Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “National Alliance on Mental Illness”
In any society that prioritizes economic efficiency, productivity and order above life and all of life’s varieties, people experiencing altered and extreme emotional states will be seen as defective and as burdens—monkey wrenches that disturb the societal assembly line. To be clear, contemporary American society is not Nazi-German society when it comes to treating people labeled with “serious mental illness,” …
Psilocybin, the natural hallucinogenic compound found in various species of psilocybin mushrooms, has been found to treat depression, anxiety, and other serious mental illnesses. As we’ll learn, extensive research into its benefits was lost by the 70s due to its classification as an illegal drug. Research on the benefits of LSD and other psychedelics was lost for the same reason. …
Another professional athlete is charged with domestic violence – something that is become all too common for victims and leagues. Are sports that require a certain degree of violence for professional athletes more dangerous for the health and well being of their spouses? In October – most schools celebrate diversity, inclusion and the importance of acceptance regardless of how a student identifies as well as the dangers of drug and alcohol use. During this vital month I share my vast experience with students at schools everywhere on overcoming adversity – my struggles of living with a visual impairment, coping with mental illness, my awakening of years of drug/alcohol use and so much more. I’m beyond gratified when I meet students months or years after they heard one of my talks and they recite my mantra, “My Difference Makes Me Stronger” and how my talk had such a positive impact on them. I wish schools didn’t let the calendar dictate or limit how much impact significant messaging can have on students.
Last April Terrill Thomas, a 38-year-old inmate in the Milwaukee County Jail suffering from severe mental illness, died of “profound dehydration.” He spent his last days pleading — begging — for something to drink, after the water in his cell was shut off. Corrections officers in the jail had no problem torturing him, watching him die slowly and painfully because …
Bipolar Disorder is one of the biggest mental health concerns in the United States, but instead of addressing the true, spiritual nature of the disease, the normal course of treatment involves harmful pharmaceuticals. This article was originally published on KellyBroganMD.com and republished with permission. KellyBroganMD.com “I have Bipolar disorder” …say 5.7 million Americans. These patients have been labeled, categorized, and offered an understanding of …
There’s a stark and troubling way that incarceration diminishes the ability of a former inmate to empathize with a loved one behind bars, but existing sociological theories fail to capture it, Vanderbilt University sociologists have found. According to a commonly used model of stress and health, the experience of having a family member locked up does not have a significant …
Psychiatry is notorious for saying “oops!” for a long history of abusing patients with pseudoscience-driven treatments and its shameful lack of diagnostic rigor. From the1949 Nobel Prize for therapeutic lobotomy to theRosenhan experiments in the 70s which exposed the invalidity of a psychiatrist’s clinical judgment (hospitalizing and treating actors feigning psychosis), the field is in crisis. The New Biology of Mental Illness My …
Sometimes, it just takes one case to bring an entire medical construct to its knees. Because if the current model can’t encompass it, then the model must evolve to accommodate the seeming outlier. Currently, psychiatry is in a freefall. With its priesthood abandoning its own tenets around biomedical explanations for mental illness, there is room now, for a new model to …
Almost 44 million adults are estimated to have a mental illness in the United States, and the numbers seem to be increasing.1 While omega-3s and vitamin D have been previously suggested to help treat mental illnesses, the exact mechanisms by which they work are not clearly understood. Fortunately, a new study provides insight into their mood-boosting effects. The results were …
Researchers at The University of Western Australia have found that engagement in the arts for enjoyment, entertainment or as a hobby, for two or more hours a week, is associated with good mental wellbeing. The award-winning study, published in BMC Public Health, is the first internationally to quantify the relationship between mental wellbeing and arts engagement in the general population. …
