Wednesday 29 February 2012

I miss my cat

It isn't fair. She was the most positive thing in my daily existence. I never appreciated just how important the presence of my mangy moggy was.

I just had a sharp heart pang. I have many of these because I miss my feline friend. Her simplicity. Her sleeping next to me while I work away on my computer. Her walking over the keyboard to let me know who's boss - she always was.

I know she's safe and that's important but I want her here with me. No person will fill the void being without her for 2 months can ever fill. No thing. No replacement. She's my darling cat and I miss her.

Sent from my smartphone

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Tonight I feel less suicidal

But I still want to die, to end this lifetime.

Yes. I'm sure things can get better but worse is all there feels like. The evidence is things do get worrse and a lot worse. Here in my room trapped in the prison of poverty and feeling - rightly or wrongly - that there is no way out.

These may be false expectations of life - that life is anything but misery and false smiles. Fuck. So long since I have felt genuinely good. I can almost not remember.

Maybe that's why I want to die. So long is it since I've felt genuinely good about life or me or whatever.

Oh..but it isn't depression I'm going through. Only a doctor can tell me I'm miserable.

I get left to struggle on till I succeed in my only hope. Death.

Sent from my smartphone

Monday 27 February 2012

When I've hit rock bottom...

...there's always one more kick to make sure that I realise I don't know what rock bottom is.

I'm sitting here waiting for the wonderfully useful British Transport Police to turn up for something I did months ago. I don't know why they picked the moment I was going to bed. I was in the middle of writing an email saying I was in bed and off to sleep when they called.

It was a minor incident but they're going to come and see me. I'm sure they want a sober explanation. I've got nothing more of an explanation to give. Perhaps one of them will carry a gun but sadly I don't live in that sort of society. Actually..that is one good thing except when I feel like a need a gun to shoot myself.

This is a minor thing to happen but I don't need any more grief. I need a gun though or a needle full of morphine to end my life as soon as possible. I don't need this today but this is what life is like.

God I fucking wish I was dead.

Sent from my smartphone

RE: Music photos from 6 billion ways conference

I've just ordered a Canon 85mm 1.8 prime lens. Any feedback?

-----Original Message-----
From: Arj [mailto:arj.name@googlemail.com]
Sent: 25 February 2012 11:17
To: Diane Parker; Erica Crompton; Paul Baird; arj.name.blogsend@blogger.com; g.rasch@mind.org.uk; danny@solle.net
Subject: Music photos from 6 billion ways conference

Some of these are blurry because they were shot at a low shutter speed
but the fact that they're sharp at all is a testament to drinking while
taking photos. I was shooting at a tenth the required shutter speed -
some are at 1/20s instead of 1/350s - but had about 6-8 pints by the
time the live music was on. The technique is to firmly support the lens
with one hand, find any form of support around and shoot on continuous
shoot once an image has been composed. It's still very hard but the beer
helps to steady the hand as well as Image Stabilisation technology. It
takes a lot of luck too.

Sunday 26 February 2012

Why don't suicidal people seek help?

If they're smart enough to want to die they're smart enough to realise there's no help. There's just hell.

Sent from my smartphone

If anyone asked me why I wanted to die...

...I might ask what was wrong with them. Why don't they want to die when they see and feel shit.

Some don't. The deluded ones are lucky. They can perceive goodness when there is no goodness. They can feel joy at their own self agrandisement. Ever small step of progress is like an ocean of positivity for them. Twats.

This world is wretched and this life is better off ceased than continued. There is so much ill in my life and a bullet to the head would solve it all.

Oh joy...to sleep forever. Fuck this waking shit.

Sent from my smartphone

Saturday 25 February 2012

Music photos from 6 billion ways conference

Some of these are blurry because they were shot at a low shutter speed
but the fact that they're sharp at all is a testament to drinking while
taking photos. I was shooting at a tenth the required shutter speed -
some are at 1/20s instead of 1/350s - but had about 6-8 pints by the
time the live music was on. The technique is to firmly support the lens
with one hand, find any form of support around and shoot on continuous
shoot once an image has been composed. It's still very hard but the beer
helps to steady the hand as well as Image Stabilisation technology. It
takes a lot of luck too.

