Reflections On Schizophrenia Etc by Kenneth Wilson

To begin our considerations, I would like to draw your attention to a recent article in New Scientist by Clare Wilson. In the article entitled Out of the Shadows, Wilson discusses aspects of the most recent thinking on schizophrenia. In the course of discussing the case of Peter Bullimore, a recovered schizophrenic, she points out that,

“The downsides [of medication] have always been seen as a necessary price to pay for relief from the condition’s devastating symptoms, but now that idea is being called into question. Not only are the side effects of these drugs worse than we thought; the benefits are also smaller.”[1]

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The Marketing Of Madness by Dina Poursanidou and Lou Rawcliffe

‘A Journey Into Light’?  Psychiatric Drug Promotion And The Marketing Of Madness by Dina Poursanidou and Lou Rawcliffe

Dina’s voice…
Last week, as part of carrying out research into women’s mental health at  Manchester University, a colleague and I visited  a Medium Secure Unit  for women in the North West for a meeting to discuss some training for mental health nurses on the sexual and reproductive health of  women  accessing  psychiatric  care.
Secure mental health services are defined as ‘specialist services providing treatment for adults with mental disorders including personality disorders that mean that they are at significant risk of harming themselves or others. In such services, patients are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983/2007 and many, but not all, will be convicted offenders. In this context, ‘secure’ relates to the range of physical, relational and procedural measures put in place to ensure the provision of a safe and secure environment in which to deliver treatment. Read more…

Media Headlines Concerning Mental Health Service Users In England By Dina Poursanidou

Looking at media headlines from 2011 and 2012 concerning users of mental health services in England evokes in me a strong, odd sense of living and operating in two parallel and contradictory universe a sense of paradox that brings to mind Alice and her transportation from the boredom of her riverbank reality (she was sitting with her sister at a riverbank, the story goes) to the adventurous fantasy world of Wonderland Read more…

Asylum: A Journey Through Madness and Back by Dina Poursanidou

How I became involved with the Asylum magazine and what such involvement has meant for me:  a journey through madness and back by Dina Poursanidou

My first encounter with the Asylum magazine occurred in the spring of 2010 – when the magazine was relaunched after a 3-year break. I was introduced to Asylum by Helen (Spandler), a friend and colleague from the University of Central Lancashire and member of the Asylum editorial collective, and I have been reading it religiously ever since. In the autumn of 2011 Helen asked me whether I would be interested in being involved in the Asylum editorial collective, stressing that ‘the collective is open to anyone who wants to help produce and develop the magazine, working in a spirit of equality’. I was pleased to be asked and I have been a member of the collective for about a year. Read more…