What's New
Positive childhood experiences can boost mental health and reduce depression and anxiety in teens
On the website for Simon Fraser University, writer Jeff Hodson has this article on the latest research showing the relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and depression and anxietyâand, in this study, the converse...
Featured Articles
Giving Caregivers a Platform: Meagan, Mother of Matt
A mom describes her son's descent into the harms of psychiatryâand his way out. "It was really difficult to watch Matt decline. He had given up hope that he could get well."
Medical Journals Refuse to Retract Fraudulent Trial Reports That Omitted Suicidal Events in Children
The published articles underreported suicide-related events and provided false claims that the drugs were effective.
Charles Spencerâs Story of Boarding School Abuse Is Haunting
But parents are still sending children away to board, and itâs still dangerous.
Blogs & Personal Stories
Money as Medicine: Rethinking Health Beyond the Clinic
Eric Reinhart's latest piece in NEJM challenges the clinical focus of American healthcare, advocating for cash transfers and social welfare programs as vital tools to combat health inequities exacerbated by poverty.
A Felt Sense of Safety â From Disassociation to Embodiment
I know now that I can trust myself and listen to my intuition. Within the mental health system, I trusted everyone but myself.
Engaging Voices, Part 2: Working Our Way Toward Connection
Sam Ruck shares his fourth excerpt from his book Healing Companions, which describes his life with, and love for, his wife and her âalters.âÂ
"Mad in the Family" Podcast
Around the Web: Family
EDITOR'S CORNERS
Archives: Popular Posts from the Past
Editor's Corner
Donât Blame The Brain for The Effects of Childhood Trauma
Iâm always fascinated by research showing links between childhood trauma and various forms of mental distress, but Iâm rarely surprised by it. How could anyone be? And yet, in the usual conversations surrounding psychiatric diagnoses, the âbrain diseaseâ tropes still prevail. In that narrative, we struggle not because of anything life throws at us, but because of some innate malfunction in our neural motherboards.Â
What did surprise me, these past weeks, was the abundance of recent research underscoring such connections between trauma and distressâand the fact that some of it actually gained wider coverage. Three such studies were unpacked and analyzed by Mad in America; another one, linking childhood loneliness with psychosis, was covered by Yahoo News and posted as an âAround the Webâ on Mad in the Family.Â
If you take a look at MITFâs âResearch Findingsâ content box (see below), youâll find the three MIA articles posted in April: Richard Searsâ story on a study linking maltreatment during childhood with hospital admissions for psychosis; another Sears story on research showing links between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and a host of issues, including behavioral problems, poor sleep, and lower achievement in school; and Liam Gehrig Bachâs piece on a new Swedish study of twins with disparate experiences that associates trauma with the eventual development of psychiatric disorders.Â
Family Newsletter
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 U.S./Europe group meets on the second Thursday of each month. Â 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].
Q&A: What Is Executive Function, and How Can Parents and Teachers Help Kids Focus? In her latest piece, author, teacher, and advocate Ann Bracken describes EF and lays out multiple approaches designed to aid teachers, parents, and teens themselves.
Do you have a question of your own? Submit it for an online reply. For past Q&As on a range of topics, check out the archives.
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
- 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 moreÂ
Research on non-drug 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.
