antidepressants Archives - Brooke Siem Brooke Siem

Welcome to Science Corner by Happiness Is A Skill, where I take a few minutes to teach you about the relevant neuroscience of antidepressants and antidepressant withdrawal. No more half assed assumptions without evidentiary support, like the whole chemical imbalance theory of mental illness. The idea that “too little” serotonin causes depression? Or that “too little” dopamine causes ADHD? Obsolete, oversimplified, hogwash conveniently packaged by marketing departments of pharmaceutical companies in order to convince you to “talk to your doctor about Zoloft, because when you know more about what’s wrong, you can help make it right.”

That’s the actual tagline for Zoloft by the way, from 2001. Brilliant, isn’t it? Here’s a very simple explanation for your distress. It has nothing to do with your life or your choices or the bad things that happened to you, but instead has to do with some chemicals in your brain you can’t control. So take this pill and the sun will shine and flowers will bloom and scary thoughts will go away and we’ll all be content. Right? Right?

If one could die of bullshit overload, I would long be gone.

Instead, let’s talk serotonin transporter (SERT) occupancy, something researchers have actually measured and analyzed in labs.

Let’s start with some background information. The serotonin transporter is a protein in the brain that helps regulate levels of serotonin. When someone takes an antidepressant, the drug binds to the SERT protein and blocks it from transporting serotonin out of the brain, disturbing the brain’s longstanding homeostasis by increasing the amount of serotonin available. When early test subjects reported an elevated mood after taking antidepressants in clinical trials, the assumption was that the increase in serotonin was responsible for this relief, therefore thus forming the basis of the serotonin theory of depression. If more serotonin = happier people, then less serotonin = sad people. And that’s how Prozac was born!

Too bad it was all a pipe dream.

Over time, the brain adapts to the presence of the drug and learns to produce less serotonin on its own. The body is always trying to get back to homeostasis, remember. The pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars trying to convince you that they can override hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary physiology, but the bottom line is the body has to remain in equilibrium to stay alive. If you’re hot, you sweat to cool down. If you’re cold, you shiver to warm up. If either of those systems don’t work like they should, you die.

So let’s say you’ve been on 20mg Prozac (fluoxetine) for ten years and you decide it’s time to come off. Your doctor drops you to 10mg for a few weeks and you tolerate it. Maybe you’re a little emotional and antsy but you can handle it. Your doctor has heard about all this withdrawal stuff so he thinks he’s got it all figured out and tells you not to drop from 10mg to 0, but to instead cut the capsule in half and take 5mg for a week or two. You don’t feel great and wonder if it’s the depression coming back. But you figure you’ll drop to zero and give it a few weeks to know for sure. After all, 5mg is miniscule. Smaller than the smallest dose on the market! They give 5mg of Prozac to six year olds!

You drop to zero and all hell breaks loose—akathisia, huge emotional swings, paranoia, brain fog, gut issues. Back to the doctor you go, because clearly you’re sick and how stupid you were to think that you could operate without the Prozac. So you go back on 20mg. Hell, make it 40mg this time. Clearly, you need it. Your doctor suggests an antipsychotic as well because the paranoia suggests an emergence of Bipolar Disorder. Life, now, is all about managing symptoms.

Where did everyone go wrong? A fundamental misunderstanding of SERT occupancy.

Let’s look at the following graphs, courtesy of researcher Mark Horowitz:

The black curve is the measure of SERT occupancy as determined through brain-imaging techniques called PET scans that allow researchers to see the biological workings of the body. As you can see, at 25mg of fluoxetine, 80% of the serotonin transporters are occupied.

Figure (a) is a representative of the conventional line of thinking for linear tapering of antidepressants. Rather, the idea of lowering dosages by equal, measured steps—5mg, in the case of this graph. The problem is that if you lower the dose of Prozac from 20mg to 5mg—a 75% reduction—SERT occupancy only reduces by 20%. This means that not only are there fewer operating receptors, there is also less serotonin in the brain because the body long ago lowered its production. It is likely that withdrawal occurs at least in part because of this chemical imbalance created through linear tapering. And yes, it is ironic that this time, a true chemical imbalance is responsible.

Due to the hyperbolic nature of SERT occupancy, this dissonance is even more extreme at lower dosages, as seen in Figure (b). At 2.5mg of Prozac—20% of the lowest dose available on the market—SERT occupancy is 40%, just half of what it is at a robust dose of 25mg. This explains why it can be more difficult for people taper as they get closer and closer to zero.

