A Question Of Lunacy

Humanizing Madness
Psychiatry and the Cognitive Neurosciences
by Niall McLaren
Review by Lorna Lees-Grossmann on Jun 2nd 2009

http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=4934&cn=392

Recovery from Schizophrenia
An International Perspective: A Report from the WHO Collaborative Project, the International Study of Schizophrenia
by Kim Hopper, Glynn Harrison, Aleksandar Janca, Norman Sartorius (Editors)
Review by Terry Burridge on Jun 2nd 2009

http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=4933&cn=392

This is one of the performances of our movement (The author: Dmitry Kremnev. Participants: Dmitry Kremnev and Artyom Suslov)

(New Experimental Art)

1. In connection with the so-called global crisis art movement "POP-REVOLUTION"
(with the partial assistance of ART-REVOLUTION) and the artist Artyom Suslov
as well as several other free artists decided to create and implement the concept of
promotion of new art "Dyudrok."

The essence of this art is to re-establish the own way of avant-garde and surrealism.
Dyudrok included any avant-garde and modern art with blurred boundaries of genres and
unlimited fantasy of the author.

At the moment, the world economic system as well as world political system infringe
on the majority of rights, freedoms, opportunities and even hopes of man.
In this regard, decreasing the creative capacity of most people because
it decreases the level and scope of vision as well as the hope of translating its
into reality. At the time of the current crisis, a simple man forgets about high ideals,
he dreams at a low level. Dyudrok must to protect people from objective reality.
We believe - the objective reality that is at this level of crisis can and should move to
second place. We have the right to push it into second place if we give to the man a
new reality, which will carry the title of "objective". what is now "objective" will take
second place, or just disappear for a man.

Accordingly, we believe that everyone, regardless of his religious beliefs, his status in
the society, and regardless of the sanctions, which in future could be taken against the
"Dyudrok" has the right to go to the new reality at any time, partially or completely .

2. In our view, any human rights organization and any commission or authority that
to deal with human rights have the obligation to protect the right of every adult
in the transition, partial or complete, in a different reality.

3. If the man who entirely gone in a different reality according with the laws of this reality
can no longer be capable - this is his personal decision as the new reality does not contradict
the existing laws and not causing harm to anyone. Neither does the campaign leading cause harm.
No one is obliged to support the individual's life in old reality when he left a letter of
advice (note) with the signatures of witnesses.

4. The departure of a reality, as well as assistance in this, not an injury to humans,
because the only thing involved in this process - the human imagination.
But imagination does not belong to the bodi, as well as the experiments of the imagination
is not harmful for the rights of mental functions.
Accordingly, there is no room for any regulations on the intentional infliction of harm or death to
humans. Also note that imagination is fully subject to his master.

5. Relatives and friends of man who passed away in a different reality have the right to challenge the
decision through the courts or through the human rights organizations and and demand to return
him to the reality in which they are located. In doing so, c. 5 is partly contrary to the core - 1 item,
and further debate on this soil can be resolved only in the mutual agreement of the parties.

6. As Dyudrok is not limited with anything and depends only on the human imagination,
it does not conflict with any law and religious customs.

7. For the same reason (not limited and opportunity
giving own properties) Dyudrok and concept its development
and its veneration is not any organization or religion
nor the political movement. Because Dyudrok do not have its own symbols and beliefs.

The author of the Manifesto is Artyom Suslov.
Art - Movement "POP-REVOLUTION"
markigsturm(dog)bk.ru

Bonkers Institute

MSNBC has an article today on involuntary outpatient treatment. It focuses mainly on the cases of New York (Kendra's Law) and Virginia (reaction to Cho's murder-suicides).

Does anyone know of a resource describing states which do and do not currently allow involuntary outpatient treatment? Just curious.

Hardcastle advocates for a reclassification of the UFO extraterrestrial experience from pathological to normal. She bases this reclassification on 1.) the experience of quantum consciousness and 2.) the culture of contact evident in mainstream media coverage of UFOs such as Presidential Candidate, Dennis Kucinich’s, sighting and former Governor of Arizona, Fife Symington’s, press conference calling for full disclosure of UFO related military and government information.

Read short article here

Ex-patient reflects on his experiences. Starts out in a "what is reality" crisis and later interprets his experiences as misdiagnosis. I found them to be quite engaging short films either way.

Being Bonkers: Part 1

Being Bonkers: Part 2

Germany and Australia are home to two of the largest collections of art by psychiatric patients gathered from old asylums - the Prinzhorn and Cunningham Dax collections. The Nazis exploited the European works in their horrifying campaign against 'degenerate' art. But what are the ethics of displaying the art now? Are they clinical records, or orphaned creations? Some see them as diagnostic tools, others as deeply private expressions of tormented, incarcerated minds.

Listen, or Read Transcript of Part 1, here

Part 2, here

The Architecture of Madness
Insane Asylums in the United States
by Carla Yanni

The author examines the relationship between architecture and treatment in psychiatric hospitals over several centuries. There was a deep-seated belief that treatment should be provided in home-like surroundings, though many of the patients had lived in far worse conditions at "home" than in these hospitals.

Read review



The Story of Cruel and Unusual
by Colin Dayan

Colin Dayan's essay on the history of the understanding of cruel and unusual punishment was spurred by the Bush administration's push to allow torture of terrorists and the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Her approach is scholarly, but this is not a law journal article. Dayan is against torture, and she is highly critical of the way that the definition of torture has been narrowed so as to allow degrading treatment of prisoners without it being counted as torture.

Read review



Brain Science and Psychological Disorders
Therapy, Psychotropic Drugs, and the Brain
by F. Scott Kraly

Despite the truism that biology constitutes the substrate of human life, the link between the biology of the brain and the genesis of mental disorders is poorly understood and inadequately described. Even non-medical mental health clinicians, however, seem to have adopted a medical model of mental illness, where specific pathologies can be treated with specific medications (which have specific effects) and lead to specific changes in behavior and improvements in mood. There is a compelling profit motive to the search for such discreet causal chains for mental disorders. Despite this, there have not been notable successes in determining the medical causes for mental disorders.

Read review

Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry
Edited by Peter Stastny / Peter Lehmann

The book highlights alternatives beyond psychiatry, current possibilities of self-help for individuals experiencing madness, and strategies toward implementing humane treatment. 61 authors—(ex-)users and survivors of psychiatry, therapists, psychiatrists, lawyers, social scientists and relatives from all continents—report about their alternative work, their objectives and successes, their individual and collective experiences.

Publisher's information:

What helps me if I go mad? How can I find trustworthy help for a relative or a friend in need? How can I protect myself from coercive treatment? As a family member or friend, how can I help? What should I do if I can no longer bear to work in the mental health field? What are the alternatives to psychiatry? How can I get involved in creating alternatives? Assuming psychiatry would be abolished, what do you propose instead?

Those are some of the questions, which are addressed by the 61 authors—(ex-)users and survivors of psychiatry, medical practitioners, therapists, lawyers, social scientists, psychiatrists and relatives from all continents.

View Preface by Robert Whitaker, Introduction, & Table of Contents here -> (@ Peter Lehmann Publishing)