Friday 24 February 2012

I hope for a terminal illness

Sent from my smartphone

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Fwd: [Enusp] CZECH REPUBLIC MUST STOP CAGING HUMAN BEINGS - FINAL PRESS RELEASES

Hi all

I've not read this because my internet access is limited to a smartphone. It is about cage beds. If you don't know what they are please Google it. They are what the words mean and they're still used in the Czech Republic.

This is a press release. Please forward it to anyone who can do something about these attrocities or anyone who just cares about the suffering of another human being. This is what psychiatry does to people in other countries and it is heartbreaking.

Increase the peace

Arj

Sent from my smartphone

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Debra Shulkes" <debra.shulkes@gmail.com>
Date: 22 Feb 2012 17:04
Subject: [Enusp] CZECH REPUBLIC MUST STOP CAGING HUMAN BEINGS - FINAL PRESS RELEASES
To: "ENUSP ALL" <Enusp@nogcson.lautre.net>

Dear everyone,

These are the final versions of ENUSP's  press releases calling on the Czech govt to stop caging and killing distressed people.

Please use these versions and help us to get the facts out about what is happening to our brothers and sisters in the Czech psychiatric system. 

These versions contain a link to the only English-language story published about the case of this anonymous woman, left to die inside a psychiatric cage a few weeks ago.

The Czech Republic is quite confident that the caged bed scandal has gone away, and it can continue to treat psychiatric patients as it pleases.

Please - let's prove them wrong. Send messages  to the Czech govt and to Czech embassies around the world - For a list of embassies, please see here: http://www.myczechrepublic.com/embassy_visa/czech_embassy.html

Thank you very much especially to Erveda Sansi and Tomás López Corominas for translations, to Jasna for her brilliant last-mind formatting, to Stefan Bandol and Piotr Iwaneyko for protesting to Czech embassies, and to Michal for getting the truth out.  Please send us any comments or questions at all. -Debra

 'He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. '- Martin Luther King Junior

_______________________________________________
Enusp mailing list
Enusp@nogcson.lautre.net
https://listes.lautre.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/enusp

Monday 20 February 2012

Fwd: Celebrating Kurt Cobain's 45th birthday through happy photos

Sent from my smartphone

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Flavorpill" <no-reply@flavorpill.com>
Date: 20 Feb 2012 15:04
Subject: Celebrating Kurt Cobain&apos;s 45th birthday through happy photos
To: <arj.name@googlemail.com>

Music

Pictures of Kurt Cobain Looking Happy

Today would have been the 45th birthday of legendary grunge hero Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide at age 27 to the despair of the world at large. Though we know there were many times in his life when he was a happy, goofy guy, he very publicly struggled with depression, addiction, and illness, and when you think of Cobain, you tend to think of a doleful guy barely looking out from behind his matted blond locks. So, to celebrate the good times in Cobain's life, we've collected a series of photographs with family, friends, and bandmates, where the guy just looks really happy. Because that's how we'd like to remember him. Read more »
Personalize your articles

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We've teamed up with the Toyota Camry to send one lucky art lover and a friend on a trip to attend the 2012 Armory Show in NYC, with a prize package including round-trip airfare, a three-night hotel stay, and full passes for the four-day event. You'll even attend the gala kickoff party at MoMA, featuring an exclusive performance by Neon Indian. Enter to win »
Art

Noise of Art's Phenomenal Psychedelic Curiosity Show

Ben Osborne's Noise Of Art collective has built up an enviable reputation over seven years for putting on cutting-edge club events and this steampunk-meets-'60s-flower-power mash-up looks like no exception. Headlining are the Phenomenal Handclap Band, over from NYC for a live performance of tracks taken from their brilliant and varied new LP, Form & Control (Tummy Touch). Support is provided by Ben, the People Pile, Overlap and Your Mum. Read more »
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Saturday 18 February 2012

PLoS ONE: Female Fertility Affects Men's Linguistic Choices

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0027971

Sent from my smartphone

PLoS ONE: Attitudes Towards End-of-Life Decisions and the Subjective Concepts of Consciousness: An Empirical Analysis

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0031735

Sob...thankfully this is a deeply flawed study of attitudes. It is a sample of mainly female students. Older people and males may have different attitudes.

