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Peer Support and Resistance: Becky Brasfield’s Vision for Mental Health Justice

Mad in America

B ecky Brasfield has emerged as a formidable advocate for change in the complex landscape of mental health care.A She has been a fellow with both the IL Care and HSRI Behavioral Health Policy programs and was appointed Commissioner of the Southeast Expanded Mental Health Services Program.

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Is Public Psychiatry Responding to the Mental Health Crisis or Just “Treating the Chart?”

Mad in America

The topic of mental health is on the public’s mind, whether it’s the popularizing of therapy speak, the increased attention paid to severe mental illness and homelessness, or pop psychology advice on TikTok. This scenario in public psychiatry settings is, unfortunately, a familiar one.

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Working to Transmute the Pain: Why I Do the Work I Do

Mad in America

For many years, I received mental health services and accepted the “mental illness” diagnoses, which I now call labels. I didn’t realize that others were actively fighting against what they call the mental health system or psychiatry. The mental health system is deeply ingrained in our culture.

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Assessing Community Mental Health Programs in India: Insights from Task-Shifting in Kerala

Mad in America

It was written by the MISA news team to provide insight into community mental health initiatives in India. A 2020 study published in Medical Anthropology investigates the realities of community mental health initiatives like task-shifting in India. Kerala is uniquely positioned in the Indian mental health system.

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From a Paranoid Schizophrenia Diagnosis to a Peer Researcher in Nigeria

Mad in America

We were living in poverty with my siblings and life was difficult. The pastor prayed for me and referred us to a hospital by giving us the contact of a psychiatric nurse. I have also learnt so many things about mental health and my hope for the future has increased.

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Faith Healing in India: An Ancient Way of Tending to Madness

Mad in America

Little did it know that this incident would alter the course of the nation’s approach to mental health care. For centuries, this dargah had attracted pilgrims from diverse faiths, all drawn by the belief in the shrine’s miraculous powers to cure mental ailments brought on by evil spirits, djinns , and black magic.

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Reimagining Crisis Support: A Conversation with Tina Minkowitz

Mad in America

Peruvian reform is especially good regarding legal capacity, but it has not included the issue of healthcare and it has not addressed the short-term involuntary measures in the mental health system that are still in place.

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