Mad In America

New Research Challenges the Logic of Coercion in Psychiatry
By Richard Sears

Three recent studies examine the long-term harms of psychiatric detention, identify ward environments as a major driver of coercive interventions, and explore why some psychiatric staff are more likely to support coercive practices.

New Research Challenges the Logic of Coercion in Psychiatry This week, Mad in America examines three articles around the use of coercion in psychiatry. The first argues that justifications for the use of coercive Three recent studies examine the long-term harms of psychiatric detention, identify ward environments as a major driver of coercive interventions,....

Mercy, Magic, and the Medical Humanities: An Interview with Jussi Valtonen Novelist and neuropsychologist Jussi Valtonen discusses how literature and reflective writing can loosen the constrictions of clinical roles, diagnostic categories, and routine documentation.

Surviving Psychiatry’s ‘Help’
By G.T.O.

I recall one of the most upsetting side effects of being institutionalized, and I’m not sure how much of this was the result of the medication versus simply the experience of being locked up day after day. But most people, myself included, developed the habit of pacing. And we would just pace and walk back and forth in the small spaces that existed there. It was a kind of torture, but preferable to being still.

I can never visit a zoo again after my experience in the acute ward. I could never watch an animal pace back and forth.

Surviving Psychiatry's 'Help' I can never visit a zoo again after my experience in the acute ward. I could never watch an animal pace back and forth.

Mad in the UK: Some people weren’t taught safety, so they learnt surveillance, which often makes them the most perceptive people in the room. Do you seem to notice things before anyone else? The almost imperceptible tightening around the eyes of the man across the table. The way the room’s temperature seems to drop a degree when a certain person enters. The precise moment a conversation shifts from jovial to something edged with danger. Have you already mapped three possible outcomes and have a plan for the worst one, even though you hope not to need it? When chaos does erupt, from an accusation, a raised voice or a slammed hand does something inside you go remarkably still? Do you often know exactly what to say to bring the temperature down? https://www.madinamerica.com/2026/06/what-the-shadow-holds-turning-survival-skills-into-superpowers-part-one/

On our we are joined by novelist and neuropsychologist Jussi Valtonen. He talks about his research on Finnish narrative medicine groups, where clinicians described experiences of wonder, connection, mercy, and renewed attention to human complexity.

Mercy, Magic, and the Medical Humanities: An Interview with Jussi Valtonen Novelist and neuropsychologist Jussi Valtonen discusses how literature and reflective writing can loosen the constrictions of clinical roles, diagnostic categories, and routine documentation.

From Mad in Deutschland: It all started in October 2018 in the quiet, academic atmosphere of Leipzig. I was there to do my doctorate – a dream I had worked towards for years. But after my return from a research stay in China, the retreat of my home began to dissolve. It began with a soft, offensive whisper - "p**o" - called through a bathroom window, but soon escalated to a disturbing physical puzzle. My living space was no longer my own; I came back and found the drawers in the bedroom slightly shifted, my Wi-Fi password no longer in place, and – most disturbingly – objects that did not belong to me: a women's socks, a necklace and a USB stick stuck in the folds of my bedroom curtain. I now know that this was gaslighting – a deliberate psychological sabotage aimed at making the victim doubt his own senses. https://www.madinamerica.com/2026/06/forensic-truth-vs-institutional-gaslighting/

Robert Whitaker appears on the Psychophobia hosted by existential psychoanalyst Dr. Michael Montgomery.

Episode 8 Part I: When Treatment Becomes the Problem - How modern psychiatry lost the human being Watch now | “These are not the side effects of the medication.

Beyond Medication: What England’s Experience Can Teach Us About Psychosis Care
By Alison Brabban

For over twenty years, national clinical guidelines in England have recognised that people experiencing psychosis should have access to psychological therapies and wider psychosocial support—not simply medication alone. At the same time, however, access to the recommended psychological therapies remains highly uneven and many services continue to rely heavily on biomedical and risk-focused approaches.

Beyond Medication: What England’s Experience Can Teach Us About Psychosis Care For over twenty years, NICE in England has recommended that people experiencing psychosis should be offered psychological therapy.

LAST CHANCE!

Join us tomorrow, June 9, at 9:00am PDT, 12:00pm EDT, 5:00pm GMT, 7:00pm CEST for a special webinar, Empowering the Silenced: Trauma-Focused Therapy for Psychosis, hosted by Ron Unger.

Register here:

Empowering the Silenced: Trauma-Focused Therapy for Psychosis An overview of the findings and therapy guide from the STAR (Study of Trauma and Recovery) trial (Peters et al., 2025).

Maternal Antidepressant Use Linked to Abnormal Fetal Brain Development
By Richard Sears

New research shows distinct structural changes in utero, while revealing the placenta's possible role in buffering against reduced brain volume.

Maternal Antidepressant Use Linked to Abnormal Fetal Brain Development Antidepressant drug use by expectant mothers is a controversial issue within psychiatry. While medical societies such as the APA emphasize the risks of New research shows distinct structural changes in utero, while revealing the placenta's possible role in buffering against reduced brain volume.