Blog

Jim Kelly might have stayed in Buffalo partially because of his positive experience as a cancer patient at ECMC - but people who arrive at ECMC during the most vulnerable moments of their lives — suicidal, psychotic, traumatized, withdrawing, terrified - do NOT feel the same way as our beloved ex-quarterback. What they encounter instead of care is often: Long waits in chaotic emergency settings Minimal assessment Rapid sedation Security-driven responses Involuntary holds with

Here’s a truth the U.S. mental health system does not want you to sit with for more than five seconds: People diagnosed with schizophrenia do better in countries that don’t over-drug them. Not “a little better. ”Not “in some cases. ” Substantially better.  More recovery. Back to work. back into relationships. Back into actual, enjoyable lives. And this isn’t some fringe, anti-science rant. This comes from their own data  — data that has been quietly minimized, buried, or expl

Enough with the polite language! The modern mental health system is not failing by accident. It is doing exactly what it was built to do : move massive amounts of psychiatric drugs into human bodies while calling it care. This isn’t about “a few bad actor s. " It ’s abo ut a business model that requires people to stay sick, dependent, and compliant . And if that sentence makes anyone uncomfortable— good. It should. This Is Not a Medical Model. It’s a Sales Model. Let’s start

Let’s stop pretending New York State’s “jail diversion” system is anything more than a shiny PR stunt slapped onto the rotting face of the criminal justice and mental health apparatus. They call it diversion , mental health court , treatment over punishment . They parade these feel-good phrases in front of the public like some kind of humanitarian breakthrough. It’s bullshit. If you’ve ever seen this system up close — or worse, been dragged through it — you know exactly what

Let me say this as bluntly as it needs to be said: Don’t ever let anyone — parent, counselor, friend, partner, system — tell you that you’re not good enough! Most of the people who try to shrink you are just terrified of their own limits. They hand you their fear and call it “truth.” And for too long, you believed it. Not anymore. You don’t owe anyone the smaller version of yourself. Not the version shaped by their trauma. Not the version shaped by their judgments. Not the v

Every time that headline appears — “Over one billion people worldwide live with a mental disorder”  (WHO, 2025) - I feel something close to rage. Not because people aren’t hurting. They are. But because this headline turns human suffering into a neat, sellable crisis — a story that just happens to benefit all the right industries. It treats pain like a commodity. It treats fear like a funding strategy. It treats humanity like a diagnosis. And I’m exhausted by it. 1. The worl

When did we decide that being human is a disease? Seems to me about 20 years ago. Every mood, every quirk, every hard season—now stamped with a code from the DSM and billed to insurance. Sad? You have depression. Angry? That’s a mood disorder. Nervous before speaking? Social anxiety. Can’t focus on boring bullshit? ADHD. It’s the industrialization of human emotion. The factory line starts with a checklist. End point: a diagnosis, a prescription, and a monthly bill. The proble

In working in the human service field for over 25 years, I have seen this happen 100s and 100s of times to people who deserve to live full lives, NOT be stuck in a system that disempowers their clients. It usually starts innocently: You’re overwhelmed. Grieving. Anxious. You’ve been through a breakup, the death of a loved one, a job loss, some other traumatic event, or maybe just feel like something is “off.” A well-meaning friend or doctor says, “You should talk to someone.”

Mental health c are is meant to prioritize well‑being—but growing concerns are emerging that some agencies in Buffalo, NY, might be...

When people hear the word cult , they picture robed figures in the woods, doomsday bunkers, or Jonestown horror stories. But cults don’t always wear hoods or drink Kool-Aid. Some wear lab coats. Some run self-help seminars. Some call themselves families, churches, or recovery programs. Some even operate in boardrooms, yoga studios, or Zoom calls. The truth is: cults come in many forms. Some are religious. Others are secular. Some want your money. Others want your mind. But wh

Let's not pretend anymore that the mental health system is one of healing. It isn't. It is one of profit. And if you ever do start...

In many cities across the U.S., there’s a hidden cost to getting help when you’re homeless — a psychiatric diagnosis. This is happening...

They rarely warn people of the horrible side effects of prolonged (so-called) antipsychotic medication use. You go in for help. You’re struggling—maybe with anxiety, maybe you’ve had a "psychotic break", maybe you’re just scared and overwhelmed. A doctor in a white coat gives you a diagnosis and a prescription for an “antipsychotic.” They say it’ll help stabilize you, calm you down, maybe even “rebalance your brain chemicals.” What they don’t  tell you is this: These drugs ca

Another post about the disgusting, criminal psychiatric system: For over a century, we've treated schizophrenia like a death sentence of the mind. Not because it had  to be that way, but because that's the way it was framed—from the very beginning. Schizophrenia wasn’t always the terrifying label it is today. In fact, it started out as an idea—a theory  of mental deterioration. When Emil Kraepelin coined the term "dementia praecox " in the late 1800s, he wasn’t describing peo

The modern addiction recovery system—rehabs, 12-step programs, court-mandated treatment—isn't saving lives, it's destroying them. Instead of empowering people to change, it traps them in a lifelong identity of weakness and disease. And it does this all while claiming to be their only hope. The Freedom Model of Addiction - backed by dozens of REAL research studies - flips that narrative on its head. It argues that addiction is not a disease. It's not something you "recover" fr

We're drugging children to fit into classes, not to help them thrive as human beings. We don't design schools for movement, for...

Does mental health medication work? For most people, the answer is NO! Certainly not in the way we have been told they do. Let’s get one...

"Only in the addiction field has it been considered a great advance to define yourself, permanently, by your most damaging trait, by the...

First published in 1961, Thomas Szasz’s The Myth of Mental Illness  remains one of the most influential—and controversial—books in the...

Let’s stop pretending. The mental health system isn’t broken—it’s working exactly as it was designed: to medicalize suffering, profit off...