The results are interesting but saddening. Those who believe in free choice waiver about the free choice over witholding treatment depending on how vegetative a person is. Free choice like sanctity of life are both pure opinions but those who believe in sanctity of life believe strongly whereas those in this study who believe in free choice vary their judgement according to the state the individual is.

Sob. I just want to die. This is no life I want to live and never would want to again.

Sent from my smartphone

I just don't want to live any more

There's no point repeating it. There is no solution but one.

Sent from my smartphone

Digital exclusion 2

The exclusions faced by poor and vulnerable people are extensive but the age of computing offers many avenues to overcoming the problems of poverty. This is so valued by the technology industry that the One Laptop Per Child project has driven down the price of computer access in the Third World, but there is no equivalent in developed world nations.

The OLPC project orginially tasked itself with creating a sub-$100 laptop designed around the constraints of living in Africa or other poor parts of the world. It had to be very low power and have special mesh networking to enable it to be used in remote regions. The project has also developed a cheap tablet device too.

The phone I'm using meets the criteria for the OLPC project. Software can enable mesh networking and the very low power remit is easily met. Without it I would be bereft of communication and internet.

With Ebay software I can buy secondhand goods or shop online which significantly reduces my costs. Buying new clothes for example is a significant expense. I'm in need of a laptop and this too is much cheaper purchased second hand.

With Pulse Newsreader I have basic access to world news and other media. This is all for free as long as my bandwidth limit isn't reached whereupon I will have to pay higher charges to get any data.

I can use internet radio to listen to music, again for free, and keep in touch with email or free text messaging services. If I had access to a free wireless internet service I could make free international calls using Skype or GoogleTalk.

There are many other free and pay for applications which I can use from this small handheld device which is barely bigger than a packet of cigarettes. For example 3D Brain software allows me to learn about the functions of the brain while I sit here in my poverty trap.

There are of course limitations but what I have is more than most people in this situation and all made possible through overcoming the obstacle of digital exclusion. Full internet access and a laptop would reduce many of these barriers for example I could start applying for jobs properly and read much more than I can using this tiny screen.

I have a high level of computer expertise and this is one of the strengths which allows me to overcome the barriers of digital exclusion using basic equipment such as this old smartphone. I have high computer literacy, something which many people lack regardless of their financial circumstances. A lack of computer literacy is another component in digital exclusion and in the future may be regarded as a mental illness like learning disabilities; it is my hope that future interfaces will be highly intuitive and so this will not be the same cause of disadvantage as poor numerical or literary skills.

It seems there is little work or progress in the area of overcoming digital exclusion. Herein lies a big problem for the poor and disadvantaged. There is no universal scheme in developed world nations such as the UK to help those at the bottom overcome the problems of lack of access to digital technology. It still requires knowledge, capital investment and ongoing costs which are out of the scope of most of the rest of the people in my situation.

When I say my situation I mean poor, alone, supported by the welfare state, suicidal and one step above homelessness. A month ago I was detained in a psychiatric ward. If I didn't have this phone my life would be much, much worse off.

Sent from my smartphone

Thursday 16 February 2012

The hope of the termination of life is a wonderful thing

For those who want it and need it, like me.

That we are subjugated and oppressed is another reason to die. It is funny how the current 'help' for suicide...is what mental healthcare offers. Funny in the sense that it is worth crying over. It is just men who want to die have no tears left to shed.

Sent from my smartphone

Arguments for assisted suicide

First and foremost, people are born with the right to take their life.

