Tag: psychiatric drugs

Life Sentence: Life Behind the Bars of the Mental Health System

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The minute you sit down in the chair in a mental health professional's office, youā€™re no longer seen as a person. The mental health system is incapable of seeing past the solid wall of your current label. Their only cure is drugs. "First Do No Harm" are powerful words. Itā€™s unfortunate they donā€™t apply to psychiatry.

Mental Health Inc: A New Book by Art Levine

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FromĀ AlterNet: A new book my Art Levine,Ā Mental Health Inc: How Corruption, Lax Oversight and Failed Reforms Endanger Our Most Vulnerable Citizens, exposes the greed...

Therapeutic Alliance: Implications for Practice and Policy

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In this piece forĀ Psychiatric Services, Dr. Sandra Steingard comments on the implications of a recent meta-analysis demonstrating theĀ positive effectsĀ of the therapeutic alliance on pharmacologic...

Reexamining Schizophrenia as a Brain Disease

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Schizophrenia has occupied, and continues to occupy, a position of great import in psychiatry, and it is frequently used to assert the supposed biological nature of the field. What evidence is there to suggest that what we call schizophrenia is a disease of the brain? Surprisingly, very little.

Real People, Real Side Effects: Stories of Sexual Dysfunction

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Research shows that psychiatric drugs seem to have an impact on libido, so I decided to collect personal stories to complement the evidence of side effects from psychotropic medication already available. Libido can be directly linked with wellness, and patients need more information to make the choice right for them.

The Issue of Over-Diagnosing in Psychiatry

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FromĀ The Concordian: On October 30th, Dr. Joel Paris, a professor of psychiatry at McGill University, gave a lecture about the dangers and consequences of...

Learning About Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal

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We held the first course ever on psychiatric drug withdrawal on 12 June 2017 in Copenhagen. The course was open to patients, relatives, psychologists, doctors and other social and healthcare workers, and 77 people participated.

Antidepressant to Blame for Frank Sinatra’s Failing Health

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FromĀ Fox News: According to Frank Sinatra's manager Eliot Weisman, Sinatra suffered from several adverse effects of the antidepressant Elavil during his final years. "...there was...

Health Care? More Like Health Scare!

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From theĀ Lown Institute: For pharmaceutical companies who use scare tactics to sell drugs, every day is like Halloween. This list of egregious advertisements shows...

Tranquilizing Humanity into Oblivion: A Warning from Nathan S. Kline

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Widely heralded as the father of American psychopharmacology, Kline insisted that his discoveries were adjunctive to psychotherapy, not replacements. The psychopharmacology of Kline's era recognized that medications are a blunt instrument.

Mortality of People Using Mental Health Services and Medications

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153,451 deaths were registered in Australia in the period 10 August 2011 to 27 September 2012. 75,858 of these deaths were registered for persons who had accessed mental health-related treatments. These deaths accounted for 49.4% of all deaths in this period.

Dr. Gordon Warme: The Relationship Between Culture and Psychiatric ā€˜Disordersā€™

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This week we interview Dr Gordon Warme on the dominance of biological psychiatry and the relationship between culture and psychiatric ā€˜disordersā€™.

David Mielke: Educating in the Era of Psychiatric Diagnosis

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This week we interview psychology graduate and teacher David Mielke who has become increasingly concerned about the number of children in the education system that have a psychiatric diagnosis and are on psychiatric drugs.

Irving Kirsch: The Placebo Effect and What It Tells Us About...

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Dr Irving Kirsch is Associate Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and lecturer in medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He joins us this week to discuss his research into the placebo effect and what it tells us about the efficacy of antidepressant drugs.

FDA Approves Drug for the Annoyingly Cheerful (The Onion)

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FromĀ The Onion: "Made by Pfizer, Despondex is the first drug designed to treat the symptoms of excessive perkiness." VideoĀ ā†’Ā­

Peter Breggin, MD: The Conscience of Psychiatry (part 2)

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Dr Beggin tells us about recent developments with the Michelle Carter trial, and we discuss alternatives to psychiatric drugs and the value of the therapeutic relationship.

Bob Fiddaman: Taking on the Pharmaceutical Regulators and the Seroxat Scandal

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Today on the MIA podcast we talk to Bobby Fiddaman about his experiences of the mental health system, his research and campaigning over the years and his relationships with the UK and US pharmaceutical regulatory bodies.

Vanda Puts Antipsychotic Side Effect Front and Center in TV Ads

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FromĀ FiercePharma: Vanda Pharmaceuticals, which makes the antipsychotic drug Fanapt, has recently rolled out a national TV campaign to raise awareness of akathisia. The company...

Peter Breggin, MD: The Conscience of Psychiatry

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On this episode of the MIA Radio podcast, we present part one of an interview with Dr. Peter Breggin about his career, his views on psychiatry and recent developments with the Michelle Carter trial in which he testified as an expert medical witness.

Jim van Os: Rethinking Biological Psychiatry

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Psychiatrist Jim van Os is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands. He challenges current diagnostic conceptions of schizophrenia and other mental disorders, and offers a vision for creating a new paradigm of mental health care.

New Hope for Depression

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In this piece forĀ TIME, Mandy Oaklander provides a comprehensive review of the current status of and potential future directions forĀ the depression treatment industry. The...

Pratima Singh: Exploring Alternatives to Biological Psychiatry

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Pratima Singh, who got her medical degree in India, works at the Maudsley NHS Hospital in London as an adult psychiatrist. She has a deep interest in alternatives to biological approaches to psychiatry and the use of psychotropic medications.

Mental Health, Inc.

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FromĀ Kirkus Reviews: In his new bookĀ Mental Health, Inc., Art Levine reports on the dire state of the U.S. mental health system. "The author delivers the...

Monica Cassani: Achieving Health in Body, Mind and Spirit

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Monica Cassini has seen the mental health system from both sides ā€“ as a social worker and as a person whose life was severely ruptured by psychiatric drugs. She writes critically about the system, as well as holistic pathways of healing without medication.

Will Hall: A Harm Reduction Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing

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Will is a mental health advocate, counsellor, writer, and teacher. Will advocates the recovery approach to mental illness and is recognised internationally as an innovator in the treatment and social response to psychosis.