On “knowing,” activism and writing: Remembering Graeme Bacque
We owe a debt of gratitude to activists who over the years have written, recorded, created art and cultural work that exemplifies how, when,...
Loss, Grief, and Betrayal: Psychiatric Survivors Reflect on the Impact of New Serotonin Study
Loss, grief, and a sense of betrayal are felt deeply by many who have been affected by the myth of the chemical imbalance—a myth...
AFN NATIONAL CHIEF ROSEANNE ARCHIBALD ACKNOWLEDGES NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
https://www.afn.ca/afn-national-chief-roseanne-archibald-acknowledges-national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation/
(Ottawa, ON) – Today, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief RoseAnne Archibald acknowledges the importance of Orange Shirt Day, urging all Canadians to...
In Memoriam: Paula Joan Caplan
Paula Caplan, a prolific writer, playwright, and social activist, who for decades was one of the most prominent critics of psychiatry and its diagnoses,...
How are we doing?
We’re 21 months and counting into this global pandemic. And just when we think we’re getting close to the end, this wicked virus dumps...
Responses to the ‘No Chemical Imbalance Study’: A Long-awaited Watershed Moment?
Initial reactions to the 20 July publication of the Moncrieff et al. study have included widespread media coverage in some places, and the metaphorical...
The Ethics of Psychiatry
A government cannot legitimately own its citizens' bodies. Yet, under British Columbia’s (BC) Mental Health Act the BC government, not to mention governments around...
Wait, What? A Survivor’s Notebook
Diagnosis
I’ve got that thing where you ask yourself if you’re to scale in their world, or merely in yours.
Spiders
The ward is crawling with spiders....
Electroconvulsive Therapy …. What does Canada have to say?
Electroconvulsive Therapy, also known as ECT, shock therapy, and electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment that uses electricity to induce a seizure in the person...
Queer and Trans Madness: Struggles for Social Justice
This book puts Mad Studies and activism in conversation with queer and trans activism and resistance. When I first came across what would eventually...
Fernando de Freitas: A “Dear Friend” Who Was a Warrior for Radical Change
Written by Robert Whitaker and posted to Mad in America on February 3, 2023
Over the past decade, the call for radical change in psychiatry...
“Asylum”
This story, published in Aeon, about a hospital at Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole, in southern France during WWII, has some lessons for us today. According to author...
Rethinking Psychiatry …. Robert Whitaker Speaks in Montreal
Robert Whitaker, founder and president of Mad in America, gave a public lecture at Concordia University on November 10th. 'Rethinking Psychiatry: How the Failure to...
When Tapering Antidepressants, is Going Slow Always the Best Strategy?
I start this blog with an apology. There may be people reading who, like myself, look back with frustration and despair that they cannot...
Announcing Oral History Collection on Mental Health Activists in Manitoba
Stories are us. Finding ourselves in history, we figure out who we are and where we belong and how what we do fits with...
World Mental Health Day – Sunday, October 10, 2021
Today - Sunday, October 10th - is World Mental Health Day.
According to the World Health Organization, "The overall objective of World Mental Health Day...
Mental Health Advocacy and Activism: Perspectives on Systems and Social Transformation
About this event
This is an online event. You can register here.
Note: You can register for free with the code "Freebie."
Co-sponsored by Mad in America...
Appeal to Board of Health to Ban ECT in Ontario
In January of 1984 seven members of the Ontario Coalition to Stop Electroshock, three psychiatrists, and a psychiatric social worker gave personal testimony. I...
Bell Let’s Talk: Are These “New Conversations” Helpful?
January 26th is Bell Let’s Talk Day. From the Bell Let’s Talk website:
"In September 2010, Bell Let’s Talk began a new conversation about Canada’s...
Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal Exploring Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities: #4 – The psychiatric drugging of...
Mad in America, the Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry, International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal and A Disorder 4 Everyone are pleased to announce a series...
Mental Health Advocacy and Activism: Perspectives from Living Experience-Based Practices
From Mad in America Continuing Education
Thursday, September 23rd, 2021. 1pm Eastern, 12pm Central, 11am Mountain, 10 am Pacific
Participants will be introduced to highlights of...
23rd Annual ISEPP Conference October 9-10, 2021
Notice of the 23rd Annual ISEPP Conference "The Destructive Propaganda of the Mental Health Industry: How Did We Get Here? Where Are We Going?" on...
Freedom To Be – Herstory Writing Workshop
Freedom To Be
A 15-week Herstory Writing Workshop for those harmed by being labelled BPD, hosted by Rebecca Donaldson & The Herstory Writing Network.
When: Sundays,...
Virtual Film Screening – The Wisdom of Trauma featuring Dr. Gabor Mate
Global Bioethics Initiative will be screening the film ‘The Wisdom of Trauma’ featuring Dr. Gabor Mate.
The film will be followed by a moderated discussion...
Remembering Don Weitz, 1930-2021
My hero, mentor, and very dear friend Don Weitz died comfortably, in his home, on the afternoon of September 1, attended by his loving...
July 22: MIA Continuing Ed webinar on Hearing Voices: The Value of Experts by...
In this webinar Dmitriy Gutkovich will present on how lived experience is reshaping support and strategy in the hearing voices community.
About this event
Major topics...
Kassi’s Mom
Thank you for having me. I walk around angry, jaded and bitter. I am not religious but I have begged bargained and negotiated with...
“Cured”
Bruce Levine reviews “Cured,” a PBS Independent Lens documentary about gay liberation from psychiatry to be broadcast on October 11, 2021. Levine writes: "Cured is...
Is psychiatry such a fragile house of cards?
On October 9, 2021 an opinion piece was published in the Globe and Mail entitled ‘Woke’ psychiatrists have lost sight of the biological causes...
The Need for Deinstitutionalization
Irit Shimrat
All provincial and territorial legislation allowing psychiatric hospitalization and community treatment or outpatient committal orders must be abolished.
People who behave strangely routinely get...