This is not enshrined in law but suicide is no longer criminalised. In practice those who assist others in their death, for example compassionate doctors who secretly and regularly terminate the lives of those already close to death, are rarely if ever prosecuted.

Few outside the medical profession understand that doctors do illegal things like killing patients who have terminal illnesses. It is rarely spoken about and doctors know how to administer death in such a way that it looks like an accident or is undetectable.

Switzerland leads the way in the legalised method of assisted suicide. The country recognises people have the capacity to make a decision to have their life taken and they have compassionate medical professionals who are willing to help those who others won't help.

I want this help. I want to die. I am sick of life. This is a crescendo which has quickened to the state where I pray for death almost every night and those nights I don't aren't because I'm happy nor want to live the next day.

If someone said they would kill me today I would thank them and give them everything I have - which isn't much - to do it. Even if I had a lot I would give it so someone would be decent enough to kill me.

I am aware that suicide is one of the symptoms of mental illness but this doesn't meant I don't have the capacity to understand my decision. In fact I am now in reciept of treatment but nothing takes away my desire to die.

If nothing takes away this desire and desperate need for my life to end then what do I have left? Am I to live a living hell until I kill myself? To last day after day hoping one of my organs fails and I never wake?

No. Not I. Not anyone. No one but those who have to live this hell of wanting to die can know just how bad it can be. Some might disagree with me about my desire for a legal assisted suicide but it is a difference of opinion and not a fact.

The fact is there is no legal assisted suicide for the mentally ill or for anyone without a terminal illness. It leaves me trapped on the mortal plane which I no longer want. I want to die so much and so often. I don't want to follow through my plan. I don't want to wait nor show I've tried nor show my understanding that things can get better and to wait for it.

I want death. I no longer want to live. I am so tired of this shit of a life. No one can help and all the system wants to do is imprison me in a psychiatric ward or leave me without therapy when I fucking asked for help with suicide 2 fucking years ago.

The problem is there is no help. No drugs. No therapy on the NHS or otherwise. I had a plan but I just want to give up. My plan was the worst plan. It was left for me to suffer for 4 years but it was with the hope of termination at the end. Even this seems hopeless and my situation now is shit and I've fucking had enough of all of this.

Fuck this. I need a drink. And probably a shot...to the head.

Sent from my smartphone

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Psychosanology and schizophrenia

Psychosanology is the antithesis of psychopathology. It seeks to look at wellness of the mind and, in my hope, seeks to understand the interplay between wellness and illness.

It is particularly relevant for the construct of schizophrenia because it has been heavily researched by psychopathologists - or psychiatrists by other language - who employ pseudoscientific technqiues to justify their belief that these human types are medically ill.

This and other factors perjoratise schizophrenia and the label itself to the point where a nation - Japan - and a worldwide movement would seek to change the label rather than concentrate their efforts elsewhere.

I am against this because I am against shifting language and prefer to make concepts scientific. By scientific I mean to make these labels objective and without colours of meaning, for example though an electron has a "negative" property this is not pejoratised and the particle serves a very useful purpose which is recognised by the science of electricity.

There exist psychosanological research into schizophrenics though there is a general dearth of it. Promisciousness, creativity and altruism are all associated with the dopamine receptor in single studies. Spirituality often goes hand in hand with recovery from schizophrenia. Altruistic people like Gandhi or Jesus are of the schizophrenic type - both had auditory hallucinations.

Not a lot of people know this and this includes psychiatrists as well as patients, politicans and the public. These 4 P's often have negative assumptions because of the research focus on seeking negativity. There is less work done in researching and educating people about psychosanology and schizophrenia.

This may seem pointless except, in my opinion, this is the only way to make mental health scientific. Beyond my own desire for the truth this also provides the 4 P's with a positive view of the concept, a view which is better than changing the label. The latter might work in the short term until people realise that the new name is the same as the old one in that it refers to the same concept.

