As someone who strives for a paradigm shift away from the ‘illness like any other’ approach to human suffering and overwhelm, I try and keep myself up to date with what’s happening in the murky world of Western psychiatry. I […]
Continue ReadingOn September 18th, 2018, the Critical Mental Health Nurses’ Network (CMHNN) – a forum for psychiatric nurses to think critically about their role within the mental health system – posed the following question: ‘… should there be a right for […]
Continue ReadingIs it just me? Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable when reading articles that assert that a focus on nutrition – the vitamins and minerals we ingest – could be a solution to the world’s mental […]
Continue ReadingJohn Cooper (a close friend of mine since school days) recently informed me that he had read my book, ‘Tales from the Madhouse: An insider critique of psychiatric services‘, and found it a revelation – OK, he might not have […]
Continue ReadingOn the 1st May 2018 the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act (England & Wales) published its interim report. As anticipated, it is shaping up to constitute a missed opportunity to dismantle our discriminatory mental health laws. Professor […]
Continue ReadingThere is a growing consensus that mental health legislation across the Western world represents crude human-rights violations, as well as acting as an engine room for the often-damaging biomedical approach to human suffering. In the autumn of 2017, the […]
Continue ReadingOn the 21st February, 2018, a study addressing the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs was published in The Lancet. It has caused quite a stir. Accepting the subsequent media headlines at face value, one would be forgiven for believing that a […]
Continue ReadingThe last 100 years has witnessed substantial progress towards countering the blights of racism and sexism within Western societies. Although discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity and gender persist today, the more blatant examples of these types of prejudice […]
Continue ReadingThere is a growing consensus that mental health legislation across the Western world is discriminatory and not fit for purpose. In England and Wales, the Mental Health Act (MHA – 1983, 2007), in keeping with other jurisdictions, rides roughshod over […]
Continue ReadingI am a vocal critic of biological psychiatry and, like all of us on this side of the debate, receive regular criticism (and sometimes personal attacks) from those wedded to the ‘illness like any other’ approach to human suffering. One […]
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