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

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

She talks about understanding the place of her own childhood trauma and also the limitations of simplistic trauma narratives. She talks about understanding the place of her own childhood trauma and also the limitations of simplistic trauma narratives. She is also a writer and producer on Netflix’s 3 Body Problem.

Trauma and the brain 113

Trauma and the brain Poverty and mental health Psychedelic therapy Childhood trauma 113

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

I presume some events are just too traumatising for a human being to retain in memory and that day had not been a good one. I presume some events are just too traumatising for a human being to retain in memory and that day had not been a good one. I don’t want to say much about what happened in China that year.

Trauma and the brain 103

Trauma and the brain Hospitality Education 103

Mad in America

JULY 25, 2024

I was now terrified to leave my home and so it had taken several panic attacks just to get to the hospital. I thought I was feeling the sadness and terror of my circumstances, but the events were over. I was never given an official diagnosis. It was for them, not us, full consent wasn’t in our consciousness. And then it happened again.

Resilience and coping 141

Resilience and coping Genetics and mental health Sleep and mental health Trauma and the brain 141

Mad in America

AUGUST 10, 2024

Eleven years earlier a deeply damaging romantic relationship had coincided with a series of other stressful events and precipitated a manic episode, which then progressed to psychosis once I was trapped in the terrifying environment of the psychiatric ward. Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on Mad in the UK.

Sleep and mental health 110

Sleep and mental health Trauma and the brain Social Services Aging and mental health 110

Mad in America

OCTOBER 22, 2024

When mundane events increasingly take on the character of the surreal or the apocalyptic, what does it mean to be normal or sane? The real question is whether the “brighter future” is always so distant. I believe these kinds of questions will shape our understanding of the future of mental health. Yet these things are not acts of God.

Trauma and the brain 120

Trauma and the brain Self-awareness Legal Technology 120

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

This was the onset of the “tic” that would haunt me for years as a foreboding precursor to “events.” 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. The voice was comfortingly familiar.

Aging and mental health 114

Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain Hospitality Construction 114

Mad in America

AUGUST 28, 2024

Her work is deeply informed by her lived experiences surviving complex trauma, psychosis, and an autoimmune disease. Her work is deeply informed by her lived experiences surviving complex trauma, psychosis, and an autoimmune disease. This has led her to bridge critical neuroscience communities with the mad movement.

Trauma and the brain 119

Trauma and the brain Mind-body connection Nonprofits Education 119

Mad in America

JANUARY 8, 2025

I was hospitalized two or three times in a psychiatric unit. But my lived experience goes back to childhoodIve dealt with trauma, major depression, suicide attempts, some addiction problems, and night terrors. B ecky Brasfield has emerged as a formidable advocate for change in the complex landscape of mental health care.A

Poverty and mental health 123

Poverty and mental health Trauma and the brain Global mental health Hospitality 123

Mad in America

OCTOBER 20, 2023

There appears to be more dopamine uptake due to the antipsychotic-induced brain compensatory mechanism as a response to the suppressed blockade state in an effort to achieve energy equilibrium. A fter 22 years and many attempts I finally stopped taking antipsychotics.

Neurotransmitters and mental health 103

Neurotransmitters and mental health Trauma and the brain Self-awareness Healthcare 103

The Art of Healing Trauma

NOVEMBER 17, 2019

This is the earliest somewhat coherent journal entry I can find that I wrote after the traumas as I was too ill and in too much chaos to write anything down for a couple years. This short story about a train trip shows how the many symptoms of PTSD combine to have a devastating impact to one’s Sense of Self.

Trauma and the brain 52

Trauma and the brain Self-awareness Hospitality 52

Mad in America

JANUARY 12, 2024

I was experiencing my first manic episode, brought on by a traumatic event. I reacted to my emotions with the weight of stress on my chest. I was assaulted, by someone who was supposed to love and protect me. I confided in my mother, who seemed to believe me at first. I struck out in a place of fear, anger, and pain. I was troubled.

Sleep and mental health 105

Sleep and mental health Trauma and the brain Hospitality Aging and mental health 105

Mad in America

MARCH 15, 2025

Joanna Moncrieff, Chemically Imbalanced (2025) E stablishment psychiatry has recently switched the biological cause of mental illness from a chemical imbalance to a brain circuitry defect. Challenging the biological model of depression feels like a game of whack-a-mole: as soon as you put one theory to bed, another one sprouts up.

52

52

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

Mad in America

AUGUST 5, 2024

Editor’s Note: Mad in the UK and Mad in America are jointly publishing this four-part series on neurodiversity. The series was edited by Mad in the UK editors, and authored by John Cromby and Lucy Johnstone (with part three written by an anonymous contributor). The series is being archived here.

Trauma and the brain 143

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

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

I made a few significant suicide attempts, broke my feet and legs, fractured my spine, and was hospitalized at San Francisco General Hospital and then Hartford Hospital. A bill raised in the Connecticut legislature, H.B. 6837 , would change state law concerning shock therapy (ECT or electroconvulsive therapy). Anwar , Rep.

Aging and mental health 121

Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain Manufacturing Legal 121

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

I knew she didn’t have a brain disease. Yet the trauma underlying Valeries struggles was generally treated as irrelevant to her psychological state, something that only became worse once Valerie received a diagnosis. To me, she was just my sister, Hough explains. Theres no room for your story.

Biopsychosocial model 52

Biopsychosocial model Trauma and the brain Bipolar disorder Healthcare 52

Mad in America

OCTOBER 6, 2023

But after this event, I started visiting the school counsellor frequently. I tried to open up to the psychiatrist, but he decided that I had a chemical imbalance in my brain and told me the only treatment was medication. Then later, around the time of my parents’ divorce, I was sexually abused by the older son of a family friend.

Aging and mental health 125

Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain Self-awareness Anxiety disorders 125

Mad in America

OCTOBER 21, 2023

H ow can psychiatry maintain its authority and influence despite its repeated scientific failures and lack of progress—now even acknowledged by key members of the psychiatric establishment and the mainstream media? In 2023, Time reported , “About one in eight U.S. As of late 2022, just 31% of U.S.

Technology 143

Technology Genetics and mental health Pharmaceuticals Sleep and mental health 143

Mad in America

OCTOBER 11, 2023

B radley Lewis works at the intersections of medicine, psychiatry, philosophy, the psychological humanities, mad studies, and disability studies, balancing roles as both a humanities professor and a practicing psychiatrist. Additionally, he serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Medical Humanities. Listen to the audio of the interview here.

Aging and mental health 136

Aging and mental health Self-awareness Trauma and the brain Healthcare 136

Mad in America

JUNE 29, 2024

It was a star-studded event, with prominent figures from world psychiatry in attendance. Elites of the global mental health movement such as Vikram Patel were also present and so were eminent Indian psychiatrists, especially from public sector teaching hospitals. The theme of the conference was public mental health.

Global mental health 120

Global mental health Poverty and mental health Sleep and mental health Trauma and the brain 120