Tag Archives: Mental Health

Can Trauma Survivors Recover Without Access to Professional Help?

According to a 2021 study, “most states have fewer than 40% of the mental health professionals needed” and “more than half (51%) of counties in the United States have no practicing psychiatrists.” Even where mental illness industry practitioners exist, many … Continue reading →

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The DSM Update: New Bells and Whistles on the Same Old Bunk

The American Psychiatric Association’s plan to revise its holy book, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), shoves a bunch of cosmetic and structural bells and whistles onto the same old diagnostic framework. They’re going to reorganize criteria into domains, talk … Continue reading →

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Fascism in a White Coat: The Authoritarian Regime of Mental Illness

If the mental illness industry were a government, it would resemble an authoritarian regime that maintains control through coercion, manipulation, and the suppression of dissent, while claiming to act in the people’s best interest. It enforces compliance through labels and … Continue reading →

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The Granddaddy Effect: Honoring Raxley Leonard Obarr on His 140th Birthday and the Neuroscience of a Life-Saving Connection

Today, March 13th, marks the 140th birthday of my maternal great-grandfather, Raxley Leonard Obarr, my Granddaddy. He was the only grandfather figure I knew. He was also a Knight Templar, a master of bird magic, a juggler, and the kindler … Continue reading →

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The DSM Misses the Mark: IPNB Offers a Humane and Scientific Understanding of Mental Health

Some trauma experts have said that if the psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) acknowledged trauma, it would be a very thin volume because virtually everything else would fall beneath it. But from an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) … Continue reading →

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The Gilded Age Values of the Modern Mental Illness Industry

The dominant culture continues to enforce many of the values of the Gilded Age, especially those related to economic inequality, individual responsibility, and the criminalization of marginalized groups. While there have been some advances in social justice, the structures of … Continue reading →

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From Trauma to Truth: How I Became Anti-Psychiatry

I became anti-psychiatry because of what psychiatry did to me and what I saw it do to others. I walked in with severe Complex PTSD. They put me on Lexapro. The suicidal ideations started about 3 weeks after. When I … Continue reading →

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Dependency is Okay When it’s a Prescription

The mental illness industry is obsessed with telling people not to become dependent on anything: don’t rely on substances, don’t lean on coping tools too much, don’t build habits that might create “addiction.” But then, the very same industry hands … Continue reading →

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Latching Onto Safety: Why Dogma is Such a Big Bone 

Stressed people, feeling unsafe, threatened, or disconnected, will gravitate toward anything that offers even a small sense of relief or belonging, even if it’s harmful or misleading; it’s better than nothing. From an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) view, this is an … Continue reading →

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The DSM is Bunk: IPNB Offers a Humane and Scientific Understanding of Mental Health

Some trauma experts have said that if the psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) acknowledged trauma, it would be a very thin volume because virtually everything else would fall beneath it. But from an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) … Continue reading →

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