Psychiatric Abuse of Children (SPAC!) a new international advocacy organization.
Adding Fluoxetine to Therapy Not Superior to Therapy Alone in Depressed Teens
The addition of fluoxetine to CBT did not further reduce depressive symptoms in young people with moderate-to-severe depression.
Craig Wiener – ADHD: A Return to Psychology
On MIA Radio this week, Miranda Spencer, Mad in America's Parent Resources editor, interviews Dr. Craig Wiener, a licensed psychologist who specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents, and families. He discusses approaches to helping children with "ADHD" behavior that don't involve drugs and constant monitoring.
What Separation From Parents Does to Children: ‘The Effect Is Catastrophic’
From The Washington Post: The reason child-parent separation has such devastating effects is because it attacks one of the most fundamental and critical bonds in human biology.
Young People Are Using Musical Theater to Heal Their Trauma
From NationSwell: Chicago's Storycatchers Theatre helps justice-involved youth find their voices and resolve old traumas by making them the stars of the show.
U.S. Politicians Now “Trauma Informed”—Should We Be Hopeful?
It is good that the general public is finally hearing about the ACE Study, but I do not count on U.S. politicians to address the core implications of the ACE findings—the need to re-make U.S. society so as to (1) prevent preventable adverse childhood experiences, and (2) create a society in which healing from trauma can more easily occur.
Congress Holds Historic Hearing on Childhood Trauma
On July 11, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform held its first-ever hearing on childhood trauma, featuring emotional testimony from survivor witnesses, as well as a number of prominent public health experts and government officials.
Teacher Perspectives on Student ADHD Medication Use
Qualitative study examines patterns in teacher attitudes and knowledge related to medication of students for ADHD-type behaviors.
Talking About Psych Diagnoses and Drugs: A Primer for Parents & Professionals
It is important to tell parents the truth about what can and cannot be known about their child. In this way, people come to appreciate that labels and treatments offered by psychiatric professionals are far from being grounded in hard science.
Antidepressant Use More Than Doubles Risk of Suicide Attempts
Throughout the past two decades, studies have warned of increased suicide rates in those taking antidepressants, especially in children and adolescents. Researchers also documented...
Traffic Pollution Linked to Anxiety and Depression in Childhood
New research explores the impact of exposure to traffic-related air pollution on levels of anxious and depressive symptoms in childhood.
Inside an Online Charter School: Labeling Kids “Disabled” for Profit
I’d thought this teaching job would be my chance to make positive changes in children’s lives. But most of the recommendations in students' IEPs were related not to reading, writing, and ’rithmetic but to behavior control and obedience to adults. And the school seemed to be working very hard to prove that the kids were disabled and to get them certified as such.
The Emotional Impact of Critical Consciousness on Youth
Middle school students with critical consciousness of US politics and inequality exhibit more emotional distress and lower academic achievement.
The Voices My Daughter Hears
The voices were extraordinary; in a way, they were like ghosts. I could not see them, but only divine them by the turmoil they stirred up in Annie. They were not polite house ghosts who knew when to leave; they were ne’er-do-wells she could not get rid of. They were tormentors and torturers, testing the limits of her sanity, blackmailing her into submission.
Parent Training as Effective for Childhood Anxiety as Therapy
Yale study finds that training parents how to react to child behaviors is as effective at reducing anxiety as providing therapy to the child.
Biomedical Model of Mental Illness Creates Stigma for College Students Using Services
A study conducted on college-aged students finds strong correlations between biomedical characterizations of mental illness, pharmaceutical treatment, and social stigma.
Bipartisan “RISE from Trauma Act” Introduced to Address Childhood Trauma in America
The Resilience Investment, Support, and Expansion (RISE) From Trauma Act, legislation designed to increase support for children who have been exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences, includes $50 million in funding for a “mental health in schools” program. Exactly what these programs would entail remains unclear.
