Mad in America

MARCH 6, 2025

T his historical record of Oregons first state hospital, the Oregon State Insane Asylum, from its opening in 1883 until the mid-1950s, will focus on the experiences of patients there. The guiding principle for the hospital during these seven decades, whether recognized or not, was Everything About Us Was Without Us.

Hospitality 78

Hospitality Trauma and the brain Aging and mental health Self-awareness 78

Mad in America

MAY 30, 2024

But I give you access to my professional perspectives and reflections, in the hope and belief that you will be able to use them for increased self-awareness and personal growth. The psychiatric diagnosis is a medical theoretical construct with limited epistemic validity. I don’t change the way you think.

Sleep and mental health 127

Sleep and mental health Construction Healthcare Self-awareness 127

Mad in America

OCTOBER 5, 2024

Time to put up, I began writing… They rode in silence to Fair Oaks Hospital, parents aching for the recovery of a broken child. You must trust us to treat him in the way we know best; otherwise he could be in a mental hospital for the rest of his life. Is what my family encountered truly different, better now than 50 years ago?

Hospitality 114

Hospitality Self-awareness Construction Education 114

Mad in America

SEPTEMBER 7, 2024

I had some vague awareness that patients occasionally had a “bad reaction” to a pill, but I assumed that these reactions were one in a million and it never crossed my mind that something like permanent genital numbness could occur. Like Rosie, I became so distressed that my father had me involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Pharmaceuticals 143

Pharmaceuticals Self-awareness Construction Education 143

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 24, 2024

Critical Thinking: Ironically, while a denial of painful realities can cause problems, an awareness of painful realities can fuel depression and anxiety. This shut down can result in complete immobilization or a fear of such immobilization, both of which are psychologically painful, and this can result in the pain of self-loathing and shame.

Poverty and mental health 145

Poverty and mental health Childhood trauma Neurotransmitters and mental health Trauma and the brain 145

Mad in America

JANUARY 18, 2024

Every doctoral student discovers this, and, equally, discovers that their success is going to depend upon becoming deeply immersed in the details of what is already agreed within their chosen, narrow, self-contained field of study. or they might react with “Help!” or “Leave me alone, there is nothing wrong with me.”.

Self-awareness 104

Self-awareness Construction Technology Pharmaceuticals 104

Mad in America

AUGUST 5, 2024

We consider the consequences of diagnosis as a form of social identity; of neurodivergence as a form of disability; and of self-diagnosis. Some of them self-identify as disabled, a category which—like neurodivergence itself—is extremely heterogenous. The consequences of ‘diagnosis as identity.’ Both outcomes are problematic.

Trauma and the brain 143

Trauma and the brain Genetics and mental health Self-awareness Personality disorders 143