Though SERT occupancy occurs with all antidepressants, the levels of SERT occupancy vary from drug to drug, as shown by this systematic analysis of 10 different psychiatric drugs, done by Anders Sorenson, et al.

The reason why you need to know about this is because it’s likely your prescriber is completely unaware. More understanding of SERT occupancy, as well as more robust research (especially when multiple drugs are involved), would lead to better de-prescribing practices that will likely lessen or eliminate severe withdrawal effects.

In the fictional example I gave above, our now “bipolar” patient needed a much slower taper that followed the hyperbolic curve and was adjusted only once she stabilized from the previous dose reduction. Had she tolerated a 10% reduction—from 10mg to 9mg to 8.1mg to 7.29mg and so on to 0—her brain likely would have had much more time to fire up dormant receptors and naturally ramp up serotonin production, leading to a more gentle, symptom-free re-introduction into a world without SSRIs.

Instead, when she was pulled off too quickly, her system went haywire because neurotransmitters are responsible for regulating the entire body. Instead of recognizing this as withdrawal, both she and her doctor assumed it was mental illness and plunked her back in the system with a shiny new diagnosis. This happens all the time. All. The. Time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Science Corner issue of Happiness Is A Skill. Please keep in mind that we are very much in the infancy of antidepressant withdrawal research, and that no single piece of information is the whole answer. But as they say on NBC, the more you know! Ding ding dong!

You can only maintain so many relationships.

Robin Dunbar is best known for Dunbar’s Number, which he defines as the number of relationships people are able to cognitively able to manage and maintain at once. He puts this number at 150, which unsurprisingly, is just about the size of the average American wedding guest list.

These 150 people are made up both friends and family and sorted into a sort of circular hierarchy. The closer the ring of people around you, the fewer the people in the ring.

In the bullseye with you is an spouse or intimate partner, followed by three to five people who make up the first ring, usually family members and a close friend or two. The next ring expands and holds secondary characters. Grandma, perhaps. Friends you know very well but maybe not the one you call in a crisis. From there, we expand through the rings of fair weather friends, colleagues, extended family, old friends who live in different places, and so on through the target.

Friendships are created and maintained through consistency.

Meaningful friendship is woven by shared experience and regular exposure. Therefore, the best way to make new friends is to engage in a consistent, social activity like a weekly meetup group.

When we’re kids, this is automatic. We go to school or an after school activity, see the same people every day, and become friends. As adults, we lose opportunities for that natural interaction. Some people get it through work, but for someone like me who works alone and at home, I have to create it. It’s no surprise, then, that the people in my “close” and “best” friend circles over the years have come from going to the same CrossFit class, at the same time, five days a week for years.

It’s also not surprising that over the past six years, when I was either traveling internationally or splitting my time between Canada and the US, my friendships suffered. I’d be in town for three weeks and leave for two months. People had babies in the time I was away.

In my head, they still remained in the “close” or “best” category because I didn’t stay in one place long enough to forge a friendship strong enough to fill the space. But while I was away, my place in their hierarchy shifted, knocking me to outer circles.

The characters in the hierarchy may change, but the quantity does not.

Where people stand in the hierarchy is constantly shifting. When you see less of someone because you see more of somebody else, it pushes people in and out of different circles. We see this happen all the time when people enter new relationships. In an interview with Dan Harris on the Ten Percent Happier Podcast, Dunbar said that falling in love can actually take the place of two close relationships, because the mental energy and attention devoted to the new person inevitably boots two people out of the ring. This explains why people disappear when they get into a relationship. It’s not because they don’t care or are blinded by love. It’s because we have limited capacity.

When the hierarchy changes, find acceptance

When life separates “close” and “best” friends, the instinct is to hold those people in their circles by keeping in touch through social media or phone calls. Though social media has a reputation for, you know, toppling democracy and obliterating societal mental health, it’s actually supports relationship intimacy. But with limited energy to devote to friendships, time spent on Facebook eats into opportunities for in-person connection.

For relationships in the outer rings, this isn’t a big deal. But at the inner rings, intention is crucial. As Dunbar says, people might be “better off finding a new shoulder to cry on just round the corner, so when the world does fall apart, they can walk around the block, knock on their door and get a hug.”

Said another way by the lyricist Stephen Stills: “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.”

Making new friends takes time, but it gets easier

The hardest part of making friends—especially in a new place—is the beginning. But once you engage in a community and show up consistently, proximity will eventually lead to connection. Once those connections are made, the circles naturally expand as people get introduced to one another, creating a flywheel affect that ultimately leads to the sort of event I found myself at last weekend.

