Carl Elliott is a distinguished professor at the University of Minnesota with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy and the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. An influential voice in bioethics, Elliott is known for his critical examination of the medical and pharmaceutical industries. His latest book, The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No,describes the harrowing experiences of whistleblowers who expose corruption and malpractice in clinical trials and psychiatric research. Originally from South Carolina, Elliott's diverse academic background includes a medical degree and a PhD in philosophy from Glasgow University in Scotland. His extensive postdoctoral work has taken him to institutions such as the University of Chicago, the University of Otago in New Zealand, and the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in South Africa. Elliott is the author and editor of several influential books, including Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream and White Coat and Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine. His articles have been featured in prestigious publications such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Mother Jones, and The New England Journal of Medicine (as well as Mad in America). Elliott's critical work in bioethics has earned him numerous accolades, including the Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media and a fellowship at the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. His investigative work has shed light on numerous scandals, including the tragic case of Dan Markingson, a young man who died during a controversial clinical trial at the University of Minnesota. In this interview, Elliott discusses the systemic issues that protect wrongdoers, the personal and professional toll on those who speak out, and the broader implications for ethics in medical research and practice. *** 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. To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here © Mad in America 2024. Produced by James Moore

Neil Gong is an assistant professor of sociology at UC San Diego, where he researches psychiatric services, homelessness, and how communities seek to maintain social order. Neil's new book, "Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics: Mental Illness and Homelessness in Los Angeles," published by the University of Chicago Press, offers a detailed look into the starkly different worlds of mental health care in Los Angeles. He contrasts the public safety-net clinics, which strive to keep patients housed and out of jail, with the elite private care centers that cater to the wealthy. He finds that while the public system focuses on survival and containment, often providing only minimal care, the private system aims at rehabilitation and respectability, albeit sometimes at the cost of personal freedom. Neil’s extensive fieldwork included spending nights in homeless encampments, shadowing social workers, and engaging with patients and families across the socioeconomic spectrum. His work highlights systemic failures and societal indifference but also the humanity of those working and living within these disparate treatment systems. In our conversation, we unpack the critical insights from his book and explore the broader implications of his research. How do these disparate systems reflect our societal values? What can we learn about the intersection of mental health, homelessness, and social policy? And perhaps most importantly, how can we move towards a more equitable and humane approach to mental health care? *** 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. To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here © Mad in America 2024. Produced by James Moore

Julia Hotz is a solutions-focused journalist based in New York City. She is the author of the forthcoming book, The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging. Her stories have appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Scientific American, the Boston Globe, Time, and more. After studying Sociology at the University of Cambridge, she joined the Solutions Journalism Network, where she helps other journalists rigorously report on what's working to solve today's biggest problems. Before becoming a journalist, Julia worked as a teacher, bartender, pizza server, and summer camp forest ranger. She enjoys hiking, biking, dancing, running, budget traveling, and building the longest road around Catan. *** 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. To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here © Mad in America 2024. Produced by James Moore

Jessica Schleider is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and founding director of the Lab for Scalable Mental Health (www.schleiderlab.org).  She’s a leader in single-session interventions for youth mental health – an evidence-based approach that aims to provide help that’s accessible, doable, and affordable for populations around the world and is already available via open-access programs.  On her own and with colleagues, she’s published a wide array of articles and book chapters and co-wrote a self-help book,  The Growth Mindset Workbook for Teens. Most recently, she’s the author of Little Treatments, Big Effects: How To Build Meaningful Moments that Can Transform Your Mental Health.  Currently an associate professor of medical sciences of Northwestern University, Schleider earned her PHd in clinical psychology from Harvard and completed her doctoral internship in clinical and community psychology at Yale School of Medicine. *** 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 2024. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

Sasha Durakov Warren is the author of the new book Storming Bedlam: Madness, Utopia, and Revolt published by Common Notions Press. Sasha is a writer based in Minneapolis. His experiences within the psychiatric system and a commitment to radical politics led him to co-found the group Hearing Voices - Twin Cities, which provides an alternative social space for individuals to discuss often stigmatized, extreme experiences and network with one another. Following the George Floyd uprising in 2020, he founded the project Of Unsound Mind to trace the histories of psychiatry, social work, and public health's connections to policing, prisons, and various disciplinary and managerial technologies. *** 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. To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here © Mad in America 2024. Produced by James Moore

