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

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

She earned a PhD in English literature at the University of Maryland, College Park. She now teaches a course on U.S. history at Mount St. Mary’s University. It was named a New York Times Editors’ Pick and will be the focus of our conversation today. She lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.

Trauma and the brain 140

Trauma and the brain Genetics and mental health Aging and mental health Technology 140

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 24, 2024

P sychiatry’s serotonin-imbalance theory of depression, long discarded by researchers, was finally flushed down the toilet by psychiatry and the mainstream media in 2022. And psychiatrists’ primary treatments for depression—their so-called “antidepressants”—are now circling the drain. 2) What approach to depression makes sense? Genes and depression?

Poverty and mental health 145

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

Mad in America

JANUARY 16, 2024

S ince the onset of the pandemic, misery and mental disorder have increased, raising considerable concern about mental health. It has become obvious that we need to be better at addressing issues related to our psychological well-being. In short, ten years ago the WHO called for a paradigm shift in mental health care. That has not happened.

Genetics and mental health 145

Genetics and mental health Trauma and the brain Anxiety disorders Construction 145

Mad in America

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Scuffling whispers echoing in the hall and in my brain halted, followed by a brief but sacred silence. Nevertheless, like USS Arizona and Utah, I lay immobile from what felt like a sneak attack. In the dim quiet of the calculatingly sterile room I was alone, awash with discouragement and sunken in the icy depths of depression.

Aging and mental health 114

Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain Hospitality Construction 114

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 28, 2024

Concurrently, many mental health professionals carry a burden of their own trauma and are not healthy individuals. How can we build a truly healing hospital that would love, nourish and heal all within, including the professionals who work there? When trauma is healed, so do our bodies. When trauma is healed, so do our bodies.

Hospitality 92

Hospitality Trauma and the brain Poverty and mental health Construction 92

Mad in America

DECEMBER 23, 2023

They were shatteringly vivid then—usually involving fleeing from hospital staff who wanted to lock me up and inject me with sedatives. S everal weeks after being committed under the Mental Health Act, still dopey from mandated antipsychotics, I had a dream. But this dream was different, and it turns out, not so far from a possible reality.

Aging and mental health 135

Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain Hospitality Construction 135