Reclaiming Humanity
Now that biological psychiatry has been discredited, I am championing a pro-suffering cultural shift. It is time to stop pretending that, with the assistance of hoped-for medical "miracles," we can eliminate everything we are afraid of. It is time that we get over ourselves and appreciate that a full existence as humans is fleeting and full of pain, suffering . . . and beauty.
PROTEST PSYCHIATRY – My Newest Film, Free!
I just made a new film, called PROTEST PSYCHIATRY, on the psychiatric survivor-lead protest of the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in New York City. And I’m thrilled by how it turned out. For starters, I filmed it on no budget whatsoever, created the entire film in three days, and have uploaded it straight to Youtube, so it’s freeeeeee!
The Case of the Missing Schizophrenia
This past Thursday I attended the American Psychiatric Association's Institute for Psychiatric Services in San Francisco, and then a talk by the Bay Area Mandala Project on "Providing Loving Receptivity Can Help People in Extreme States." I would like to thank both groups for the motivation to publish this — particularly as they would seem to be at odds in the reductionist "dialogue" we so often have — but really aren't so different in my mind for reasons discussed herein: Who is not "in crisis" for questioning their identity and fit within dominant paradigms?
Ending ECT: From a Lawsuit to a Novel – The Moment is Now!
In the midst of flagrant professional misrepresentation of ECT, this is a call to arms. Quite simply, the time has come for a frontal assault on the ECT industry and on the professionals associated with it. The time has come to rid society of this barbaric “treatment” altogether.
Why Can’t They Hear Our Truth? We Have a Cure.
There is a guy named David Kennedy who, along with other people, figured out how to cut the murder rate of a city in...
The Mouse That Roared: CIAD & Friends vs. the State of New York
If you log onto the website of the New York State Office of Mental Health at www.omh.ny.gov, you’ll find out that less than three...
Expect Recovery….
Expect Recovery….seems like a tall order, especially for people that have: little hope; spent years cycling in and out of hospitals; spent years on...
So This Is Texas 2
Allow me to introduce myself to you... I'm a California transplant and now live and work in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex where I...
Making a Mad Community, from Attic to Attic: Part Two
Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part essay. The first part described Jessica’s personal experiences with involuntary commitment, the psychiatric system, and...
Connecticut State in Mental Health Denial
The recent July 9th Ct. Mirror article, Children Stuck in Crisis, accomplishes the intended purpose of deceptively convincing the people of Connecticut that there’s a severe mental health services crisis in the state. On the surface, the article’s author provides a compelling scenario of the state’s youth failing to get the needed mental health care and forced to rely on emergency room services. The problem with the presentation is the failure to address a key piece of information in the reported mental-health-crisis-puzzle – the increased psychiatric drugging of Connecticut’s children.
Why World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day?
I am participating in World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day today, and you should too, because you know somebody right now who is taking a benzodiazepine and that person might just be dealing with chronic health problems, unaware that they are result of taking the medication as prescribed.
Fear is Life Force … (in Clinical Circles it’s Often Called Anxiety) – An...
It’s not just in spiritual circles but also in psychiatric and mental health circles that fear and anxiety are too often medicated away instead of worked with. It’s not easy to work with it and a lot of professionals don’t know how to hold such space for such courageous facing of the dark parts of psyche and so many people don’t learn that it’s actually possible. For those of us who’ve come off psych drugs and faced severe psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome it becomes a necessary and often heinously difficult initiation . . . Learning to embrace my experience and surrender to it was the way through for me.
We Shall Overcome: Remembering Pete Seeger
A great American passed away the other day. Ordinarily, I never indulge in such chauvinism, but how else can you describe Pete Seeger? Who else has contributed as much to the country’s emotional and spiritual well-being?
Stranger
I am quarantined in Stabilization. In front of me an old woman with cherry lipstick and a clipboard asks questions about sexual abuse, but my mind is through the square window on the door behind her. In that room I see a steel bed surrounded by emptiness. On top of it lay leather straps that are uneven in width where they’re wearing thin. Each strap has a set of holes to fasten the buckles tight, and I can see quite clearly that the ones nearest the end are circles while the ones furthest away have stretched into ovals. Tonight will be a Haldol night.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Off the Meds and Out of My Mind
During my first few days on the locked psychiatric unit of the hospital on the hill in early December 2008, I counted the passing...
Murphy’s Legislation Threatens Civil Rights of the “Mentally Ill”
In our nation's history, in the face of fear, we have often risen to achieve noble goals. Other times we have behaved tragically — for instance, interning and seizing property from Japanese Americans during World War II. Certainly, there were spies among us then. Only in hindsight did we recognize that our treatment of the larger group — who were not — was gravely mistaken. We are on the verge of witnessing such an event in our own time.
Letters from the Front Lines
Dear Bob--
Last fall, I was filling in at a clinic for a provider who was on vacation, and saw a woman in her late...
Thinking Holistically – attempting to change the Status Quo
In our experience, using anger or name-calling isn’t usually very effective when trying to fight the “establishment” or status quo. Something we teach all...
Keynote Speech at Alternatives 2012 Conference: Remembering Our History, Thinking About our Future
This is a transcript of my keynote speech at Alternatives 2012, which a Madness Radio listener recently transcribed.
Injuries in the Children of Parents Living With Mental Illness
Parental mental illness is associated with increased risk of injuries among offspring, particularly during the first years of the child’s life. Efforts to increase access to parental support for parents with mental illness, and to recognize and treat perinatal metal morbidity in parents in secondary care might prevent child injury.
Chapter Twenty-Five: “Paranoid Android”
It is Christmas Eve of 2008. I am leaning against the kitchen counter of an old friend’s house, arms tucked tightly across my stomach,...
Are There Gifts In and From Our Madness That Our Culture Needs to Not...
Do we bring gifts to our family and community that are born of suffering but infused with spirit? Has our madness been in vain,...
The Emperor’s Antipsychotic Drugs
I avoid drug reps but I can not stop them from finding me through the mail. Over the past few months, I have received reprints of an article from The American Journal of Psychiatry (1), reporting on a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of lurasidone from the company that makes this drug. Since I had it in my hands, I read it. What I found was surprising. Rather than leaving me impressed by lurasidone, it left me wondering what happened with olanzapine (Zyprexa).
The Smoldering Wick: Suicide and Faith
Some suicidal people may only benefit from the extraordinary selflessness and profound empathy demonstrated by St. Paul to his jailer. Credentials don’t measure for that.
Learning Family Recovery Skills: Krista Mackinnon on Madness Radio
Many families trying to support someone in psychosis fall into the same trap professionals find themselves caught in: power struggles: "How can I make my relative change? What should I do to get them to see they are sick?" While it's hard to argue with wanting someone to get better, control and conformity are at the heart of everything wrong with the standard psychiatric approach. The deeper families dig themselves into forcing change on their relative, the more they flounder.