Behaviorism and Mental Health

Alternative perspective on psychiatry's so-called mental disorders | PHILIP HICKEY, PH.D.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EX-PATIENT MOVEMENT

March 3, 2021 By A reader | Leave a Comment

by  Philip A. Kumin Author’s Note: The following article was originally written in 1991. Since then, Judi Chamberlin has died of cancer, and both national patients’ organizations have fallen into disarray due to constant infighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Perhaps concurrent with the… Continue Reading

 SELF-HELP & ADVOCACY

March 1, 2021 By A reader | Leave a Comment

  by Philip A. Kumin Author’s Note:  The following article was originally written in 1987.  Immediately before the start of the Alternatives ’87 Conference, a Constitutional Convention was held for the National Mental Health Consumers’  Association. Persons whose names I used are in the public domain regarding their status as patients. . . . …. Continue Reading

A DISCUSSION REGARDING THE EVOLUTION OF A SOCIAL MOVEMENT

February 15, 2021 By A reader | Leave a Comment

by Philip A. Kumin For anyone privy to the dynamics of the discussion surrounding the manifest destiny of the mental patients’ movement one thing is clear; those founding activists who survive are aggrieved at the loss of their native movement. In almost any venue in which these activists air their grievances, there is an aggregate… Continue Reading

CENSORSHIP IS A NO-NO

January 12, 2021 By A reader | Leave a Comment

                                             by Philip A. Kumin I’m a self-taught author, and a good one at that.  I tried for years to get my well written vignettes published in almost every publication imaginable including the great,… Continue Reading

My Struggle with Mental Illness and Addiction

January 23, 2020 By A reader | Leave a Comment

After suffering from severe mental illness for over 30 years, which started in 1989 when I was 19 years old, I am now experiencing true happiness and peace. I never thought I would ever feel this way. The following is my story, which I am telling with the hope that it might help others who… Continue Reading

I was a Victim and Came Back: My Empowerment Story

October 21, 2019 By A reader | Leave a Comment

                                                                Everyone has their own story, some fortunate, some less so. Mine is a story of abuse, neglect and mental illness, and the long road… Continue Reading

Recovery: Creating Your Personal Journey through Self-Honesty, Resilience and Hope

May 18, 2018 By A reader | Leave a Comment

I am in recovery from “mental illness”. I’ve always felt that the typical professional services were unable to provide the relief I needed. When I re-entered the workforce I focused my energy on these limitations. I became a peer specialist-a person in recovery trained in supportive counseling and advocacy. I also began earning my master’s… Continue Reading

Psychiatry

October 19, 2016 By A reader | Leave a Comment

Hi All, Phil, I agree with you on the dismal and almost criminal state of psychiatry, today. I have mixed feelings about Benzos, however, because of the almost unbearable chronic anxiety attacks I was having. Take a pill and anxiety gone. It helped keep me alive at the time. But now, 3 years later I take a small… Continue Reading

Borderline Personality Disorder

October 18, 2016 By A reader | Leave a Comment

My neice living in a townhouse complex – has reached the following stage:- 1-complete isolation from anybody even her sisters. 2-will not acknowledge her illness and will not accept any medication whatsoever. 3-will not allow anybody into her home. 4-all the symptons of Schizoid Personality Disorder 5-threatening to all and considers everyone responsible for her divorce that she… Continue Reading

How I became a non-person and what happened afterwards.

October 6, 2016 By A reader | Leave a Comment

In the late ’90s I experienced some kind of distress of consciousness. My wife took me to the emergency room of a local hospital and I was told I had “bipolar disorder,” an incurable “mental illness” which meant I would have to be on psychiatric drugs the rest of my life. We now know that… Continue Reading

Your article on “No mental illnesses”

September 12, 2016 By A reader | Leave a Comment

Thank you very much for your article in regards to the validity of Bi-polar Disorder. my mother claimed to have that and other mental disorders to qualify for SSDI. Of course she had physicians who were all to eager to verify her “self diagnosis”. They saw a cash cow and I suppose so did she on a lesser scale…. Continue Reading

PTSD and depression???

August 29, 2016 By A reader | Leave a Comment

  Hi, I have a story to tell, I don’t care if you like it I only need to tell it… First let me tell you a little bit about me, I am 13, my real name is not Kykie, I am a girl of course, and I am mentally messed up, or so I’ve been told. I… Continue Reading

They Call This “Help”: One Man’s Tears and the Horrors of Canadian Institutional Psychiatry

July 20, 2016 By A reader | 7 Comments

I am an inmate of St. Joseph’s Psychiatric Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario. Although I am still trapped in the intricate web of the forensic “mental health” system, I consider myself a psychiatric survivor. After all, I’ve made it this far, but I realize that more time is needed before I’m finally able to extricate myself from… Continue Reading