As I felt sorry for myself at the table, envious that these sixteen (!) adults had so much support for one another, I wondered what it was about me that made me feel so separate.

The answer is that while I was off in Cambodia or Croatia for a month at a time, they were all moving back to Reno and starting their families. All of them have kids around the same age. They get together for play dates and PTA meetings. When the kids aren’t around, they share the common ground gained from so many years of similar experience, often within walking distance of one another.

It’s a barrier I’m just not going to be able to crack. But that’s okay. There’s plenty of room for them in my “good friends” category, and now I won’t beat myself up wondering why I can’t bring them closer.

Healing Depression through Factual Optimism

How do we find happiness when we are still depressed or in antidepressant withdrawal? We don’t. At least, we don’t aim for big changes. Instead, we go for getting it right 51% of the time. If we quantify happiness onto a scale that ranges from 0% happy to 100% happy, every decision we make alters our position on the scale. If we can get our life to a 51% Lifetime Happiness Average, our choices are validated by default.

The goal isn’t to reach 100%. On some days, 80% can seem like a stretch. Fifty-one percent, though, is almost always doable. And at 51%, we’re winning.

Little Changes Bring Big Results

Quantifying emotions helps us remain grounded and make decisions rooted in reality, as opposed to the reality created by the chatter in our heads.

If we have one “good” day a week, we are at 14% happiness. By making small changes to bring us to two good days, our happiness average rises to 28%. To hit 51%, we need to have average 3.6 “good” days per week.

To set ourselves up for more good days in a week, we apply the 51% theory to individual decisions.

pinteret graphic for blog post the fifty one percent, or, factual optimism

As long as each singular decision falls at 51% or higher, it puts us closer to our overall 51% Lifetime Happiness Average.

Decisions are based not on logic, but on how they make us feel. When we are faced with a situation, take a moment and simply ask, “Where does this decision fall on the scale? How do I feel when I think about it?

If the decision feels like it will bring 51% Happiness, go with it, even in the absence of logic or practicality. If we don’t know the answer, wait and gather more information. Patience is often the difference between 49% and 51%.

The beauty of the 51% Theory is that all decisions become easy decisions. Even difficult decisions are easy decisions. They may still carry immense consequence, but once the 51% threshold is crossed, nothing else matters. At 51%, we are already ahead. Make the decision and go.

It only takes a 1% shift to create momentum that can change your life. At 49%, we’re still struggling against the current. At 51%, we’re moving with the river.

When in doubt, make a graph!

The 51% Theory is not finite. If, over too many days, a particular decision that started off at 51% or higher begins to fall, something needs to change. If a situation falls to 40% or so, that’s the time to get curious. Is the drop tied to your emotions or external logistics? Did the situation change or did you change? Is the effort involved in getting it back to 51% worth your time?

When you don’t know the answer, focus on a situation’s effect on the overall average. Since the goal is to hit 51% over the course of your life, a situation that sits around 45% for a few weeks only incrementally lowers your overall average, whereas a situation that sits at 5% for a few days can be intense enough to bring the whole average down. The lower the situation on the Happiness Scale, the higher its priority. If I have you nail in your foot, don’t focus your energy on the splinter in your finger. Even if you have 10 splinters in your finger, it’s the single nail is causing the bigger issue. But over and over again, people focus on the splinters while ignoring the giant, rusted nail in between their metatarsals.

In years of implementing factual optimism, my life has changed dramatically. I wanted to see a visual representation, so I made a graph:

chart presenting happines average in 2016

This isn’t a true lifetime representation, of course. My father died in July 2001, when I was 15. Anything before that seems arbitrary since my childhood definition of “happiness” was whether or not my mom packed an Oreo in my lunchbox.

I was a typical teenager until my father passed, so I give 2001 a 35%. The “peak” in 2008 was thanks to a debauchery filled final semester of college that was quickly squashed with the reality and uncertainty of moving to Manhattan on my own. Overall, I estimated around 2.75 good days per week in 2008. I opened my bakery in 2011 but by 2013, I was lucky to get one good day per week. I implemented the 51% Theory in 2014, and by 2015, my day to day massively improved.

The Lifetime Happiness Average only tells a broad story. It’s more interesting to break down by year:

chart presenting lifetime happiness average

As you can see, 2016 was an emotional mess. In February, I made a decision based on the 51% Theory to leave my life in New York City travel around the world. Because one life altering decision apparently wasn’t enough, I also decided to get off the cocktail of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills that I’d been taking since my father passed away. Both of these decisions barely squeaked in at 51%, and I ended up creating a perfect storm of logistical and emotional hell that was extremely painful and even more expensive.

