Honoring Jane Whittington: 1950-2021
It’s with great sadness that I am writing of the sudden and unexpected passing of my former husband and best friend Jane.
NC Lawmakers Seek Non-Police, Community Interventions to Mental Health Crises
From North Carolina Health News : State lawmakers have introduced a package of mental health bills that would provide alternative interventions, such as non-police crisis response units and more peer-support organizations.
Tackling the Growing Problem of Overmedication
From Knowable Magazine: Every day, 750 older adults are hospitalized due to serious side effects from medications, including falls, allergic reactions and internal bleeding. And with each additional medication prescribed, the risk of an adverse reaction increases by 7 to 10 percent.
Soteria Past, Present, and Future: The Evidence For This Model of Care
From Soteria Network: Robert Whitaker explains the success of Soteria houses and why they are such an important initiative in helping people recover from psychosis and get their lives back.
ISEPP to American Psychological Association: Condemn Forced Treatment
The International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry petitions the American Psychological Association to condemn forced treatment as a human rights violation
Inner Experience: From James Hillman’s Archetypal Psychology Towards a Liberation Psychology
From Acid Horizon: In this podcast, MIA Science News writer Micah Ingle discusses the work of archetypal psychologist James Hillman and its implications for anti-capitalist politics and other forms of activism.
Psychiatric Drugs Increase Suicide. CAMPP’s Film “Prescripticide” Exposes the Harms
“Prescripticide”: The purpose of this informational video is to raise public awareness of this association between psychiatric drugs and violence/suicide.
Mikhaila Peterson Podcast: The Dangers of Psychiatric Medication
From Mikhaila Peterson: Mikhaila interviews Drs. Jim Wright and David Cohen on the reality behind psychiatric medications like the ones that nearly destroyed her and her father's lives.
The WHO Calls for Radical Change in Global Mental Health
The World Health Organization newly published guidance for community mental health urges an end to forced treatment and the adoption of person-centered and rights-based services.
The Abusive Society: Why Abuse Seems to Reach Into Every Corner of Modern Life
From Medium: What Americans really need is to fix the cycles of abuse that have driven them to seek, and yet never find, safety in the unsafe world they have created.
Secure Attachment Is a Privilege by Rebecca Donaldson
Having an internal working model of secure attachment from childhood is a privilege.
Yes, it’s a privilege.
It’s a privilege to not carry this hole.
It’s a privilege to feel you truly know who you are.
Jun. 9 Event: Stories of Reducing Antipsychotics: Withdrawal Effects or Relapse?
From UCL Beacon Bursary fund: This event aims to explore the lived-experience perspective when attempting to distinguish withdrawal effects from relapse.
The Surprising Mental Health Benefits of Volunteering
A program offers psychotherapy in exchange for voluntary service in the community. But the act of volunteering itself can have mental health benefits of its own.
Tapering Antidepressants: Why Do Tens of Thousands Turn to Facebook Groups for Support?
From BJGP Life: Recent research concluded that over half of people coming off antidepressants will suffer withdrawal symptoms, of which one in two cases will be severe.
New Paper on How to Stop Antipsychotic Drugs Deemed ‘Historic Breakthrough’
From Metro: Though one of the fastest-growing classes of drugs being prescribed, there has been little guidance for doctors on how to safely taper them.
‘Peak’ Podcast Ep. 7 – Micah Ingle: Psychology and Its Meta-Transformations
From Peak Podcast: MIA writer and Consciousness and Society PhD student Micah Ingle discusses his journey with psychology and where he sees it going.
Online Exhibition: Art-Making During the Pandemic
The online exhibition "Creativity and COVID: Art-Making During the Pandemic" features nearly 100 artists with lived experience with mental distress who shared with us their art-making process and how it helped them survive the global pandemic.
Torture at Lake Alice “Hospital”, New Zealand
Lake Alice was a psychiatric institution in New Zealand connected with hundreds of reported abuses, especially of children. A new Royal Commission evidence-gathering hearing is set for this year.
Remembering Jennifer Kinzie (1979-2021)
Jennifer Kinzie was a licensed mental health counselor who used her lived experience to guide her work—not only as a counselor and therapist, but also as a volunteer with psychiatric survivor groups.
Insane Medicine, Chapter 10: The Paradigm Shift Is Inevitable
We must advocate for policies that create environments that are more nurturing for us all in a society that helps provide people with meaning, a sense of community, and a sense of civic duty.
Jill Nickens – The Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research
This week on the Mad in America podcast we turn our attention to prescription-drug-induced akathisia and joining me to discuss this is Jill Nickens. Jill is the president and founder of the Akathisia Alliance for Education and Research, a nonprofit organization formed by people who have personal experience of akathisia.
The Nurtured Heart Approach Instead of Drugs: An Interview with Howard Glasser
This episode of “Mad in the Family” focuses on a non-drug method to bringing out the best in challenging children, particularly those diagnosed with “ADHD.” It is called the Nurtured Heart Approach® and its essence is that, in the words of our guest, “the same intensity that drives people crazy is actually the source of a child’s greatness."
Dr. Pies’ Non-Apology
Dr. Pies' summary of Schroder et al's study is misleading. In fact, the researchers found that the more times a person was hospitalized, the more likely they were to believe the chemical imbalance myth.
Music Aids Mental Health: Science Shows Why
What can science tell us about music’s impact on our cognition and on our mood, on our capacity for empathy, and our sense of connection with others? How does it change the brain? How does it change us?
Dr. Pies and The Chemical Imbalance Deception
Dr. Pies claims that the "chemical imbalance" theory was never really professed by psychiatrists. Yet he himself wrote an essay in "Creative Nonfiction" in 1999 that purveyed it directly to the layperson.