On Ex Mental health betterment

July 13, 2016 By A reader | 5 Comments

Despite a long debated idea about the abolishment of psychiatry and the futuristic dream for the once known mentally ill and ex mental health population of America and elsewhere, has left me dazed and confused about a lot of things. As Ex mental health patient culture to me wasn’t very helpful, I was expecting more of a professional environment,… Continue Reading

My Fixed Delusion

July 6, 2016 By A reader | 15 Comments

I’ve spent my adult life working in mental health services.  I worked for 15 years in residential treatment with adolescents, and another 15 years in large outpatient programs with adults.  I’ve been in clinical roles and leadership roles, primarily as a group therapist. I am a strident cognitive behaviorist. I’ve been a passionate and sincere… Continue Reading

bipolar disorder

April 27, 2016 By A reader | 8 Comments

It saddens me that there appears to be 6 distinct camps on mental illness’s validity. I am convinced that Camp 1, the APA and their DSM, allow or add so many disorders, and constantly rewrite diagnosis criteria to pump up business. Camp 2: The “worried well” that feed this machine by seeking help for normal human behaviors that disturb them… Continue Reading

Klonopin and prozac withdrawal

April 25, 2016 By A reader | 5 Comments

          It’s been almost 3 months since I have ingested any antidepressants or benzos. Almost died after drinking a large amount of vodka with the daily does of pills. Went to a rehab for a month and have been clean since. This is after over 27 years of benzos and prozac. I am 60… Continue Reading

Write for Health

February 1, 2016 By A reader | 3 Comments

I am a college student who has experienced several various mentally challenging roadblocks. My mental and health issues stemmed from a previous eating disorder. I have experienced stages of anxiety, depression and eating disorder relapses. My own self harm also resulted in medical conditions that I will live with and need to be treated for for the rest of my… Continue Reading

Life Sentence: Life behind bars of the Mental Healthcare system

January 25, 2016 By A reader | 25 Comments

I received my ‘life sentence’ from a Montana psychiatrist at the tender age of 22. I was diagnosed with Bipolar because I had what he called a ‘chemical imbalance’ in my brain and would need to take medicine to treat it for the rest of my life. At the time I was struggling to deal with the aftermath of… Continue Reading

Bipolar 2 research

January 5, 2016 By Phil Hickey | 3 Comments

I am a 58 year old male. I was born into a dysfunctional family with issues of shame and guilt.  I believe that this affected my psychological state. I had severe Asthma and I was unintentionally put in front of an open fire and out in a cold street in my pram where I was exposed to… Continue Reading

Another Life Story

December 7, 2015 By A reader | 6 Comments

  As third born of four children, I was pretty much invisible. My brother, 3 years older than me, would come home from school and we would play school and he would teach me everything he learned that day. I was five, he was eight. I idolized my big brother. I followed him everywhere. When I was in the… Continue Reading

Need Advice for my Troubling Life

October 27, 2015 By A reader | 24 Comments

I have been struggling with bullying since middle school and I find it hard.  I will start from the beginning. I started getting bullied in middle school because i looked different. I decided to create coping skills, like watching anime and playing video games.  Indeed these skills helped me get through hard times when i was young. Middle school was… Continue Reading

My Story

October 2, 2015 By A reader | Leave a Comment

I too have been digonisoed with bi- polar 11. and hve been taken lithium for the last twney four years, since 1991 nd I find that iam bter off and can fuction better without them   A Reader

Depleted to Undefeated: PTSD and Me

September 16, 2015 By A reader | Leave a Comment

The basis of my story is rooted in my own, unique experience with medical and psychiatric treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This writing is not intended to convince or influence the necessity or use of mental health professionals. Rather, it is my perspective of what did, is, or will contribute to my personal journey towards a permanently healthier… Continue Reading

The way we were brought up and now

July 15, 2015 By A reader | Leave a Comment

I have written before in this. I am hoping to make something all known for you who have worked hard for freedoms we may not always get. Also i have seen some anger from the members who rightfully get angry and want to get through to the people who are not getting what the drugs can do to many…. Continue Reading

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The phrase "mental health" as used in the name of this website is simply a term of convenience. It specifically does not imply that the human problems embraced by this term are illnesses, or that their absence constitutes health. Indeed, the fundamental tenet of this site is that there are no mental illnesses, and that conceptualizing human problems in this way is spurious, destructive, disempowering, and stigmatizing.

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The purpose of this website is to provide a forum where current practices and ideas in the mental health field can be critically examined and discussed. It is not possible in this kind of context to provide psychological help or advice to individuals who may read this site, and nothing written here should be construed in this manner. Readers seeking psychological help should consult a qualified practitioner in their own local area. They should explain their concerns to this person and develop a trusting working relationship. It is only in a one-to-one relationship of this kind that specific advice should be given or taken.

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