Do Critics of Biological Psychiatry Have an Alternative to a Life of “Whack-A-Mole”?

Economic Manuscripts: Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

stablishment psychiatry has recently switched the biological cause of mental illness from a “chemical imbalance” to a “brain circuitry defect.” There is no more important institution in establishment psychiatry than the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and in 2022, psychiatrist Thomas Insel, NIMH director from 2002-2015, stated in his book Healing, “The idea of mental illness as a ‘chemical imbalance’ has now given way to mental illnesses as ‘connectional’ or brain circuit disorders.”

Do Critics of Biological Psychiatry Have an Alternative to a Life of “Whack-A-Mole”?

How Antidepressants Are Numbing More Than Depression

In our relentless pursuit to transcend the human suffering, we’ve stumbled into a dangerous oversimplification: an improved mental state reflects the absence or decrease in negative emotional states. This reductionist view has not only cheapened our understanding of the human emotional spectrum but has also paved the way for a troubling linguistic shift.

How Antidepressants Are Numbing More Than Depression

Marx, Spinoza, and the Political Implications of Contemporary Psychiatry

Simple logic tells us that those atop a societal hierarchy will provide rewards for professionals—be they clergy or psychiatrists—who promote an ideology that maintains the status quo, and that the ruling class will do everything possible to manipulate the public to believe that the social-economic-political status quo is natural.

Marx, Spinoza, and the Political Implications of Contemporary Psychiatry

How the Debate Over Antidepressants Puts Millions in Danger

Nearly 10 percent of all Americans will experience symptoms of depression every year. One of the common forms of treatment includes a combination of therapy and antidepressants. According to the CDC, around 13 percent of Americans over the age of 18 were taking antidepressants between 2015 and 2018. The most commonly prescribed form of these are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), developed to alter serotonin flux in the brain.

How the Debate Over Antidepressants Puts Millions in Danger

Personally, I prefer being able to choose for myself. You know, my body-my choice!? I’m intelligent enough to do my own research and discuss my treatment options with my physicians. As someone who has suffered from depression, I wouldn’t demonize anyone that chooses to use antidepressants. I’ve been around people who have refused to take them and it wasn’t pretty, either. I can see why people would choose medication, over therapy, as it can be cheaper and less time-consuming (even with private insurance). I would assume that informed consent applies to most treatments (outside of coronavirus). I know that I had to sign informed consent forms every time that I went in, for refills and lab tests, every 90 days (every 30 days when I was on pain medication). Who knows, it might have changed in the past five years?! If they ever force-feed us drugs, to deal with this neoliberal hellhole, I would resist.