Bleuler changed the name from dementia praecox because he changed the concept of schizophrenia away from unitary psychosis which is what Kraeplin perceived. This is when a change of name is useful though still unnecessary.

The key thing is the concept. I know the prognosis for schizophrenia can be awful in developed world nations but it doesn't have to be this way. This is partially due to the mental health system, partly the sociological factors and other stuff too. What is key is there is value to schizophrenics and there is positivity to their type.

They're not just crazies. Schizophrenics have affected the course of civilisation and without them we would all still be a bunch of heartless savages who live by "survival of the fittest" Darwinian evolutionary rules.

From Moses to Muhammed and all the other crazy religious types who preached advancement there have been examples of the massive value to countless generations. It is only in modern times where these sorts of people have pseudoscience applied to their type to say they're mentally ill.

Psychiatry needs to wake up and see the value of schizophrenics. Those diagnosed with schizophrenia need to know that there are positive traits and they are suffering a classic form of suppression and subjugation of a valid and important human type: themselves.

Sent from my smartphone

Yesterday was a heavy bout of suicidality

What triggered it? I dealt with a comment on the blog about a type of drug which is often used in an suicide cocktail. Then I had to deal with housing and it isn't a good process for me. It reminds me of another time my life collapses. It feels like the cycle is repeating. I really wanted to end it myself yesterday. I'm sure the bottle and a half of wine I had throughout the day - over a 9 hour period - didn't help except to bring the truth of my inner feelings to the fore. I have this blog to safely externalise rather than internalise it like I have been this year. The internalisation isn't a safe way because it leaks and the pressure builds up. Writing these emails helps me to deal with it and rather than a secret diary the blog means they exist somewhere in the real world rather than being concealed to a private expression.

I wish I was dead. That's all I need to say really.

Sent from my smartphone

Tuesday 14 February 2012

If if cared about risk factors I woukd up mine today

But I don't and I'm okay. Scar me life. No less than I've been through before.

Sent from my smartphone

I suppose the one pleasure I have is death

The hope and the expectation of death. I smile glibbly but also with heart felt warm too at the thought. Death. Such a wonderful thought.

Sent from my smartphone

Of course it can get worse

A new place. It has everything but what I need to eat. Oh yeah. A cooker and fridge freezer and even my own fridge freezer. From cups to pans and plates though. Lol. No wonder the homeless stay homeless.

It will get better. This is just not what I needed right now. I don't even have bed covers or a quilt. It is amazing just how expensive this place is for so little...but no wonder. Government is full of twats. Guess a night on the floor is what I deserve. Thank fuck for booze. Hopefully I should pass out before I can realise just how shit this all is.

Sent from my smartphone

Why is there no specfic treatment for suicidality?

A big part of the problem is the need for clinical diagnoses, especially in America but also in my personal experience in the UK.

Two years ago I went for help but there was none for me. Instead they pointed at what therapists want to believe and said it was all down to alcohol and cannabis, and refused me treatment unless I did what I was told and went to an addiction service.

The problem is there is no specific treatment for suicide. There's antidepressant and various other options for someone who fits in with the expected look of someone who is suicidal and the presentation of symptoms acknowledged as depression. Outside this there is no help from the formal mental healthcare system.

No treatment nor guidance has been written either partially because of the need for a diagnosis and partially because there is no solution to suicidality. There are ways to reduce the completed and unsuccessful suicide rate in people with specific disorders but no help nor treatment - in my personal experience - for living day after day wanting to die.

This is why I have to face this alone. There is nothing else. There are experts perhaps and I will have to find them but each has their own answer which may not be mine.

This is the problem of sucidality and treatment. There is no one size fits all approach. Except one. Assisted suicide. I hope I get it legalised soon.

Sent from my smartphone

To die..

Perchance to be reborn again
To end this hell,
This painful cycle
To rest eternal and sleep evermore

To cut the mortal coil
Which binds me to suffering
To slice the chain of torment
Of life and of living as I

The endless struggle
Forever ceased
The light at the end of the dark tunnel
The hope, the hope which my death brings

Sent from my smartphone

Compassion and assisted suicide

Few understand what true compassion is. True compassion is what is offered to animals but not humans, at least with respect to assisted suicide.

