My Story I tried to commit suicide for the first time when I was 15. I spent my 16th birthday locked up in Dammasch State Mental Hospital, I freaked out when I was told I was going to have to stay so my clothes were ripped off me, by male aids and I was thrown naked in a… Continue Reading
Involuntary Mental Health Commitments
The recent publicity surrounding the Justina Pelletier case has focused attention, not only on the spurious and arbitrary nature of psychiatric diagnoses, but also on the legitimacy and appropriateness of mental health commitments. It is being widely asserted that these archaic statutes are fundamentally incompatible with current civil rights standards, and the question “should mental… Continue Reading
Clubfoot – A Story of Hope
On January 27, NPR ran a short piece on a new treatment for clubfoot. Here’s a quote from the transcript: “Just a decade ago, up to 90 percent of babies…were treated with surgery that usually had to be repeated several times. That created a buildup of scar tissue that often left patients with a lifetime… Continue Reading
Murphy’s Mental Health Bill: An Update
Yesterday, December 26, at 8:25 p.m., the following comment was posted on my December 16 post on the Murphy Mental Health Bill. “Read the article in today’s Wall Street Journal (12/26/13), ‘A Mental-Health Overhaul’, and you cannot help but be in favor of the Murphy Bill. It is a huge misrepresentation to say it is… Continue Reading
Murphy’s Mental Health Bill
It is no secret that pharma-psychiatry has come under considerable criticism in recent years. In general, they do not respond to these criticisms, but instead they continue to beat the same old drum: mental illness is becoming increasingly prevalent; we need more mental health screenings; we need more funding for “treatment”; and we need wider… Continue Reading
Mental Illness: A Man-made Monster
I found the above image online yesterday, at the site The Things We Say. Mental illness is also man-made. It is the invention of psychiatry – their spurious medicalization of all significant problems of thinking, feeling, and/or behaving. Its purpose is to legitimize the prescription of dangerous psychotropic drugs to as many people as… Continue Reading
The Galvanizing of a POOR HISTORIAN
In hospital ED records from 2007, there is a mention made by a doctor who was dictating his activities, observations of and involvement with me during 5 hours, that I am a”poor historian.” Ironically, I have to this day never met with or even seen this doctor, and vice versa. The conclusion was followed by a little post-script stating… Continue Reading
Drugs Out: Brain Stimulators In: Psychiatry’s Next Assault On Our Humanity?
On September 21, the Guardian/Observer (UK) ran an online article by Vaughan Bell titled Changing brains: why neuroscience is ending the Prozac era. Thanks to Paul Mace on Twitter for the link. The gist of the article is that although the use of psycho-pharmaceutical products is at an all-time high and is still rising in… Continue Reading
Dr. Lieberman’s Latest
On September 12, Jeffry Lieberman, MD, President of the APA, posted an article on Psychiatric News titled IPS to Feature Patrick Kennedy, Celebrate Community Psychiatry. The article is a preview of an APA conference scheduled for October 10-13 in Philadelphia: “Transforming Psychiatric Practice, Reforming Health Care Delivery.” Dr. Lieberman tells us that he is very… Continue Reading
Madness Contested: An Outstanding Book
The book Madness Contested has recently been published by PCCS Books. It’s a collection of articles, edited by Steven Coles, Sarah Keenan, and Bob Diamond. The book is a remarkable piece of work. It covers just about every contentious concept in the present “mental illness” debate, and brings to bear an abundance of new insights and… Continue Reading
Physical Restraints
There’s an article titled Restraint – 10 ways it harms psychiatric patients on Sectioned’s blog today. It describes Sectioned’s own experience in this area. Sectioned lists ten ways he/she was harmed by this practice, and the article is well worth reading.
Going Against the Stream
AN INTERESTING STORY Yesterday I came across the following on Twitter from Mental Health @Sectioned_. “I just met someone who told me their remarkable story about falling down the rabbit hole into psychiatric sectioning and forced medication. I listened with fascination to their intricate story in all its twists and turns, looping backwards and forwards… Continue Reading
Can Abuse in Childhood Make You Crazy?
A NEW PARADIGM I’ve recently read an interesting article by Jacqui Dillon, Lucy Johnstone and Eleanor Longden. It’s titled Trauma, Dissociation, Attachment &Neuroscience: A new paradigm for understanding severe mental distress. The article was published in the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy (Vol 12, No 3, September 2012) Here are some quotes: “A… Continue Reading
A Victim of Psychiatry Speaks Out
I’ve recently come across an October 2012 article by Ted Chabasinski. It’s on Mad in America and it’s called: Our Task Is to Take Away the Power of Psychiatry. Ted tells us that he was was subjected to electric shock “treatment” when he was six years old. You can see a brief bio here. Here… Continue Reading
A Survivor’s Story: The Dark Threads
I have just read The Dark Threads, by Jean Davison (Accent Press Ltd, 2009) It’s autobiographical, and describes with great detail and insight how a young woman of 18 years, whose only problem was acute shyness coupled with a yearning for some meaning in life, made the mistake of visiting a psychiatrist. Jean describes how… Continue Reading
Shock “Treatment” Is Not Safe and Provides Little If Any Benefit
DELICATE THINGS REQUIRE DELICATE HANDLING When I was a teenager, one of my hobbies was making small transistor radios. It sounds complicated, but is well within the reach of an average 15-year-old. You get some magazine articles, learn how to read a circuit, and learn how to use a soldering iron. A transistor is a… Continue Reading