Ron Unger

Psychotherapies of Depth, Insight, and Relationship for Psychosis: Listening with the Intent to Understand the Psychological Meaning of Psychotic Symptoms: Psychoanalytic Inquiry: Vol 46, No 1 tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

This paper explores three socially oriented approaches to mental health recovery: Open Dialogue (OD), Recovery Capital (RC), and the Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) #abstract" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

Very interesting reflections from a cross-cultural perspective on our recent paper on Delusions as Embodied Emotions in The Lancet Psychiatry thelancet.com/journals/lanps…

Listen now to the recording of this mind-provoking disucssion! youtube.com/watch?v=atQ3OL…

Event tomorrow! Join @Mad_In_America at 12:30pm EDT, for a special panel on Madness, Mysticism, and the Reenchantment of Psychology, hosted by @ronunger. Register here: eventbrite.com/e/madness-myst…

NEXT WEEK! Join us Wednesday, February 4, at 9:30am PDT, 12:30pm EDT, 5:30pm GMT, 6:30pm CEST for a special panel on Madness, Mysticism, and the Reenchantment of Psychology, hosted by @ronunger. #mentalhealth #mysticism Register here: eventbrite.com/e/madness-myst…

@Mad_In_America I worked in a nursing home in the 1970's, and they discovered back then not only that they needed less staff when people were drugged, but also they got more money from Medicare when they gave people a mental health diagnosis to justify the drug. That scam still works I believe.

Harm for Profit: Are Nursing Homes Drugging Residents to Avoid Paying for Adequate Staffing? By Richard Sears Antipsychotic use in nursing homes harms residents, but better-trained and adequately staffed facilities rely less on these dangerous drugs. buff.ly/8BdO2sz

My DIY Recovery from “Bipolar Disability” Part 1: Searching For Safety By Catherine Heseltine madintheuk.com/2026/01/my-diy… #MentalHealthRecovery #PsychiatricSurvivor #LivedExperience

Hacking's "looping effects" notion used to explain disability explosion in higher ed: "Why do so many students have ADHD? Looping effects have transformed disability." unherd.com/2026/01/why-do… via @UnHerd

Maybe madness is more like wilderness, with a mix of dangers and possibilities....recoveryfrompsychosis.org/2026/01/a-conv…

📢 Don't miss our new paper just out in The Lancet Psychiatry Psychiatry today‼️📆 "Delusion as embodied emotion: a qualitatively driven, multimethod study of first-episode psychosis in the UK" Full Open Access article 👇 thelancet.com/journals/lanps…

NEW MIA EVENT! Join us Wednesday, February 4, at 9:30am PDT, 12:30pm EDT, 5:30pm GMT, 6:30pm CEST for a special panel on Madness, Mysticism, and the Reenchantment of Psychology, hosted by @ronunger. #mentalhealth #mysticism Register here: eventbrite.com/e/madness-myst…

Weekly Research Digest: 1/9/2025 Richard Sears reviews recent studies that demonstrate how technology, trauma, and social pressures intensify the everyday challenges of living with psychosis. buff.ly/L6UWJDp

I thought it might be useful to post the reading list I use when giving tutorials in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of mental health: clinicalphilosophy.blogspot.com/2026/01/readin…

A fun new article argues that attempting to understand psychotic experiences takes us way deeper than just trying to treat those having the experiences - "Deviations in the dark. About bats, veterans, visionaries and philosophers" by Wouter Kusters journal.ifdt.bg.ac.rs/index.php/fid/…

Check out this series of free webinars exploring the latest in CBT for psychosis, offered by the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Center octc.co.uk/the-oxford-cbt…

"Across studies, perceived racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination was linked with psychosis risk in both clinical and non-clinical populations. The message is clear: racism is not just context, it’s a causal factor in mental health inequalities." buff.ly/EysiuO7

Get CE credit while learning how to facilitate recovery from psychosis! 3 6 hour self-paced courses to choose from, each just $29 till 11/15/25. Subjects are CBT for Psychosis, Trauma Dissociation & Psychosis, and Cultural & Spiritual Issues in Treatment. recoveryfrompsychosis.org/understand-psy…

Relating positively and openly with voices through dialogue: A talking with voices implementation guide for mental health practitioners - Schnackenberg - Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice - Wiley Online Library bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…

@TylerAlterman These kinds of stories are very important! I encourage you to post this story more widely, including perhaps at madinamerica.com/submitting-per…

This sounds crazy to say, but I regularly feel grateful for the period of severe depression I had from ~2018-2020 At that time, I had been pushing myself into a life that was terrible for me, like a person smashing themselves into a wall My Self had tried to warn me of this for years by sending me a sense *wrongness*. "Don't smash yourself into that wall." I ignored it and kept smashing myself into the wall In response, my Self sent an even greater sense of wrongness that began to exhaust me. So I sought out ways to overcome the exhaustion: not just with things like coffee & modafinil, but also with "healthy habits" like exercise, dance, diet, meditation, therapy, good sleep, etc. These things *did* rejuvenate me...filling me with energy to smash myself against the wall again Finally, my Self simply immobilized me. For well over a year, I could barely get myself off of a mattress. Now, not only could I not smash myself against a wall, I could barely even summon the energy to get up and pee. I would lie there for hours until some distant voice would urge "You have to get up now, or your bladder will literally burst" At the time, I thought that my only source of value = my ability to contribute. So this state of immobility felt like a fate worse than death, as I became an active burden on those around me. I wanted to kms I've since seen that this desire to kms was actually a form of love in disguise. Truly: it was a desire for the self-harming version of myself to die. And then eventually, painfully, it did Importantly, I will say that some forms of depression *really can* be alleviated through healthier habits like diet, exercise, and socializing. But, in some cases, these healthy habits will only give a person more energy to throw themselves back into an unhealthy job, relationship, identity, etc So, for these types of depressed ppl, please don't get angry at them for "not wanting to get better." They might just be protecting themselves from a false rejuvenation, one that would only give them energy to smash themselves into a wall again There's a different way to help them if you can access a spacious vibe. You can help them come to their own (unforced) realization – a realization of why their Self, out of love, has decided to immobilize them I can say that, personally, I absolutely needed to be immobilized as a step toward the incredible life I have today