Bedlam: Public Media, Power, and the Fight for Narrative Justice
A new mental health documentary awakens longstanding tensions around voice, representation, and the power to define problems and solutions.
The President’s Fitness: Can Professionals Help Decide?
For psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other therapists to claim that they are essential for warning people that Trump is dangerous is to claim special expertise and insight to which they are not entitled, and it simultaneously demeans the judgment of nonprofessionals and helps strengthen the power of their guilds.
“Be Kind to Yourself… For Us!”
Ann: "I’ve fallen in love! With my group! And they’re in love with me!" Hugh: "The group and you have an important relationship that you’re creating together week after week. This includes breaking down the authoritarian boundaries that keep people in their “places” so that they can’t grow."
Induction to Virus Psychosis
Psychiatry: the science of the obligation to adhere to the norm. The norm has changed, and also changes whatever can be defined deviant and erroneously made pathological.
Therapy Under Lockdown: ‘I’m Just As Terrified As My Patients Are’
From The Guardian: Counseling has been good to me, and I hope good for my patients. But what if the premise of it is undone by circumstance?
Awakening: Shedding the “Mentally Ill” Identity and Reclaiming My Life
If I had not crumbled, brought to my knees beneath the weight of the misdiagnoses and sordid side-effects of the medications, I would not have had the opportunity to rise up and gain such a strong sense of self—something for which many spend their whole life searching.
Jordan B. Peterson’s Support of Corporal Punishment for Children: A Critique
In his book 12 Rules for Life, supposedly based on "cutting-edge research," Jordan Peterson attempts to justify the hitting of children as a form of discipline. But Peterson does so without citing a single study to support his view. In fact, this entire section of the book is bereft of any reference to any research supporting the effectiveness of corporal punishment.
The Launch of Mad in Sweden Culture Section
Today we launch our brand new culture section where you can find tips on books and films related to mental health issues, and which contribute to the critical review of the current health paradigm in the psychiatric field. The page also has its own section for poetry.
Mad in America and Activism
The question that is presently unanswerable is whether this crisis will stimulate progress or regression. I choose to believe that it is an opportunity but that we must fight to make it happen. My dream: To build compassionate communities where people who look, act, or think differently are supported in ways for them to develop their innate potential.
Not Stigma, Privacy: Why I Write Under a Pseudonym
If I disclose my situation, then professionally, the attributional association of “the therapist with schizophrenia“ will necessarily and inevitably follow. But this is not who I am. Rather, I am a therapist with a private medical issue and I prefer to maintain its confidentiality—no further justification needed.
Sam Himelstein – The Impact of COVID-19 and Social Distancing on Adolescents
Psychologist Sam Himelstein, PhD, talks about the impact of the coronavirus crisis and “social distancing” policies on adolescents, taking a look at the unique needs of teenagers and young adults and the challenges they may present for parents, caregivers, and other family members.
Allen Frances: Still Spinning the Story
Allen Frances' latest article: There are problems in the psychiatric field, but none of these problems can be blamed on psychiatry. But the spurious promotion of psychiatric "diagnoses" as real illnesses, and the routine prescribing of chemical and electrical "cures" were and are psychiatric inventions.
Exploring Dialogical Responses in a Time of Crisis: Are We Living in the...
Mad in America is proud to introduce a new venture: a web series of virtual “Town Hall” conversations, “Exploring Dialogical Responses in a Time of Crisis,” on Fridays at noon, eastern standard time. The first live town hall will be held on Friday, April 17.
Detroit Psych Hospital Insiders Raise COVID-19 Concerns
From WXYZ News: Three hospital current hospital employees are blowing the whistle on behavior that they say has put everyone inside the hospital at risk.
61 Mental Health Patients Test Positive for Coronavirus at Louisiana Hospital
From The Advocate: "Phillip Newton, interim president of Local 1695 at AFSCME Council 17, said the outbreak began early last week and administrators were...
We Are All in This Together
We need a new narrative of shared distress to replace the failed one of individual disorders. We need human connection and mutual support. We can learn to manage our feelings in a way that helps us through the crisis and gives us the energy to make much-needed social and environmental changes afterwards. The usual dividing lines melt away in the face of global emergency. We really are all in this together.
Antidepressant Use Continues to Climb Among Youth on Medicaid
New study finds that Medicaid enrolled youth were 14 times more likely to be on an antidepressant in 2014 than in 1987.
Suicide Hotline Sees Rise in Coronavirus-Related Calls. Counselors Feel the Pain
From the Los Angeles Times: The crisis counselors at Didi Hirsch, whose job it is to reassure, need some reassurance of their own.
A Peek Inside the Modern Asylum
The psychiatric hospital of today is a panopticon, a modern prison for the daring mind and for weird behavior. I was once inside and thus, am inviting you to have a look. I will take your hand, and encourage you to join me, on an exploration of the inside of the psychiatric institution. We'll have a small peek, but in reality, it is much more distressing for the one who is being observed.
Supreme Court Decides Case on Insanity Defense
The debate between the majority and dissent shows how distorted and destructive the stereotypes of madness are as they have passed down through the law. But there are also winds of change coming from tensions inherent in the insanity defense itself, and we should take this opportunity to develop some sensible policies.
The Kids Aren’t All Right
From The Atlantic: The youngest among us will bear the larger burdens of trauma and economic fallout from COVID-19.
Coronavirus Hits Native American Groups Already Struggling With Poor Health Care
From The Wall Street Journal: "As tribal leaders around the country gear up for the pandemic’s arrival, they worry the federal agencies that are...
Lived Wisdom on Panic, Worry and Isolation
From The Dulwich Centre: "Some of us were thinking during this period of global concern with COVID-19 about the idea of knowledges earned through...
Making a Mad Community, from Attic to Attic: Part One
This two-part piece outlines our struggle to build a mad community, Madwomen in the Attic, across locations, across differences, across challenges.
Why it’s Healthy to be Afraid in a Crisis
From The Guardian: "As a mental health professional, I disagree with the message in Paul Daley’s article (We face a pandemic of mental health...