Even though the immediate consequences of these two 51% decisions created five of the worst months of my entire life, the after effects are proving to be worth as high as 86%. That’s six good days per week — the highest I’ve ever averaged.

In the depths of those five months, I reminded myself (and was reminded by others) that I made those decisions because of that 1%. Even though 49% and 51% feels similar in the moment, that 1% is the tipping point that creates momentum for positive change. At 49%, you’re still struggling against the current. At 51%, you’re moving with the river. And at the end of our life, however many days away, we can look back and say to ourselves, “It was all worth it. Fifty-one percent of the time, everything was beautiful.”

Need a little giggle? Order one of my Fuckit Buckets™.

three images of the fuckit bcket collection

After 15 years of depression and antidepressants, my mission is to help people find hope in the name of healing. My memoir on the subject, MAY CAUSE SIDE EFFECTS, publishes on September 6, 2022. Pre-order it on Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, or wherever books are sold. For the most up-to-date announcements, subscribe to my newsletter HAPPINESS IS A SKILL.

May Cause Side Effects

Brooke’s memoir is now available for preorder wherever books are sold.

This is a heart-rending and tender memoir that will start conversations we urgently need to have. It’s moving and important.
Johann Hari, author of New York Times bestseller Chasing the Scream and international bestseller  Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions

Get the Book Now

May Cause Side Effects

Brooke’s memoir is now available for preorder wherever books are sold.

This is a heart-rending and tender memoir that will start conversations we urgently need to have. It’s moving and important.
Johann Hari, author of New York Times bestseller Chasing the Scream and international bestseller  Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions

Get the Book Now

Morning breathwork, to set a calm foundation for the day:

Cadence Breath

Designed to keep you mindful of your breath while also helping your body to kick into a parasympathetic (calm) state, cadence breathing is an ideal breath pattern to ground yourself first thing in the morning.

To begin, sit in a comfortable upright position, either crossed-legged or in a chair. Take a moment to become aware of your breath. Actually look at it. Can you see your belly going out and in? Or maybe your chest moves up and down? Are your lips parted, allowing you to take in air through your mouth? Or is your jaw clamped down tight?

No matter how you typically breathe, commit to spending the next 10–15 minutes breathing only in and out through your nose and into your belly. Keep one hand on your stomach for a tactile reminder, and feel that hand rising and falling with each breath.

Begin with a cadence tempo of 2:2:4:2. That means you’ll inhale through your nose for an honest count of two (one one thousand, two one thousand…), hold your breath for a count of two, exhale through your nose for a count of four, and hold your breath at the bottom of the exhale for two. The crux of cadence breathing is to keep your exhale twice as long as your inhale, so if you’re comfortable at 2:2:4:2, increase the tempo to 3:3:6:3 or even 4:4:8:4. The slower and deeper your breath, the more the vagus nerve is stimulated to lower overall stress.

Breathing for when the anxiety is too much and you need to calm down, now.

4:7:8

If you find yourself on the verge of panic and you don’t have 15 minutes to step away and collect yourself, the 4:7:8 breathing pattern can knock anxiety down in just a handful of breaths.

Simply breathe in the nose for four seconds, hold your breath at the top of the inhale for seven seconds, and exhale audibly out your mouth for eight seconds. This is one breath cycle.

Repeat the breath cycle three more times.

If you find the 4:7:8 too challenging, simply speed up your counting while keeping the inhale:hold: exhale ratio the same.

Breathing for bedtime, because insomnia and anxiety are inextricably linked.

Long exhale + humming

Though humming has long been a staple of yogic breathing and meditation, science has only recently revealed the potential reasons why. Our paranasal sinuses are the main producers of nitric oxide, a gas that plays an important role in vasoregulation (opening and closing our blood vessels) as well as neurotransmission, immune defense, and respiration. When we hum, our nasal passages produce nitric oxide up to fifteen-fold in comparison with quiet exhalation, which leads to lowered blood pressure, heart rate, reduced anxiety, and a grounding feeling of calm that can lull us off to sleep.

Know that there’s a high chance of falling asleep during this exercise, so make sure you’re ready for bed before you begin.

Lying on your back with your head in a comfortable position, simply close your eyes and inhale through your nose, taking in a big breath into your belly. When you’ve taken in a full breath, begin humming and slowly exhale out all your air. Keep the hum deep and low and long, with the vibration coming from the back of your throat rather than your head. Repeat the humming breath for 10 minutes, or until you fall asleep.

