Madness Radio

How does the legacy of colonialism affect mental health in India? Are women’s rights, spiritual freedom, and ant-colonialism intertwined? Do women who choose a path of spiritual renunciation have the same freedom as men? Where are human rights more respected: in traditional temples, or in hospital locked wards? Bhargavi Davar’s mother Bapu was a psychiatric abuse survivor persecuted for her religious devotion. Bapu’s struggle inspired Bhargavi to found the Bapu Trust, where she leads advocacy for mental health reform and community development throughout Asia. Bhargavi is also a lead organizer with INTAR, the International Network Towards Alternatives for Recovery. www.baputrust.com http://bit.ly/1Mkn3u9 http://bit.ly/1TY2Ap0 http://bit.ly/25KXMp2 www.intar.org https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/12/03/india-women-disabilities-locked-away-and-abusedThe post Human Rights in India | Bhargavi Davar | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What if psychotic experiences express historical and intergenerational trauma? Does one person’s emotional crisis reach beyond their own individual mind? Could synchronicities and meaningful coincidences guide recovery instead of just being “symptoms”? Naas Siddiqui, a psychiatric survivor and therapist in training who founded the Spiritual Emergence and other Unusual Experiences student group, descended into altered states after withdrawing from psychiatric medications. She discovered how her Bangladeshi heritage shaped her madness, and found a unique pathway to use her visionary states to heal personal and family trauma. http://www.madinamerica.com/2015/10/transmuting-historical-trauma/ https://www.madinamerica.com/author/nsiddiqui/The post Intergenerational Trauma | Naas Siddiqui | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What if psychiatry recognized that schizophrenia does not exist? How might diagnostic categories (left over from the asylum era) be replaced by spectrums of experience that show how psychotic experiences can also be normal? What if services were oriented around individuals, not the statistical groups of “evidence based” research? And could the mental health system as we know it, which defines health as the absence of disease symptoms, be replaced with a new definition of health, health as empowerment in life? Jim van Os, professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology at Maastricht University and member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science with more than 700 publications, is one of the top one percent highly cited scientists in the world. His research combines with the experiential knowledge of people with lived experience of psychosis to envision a radically new direction for the mental health system. (Alternate 58 min version here.) https://www.madnessradio.net/files/SchizophreniaDoesNotExist-vanOs-BMJ.pdf https://www.madnessradio.net/files/HuberHowShouldWeDefineHealthbmjd4163.pdf http://www.brown.uk.com/schizophrenia/rossler.pdf http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/schizophrenia-reclassification_us_56b20834e4b01d80b2449334 http://bit.ly/1IYsEez WWW.PSYCHOSENET.NL TEDx “Connecting To Madness” http://bit.ly/tedxmtricht The post New Vision for Psychiatry | Jim van Os | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

The Families in Mental Health Crisis Act HR 2646 — The Murphy Bill — proposes drastic changes to US mental health policies. Will the Murphy Bill curb violence and improve care? Or will more forced treatment, medication, and hospitalization only enrich pharmaceutical and medical industry power and reinforce stereotypes at the expense of real human needs? Leah Harris, psychiatric abuse survivor and organizer for the Campaign for Real Change in Mental Health Policy, completed an investigative report on the Murphy Bill’s potential impact on people in crisis, how the gun manufacturer lobby is involved, and the role of Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. www.realmhchange.org http://www.ndrn.org/en/issues/mental-health/protect-paimi.html www.proteus.com/press-releases/u-s-fda-accepts-first-digital-medicine-new-drug-application-for-otsuka-and-proteus-digital-health/The post Stop The Murphy Bill | Leah Harris | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Is mental health about individual diseases, or the health of communities and countries as a whole? How do economic policies after the 2008 crisis impact disability rights, suicide rates, and community wellbeing? Are cuts in social spending really necessary for economic growth, or do they cause more problems in the long run? Guardian columnist Mary O’Hara, author of Austerity Bites, discusses the devastating impact of austerity economic policies in Europe, the scapegoating mindset behind social spending cuts, and the dangers of pursuing similar policies in the US and globally. http://www.theguardian.com/profile/maryohara www.austeritybitesuk.com http://m.mh.bmj.com/content/41/1/40.full http://bit.ly/Ot9hzgThe post Economic Austerity and Mental Health | Mary O’Hara | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Psychiatric survivor leader Oryx Cohen was at a national conference when a seizure suddenly launched him out of his body and into a visionary state of madness. Avoiding medications or hospitalization, friends held a hotel room vigil for Oryx for many sleepless nights, and then drove him 4 days across country to safety. What surprising lessons – about the usefulness of medications, support, spirituality, and his own trauma – did Oryx learn? How can the fear of manic psychosis turn into healing? http://healingvoicesmovie.com The post Journey Through Mania | Oryx Cohen | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Is thinking a cognitive process of information input and output? Or do consciousness and emotion take place in our bodies – animated, moving, and responsive to the environment? And what would Darwin think of today’s focus on brains and neuroscience – is there an evolutionary way to understand the mind instead? Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, dancer, philosopher, and author of more than 70 journal articles and 9 books, including The Corporeal Turn: An Interdisciplinary Reader, The Primacy of Movement, and The Phenomenology Of Dance, explores her understanding of the evolution of mind. http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Movement_as_a_Way_of_Knowing http://www.bodypsychyoga.com/Downloads_BCMT/ProgressiveRelaxation.pdf http://www.amazon.com/Putting-Movement-into-Your-Life/dp/149747695X  The post Evolution of Mind | Maxine Sheets-Johnstone | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Celebrated US President Abraham Lincoln also suffered from life-threatening depression. Did he view his “melancholy” as a treatable illness, as a punishment from God — or as a source of his gifts? How did Lincoln’s extraordinary leadership abilities arise from his struggle with extreme pain? Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness, explores the famous President’s battle with despair, suicide, and intense sorrow, and discusses what people with depression – and the medical establishment empowered to treat them – can learn from Lincoln’s suffering. www.shenk.net www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/10/lincolns-great-depression/304247/ www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/307439/ www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?lincoln-mccullough-civil-war-condolenceThe post Lincoln’s Depression | Joshua Wolf Shenk | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What if you were the only one seeing coded messages, covert realities, and elaborate plots all around you? Does that make you out of touch with reality, “paranoid” and “psychotic?” Or is it real — but you are just so upset that everyone thinks the problem is you instead? Tim Dreby, a psychotherapist and author in the San Francisco Bay Area, endured a life-threatening — and real — encounter with gangsters, police, and political conspiracy. He also survived a schizophrenia diagnosis, and today leads support groups for people facing overwhelming intuitions, coded messages, and conspiracies, helping them heal from trauma and regain control of their lives. fightingforfreedominamerica.wordpress.com outskirtspress.com/fightingforfreedominamerica https://www.facebook.com/Clyde-Dee-455156071353094/ http://amzn.to/1LIJrngThe post Special Messages | Tim Dreby | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

In schizophrenia really an “incurable illness” — or a state of chronic terror? Are there ways for psychotherapy to reach people in different realities? And can talk therapy offer a humane and empowering approach? Bert Karon, psychoanalyst since 1955, co-author of the classic textbook Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia, and Professor of Clinical Psychology at Michigan State University, outlines psychoanalysis and discusses how his talking cure helps people diagnosed psychotic and schizophrenic. http://psychrights.org/Research/Digest/Effective/BKaronTragedyofnoPsychotherapy4Schizophrenia.pdf http://bit.ly/ZxwwNk http://bit.ly/11CPtzOThe post Psychotherapy for Schizophrenia | Bert Karon first appeared on Madness Radio.