Teralyn Sell and Jenn Schmitz: Breaking Out of the Prison of Prescribing and Finding...
On the Mad in America podcast, Brooke Siem talks with Teralyn Sell and Jenn Schmitz about their journey from working in the prison system to challenging conventional psychiatric narratives in their therapy practice and podcast, The Gaslit Truth.
“Dad, Something’s Not Right. I Need Help”: Richard Fee on the Dangers of Adderall
In appointments that last five to seven minutes, all doctors do is push drugs—psychiatric drugs, ADHD meds, everything.
When Narratives Clash: Unshrunk and The Cognitive Dissonance of the NY Times
For the mainstream media, reviewing Laura Delano's memoir "Unshrunk" is an exercise in cognitive dissonance.
The Mad in the World Network: A Global Voice for Change
Mad in Ireland is the newest Mad in America affiliate. The network of affiliate sites is becoming a global voice for change.
Mad In South Asia
While conducting research in rural Northern India, Ayurdhi Dhar spoke to a woman whose mother had vivid visual hallucinations of Indian wedding processions. When...
The Editorial Demise of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics Is Bad News For Us All
Karger’s decision to replace the editorial leadership without consultation is extraordinary, abruptly ending decades of success and accumulated expertise.
Do Critics of Biological Psychiatry Have an Alternative to a Life of “Whack-A-Mole”?
Psychiatry has simultaneously offered multiple biological theories of depression and its other disorders, but the theories that stick are those that are effective marketing devices for money-making drugs.
An Atheist’s Prayer by Morgan Stewart
Psychiatry is an atheist’s prayer, absolving the faithful of human desire
It is miracle cures, sinners who have lost their way, and a holy book...
Hegemonic Sanity and Suicide
The “good” suicide attempt survivor wakes up in a hospital bed bathed in beautiful natural light, surrounded by the people who love them most, and they realize that their thinking was flawed and all those unsolvable problems can actually be solved if they are just compliant with medication and therapy. And then there's the “bad” suicide attempter who is angry that they lived, who challenges the status quo.
Exploding Myths About Schizophrenia: An Interview with Courtenay Harding
The Vermont Longitudinal Study, led by Courtenay Harding, belied conventional beliefs about schizophrenia by showing remarkably good outcomes for patients discharged in the 1950s and '60s.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics: End of an Era for Independent Journals? An Interview With Giovanni...
Giovanni Fava joins us to discuss the uncertain future of the journal 'Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics' which he edited for thirty years and which has been essential to our understanding of the impact of psychiatric treatments.
Q&A: How Can We See ADHD From Another Angle, and What Can We Do...
We all want to help our kids or our students, and sometimes finding the right key to unlock a child’s gifts is a matter of time, patience, trial, and error.
Anatomy of an Industry: Commerce, Payments to Psychiatrists and Betrayal of the Public Good
Pharmaceutical companies paid psychiatrists $340 million from 2014 through 2020, corrupting every aspect of the testing and marketing of new psychiatric drugs.
Kids Are Not the Problem: An Interview With Gretchen LeFever Watson
In this interview, Brooke Siem, who is the author of a memoir on antidepressant withdrawal, May Cause Side Effects, interviews Gretchen LeFever Watson, PhD.
Gretchen...
The “Sick Enough” Paradox in Eating Disorder Treatment
I had internalized that not only would I be socially rewarded for starving myself, but also that I could only earn care by proving that I was sick enough to meet their criteria.
My Red October – An Army Veteran’s Crucible to Recovery
After my VA mental health team prescribed Prozac, I began experiencing rapidly escalating behavioral changes. The drug was never considered as a potential cause.
A Short History of Tardive Dyskinesia: 65 Years of Drug-Induced Brain Damage That Rolls...
Psychiatry has long turned a blind eye to the full scope of harm associated with TD. New TD drugs "work" by further impairing brain function.
Embracing the Shadow—Charlie Morley on Lucid Dreaming as Therapy
On the Mad in America podcast, we hear about the potential of lucid dreaming therapy to aid those struggling with post-traumatic stress.
The New York Times Is Now Engulfed in the STAR*D Scandal
The New York Times published yet again the fraudulent result from the STAR*D trial. Will the mainstream media ever tell of this scandal?
Antidepressant-Induced Mania: When My Mind Became a Literal Hell
The amount of anxiety I felt on these medications — and for a couple of years after — was unfathomable. I felt as though I was trapped in an air-tight vat, constantly gasping for breath. And my thoughts were guided by my state of constant worry and panic.
“Three Identical Strangers” and the Nature-Nurture Debate
Three Identical Strangers is a riveting film describing the story of identical triplets separated at six months of age and reunited in early adulthood. Their story provides no evidence in support of the genetic side of the nature-nurture debate, but it does supply some evidence in favor of the environment.
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.
Mad Sisters: An Interview With Susan Grundy
Susan Grundy on her lifelong caregiving journey for an older sister diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 13.
Making Peer Counseling Radically Accessible
I imagined a world in which anyone can hit a button on their phone and be connected with a compassionate and empathetic listener, 24/7. So in 2019, I founded Peer Collective. Today, there are 30 peer counselors on the platform offering 30-minute counseling sessions for just $14.
Everyone’s Afraid of an Angry Woman: Honoring Sinéad O’Connor
In her tragic passing, I choose to honor her by raising up these words she said, by hearing and believing them.
