Remove Childhood trauma Remove Genetics and mental health Remove Trauma and the brain
article thumbnail

Lost in Psychobabble? Cut Through the Jargon for Real Mental Clarity

Mad in America

P sychology, mental health, and recovery are often discussed in overly formal language, making the process of healing seem complex and intimidating. However, beneath the jargon lies a straightforward approach that can effectively address most mental health challenges.

article thumbnail

Depression: Biological or Psychological?

Mad in America

J ust about everyone believes that depressionthe #1 psychiatric diagnosisis explained in the same way as physical illnesses; that is, that depression, too, is of genetic/physiological origin. NIMH and psychiatrists have not always explained depression to be genetic (as “running in the family).

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Who Do We Leave Behind When We Ignore the Body? Why Critical Neuroscientists and Mad Activists Must Work Together

Mad in America

The prevailing logic goes: if we can validate biometric tests that are clinically predictive of mental health concerns like in other medical fields, we can more precisely, effectively, and without (solely) subjective clinical observation, treat the malady. Should we give up the search for biomarkers altogether?

article thumbnail

Depression: Psychiatry’s Discredited Theories and Drugs Versus a Sane Model and Approach

Mad in America

P sychiatry’s serotonin-imbalance theory of depression, long discarded by researchers, was finally flushed down the toilet by psychiatry and the mainstream media in 2022. And psychiatrists’ primary treatments for depression—their so-called “antidepressants”—are now circling the drain. 2) What approach to depression makes sense? Genes and depression?

article thumbnail

The Making of a ‘Madness’ That Hides Our Monsters: An Interview with Audrey Clare Farley

Mad in America

Her second book, which we will be discussing today, Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America , explores the lives of the four women behind the National Institute of Mental Health’s famous case study of schizophrenia. She now teaches a course on U.S. history at Mount St. Mary’s University.

article thumbnail

What I Wish I’d Asked Dr. Gabor Maté When I Had the Chance

Mad in America

A few months ago, I attended a live Zoom event on Guidely with Dr. Gabor Maté, author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture. I went to Intensive Outpatient (IOP) treatment; there, I learned for the first time that my alcoholism, depression, and rage stemmed from a childhood without any sense of safety.