Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health

On the Mad in America podcast this week, Brooke Siem, author of May Cause Side Effects, talks with Teralyn Sell and Jenn Schmitz about their journey from working in the prison system to challenging conventional psychiatric narratives in their therapy practice and podcast, The Gaslit Truth. Dr. Teralyn Sell is a distinguished expert in Psychology and Brain Health, holding a PhD in Psychology and an MS in Counseling Psychology. She bridges the gap between traditional mental health care and integrative brain health solutions with formal training in holistic nutrition and biology. She is the author of Your Best Brain and the co-host of the internationally acclaimed podcast, The Gaslit Truth, where she challenges conventional narratives around mental health and medication. Dr. Teralyn is dedicated to promoting safe medication practices, responsible tapering and a paradigm shift in mental health care, one that prioritizes brain health over symptom management. Jenn Schmitz is redefining the field of psychology with a unique blend of expertise and lived experience. Holding a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology and having spent over a decade as a traditional therapist, Jenn took a bold step beyond the conventional boundaries of Western education and mental health treatment. Her personal struggle, marked by the challenging process of tapering off psychiatric medication, revealed insights that reshaped her entire approach to mental health. As a holistic, de-prescribing consultant, Jenn integrates psychological and brain health expertise with physical wellness, mindfulness and nutrition to safely guide the brain through the intricate process of medication tapering. Jenn hosts The Gaslit Truth podcast along with Dr. Teralyn and is a writer for the international wellness publication, Live, Love and Eat magazine. *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/ To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850 © Mad in America 2025. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

David Goodman is the Director of the Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics and the Dean of the Woods College of Advancing Studies at Boston College, where he also teaches in the Department of Formative Education. A past president of the APA’s Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (Division 24), Goodman is known for his interdisciplinary work at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, theology, and ethics. He is the founder of the Psychology and the Other conference series and serves as editor of two book series: Psychology and the Other and Essays in the Psychological Humanities. In this conversation, Goodman draws on the work of philosopher Emmanuel Levinas to reimagine therapy not as a space for self-optimization but as an encounter with responsibility—a call to become more available, interruptible, and open to the world beyond ourselves. He reflects on psychology’s history of centering the individual at the expense of the relational, critiques the structural limitations imposed by managed care systems, and shares clinical insights from his own practice. He explores how therapy can become a site of ethical awakening rather than adjustment, and how the dominant metaphors of psychology (often drawn from consumer culture and medicine) may obscure the relational depth of human life. *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/ To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850 © Mad in America 2025. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

Welcome to Mad In America Radio. My name is Bob Whitaker, and today my guest is Italian psychiatrist, Giovanni Fava. From 1992 to 2022, Dr. Fava edited the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. We will be talking about the importance of that journal and what may be lost now that the publisher, Karger, may be taking it in a new direction. Here's why this journal, under Dr. Fava’s leadership, was so important to us all. When psychiatry talks about how its drug treatments are evidence-based, it points to RCTs and meta-analyses of those RCTs as proof that its drugs are more effective than placebo. However, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics under Dr. Fava’s guidance presented a very different evidence base to its readers. First, his journal told of how clinical experiences should govern our understanding of the impact of psychiatric treatments, particularly over longer periods of time. Second, his journal told of how RCTs and meta-analyses when used to direct clinical practices can lead to harm. Third, his journal told of the corrupting influence of pharmaceutical money on the creation of psychiatric diagnoses and drug trials. When Dr. Fava became editor of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics in 1992, it had a low impact factor. When he resigned as editor in 2022, it had an impact factor that made it one of the most influential journals in psychiatry and psychology. He left the journal in good hands in 2022 and he remained involved as an honorary editor. However, in December, Karger fired one of the two editors in chief, Dr. Fava then resigned as honorary editor, and most of the editorial board resigned as well. The future of this journal, which had been so essential to our understanding of the impact of psychiatric treatments is now unclear. *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/ To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850 © Mad in America 2025. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

Jeff Sugarman, a distinguished scholar in theoretical and philosophical psychology, discusses the impact of neoliberalism on identity and mental health. He critiques how mainstream psychology often reflects market ideologies, reshaping selfhood and relationships. Sugarman emphasizes the necessity for a critical psychology that addresses social justice and inequality. He also explores the philosophical roots of psychology and advocates for integrating the humanities in understanding selfhood, offering fresh perspectives on the role of mental health in society.

