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A very important and compelling article was posted on Mad in America on June 18. It’s by Andrew L. Yoder, and is called An Open Letter to Persons Self-Identifying as Mentally Ill. Here are some quotes: "My physician was not so cautious. He was a very pleasant man that always seemed to take his time with me and did not talk down to me. Yet as I described some of the emotional distress I was experiencing, and the ways it was affecting my life, he told me with great certainty that mine was a totally common experience. He told me that I had a biological condition in my brain, one in which certain chemicals were 'imbalanced.' He told me that there should be no stigma about asking for assistance from him. Specifically he told me, 'Trying to not be depressed is like telling a diabetic to just make more insulin.' He prescribed an antidepressant medication, saying that this was no different than taking medication to regulate blood pressure or manage cholesterol. I was told of the likelihood that I would need to remain on some form of medication for an indefinite future." ...

I guess everybody knows by now that Justina Pelletier is back with her parents after 16 months in the custody of Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. According to a Boston Globe report dated June 9, top DCF officials recently submitted papers to the court asking that Justina be returned to the custody of her parents, and a June 19 Boston Globe article confirmed that Judge Joseph Johnstone had, on June 18, issued an order to that effect. ...

In the last decade or so psychiatry has received a great deal of criticism. The fundamental point of contention is psychiatry’s insistence that an ever increasing range of problems of thinking, feeling, and/or behaving are in fact illnesses that need to be aggressively treated with drugs, intracranial electric shocks, and other somatic interventions. It is further contended, by those of us on this side of the debate, that this spurious medicalization of non-medical problems was not an innocent error, but rather was, and is, a self-serving and deliberate policy designed to expand psychiatric turf and to create an impression of psychiatry as a legitimate medical specialty. ...

Good afternoon I live in São Paulo, Brazil, I’m 35 years old, single, and always said I had depression. Was considered slow, sad, spoke little, called donkey and cold, and all this time I thought it was true and should see a psychiatrist. I searched, the psychiatrist asked a few questions, and used antidepressants, Pristiq and others. At first I was very excited, since it was a more cheerful and talkative person, but two months later went and had the effect of increasing the dose and use lamictal,the remedy worked a little, changed my personality and was a person different, but felt did not want this all my life. ...

On June 6, I wrote a post titled Psychiatry DID Promote the Chemical Imbalance Theory. The article was published on Mad in America, and generated a number of comments on that site, five of which were from TherapyFirst, who in his first comment identified himself as Joel Hassman, MD, a practicing psychiatrist. Dr. Hassman did not argue with the general notion that psychiatric practice today consists almost exclusively of the prescription of drugs. Indeed, in one of his own blog posts on June 16, 2013, he wrote in an open letter to newly qualified psychiatrists: ...

I and my daughter are both victims of false sexual abuse allegations. During , the now, five year long ordeal I have witness abysmal and unethical behavior by the psychologists and psychiatrists involved in my case.The behavior witnessed includes the withholding of retractions by the Social Services hand-picked psychologist The professionals act without regard to the child.The psychologists/psychiatrists that are used by Child Protective Services are essentially a tool used by Social Services to win their case. The professionals do not care for the children or the parents. They want to ensure that they testify to exactly what Social Services expects of them.Unfortunately, most attorneys do not know how to critically and effectively question a mental health professional.I have no doubt that some professionals are sincere but in my specific case I have observed very troubling behavior.I would be very skeptical of any diagnosis or testimony of any professional who testifies on behalf of social services. One must remember to distinguish between science and pseudoscience. ...

On February 14, 2013, Oscar Pistorius, a South African Olympic runner, shot and killed his girlfriend in his home in Pretoria, South Africa. Mr. Pistorius’ defense is that the shooting was accidental – that he shot his girlfriend through the bathroom door in a state of panic because he believed she was an intruder. Prosecutors contend that the killing was intentional - and the trial is ongoing. On May 12, 2014, the defense introduced testimony from Merryll Vorster, MD, a psychiatrist. According to an article in BBC News Africa, Dr. Vorster told the court that Mr. Pistorius has generalized anxiety disorder, and that because of this mental disorder his actions on the occasion in question would differ from those of a “…normal able-bodied person without generalized anxiety disorder.” ...

Can.you tell I have a cat just by looking at me? Can you tell I have a mental illness just by looking at me?I began to change in my early teens, be it hormones and my shifting brain chemistry, or the stress of my parents seperating. Something stressor from the outside flipped on the switch to a new life filled with major mood swings out of my control.Low self extreme kept me from meeting or caring about being social. I only went to school because I had to. Luckily one day two high school girls came to my 8th grade health class and talked to us about everything from Stress to Smoking to Sex even Suicide. They asked us to write thrm a question about these topics and others. I wrote “I want to die"It was the first time I admitted to myself or anyone else that I had these thouhts constantly. When class was over the girls kindly asked if I would like to talk to the counselor.That day was just the beginning of my journey towards understanding mental illness, and ultimately accepting mental Wellness. Over the next few years I spent time in psychiatric hospitals, tried medication that would hopefully be the missing puzzle piece of chemistry my brain needed. Most of the medications tried their best but caused the worst. I never once stopped taking the medication I was prescribed, for I never wanted to feel so completely out of control again. I realized I was accepting my chemical imbalance and each day I began to understand myself and my issues in a much lighter, hopeful way.The support I recieved on my journey towards wholness helped me acknowledge I was a person not a problem. My mother was my life support at times. She learned all she could about mood disorders and educated our family so as not to judge me, but be very proud. I also met some peers within the mental health community that I still keep in touch with regularly. It was a blessing to know I was not alone in the issues I faced. And that I would be accepted by my peers, for they had experienced similar challenges.I knew I had a message and a story to tell. I wanted to share my experience From Hell to Hope with students. That is where my journey began. So , with a father whose son has schizophrenia, and I, with my rapid cycling moods we have spoken to over 4,000 high school students since 2006.My hope is to stop stigma, treating people badly because they seem different. I want to promote education of mental illness so people suffering and their loved ones will believe recovery is real. ...

On April 15, Ronald Pies, MD, an eminent and widely published psychiatrist, wrote an article for Medscape.com. The piece is titled Nuances, Narratives, and the ‘Chemical Imbalance’ Debate in Psychiatry. The main thrust of the article is that: "…the 'chemical imbalance theory' was never a real theory, nor was it widely propounded by responsible practitioners in the field of psychiatry." This is not the first time that Dr. Pies has made this claim, On July 11, 2011, he wrote an article for Psychiatric Times titled Psychiatry’s New Brain-Mind and the Legend of the “Chemical Imbalance.” In that article he wrote: "In truth, the ‘chemical imbalance’ notion was always a kind of urban legend- – never a theory seriously propounded by well-informed psychiatrists." ...

On April 19, 2014, The Lancet published an article titled Do we underestimate the benefits of antidepressants? by German psychiatrists Mazda Adli and Ulrich Hegerl. The Lancet, founded in 1823, is a weekly, general medical journal which since 1991 has been owned by Elsevier, a private, Amsterdam-based, publishing house with offices in the UK, USA, and other countries. The gist of the article can be gathered from the opening paragraph: ...