Mad in America is a webzine devoted to rethinking psychiatry’s current “disease model” for diagnosing and treating psychiatric disorders. This Family Resources section is designed to provide information and resources for parents and other family members who wish to explore alternatives to conventional, drug-based psychiatric care for their relatives, especially children of all ages.
What's New
Teens Are Using Social Media to Diagnose Themselves with ADHD, Autism and More. Parents...
CNN Business published this story by Samantha Murphy Kelly about parents concerned that their children are self-diagnosing, often repeatedly, based on content they see on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms:
“Some people browse TikTok and...
Blogs & Personal Stories
Giving Caregivers a Platform: Sam, Husband of Ka’ryn Marie
For many caregivers who assist their loved ones, the journey involves navigating the medical system...
My Sister Lucy’s Death and Life: Picturing an Alternate Timeline of Recovery
I’ll never forget standing beside my sister Lucy as she was strapped to a gurney during a midnight admission to an E.R. in Cambridge, Mass.
‘The Invisible Cage Called Freedom’: My Work, My Kids, My Mental Health
I
see my 3-year-old’s innocent smile as she plays and rides her tricycle, and I can’t...
Featured Articles
Challenging Western-Centric Child Psychology: An Interview with Nandita Chaudhary
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Nandita Chaudhary about children’s lives across cultures, the problems with global aid agencies and their interventions, psychology’s bias in the study of children, the limits of attachment theory and more.
NIMH’s It-girls: The Genain Quadruplets and the Whiteness of Psychiatry
The poster-children of psychiatric genetics, who endured abuse throughout their lives, were also the product of a racist culture.
Giving Caregivers a Platform: Elianna, Mother of Brandon
An interview with Elianna, who lives in Colorado with her son, Brandon, 34. His many diagnoses and misdiagnoses include autism and schizophrenia.
"Mad in the Family" Podcast
Around the Web: Family
EDITOR'S CORNERS
Archives: Popular Posts from the Past
Editor's Corner
The Power of Sharing
Last week, out of the blue, I found myself writing about my sister Lucy. Again. As always. I’ll never stop. Having spent the last 31 years reflecting on her suicide and the suffering that led to it, I write because I miss her and I want to make her real. I write because I want to understand what happened, forever grappling with the complexities of her experience with psychiatry.
I write because I grieve—still—and because the urge to share this grief with others is so profoundly human, bringing us together in spaces real and virtual as we tell our own stories and those of people we love.
Few comprehend this better than members of the Mad in the Family community, so many of whom are helping loved ones in the midst of their own struggles with psychiatry. This urge to share, to make real, to make known, is foundational to both Mad in America’s platform for personal stories and its parent support groups, which provide virtual gathering places for family members in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Family Newsletter
Support Groups
MIA offers moderated, online peer-support groups for parents of both minor and adult children. The U.S./Canada group meets each Tuesday on a drop-in basis. The U.S./Europe group meets on the second Thursday of each month. Â Learn more and sign up here.
For info on other online and in-person support groups, including those for parents and families, click here. To suggest more for the list, please email [email protected].
How Can We See ADHD From Another Angle, and What Can We Do For Our Kids? Author, teacher, and advocate Ann Bracken challenges the standard conception and treatment of ADHD and looks at alternate approaches.Â
Do you have a question of your own? Submit it for an online reply. For past Q&As on a range of topics, check out the archives.
Psychiatric Drug Info
Did you know:
- That longer-term studies of children given a diagnostic label of ADHD have found worse outcomes for medicated youth?
- In a large NIMH study, researchers concluded that few youth “benefit long-term” from antipsychotics (neuroleptic drugs)?
- That use of marijuana, stimulants, and antidepressants increase the risk that a youth will receive a diagnostic label of bipolar disorder?
Research on psychiatric drug use in children and adolescents
- Stimulants for children with a diagnostic label of ADHD
- Antidepressants for children with a diagnostic label of depression/anxiety
- Antipsychotics (neuroleptics) for children with a diagnostic label of psychosis, bipolar disorder, and moreÂ
Research on non-drug treatments
- Non-drug approaches for ADHD
- Non-drug approaches for depression
- Non-drug approaches for psychosis, bipolar disorder, and more
Resources Information on withdrawal from psychiatric drugs. Directory of therapists/providers who support drug withdrawal.
