Tranquilizing Humanity into Oblivion: A Warning from Nathan S. Kline
Widely heralded as the father of American psychopharmacology, Kline insisted that his discoveries were adjunctive to psychotherapy, not replacements. The psychopharmacology of Kline's era recognized that medications are a blunt instrument.
Rigorous Study Finds Antidepressants Worsen Long-Term Outcomes
A new study conducted by Jeffrey Vittengl at Truman University has found that taking antidepressant medications resulted in more severe depression symptoms after nine years.
The State of Animal Psychiatric Research
Since animal research is the foundation for moving on to clinical trials despite its poor quality, it is likely that this leads to many superfluous trials in humans based on false hopes. This leaves a risk of adverse events for the participants in the trials, and subsequently the patients.
Study Examines Overdiagnosis of Mental Health Disorders in Childhood
Are diagnoses of mental disorders among children and adolescents in developed countries disproportionate to disease prevalence trends?
To See An Atom: Psychosis and Ecology
Having smelled colors, heard ghosts, grown ecstatic, glimpsed Gaia, chatted with cartoons, and been overwhelmed by persistent paranoia and fear while under the influence of LSD, a modified fungus, I cannot distinguish how such plant-induced experiences differ from what psychiatrists call psychosis.
World Mental Health Day 2017: Challenging the Messages â A Call to Action
If we can have a presence and visibility, this could be life-changing for individuals with no current access to the bigger truths about psychiatric theory and practice. So let's infiltrate and disrupt the hashtags #WMHD2017 #worldmentalhealthday and share messages of hope, healing, validation and solidarity!
In Memoriam: Matt Stevenson
MIA blogger Matt Stevenson, who was best known to the MIA community for his frequentâand insightfulâcomments on MIA posts, died last Thursday. He took his own life, at age 32. His last message was this: Don't let a psychiatric diagnosis rob you of your hope.
Researchers Question Add-On Treatment for ‘Schizophrenia’
A common practice when antipsychotics are found to be ineffective for schizophrenia is to prescribe a second, additional psychoactive medication. Now, a new study suggests that this practice is not supported by the research.
Michelle Carter Part IV: Did She Tell Conrad to âGet back in the truckâ?
There is no text, transcript or recording that demonstrates that Michelle ever said anything to Conrad about getting back in the truck to die. The DAâs entire case is based upon the âconfessionâ of an irrational girl on antidepressants who has been trying to communicate with her boyfriend in heaven via phone.
Some Thoughts About Conferences
Without judging the motivation of people presenting and speaking at conferences, Iâd like to ask the question: can we achieve more with these conferences than generating knowledge and touching people's hearts? Are we preparing the ground for change or are we marking time?
Human Right to Health â More than Economic Justice
Something is lost, a great deal is lost, when we give up an independent advocacy platform about our own bodies and subsume our needs and rights into what medical professionals are motivated to fight for on our behalf.
Call to Action: MA Bill H.3594 for Informed Benzodiazepine Use
This proposed legislation would require practitioners to obtain written informed consent regarding risk of dependency and addiction and risks associated with long-term use. It would also mandate warning labels concerning long-term use.
Change in Chicago: The Dolin Verdict
Finally, faced with the twenty known and two possible suicides on Paxil during clinical trials, Dr. Kraus reluctantly conceded that 80% of the victims were over thirty. Whatever they had told the FDA, the risks of Paxil could not be confined to adolescents â and GSK knew it.
Our Letter to Lancet Psychiatry
This is the cover letter that Mad in America Foundation sent to Niall Boyce, editor of Lancet Psychiatry, requesting that the journal retract Martine Hoogman's study of "subcortical brain volumes" in those diagnosed with ADHD.
Study Explores Cognitive Effects of Antipsychotics
Reduced usage of antipsychotics in first-episode psychosis was associated with improved executive functioning.
Anti-Authoritarian Options for Suicidal Anti-Authoritarians
Many teenagers and young adults (the group for whom suicide is the second leading cause of death) are anti-authoritarians. For them, the idea that they're experiencing a crisis of self rather than a mental illness can reduce their pain, increase their hope and open them up for dialogue.
The People with Psychosis Embracing the Voices They Hear
In this piece for Vice, Laetitia Laubscher discusses the Hearing Voices Network, a non-medical approach to hearing voices and experiencing extreme states.
"...a key goal...
Most Off-Label Prescribing of Antidepressants Lacks Strong Scientific Evidence
A new study, published in the British Medical Journal, investigates the prevalence of off-label prescribing for antidepressant medication in primary care settings.
Letter to my Classmates on our 40th Reunion
It is hard for me to feel celebratory on the occasion of our 40th reunion. As my career winds down, I feel more disappointment and dismay than the glow of lifelong achievement.
How Blackbirds Help us Beat the Blues
From Daily Mail: Researchers have found that living close to bird life can improve mental health. People who live in neighborhoods with more bird life have...
An American Public Health Crisis – the ‘Pair of ACEs’
From The Huffington Post: Adverse Childhood Experiences such as physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence, and homelessness often occur in the context of Adverse Community...
Farewell Mickey Nardo, 1 (not very) Boring Old Man
Mickey studied how the intimacy between leading academic psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical companies had impacted our profession. His blog was a treasure trove of analysis and information. Mickey did some heavy lifting, and for that we are all indebted.
7 Years Off Psych Drugs: A Message to Those Labeled by Psychiatry (video)
Seven years ago, I completed a six-year process of withdrawing from six psychiatric drugs. That process was the impetus to start speaking up about what is happening in psychiatry with far too many of us being gravely harmed.
Sir Robin Murray and Our Collective Mea Culpa
Sir Robin Murray, a distinguished British professor of psychiatry, recently published a paper in Schizophrenia Bulletin titled, âMistakes I Have Made in My Research Career.â I wonder what leads Robin Murray to acknowledge his mistakes when others seem to hunker down. I also wonder how I can know when I am misled in my assumptions.
Psychiatry Interrogated:Â A Book Review
Psychiatry routinely presents itself as a legitimate medical specialty differing from the other specialties only in the kinds of illnesses treated. But there is another important difference between psychiatry and real medicine. Psychiatry's core concepts are embedded formally and informally in our legal, social, educational, and workplace institutions in ways that the other medical specialties are not.
