Psychobabble of the Month: Depressed? Try Exercise-in-a-Pill!
Exercise consistently shows positive results for depression... so how about a prescription for "exercise mimetic" pills instead?
From Silence to Accountability: How Massachusetts’ Special Commission on State Institutions Changed the Law
This is the beginning of an effort to restore dignity to those whose lives were forgotten for far too long.
I Can Barely Breathe: The Journey Continues
I want more for myself than just being a sweet, docile, compliant mental patient. I want a voice and a seat at the table.
Spiritual Emergency and the Collective Work of Staying Alive: An Interview with Nisha Gupta
Nisha Gupta reflects on spiritual emergency, wounded healing, and why staying alive in times of profound pain is not only an individual task but a collective one.
What Frontline Addiction Nurses See That Policy Debates About Medication Miss
Medication stabilizes the body and reduces risk, but the deeper work of recovery unfolds gradually through therapy, support, and daily effort.
TikTok Videos Portray ADHD Stimulants in Overwhelmingly Positive Light, Study Finds
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of pharmaceuticals is a controversial topic within healthcare and psychiatry, with only two countries (US and New Zealand) allowing this practice....
Doomed: A Psychiatry Comic
The prescription still lives in my chart, even though I only took it for one month, 15 years ago. As I navigate health care as an adult, I still have to answer for it.
Mental Health and the Assault on Autonomy in the New America
These myths lead to seeing the homeless as mentally ill and the mentally ill as irredeemable and “other,” impeding effective care.
The Political Systems Driving Abuse in Psychiatry: An Interview with Human Rights Lawyer Alicia...
Alicia Ely Yamin is the Director of the Global Health and Rights Project and a lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. She's also...
Undisclosed Industry Payments Found in Top Psychiatry Journals
Research has shown that financial conflicts of interest (COIs) are a common issue in medicine and psychiatry, with a 2020 paper finding that 55.7%...
Belief in a Fair Economy Linked to Greater Mental Health Stigma, Study Finds
Recent research from across the world has found that stigma towards people with mental health diagnoses is either increasing or stagnant. While studies from...
Mourning on Schedule: How Grieving Became a ‘Mental Illness’
My wife died ten months ago. In another two months, I will have a new mental disorder: “Prolonged Grief Disorder.”
History, Eugenics, and an Inquiry into Mad Consciousness: A Conversation With Susanne Paola Antonetta
Suzanne Paola Antonetta is an accomplished writer and poet, She joins us to discuss her latest book: The Devil's Castle, Nazi Eugenics, Euthanasia, and How Psychiatry's Troubled History Reverberates Today.
With AI Chatbots As Therapists, We Can All Be Patients
Chatbots, with constant availability and user-centric conversation style, are widening the reach of “therapeutic culture.”
When a Radical Feminist from South Korea Became a Psychiatrist in the US
The Western mind fights for justice, while the Eastern soul accepts imperfection. Perhaps when we can hold both, we can flourish.
How Our Blindness to Context Harms Patients and Breaks Practitioners: A Conversation With Kamaldeep...
Kamaldeep Bhui joins us to challenge the myth of clinical neutrality, arguing that culture informs not only patients’ experiences of distress but also clinicians’ judgments about what counts as pathology. From voice-hearing to addiction, meaning depends on context, class, belief systems, and power relations.
As a Doctor, I Felt Compelled to Agree to ECT—It Nearly Ruined My Life
Apparently, I signed consent forms, but what was I consenting to? I certainly cannot remember being told about the adverse effects.
Is Focusing on Screen Time Diverting Us From the Real Drivers of Youth Distress?
Instead of focusing on screen time, we must consider the root causes: the concentration of wealth in the tech sector.
Psychobabble of the Month: Think of Jealousy as a Mental Disorder
Convincing a jealous partner that they have a mental illness sounds like gaslighting, but to JAMA Psychiatry, it's science.
What Isn’t Broken, Part 3: Spiritual Rebirth
My suicidality was right about one thing: Something had to die. It just didn’t have to be me.
What Isn’t Broken, Part 2: The Descent
My method had to involve some kind of loophole so that my death wasn’t technically by my own hand. Then it came to me: my eating disorder.
Service Users Face Abuse From Mental Health Professionals
People with mental health diagnoses are often the victims of violence and abuse, both within and beyond mental healthcare systems. Media reports of sexual...
Is Psychiatry’s Myth of Mental Health as Damaging as Its Myth of Mental Illness?
Does "mental health" mean more than to be well-adjusted to a dehumanizing, irrational, and homicidal world?
What Isn’t Broken, Part 1: A Temporary Fix
I didn't want a diagnosis to be put on meds, I wanted a diagnosis in order to validate the pain I was in and to be taken seriously by the adults around me.
Facing Existential Challenges, WHO Shuts Down its Policy, Law, and Human Rights Unit
Global activists react to the news and vow to keep up the fight for human rights in mental health.
