I look into the dark pool I see colors spinning Inklings Of what has yet to become With one prick of my finger The ripples of change Cast outwards Water cannot break But I fear it will shatter If I lean in too closely You may engulf me But if I turn away I hold my breath Between the black and white I am the gray & I do not yet know How to exist within it *** Poet’s Instagram: @iren_cmxi *** Back to Poetry Gallery The post Wounded Healer by Samantha Irene appeared first on Mad In America ..read more

From The Conversation: “Only one in 20 medical treatments have high-quality evidence to support their benefits, according to a recent study. The study also found that harms of treatments are measured much more rarely (a third as much) as benefits. Patients and doctors – and anyone who pays for them – need to know that medical treatments are safe and effective, but it’s an open secret in the medical field that not all treatments, including ones that are commonly used, are safe and effective. For example, antiarrhythmic drugs were widely prescribed in the belief that they would reduce ..read more

Overtreatment with drugs kills many people, and the death rate is increasing. It is therefore strange that we have allowed this long-lasting drug pandemic to continue, and even more so because most of the drug deaths are easily preventable. In 2013, I estimated that our prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer,1 and in 2015, that psychiatric drugs alone are also the third leading cause of death.2 However, in USA, it is commonly stated that our drugs are “only” the fourth leading cause of death.3,4 This estimate was derived from a 1998 meta-analysi ..read more

From The Guardian: “Six years ago, I sat halfway up a spiral staircase in an old medical library in London, watching an actor recreate one of the most intense moments of my life. We were filming a TV drama based on a memoir I’d written about my struggles with disturbing sexual and violent intrusive thoughts. The story had started when, aged 15, I was suddenly bombarded by relentless, maddening doubts about core aspects of my identity: my capacity for violence and abuse, my physical appearance, my sexuality, whether I could trust my bones not to break. Graphic, unbearable thoughts and imag ..read more

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on Mad in South Asia. The author, Indian doctoral scholar Neha Jain, writes about her field work and wonders what kind of ‘care’ and ‘help’ are possible in the absence of real consent. On the footpath, in a group of homeless people, sits a middle-aged saree-clad woman in absolute silence, looking nowhere. She sits close to her two giant white bags. She was brought in along with a salwar-kameez wearing middle-aged woman. In a group of 14 people, they were the only two women. The social worker gave both of them some tea and biscuits as they waited ..read more

Iarrived at my 18th birthday 20 pounds overweight, insecure, and foggy, thanks to Depakote and Zyprexa. It was the perfect way to start my senior year of high school. My lovely psychiatrist, Dr. Volls, advised me on the concept of “mood management.” I depended on her expertise to keep me out of crisis, while the medication kept me grounded, sleeping, and helped me forget. My first experience with psychosis had occurred just four months prior, and I was not about to go through that again. With every pill I swallowed, I drifted further and further from my authentic self. A nutrition geek and nat ..read more

Editor’s Note: This article is being simultaneously published on our affiliate site, Mad in the UK. In my previous article, I looked at some evidence on ‘disappointing’ long-term outcomes for early intervention in psychosis (EIP) recipients, and also some findings on ‘functional outcomes’ between drug discontinuation and maintenance treatment cohorts. I attributed these trends chiefly to the inefficacy of neuroleptics over the long-term. I hope my discussion can contribute a little to advancing understanding of how a drug based ‘disease model’ of mental distress can often do more harm tha ..read more

While harmful physical effects of the use of antipsychotics are often discussed, one crucial adverse effect is often left out: their impact on identity.   A new article by Maev Connely from the University College London in the Division of Psychiatry and colleagues argues for increased understanding and discussions of antipsychotics (APs) impact on identity and sense of self.   The study was published in the Community Mental Health Journal. The authors write:               “Fostering inter- and intra-disciplinary di ..read more

I kept telling her that Carsten Dahl is not Carson Dyle for the obvious reason the former doodles Danish bebop on the piano with a sort of Gouldian passion for counterpoint, whereas the latter is a character played by Walter Matthau, whose fervor is fuelled by revenge, avarice and triangle-cut sandwiches, in that wild caper of a movie called Charade. I’m not sure she cared, though. (“Who the fuck is Walter Matthau?”) Neither did she show much interest when I pointed out the similar confusion that might occur when listening to Dahl’s Will You Make My Soup Hot and Silver, which, sure enough, rol ..read more

Thanks to excellent work of Mark Horowitz and David Taylor we now have the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines for Antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids, and Z-drugs. I consider this very good news for all who want to taper withdrawal-causing prescription drugs safely, and for all who want to help them as best as they can. The new guidance offers strong and comprehensive support and will aid development of new guidelines and will help to improve existing ones. In the UK, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has already updated advice about Stopping antidepressants. Unique in the new gui ..read more