Radical Psychiatry/Mental Health is Alive and Well

For over forty years radical psychiatrists have been coming out with books refuting the "medical model", i.e. the idea that a biochemical dysfunction in the body is the cause of unhappiness, anxiety, depression or psychoses. Athough many doctors and others (such as the investigative reporter who wrote Crazy)will tell you that it has been "proven" that some or all of these problems are biochemically-caused, they are misguided. William Glasser's recent book Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health (Harper-Collins, 2003) is a good example of the work of aware psychiatrists. Other psychiatrists with similar books, to name a few, are Peter Breggin (founder of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology), Joseph Glenmullen, Terry Lynch, Thomas Szasz and John W. Perry.

Self-help groups (e.g. the California Network of Mental Health Clients), political and social action groups (spearheaded by MindFreedom International) and others have also been calling out for a mental "health" revolution for years. These groups as well as radical psychiatrists comprise the radical mental health movement. They call for dropping the medical model and replacing it with a model providing psychosocial explanations and solutions. These would primarily be psychosocial counseling, self-help/focus groups, to help people having psychological trouble due to psychosocial problems (e.g, spiritual, financial and relationship crises). For those having crises causing them to be unable to take care of themselves, or harmful to themselves or others many radical activists agree that confined residential monitoring may be necessary, but not in a hospital setting or with forced long-term medication.

The time has come to drop the medical model and all the harm it has done to people by stigmatizing them and forcing them to take medications with harmful side-effects. What ideas can our society come up with to proceed with this revolution in mental health ?

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS GOING THROUGH A MENTAL CRISES, AT THIS TIME YOU BASICALLY HAVE ONLY TWO ALTERNATIVES. YOU CAN EITHER ORGANIZE YOUR RADICAL FRIENDS TO MONITOR THIS PERSON 24/7 UNTIL THEY GET THROUGH THE CRISES, OR YOU CAN TAKE THEM TO A PSYCHIATRIC PROGRAM. UNFORTUNATELY, IF A PERSON IS IN SUCH A DIFFICULT STATE THAT THEY NEED CONSTANT MONITORING, HOSPITALS ARE THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE PROFESSIONAL CARE WHICH IS LEGAL AND AVAILABLE. PLEASE WRITE WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

Please post to this site if you can.