Ken Blatt, MD – Short Bio

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Dr. Ken Blatt trained when psychiatry was steeped in a humanistic, philosophic and social/relational tradition. He believes that in the last decades psychiatry has shifted to a...

Amy Beausang — Short Bio

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The Wrong Profession? After nearly 15 years of working in the pharmaceutical industry, Amy's mission is to help women avoid, reduce, and eliminate their need...

Chris Gordon, MD – Short Bio

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Dr. Christopher Gordon is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Assistant Psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at...

Clair Bien – Short Bio

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Hearing Voices, Living Fully: Claire Bien, M.Ed., is a writer and grant writer at The Connection. She is also a voice hearer and formed the...

Otto Douglas — Short Bio

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Otto Douglas is a York University graduate whose psychiatric incarceration opened his eyes to a previously unknown world — a world in which human...

Justin Karter – Short Bio

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MIA-UMB News Editor: Justin Karter is a writer, researcher and community organizer with graduate degrees in both journalism and community psychology. He is a doctoral...

Marta E. Pagán-Ortiz – Short Bio

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MIA-UMB News Team: Marta E. Pagán-Ortiz is a doctoral student and research assistant in the Counseling and School Psychology PhD program at UMass Boston. Marta...

Peter Simons – Short Bio

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MIA-UMB News Team: Peter Simons comes from a background in the humanities where he studied English, philosophy, and art. Now working on his PhD in...

Akansha Vaswani – Short Bio

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MIA-UMB News Team: Akansha Vaswani is a therapist and a researcher with a particular interest in the lived experiences of people’s lives. Her studies...

Shannon Peters – Short Bio

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MIA-UMB News Team: Shannon Peters is a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Boston and has a master’s degree in mental health counseling....

Merry Citoli — Short Bio

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Merry Citoli is an award-winning singer/songwriter and screenplay writer whose life went into a downward spiral after being put on lorazepam for insomnia and...

David Baksh — Op-Ed Bio

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David Baksh,  co-director and cinematographer for Yoghurt Utopia, has had a diverse directing career, which spans broadcast TV, commercials, event visuals and award-winning digital ad campaigns,  making...

Anna Thomson — Op Ed Bio

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Anna Thomson, co-director/producer of the Yoghurt Utopia documentary, is a director of documentaries and drama-docs who has worked for Discovery, Nat Geo, History Channel, BBC, Sky Arts and...

Val Marsh, MSW – Short Bio

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Valerie L. Marsh, MSW, is Executive Director of the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR). Marsh received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social...

Julie Greene – Short Bio

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After three decades as a "patient," Julie Greene began to write about human rights abuses in the System, a battle that almost killed her....

Val Marsh – Op-ed Bio

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Valerie L. Marsh, MSW, is Executive Director of the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR). Marsh received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social...

Why Parents Give Amphetamines and Other Risky Psychiatric Drugs to the Children They Love

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The stakes are very high when loving parents anxiously sit down across from a child psychiatrist who has completed an ADHD evaluation of their child. All of the parents' high hopes for their precious child's well-being and future happiness are pressing on the parent's heart and mind. The psychiatrist leans to the side, reaches into a drawer, and lifts out a life-size model of a human brain for the parent or parents to see. The little five-year-old sitting on the floor playing stops and looks up at a model of his or her brain as the psychiatrist breaks the bad news. And the question is formed right then in the little boy or little girl's soul that may haunt the child for the rest of their lives – "Why is there something wrong with my brain?"

Giovanni Fava – Op-Ed Bio

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Giovanni Andrea Fava earned his medical degree from the University of Padova in 1977.  In Padova he also completed his residency training in psychiatry.  After...

Emily Lupsor — Short bio

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Emily Lupsor is a social worker in Charlotte, North Carolina where she uses her lived experience to inform her practice. Emily facilitates a mutual...

Steve Imperato — Short Bio

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Steve Imperato is a thinker and writer diagnosed with rapid cycling bipolar disorder.  He is mainly concerned with battling the "disorder" label and exploring...

Mariel Chance — Short Bio

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Mariel Chance has a Master's Degree in Sociology and is hoping to be accepted into an MSW program in Boston. She has been an...

Andrew Thibault – Short Bio

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Andrew Thibault is an extremely curious, inconvenient parent.  He is Co-Founder of Parents Against Pharmaceutical Abuse (PAPA), a parent movement opposed to over-diagnosis and...

Niall McLaren – Short Bio

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Jock McLaren is an Australian psychiatrist, author, and critic (in no particular order). He has practiced psychiatry in remote areas and stayed passably sane...

Vlado C. — Short Bio

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Vlado C's first exposure to psychiatry came in his thirties when an antidepressant prescription for mild symptoms turned into a full blown crisis and...

Gary Sidley – Short Bio

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Tales from the Madhouse: Gary is a freelance writer and trainer who opted to leave his Consultant Clinical Psychologist post after 33 years of employment...