For the last decade, most of my writings – articles, blogpost, books – have tried to highlight the flaws in Western psychiatry’s approach to human suffering while, at the same time, striving to promote non-medical alternatives. Since the […]
Continue ReadingThe death meter on the BBC news channel flashes repeatedly on the screen. The newsreader with mournful eyes – like a cancer doctor about to tell a patient that the tests have proved positive – informs us that the coronavirus […]
Continue ReadingEncouraging news emerged from Australia last month when the government announced its intention to radically change the country’s suicide-prevention strategy. In keeping with the draft report of Christine Morgan (Suicide Prevention Advisor), there will be a shift away from viewing […]
Continue ReadingOn the 2nd October, 2019, the British Psychological Society (BPS) – the professional body for all practising psychologists in the United Kingdom – announced the start of an internal consultation about the merits of giving psychologists the rights to […]
Continue ReadingRupert Reptilian sat behind his broad, solid-oak desk, riffling through a wedge of paperwork. His slippery tongue slid to-and-fro across his lower lip as he perused the financial accounts of Restorative Pharmaceuticals for the 2018-19 tax year. He grinned; […]
Continue ReadingWhat What follows is a doctor-patient interaction that I hope will become more commonplace across psychiatric outpatient clinics: [After a 15-minute initial interview] Psychiatrist: Mr Smith, it is clear you are suffering from a depressive illness. […]
Continue ReadingIt is understandable why those critical of the dominant biomedical approach to human distress sometimes feel despondent. Despite our collective efforts to offer sufferers more humane, non-pathologising alternatives to the drugs and coercion currently imposed by biological psychiatry, there are […]
Continue ReadingDear politicians Future generations will look back on our efforts to resolve our current ‘mental health’ crisis with a mixture of horror and amusement. I can imagine – in the year 2119 and beyond – social history courses exploring […]
Continue ReadingLife is a risk. Each action we take, outside the home or indoors, is associated with some degree of danger. Risk is an ever-present feature of human existence that each of us manage effectively, routinely deciding upon an acceptable balance […]
Continue ReadingLast month (December 2018) saw the publication of the final report of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983. In an earlier blog, following the interim report, I’d suggested that the primary aim of Simon Wessely – senior […]
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