Friday, March 24, 2023

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.

What's New

The Surgeon General’s New Mission: Adolescent Mental Health

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In a Q&A with The New York Times, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy discusses the “devastating effects” of mental health challenges for teens and the online culture that exacerbates them, saying: "It’s not just about greater...

Blogs & Personal Stories

What’s Missing from NAMI and Pro-Psychiatry: Lived Experience

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Since many psych patients become forced consumers, their advocates have a duty to be educated and concerned with adverse reactions.
Isabella photo

Beyond Labels and Meds—Closer Look: Isabella Castillo

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At times I tend to feel invisible. Sometimes I don’t feel like I fit in with everyone else; I feel like an outsider.
A woman's head is silhouetted with the sunset over the water

Beyond Psychiatry: A Trauma-Centric View of Mental Health

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Internal family systems therapy is a non-pathologizing method of working toward healing from trauma, a journey of returning to wholeness by reconnecting with ourselves.

Around the Web: Family

Featured Articles

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Mad/Cripistemologies of Pandemic Parenting: Insights for Our “Post-COVID-19” Present

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Respondents described the grief and rage associated with being socially isolated while healing from childbirth and caring for a newborn, in some cases, entirely on their own.

Screening for Perinatal Depression: An Effective Intervention, or One That Does More Harm Than Good?

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Why does the U.S. describe perinatal screening as providing a proven benefit, while the task forces in the U.K. and Canada see no evidence of such benefit?

Problem-Solving Through Skills-Building: Motivating Kids to Change

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Children can overcome all sorts of difficulties by learning specific behavioural or emotional skills with the help and support of their social network.

"Mad in the Family" Podcast

Videos

Archives: Popular Posts from the Past

Editor's Corner

Social media’s impact on youth

In a rash of lawsuits filed against social media companies over the last few months, school districts are pointing to big tech’s significant role in the youth mental health crisis. 

The latest complaint, filed last week by the board of education and superintendent in San Mateo County, Calif., allege that Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube use artificial intelligence to knowingly rope in young people, causing dramatic, unparalleled plunges in youth mental health. It cites a February data summary from the Centers for Disease Control showing dramatic increases in violence, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and other mental-health challenges. 

If you’re a parent, how would you describe the effects on your children? Is this an issue you grapple with as a family? If you’re open to talking about it, please email me ([email protected]), as I’m planning to write a story on the topic.

Read more…

Editor’s Corner archives

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Support Groups

MIA offers moderated, online peer-support groups for parents of both minor and adult children. The U.S./Canada group meets each Tuesday on a drop-in basis. The Europe group meets on the second Thursday of each month.  Learn more and sign up here.

For info on other online and in-person support groups, including those for parents and families, click here. To suggest more for the list, please email [email protected].

How Can I Best Support My Child’s Withdrawal from Psychiatric Drugs? Carina Hakasson, PhD and Nicole Lamberson, PA answer an important parenting question. Have a question of your own? Submit it for an online reply.

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 use of marijuana, stimulants, and antidepressants increase the risk that a youth will receive a diagnostic label of bipolar disorder?

Research on psychiatric drug use in children and adolescents

Research on non-drug treatments

Resources Information on withdrawal from psychiatric drugs. Directory of therapists/providers who support drug withdrawal.

Parenting Today Series