An animal would not be left to suffer in pain or as its body detoriarates beyond a certain point. Owners would either be kind enough to kill it or let it live on because they love it so much that they would force it to live while it suffers.

This is all legal and animals are commonly assisted in their death when their owners are compassionate enough to end their suffering.

Humans are, of course, different. They can suffer complex emotional pain which is harder to treat than physical pain. Physical pain can be easily taken away with ever higher doses of painkillers. The emotional pain which precipitates suicide can't be drugged away easily and can be caused by the very drugs which are meant to stop depression.

Peope can suffer with wanting to die for years and decades without hope of a solution. There is no therapy which directly addresses the single symptoms of emotional pain which leads to suicide (it isn't depression) nor suicidal ideation once it starts. A person is left to suffer endlessly and their attempts to end their life in a peaceful, humane way are thwarted by the suicide prevention sorority/fraternity because there is no understanding.

The compassion extended to animals - loved animals - will one day be extended to human beings but until then we live in the loveless world which causes people to want to die in the first place.

Sent from my smartphone

My assisted suicide plan

It is a horrible one.

I want a legal assisted death and I have to campaign for it or lobby or do whatever it takes though ultimately I may take my life without it.

I'm ahead of the times in this respect but I know assisted suicide will be legalised.

My plan involves 4 years between decision to die and termination. This circumvents any question of capacity. Anything can happen in 4 years. During the 4 years I have to seek solutions and strive to not want to take my life.

This is the sickness of the plan and why I hate it. 4 years is too long. Having to fight this every day when I have the capacity to understand my decision now is a terrible curse.

I am open about it enough for me to risk psychiatric imprisonment in a couple of years solely on the risk of me taking my life. This is more of the shit which makes me want to die.

It is a plan I would not foist on anyone who wants to die. 4 years more of life is shit beyond shit when a person just wants to die. I know this too well. The problem is we live in a time where people do not have the compassion to end a life, only drag out the pain eternally. I also have enough understanding of life to know things can change and suicidality can go into spontaneous remission...as easily as I can decide one day that I want to kill myself and do something about it rather than have true compassion shown by someone who would end my life for me.

Sent from my smartphone

Silent expression of suicidal feelings

Anyone who knows this blog will have seen the repeated posts about suicide and suicidal feelings.

These are not silent expressions but to the rest of the world they are. I don't externalise my suicidality very often in my daily life because most of it ends up here and through this safe channel.

This may be a useful technique for other people who have to live with a deathwish or constant suicidal feelings. This is sort of like keeping a diary as well as an online notepad of my thoughts.

Expressing suicide is important I think because bottling it forever is so hard, but so is talking about it. It isn't just the risk factor of talking about it with healthcare professionals who have the capability to section me. It is the problem of talking about suicide to friends or other people in my circle.

Suicidal feelings is something people will understand through having been through them, not understand but still have been through them or not understand at all. it is easier for me to keep it here where it is safe.

Sent from my smartphone

Why didn't I take antidepressants when offered in the psychiatric ward?

I started 2012 in a psychiatric ward as a psychiatric prisoner. The first few days I was a total wreck. Sobbing and withdrawn or angry and unstable.

They offered me antidepressants along with the other medication I now take. I refused the antidepressants which may seem a strange thing to do.

The simple reason was my life was shit. My situation was shit. Everything was shit. I was trapped in a psychiatric ward with little money at the end of a very bad year and the start of what I expect will be little different.

This sounds like a good reason to take antidepressants but I didn't think so. It is normal to feel bad when things are bad. It isn't a question of fitting the clinical diagnosis of depression. It is life circumstances and the environment being shit so the natural emotional reaction is to feel awful. This is exactly how I felt but it is a human response not a spurious and incomprehensible feeling.

