Mad in America

"It came up again, this time in Helsingin Sanomat. An article about the significance of a psychiatric diagnosis for a person. I can no longer read this type of article without being provoked, just skimming through it, but that sentence was found as such: “ The autism diagnosis was a relief and brought an explanation for everything . ” I already wrote feedback to the newspaper in question about the previous similar article, I don’t feel like doing it anymore. "

From shouting and threats to interventions without consent, obstetric violence is a form of gender violence that profoundly impacts postpartum mental health. Dr. Keila Castro proposes ways to heal.

Often psychological problems and relationship problems originate in childhood and have to do with the attachment pattern you developed as a child. The way your parents dealt with you – whether you received (sufficient) attention and in what way – has been decisive. It can therefore yield a lot to delve into adhesion. This article goes beyond the four well-known adhesion patterns from Bowlby's theory and describes 'subpatterns' with clear characteristics.

The motto "no matter how confused someone is, they haven't lost their whole self" was a guiding principle at Sweden's first and so far only Soteria house, which operated during the 1990s. Here, psychiatric care was provided without coercion - a whole decade without either suicide or coercive measures. Majka Stenberg and Petra Horn explain how care worked at Nacka Soteria.

In 2006, the Danish Health Authority warned against combining antipsychotics with benzodiazepines because it increases mortality by 50-65% . But what do we see in the medical records? Virtually all patients with psychosis receive one or more antipsychotics and also benzodiazepines.

If it is true that mental health is not psychiatry and that mental disorder is part of a distress that has its origin in a complex of factors, which in a somewhat too simplistic way are defined as bio-psycho-social, then I believe that psychiatry cannot omnipotently take charge of it but that it must find a less reductive interpretation than the currently dominant one.

If the dominant psychiatric paradigm does not radically change, which unfortunately has been embraced by Psychologists, Social Workers, Nurses and other professionals involved in the provision of mental health services (without this meaning that I question their humanity), the tragedy of the way we approach and treat/care for people who experience mental suffering will continue and be reproduced, and even worse, as a non-tragedy.

My study investigates the data available in all three sources and finds that they are incomplete and inconsistent, making any conclusions about patient groups’ conflict-of-interest and funding unreliable.

What is the effect of experiencing safety and why can it be transformative for you as Dr. Stephen Porges describes? I hope to be able to take you along in this, for many, complex matter. This science is nice, but what can you do with this knowledge?

Recently, the government has come out with two strategic documents dealing with 'mental health and suicide prevention'. Important documents for our future. One extends over the years 2025-2026. The other over the years 2025-2034.

OVERESTIMATED BENEFIT: - If more than minimal improvement is required, a strikingly large proportion of patients do not receive a meaningful effect from antipsychotics. Trond Aarre (pictured) believes that the requirement of a high probability of effect of compulsory treatment according to the Mental Health Act is unlikely to be met.

This question, provocative in itself, is meant merely as an invitation to debate. It arises from the state of real malaise in which we find ourselves, oppressed by a closed psychiatric ideology defined by its role as a dogmatic science that, when it comes to the object of its research, has only been able to define its diversity and incomprehensibility, translating them concretely into social stigmatization.

After all, who has not thought, after reading endlessly about what goes on in the heads of either mental patients or therapist-cum-psychiatrists; what are they all hoping to achieve if not to transcend the clinical-psychiatric framework?

“It wasn't psychiatry or medication that helped me. It was getting out of the abusive environment I was living in.”

I believe that the evolution of knowledge and its practical applications depends on an attitude of constant review and reflection. I also believe that we should look at what we do with condescension and humility. I miss debates in Psychiatry about how we are practicing and what results we are reaping with what we do.

Health ministries must pay fines of $100,000 per day. Celeste Fernández explains the impact of the ruling, which requires the national Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the City of Buenos Aires to pay daily fines for failing to comply with the national mental health law passed 15 years ago.

Mental health is not just a medical issue; it is a societal concern that demands collective responsibility. Ireland has an opportunity to reimagine its mental health services, moving beyond crisis-driven, medicalised care towards a compassionate, community-based model that truly supports recovery and inclusion.

Factors like abuse by in-laws, diminished patience, children’s well-being, and religious beliefs influence Pakistani’s women’s suicidal thoughts and attempts.

We all know that humans are social creatures; as mammals we live in packs, we are not solitary, but our belonging to the group is an essential part of how our species has survived historically. What's more, our brains have changed little since we lived as hunter-gatherers on the savannah, meaning that our desire to belong to the group is still an important psychological mechanism in all of us

It was not only me who had something wrong, it has never been only me. My book here is my testimony to that. I have also received help that helped, and continues to help me, – that help is a contributing factor to why I am where I am in my life today, and a large part of the reason why I can even process, and all the damage that has been done.