Mad in America

OCTOBER 22, 2024

The real question is whether the “brighter future” is always so distant. What if it has been here for a long time already—and only our own blindness and weakness have prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it —Vaclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless H ow do we talk about mental illness in a world gone crazy?

Trauma and the brain 120

Trauma and the brain Self-awareness Legal Technology 120

Critical Psychiatry

OCTOBER 22, 2024

As Ive said before, psychiatry tends to treat people as machines (see eg. previous post ). Newtonian physics sees existence in terms of cause and effect rather than meaning. Modern science is based on experiment and has a comprehensive, mechanical, rational approach to nature. External observation is seen as the basis of worthwhile, definite knowledge.

Construction 100

Construction 100

Mad in America

OCTOBER 22, 2024

A new study published in BMJ Mental Health finds that antidepressants are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). The authors employed Mendelian randomization, a method that uses genetic information to examine causal relationships, to establish that the observed association likely means antidepressants are causing CVD. Antidepressant use increased the risk of of every CVD the authors examined, including arrhythmias, atrial fibrilation, coronary artery disease, hypertension, heart failure,

Genetics and mental health 93

Genetics and mental health 93

How Psychiatry Works

OCTOBER 22, 2024

This post is about intense emotions around our natural abhorrence of constraint. We have all seen how far down the chain of evolution the desire for freedom is manifested. Animals, even insects, almost universally struggle to remain free when constrained. Constraint can be forced or self-imposed, but it often generates a reaction either way. The truth is that none of us is entirely free.

Self-awareness 52

Self-awareness 52