I have recovered and my circumstances are a little better, better than shit. I am without a fixed abode but this is being resolved soon too. I don't feel positive about the future nor do I feel good about positive changes like moving from being a detained patient to being in a recovery/crisis house nor getting a more permanent place to live. I feel few pleasures if any, but I can laugh and joke and pretend things are okay and maintain the facade of normality. I can talk and smile and communicate and interact most of the time.

Inside I don't feel good and I'm praying for death every night. This morning I woke up feeling bleak even though I'm a step closer to a better life. Perhaps it was just forcing myself to get up earlier or perhaps it is depression which doesn't fit the expected symptoms or presentation.

The key thing is when I feel antidepressants are appropriate. As things are getting better I should be feeling better. Positive events should be making me happier, in the short term at least. They're not though and I don't know why. My emotional responses are not as I would expect them and I'm tired of feeling shit.

I can feel good though even if it is short lasting. I still have this part of my emotional range. It is just most of the time I don't feel good and perhaps my emotional range is skewed by prolonged misery, I.e. my version of feeling good is another person's unhappiness and my unhappiness would kill someone else.

Sent from my smartphone

Sunday 12 February 2012

The death of a thousand cuts

This resonates with causes of suicide. It isn't one thing or one trigger which leads a lot of people to take their life or want to kill themselves. There may be a hair which breaks the camels back but, if it is okay to use two metaphors, this is the last cut of a thousand which drives a person to kill themselves.

This may not make sense to those who manage to survive what life throws at them. These same cuts don't make a person bleed like a sensitive person might do. They're grazes rather than cuts. This doesn't mean those tough and insensitive people aren't oblivious to the pain of life but they feel it differently or they weather it better.

This doesn't take away from the factors which drive a person to take their life. I would guess it is the repeated blows to the mind, heart or soul which soften it and leave it vulnerable to one last cut which ends up being that last thing too much.

This is perhaps why understanding why people kill themselves is hard. People expect simple answers. It should be for one reason. Not several.

The thousand cuts makes sense as an analogy because it is often these many cuts which cause the misery which leads to clinical depression. Suicidal ideation is just one of the 8 or 9 possible symptoms but the things which lead up to depression are often as multifaceted as the things which lead to suicide.

And then one day the last cut happens. People focus on this one cut but there will be many other harms to the individual's psyche which lead to the death of a thousand cuts.

Sent from my smartphone

Can psychiatric labels be abolished?

They will be one day. They will no longer exist because psychiatry's suppression and subjugation of human types will no longer exist nor will their be a need to homogenise the human race. Human difference will no longer be a cause of distress or disability.

Until that day a labelling system is necessary, perhaps. I'm so tired of thinking that I'm barely thinking straight. I can't think of another possibility but a scientific one, one which requires labels to assign the right 'truth' but perhaps this is a sign of my simplicity and the internal wasteland of my mind.

Unhappiness is, after all, a mental health label which makes it pretty much a psychiatric label or should be. It is effectively medicalised by psychiatry but isn't recognised as this, especially in the diagnosis of depression. When people need to label their misery they label.

The shapes and sizes of misery are the human types which have been identified as psychiatric labels using brain studies. These show different human types and different stages in people's lives. My misery is wanting death so I'm a suicidal type. Take this label away doesn't remove my identity nor does it say much about me other than I want to die. I am not unique in this respect and I am unique as me.

So why abolish the label? Well some people don't like them. They are sensitive to self stigma. I was once. Other people can be prejudiced about mental health labels too. They can also not know how to treat someone who is suicidal. They may end up treating them with 'kid gloves' rather than treat them like a human being.

This is why labels are a problem. They can stop people treating other people as human beings and equally. This is a sad state of affairs.

This is the reality of today but there is another reality. Doctors - or anyone seeking to treat a human being - need a label to direct their activities and make them meaningful. "Human being" is an important but irrelevant label for treatment because the right treatment can't be assigned for the individual.