A practicing Serbian psychiatrist discusses challenging norms in psychiatry, critiquing genetics research in depression and advocating for de-medicalizing experiences rather than immediate diagnoses or treatments. Topics include the impact of biological narratives on patients, complexities of drug dependency, and effects of psychiatric diagnoses on identity.

Rodrigo Nardi is a psychiatrist and psychologist. He obtained his psychology degree in the year 2000, and following that, he obtained a certificate in CBT, and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology at Universidade Evangélica de Paraná. He obtained his M.D. degree in 2010, and in 2016, he completed his psychiatry residency at Penn State. Altogether, Dr. Nardi has worked as a Mental Health Professional for more than 20 years, covering from individual psychotherapy to inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, substance use treatment, and interventional psychiatry. His passion for teaching and learning has led to the creation of the True Psychiatry Network and the development of a mentoring program designed to address the most frequent challenges related to psychiatric training. *** 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. To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here © Mad in America 2024. Produced by James Moore

Arthur Kleinman is a towering figure in psychiatry and medical anthropology. He has made substantial contributions to both fields over his illustrious career spanning more than five decades. As a Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard University's Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Kleinman has profoundly influenced how medical professionals understand the interplay between culture, illness, and healing. His extensive body of work includes seminal books and numerous articles that have become foundational texts in medical anthropology. These writings explore the crucial role of personal and cultural narratives in shaping medical practices and patient care. In recent years, Kleinman has increasingly focused on critiquing the prevailing practices within psychiatry, particularly the over-medicalization of mental health issues and the neglect of broader social and personal contexts that significantly impact patient care. His critiques advocate for a more nuanced and compassionate approach to psychiatry, one that recognizes the importance of individual patient stories and the socio-cultural dimensions of mental health. In this interview, Kleinman explores critical issues facing modern healthcare. He discusses the often-overlooked narrative of patient experiences, critiques the mechanistic approaches that dominate U.S. healthcare, and offers insightful reflections on the global mental health movement. *** 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. To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here

Lisa Cosgrove and Brian Piper discuss undisclosed financial conflicts of interest in the DSM-5, exploring the impact on psychiatric diagnoses and treatment guidelines. They highlight the prevalence of conflicts among key opinion leaders in psychiatry and the implications for patient care. The conversation also touches on industry funding in medication-induced movement disorders, the medicalization of emotional distress, and the importance of transparency and skepticism in mental health research.

Swapnil Gupta is an Associate Professor and Medical Director of Ambulatory Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital. She was trained as a psychiatrist in India and the United States, at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Yale University, and PGI Chandigarh in India. She is known for her work on deprescribing from and discontinuation of psychiatric drugs. Dr. Gupta’s career began with research on the role of the endocannabinoid system in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia as an academic psychiatrist. Her subsequent scholarship has focused on applying deprescribing, the systematic reduction of unnecessary medications, to psychiatry by rooting it in the principles of recovery-oriented care. She has authored several peer-reviewed papers on deprescribing and co-authored a book with Rebecca Miller and John Cahill. She is an active member of two organizations that aim to enhance stakeholder engagement in psychiatric research. She is also a part of the editorial board of the Community Mental Health Journal. Currently, she is working on creating educational resources to help people discontinue psychiatric medications and gathering information on the knowledge and opinions of psychiatrists regarding the discontinuation of such drugs. In this interview, we discuss deprescribing from psychiatric drugs, the difficult decisions faced by patients, the importance of psychosocial support during withdrawal, and how deprescribing is central to recovery-oriented practices such as shared decision and patient choice. We will also tackle the complex issue of whether the recurrence of symptoms once a drug is tapered is a mark of relapse or withdrawal caused by the psychiatric medication. *** 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. To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here