Mad in America

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

S topping psychiatric drugs is often difficult. And in many cases, it is done far too quickly. Therefore, the patient may develop unbearable withdrawal symptoms, which the doctor often interprets erroneously as a relapse of the disease. It is important to know how a tapering process should be carried out. Unfortunately, very few doctors know that the binding curves of psychiatric drugs to brain receptors are hyperbolic in shape.

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Mad in America

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

A fter years of work involving hundreds of people in dozens of countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have released their joint production, Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation: Guidance and Practice ( WHO/OHCHR , 2023, referred to as the Guidance. The agenda of the launch event is here , and the full video here ).

Genetics and mental health 145

Genetics and mental health Biopsychosocial model Legal Trauma and the brain 145

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that really isn’t you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.” —Paulo Coelho I never wanted to take psych drugs. I took them because I was desperate to get out of pain, but not the kind of pain most people associate with psych meds.

Trauma and the brain 141

Trauma and the brain Sleep and mental health Genetics and mental health Aging and mental health 141

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

U pon the catastrophic failure of its economic policies, California has decided to systematically restrain, incarcerate, forcibly strip, and drug its now sizable unhoused population. Rent control , out of control zoning laws , and other red tape have plagued California’s housing economy for years, limiting housing supply despite high demand. The most vulnerable citizens have been pushed onto the streets, unable to find long-term housing options where they feel safe.

Sleep and mental health 115

Sleep and mental health Hospitality Healthcare 115

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

I n preparation for a course on clinical community psychology at my home university in Caracas, Venezuela, I stumbled upon a tweet from an anonymous student complaining about a family of pigs that had occupied the psychiatric hospitalization ward where he was supposed to develop his clinical training. The Tweet seemed preposterous, until you consider the gravity of the deterioration of the public health system and that the Tweet was accompanied by pictures and a video of a group of pigs roaming

Hospitality 106

Hospitality 106

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

From Aeon : “‘A sense of special significance began to invest everything in the room; objects which I would normally accept as just being there began to assume some strange importance.’ ‘I became interested in a wide assortment of people, events, places, and ideas which normally would make no impression on me. Not knowing that I was ill, I made no attempt to understand what was happening, but felt that there was some overwhelming significance in all this …’ The first of these quotations

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Mad in America

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

From The Hastings Center : “A large government-funded study of solanezumab , an experimental Alzheimer’s drug that targets amyloid in the brain, has found no benefit in people with normal cognitive function who have elevated amyloid levels. The results of this long-term, definitive, randomized controlled trial should stay the alarming enthusiasts who have advocated drugging perfectly normal people who have abnormal amyloid levels.

Pharmaceuticals 103

Pharmaceuticals 103

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

From Kindred Media : “Most philosophical positions are rooted in Western enlightenment assumptions of human superiority to and separation from nature, the notion of human cultural progress, and individualism—all part of what anthropologist Marshall Sahlins called the ‘Western illusion of human nature.’ Virtually all prior and contemporaneous cultures had a different orientation, one of human interconnectedness and partnership with the biocommunity and a cyclical panpsychism.

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Mad in America

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

P sychiatrists used to not put much effort into diagnosing. Instead, they focused on getting to and working on the issues in their clients’ lives that were upsetting them. But all that changed when the 1980 DSM came out. Since then, diagnosing mental disorders has been one of their main focuses (prescribing medicine being the other). People pay huge sums of money for psychiatrists’ expert opinions, and their diagnostic evaluations carry great weight in court, school, the workplace, a

Construction 93

Construction 93

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Antipsychotics for psychotic depression? Not a great idea, according to a new study. Adding an antipsychotic drug to antidepressant treatment increased the risk of death and rehospitalization for people with the psychotic depression diagnosis. “Our findings do not indicate any advantage of adding antipsychotics as adjunctive to antidepressants as maintenance treatment.

Hospitality 145

Hospitality Depression treatment 145

Mad in America

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

T his month the American Psychological Association (APA) released its report, “Stress in America 2023: A Nation Recovering From Collective Trauma.” This was a follow-up to a similar report in 2020. The report was based on a nationwide survey of 3000 Americans 18 years or older by the Harris Poll. The results of the report were alarming and concerning.

Resilience and coping 128

Resilience and coping Aging and mental health Sleep and mental health Self-awareness 128