Welcome to the Mad in America podcast. My name is Brooke Siem, and I’m the author of May Cause Side Effects. Today, I’m here with Rick Fee, president of the Richard Fee Foundation. Rick joins us to talk about his son, Richard Fee and his encounter with psychiatric drugs, most notably Adderall.  *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/ To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850 © Mad in America 2025. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org  

Mick Cooper, Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Roehampton, shares insights on how psychotherapy can ignite social change. He highlights the significance of pluralism in mental health care, emphasizing collaborative approaches that enhance client voices. The conversation dives into the roots of destructive behaviors, advocating for empathy over judgment. Cooper also discusses the relationship between psychological needs and societal frameworks, and the role of radical acceptance in fostering a more egalitarian society.

Brent Dean Robbins is a psychologist, scholar, and all-around thoughtful human whose work has profoundly shaped existential and humanistic psychology. He is one of those rare thinkers who makes psychology feel alive—not just a collection of theories and data, but a field full of urgent, deeply human questions. He’s a professor of psychology and the director of the Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology program at Point Park University, where he’s helped create one of the most distinctive training programs in the country. He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University—home to some of the most beautifully dense phenomenological work you'll ever have to read twice—and is a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania. In this two-part conversation, we’ll explore Brent’s career—from his early work critiquing the overmedication of children to his scholarship on metabletics and cultural therapeutics. We’ll also discuss how he’s navigating his current health journey and cancer diagnosis as an existential psychologist and his hopes for the future of the field—how we might reimagine mental health care in ways that embrace the messy, wondrous, irreducible nature of being human. *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/   To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850   © Mad in America 2025. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

Brent Dean Robbins is a psychologist, scholar, and all-around thoughtful human whose work has profoundly shaped existential and humanistic psychology. He is one of those rare thinkers who makes psychology feel alive—not just a collection of theories and data, but a field full of urgent, deeply human questions. He’s a professor of psychology and the director of the Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology program at Point Park University, where he’s helped create one of the most distinctive training programs in the country. He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University—home to some of the most beautifully dense phenomenological work you'll ever have to read twice—and is a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania. In this two-part conversation, we’ll explore Brent’s career—from his early work critiquing the overmedication of children to his scholarship on metabletics and cultural therapeutics. We’ll also discuss how he’s navigating his current health journey and cancer diagnosis as an existential psychologist and his hopes for the future of the field—how we might reimagine mental health care in ways that embrace the messy, wondrous, irreducible nature of being human. *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/   To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850   © Mad in America 2025. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

In this interview, Brooke Siem, who is the author of a memoir on antidepressant withdrawal, May Cause Side Effects, interviews Gretchen LeFever Watson, PhD. Gretchen is a developmental and clinical psychologist with postdoctoral training in pediatric psychology. She has served as a professor in multiple disciplines at universities and medical schools in the United States and abroad and as the patient safety director for a large healthcare system. She secured millions in federal funding to study the epidemiology of psychiatric drug use and to develop community-based strategies that reduce reliance on psychiatric labels and medications—strategies that also improved educational outcomes. In 2008, BMJ recognized her as one of 100 international scientists journalists could count on for unbiased reviews of health research. Dr. Watson is an academic affiliate at the University of South Carolina and the author of the Amazon bestseller Your Patient Safety Survival Guide: How to Protect Yourself and Others from Medical Errors. She lives in Virginia Beach and loves to windsurf. *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/ To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850 © Mad in America 2025. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

Becky Brasfield has emerged as a formidable advocate for change in the complex landscape of mental health care. A certified recovery support specialist and policy researcher at the Human Services Research Institute, Ms. Brasfield has dedicated her career to elevating the voices of service users and dismantling systemic inequities. Her lived experience with psychosis, combined with her leadership in peer support, has made her a powerful critic of traditional psychiatric models that often marginalize those they aim to help. Her resume includes service as president of the NAMI Illinois Alliance of Peer Professionals, the state’s first peer professional association, and recognition as one of Crain’s Notable Black Leaders and Executives. She has been a fellow with both the IL Care and HSRI Behavioral Health Policy programs and was appointed Commissioner of the Southeast Expanded Mental Health Services Program. But Ms. Brasfield’s work is as personal and political as it is professional. In this interview, she speaks with Mad in America’s Ayurdhi Dhar about her path to recovery, the harmful impacts of medical gaslighting, and why the future of mental health justice depends on centering the expertise of those with lived experience. *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/ To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850 © Mad in America 2025. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org