Mad in America is a webzine devoted to rethinking psychiatry’s current “disease model” for diagnosing and treating psychiatric disorders. This Family Resources section is designed to provide information and resources for parents and other family members who wish to explore alternatives to conventional, drug-based psychiatric care for their relatives, especially children of all ages.
The Worst Thing: How My Mother’s Death Pushed Me to Overcome OCD
The goal of creating a legacy for my mother required that I go beyond managing my symptoms to confronting my OCD at its roots. I had to fundamentally change my understanding of anxiety.
The Worst Thing: How My Mother’s Death Pushed Me to Overcome OCD
The goal of creating a legacy for my mother required that I go beyond managing my symptoms to confronting my OCD at its roots. I had to fundamentally change my understanding of anxiety.
Boy, Interrupted: A Story of Akathisia
I watched my son’s life change almost overnight. He developed akathisia from antidepressants, taken as prescribed for just a few weeks for garden-variety anxiety.
My Mother Wound: Rethinking “Fear of Abandonment”
Therapists are quick to refer to this pain I feel as a “fear of abandonment,” as if it is a figment of my mind and something not worth the time to attend to.
Before You Call for Help: A Guide for Significant Others and Family Members
This quick-reference guide is designed to assist partners and family members in supporting a loved one who is experiencing extreme emotional distress.
Interview: Is Forced Treatment Deterring Youth from Seeking Mental Health Care?
Researcher Nev Jones, Ph.D., talks about her study of youth hospitalized against their will, and how their experiences affected their attitudes about mental health treatment and providers.
The False Memory Syndrome at 30: How Flawed Science Turned into Conventional Wisdom ...
Soon after states finally began providing adults who remembered childhood abuse with the legal standing to sue, the FMSF began waging a PR campaign to discredit their memories—in both courtrooms and in the public mind.
Withdrawing Kids from Psych Drugs: Why, How, and When
Here are methods for reducing or eliminating a child's psychiatric medications that I have seen work well over years of supporting families through this process.
Supporting Children and Parents to Withdraw from Psychiatric Medication
The main problem with prescribing psychiatric drugs to children is that it hasn’t been very effective.
Support Groups
MIA offers moderated, online peer-support groups for parents. U.S./Canada groups meet twice monthly on alternating Tuesdays. There is one group for parents of children 18 and under and another for parents of adult children. The European group (children of all ages) meets on the second Thursday of each month. Learn more and sign up here.
Q&A
My child’s school is pressuring me to give him stimulants. What should I do? Steve McCrea, MS, answers a common parenting question. Have a question of your own? Submit it for an online reply from one of our experts.
Psychiatric Drug Info
Did you know:
- That longer-term studies of children given a diagnostic label of ADHD have found worse outcomes for medicated youth?
- In a large NIMH study, researchers concluded that few youth “benefit long-term” from antipsychotics (neuroleptic drugs)?
- That marijuana, stimulants, and antidepressants increase the risk that a youth will receive a diagnostic label of bipolar disorder?
Research on psychotropic use in children and adolescents
- Stimulants for children with a diagnostic label of ADHD
- Antidepressants for children with a diagnostic label of depression/anxiety
- Antipsychotics (neuroleptics) for children with a diagnostic label of psychosis, bipolar disorder, and more
Research on non-pharmacological treatments
- Non-drug approaches for ADHD
- Non-drug approaches for depression
- Non-drug approaches for psychosis, bipolar disorder, and more
Resources
Information on withdrawal from psychiatric drugs.
Directory of therapists/providers who support drug withdrawal.