Coming September 6, 2022

May Cause Side Effects

Brooke’s memoir is now available for preorder wherever books are sold.

This is a heart-rending and tender memoir that will start conversations we urgently need to have. It’s moving and important.
Johann Hari, author of New York Times bestseller Chasing the Scream and international bestseller  Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions

Get the Book Now

May Cause Side Effects

Brooke’s memoir is now available for preorder wherever books are sold.

This is a heart-rending and tender memoir that will start conversations we urgently need to have. It’s moving and important.
Johann Hari, author of New York Times bestseller Chasing the Scream and international bestseller  Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions

Get the Book Now

May Cause Side Effects

Brooke’s memoir is now available for preorder wherever books are sold.

This is a heart-rending and tender memoir that will start conversations we urgently need to have. It’s moving and important.
Johann Hari, author of New York Times bestseller Chasing the Scream and international bestseller  Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions

Get the Book Now

A synopsis:

“Combining cinema verité and investigative journalism, Medicating Normal follows the journeys of a newly married couple, a female combat veteran, a waitress and a teenager whose doctors prescribed psychiatric drugs for stress, mild depression, sleeplessness, focus and trauma. Our subjects struggle with serious physical and mental side effects as well as neurological damage which resulted from taking the drugs as prescribed and also from attempting to withdraw. Says one psychiatrist, ’There’s not a chemical on the planet, to my knowledge, that can require years to taper — not Oxycontin, not crack cocaine, not heroin, and not alcohol. But psychiatric medications, any tapered patient will tell you, can take sometimes years if possible, at all.’ … [Medicating Normal] is the untold story of what happens when profit-driven medicine intersects with human beings in distress.”

Statistically, a good chunk of Happiness Is A Skill readers are taking some form of antidepressant or anti-anxiety/benzodiazepines like Xanex or Ativan. For those people, none of this is meant to scare you or bully you into getting off the drugs. You do you. However, if you ever do want to get off these drugs, I implore you to do your research and work with your doctor to create a slow, deliberate tapering plan. Doctors are not required to give patients informed consent when it comes to psychiatric drugs, nor are they well versed in safe withdrawal. It’s not their fault. The medical system simply doesn’t teach them how to take people off these medications. It is possible to wean off psychiatric drugs safely and with few side effects, but the techniques for doing so are being developed at a grassroots level by people who have experienced it, like me. For more information on safe withdrawal, check out SurvivingAntidepressants.org, Mad In America, and the Inner Compass Initiative. You can also email me directly. Lastly, Medicating Normal is being screened virtually at several film festivals and hosted events. I would recommend it to anyone who is taking antidepressants or benzos, but I believe it should be required watching for all practicing psychiatrists and doctors. You can find tickets and upcoming screenings here.

Coming September 6, 2022

May Cause Side Effects

Brooke’s memoir is now available for preorder wherever books are sold.

This is a heart-rending and tender memoir that will start conversations we urgently need to have. It’s moving and important.
Johann Hari, author of New York Times bestseller Chasing the Scream and international bestseller  Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions

Get the Book Now

Before you go…

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

You can only maintain so many relationships.

Friendships are created and maintained through consistency.

The characters in the hierarchy may change, but the quantity does not.

When the hierarchy changes, find acceptance

Making new friends takes time, but it gets easier

Before you go…

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

SuperBetter

MoodMeter

Reveri

Need a little giggle? Order one of my Fuckit Buckets™.

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

Healing Depression through Factual Optimism

Little Changes Bring Big Results

When in doubt, make a graph!

Need a little giggle? Order one of my Fuckit Buckets™.

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

May Cause Side Effects

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

May Cause Side Effects

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

Morning breathwork, to set a calm foundation for the day:

Cadence Breath

Breathing for when the anxiety is too much and you need to calm down, now.

4:7:8

Breathing for bedtime, because insomnia and anxiety are inextricably linked.

Long exhale + humming

May Cause Side Effects

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

May Cause Side Effects

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

May Cause Side Effects

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

Before you go…

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

A synopsis:

May Cause Side Effects

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.

Before you go…

On knowing less: Creating conscious distance.

The Circular Reasoning Trap in Psychiatric Diagnoses: Why descriptions, by definition, cannot be diagnostic.

How Expressed Emotion Keeps People Sick: When emotion meets the biomedical model of mental illness.

The Contagious Nature of Mental Illness: Examining the Psychological Contagion Phenomenon.