The mental health system and psychiatric science is deeply flawed even beyond the fundamentals. This doesn't constitute a reason to make the system less scientific nor to abolish labels to assign the right treatment for an individual, not unless there is a mental health panacea which can be offered by the formal mental healthcare system. Unconditional love, for example, is not available on prescription.

There's the rub really. There is no panacea and without a one solution fits all there need to be labels. The ultimate labelling system would refine the label down to single label: the name given to the individual. The technology of mental health is far from getting close to being able to provide this sort of solution, let alone the solutions to my deathwish.

In the interim there still needs to be those stinking labels of human difference and pain.

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Saturday 11 February 2012

Dating and living with a death wish

No one could understand how hard this is. Even new friendships are hard. Thankfully I think I've ostracised enough people and damaged enough relationships that my death will be painful for only a few people. It is final release for me.

In the interim though it is very difficult for me. I think it is hard for anyone who has read this blog and sees the person I am in person. The rational side of me thinks I should stay alone to do least harm to people. The problem is I can't survive like that. In means I've ended up in relationships and making new friendships to replace the ones I end up destroying for other reasons.

I'm going to meet an ex-girlfriend now and this is what I'm worrying about. My stomach is sick for other reasons and I'm clinging on to stop myself exploding with suicidal vomit. Thankfully I have this safe outlet for when things get really tough.

Living with a deathwish is hell for so many reasons, not least of which is meeting someone wonderful I would want to spend more time with and get serious about only to be trapped by the responsibilities of knowing I have a deathwish and hoping that one day someone will kill me. This is the pain few could understand.

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Friday 10 February 2012

I feel sick

Is this what normal feels like? So empty of ideas and inspiration and something to write about. To be devoid of creation. Is this what automotons are?

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The legalisation of assisted suicide is such an obvious idea

It is mind bogglingly simple as a way to reduce the completed suicide rate.

6,000 people a year successfully take their lives and suicide prevention - for all its unethical practices - has done little to reduce this. Part of the reason is the process which a person goes through. They don't talk about it. They don't hold on or wait till things get better. There's no option for healthcare apart from if they are unsuccessful. There is nothing anyone can do.

There is if people know they can go somewhere to be killed. There is hope for suicide prevention when this is available and everyone knows about the 4 year wait. 4 years is a long time for anyone who wants to die and this is the only flaw in the idea.

It is an ample length of time to ensure the person has capacity and that they know things can get better. It is time to build resilience and whatever else. It is time for the person to ensure they are sure that self termination is what they want. It also offers ample time for people to discover why people want to die.

The right to die is a basic right and this system is still flawed but it is moderate enough to persuade people today to be truly compassionate and end my fucking life.

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I wish I was dead

I'm sure some people do too.

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An army of suicidologists

Or For the suicidal by the suicidal.

1 in 6 in the UK seriously think of killing themselves at some point in their lifetime. 6,000 a year take their life and many more attempt.

These statistics are the most awful ones in the modern world for this simple reason: these are the figures of how many sentient, consciousness organisms want to cease their existence.

I can't explain how bad this. The gift a human being has is conscious thought and self awareness. They have more than animals or anything else in our solar system.

In the developed world many also have wealth and a good standard of life quality. Their basic needs are met but higher needs clearly aren't.

People must understand what it takes for a sentience to want to cease consciousness. It is the greatest pain. The worst suffering. It is not a lack of capacity nor a mental illness. It is hell on Earth - a personal hell - which drives any individual to want to cease their conscious existence.

Conscious existence isn't all about joy and an easy life of course but clearly it is about too much internal, personal pain for someone to want to die. Just one person. That 1 in 6 in a lifetime want to end their life at some point is a damning indictment on everything and every one of us.

There must be a solution and if there isn't then there's a solution. Those who want to die and survive can join an army, an army of suicidologists. These are people cursed with trying to tackle one of the greatest problems in the developed world.

This is not suicide prevention as it is today because this is a dirty technique. This is beyond it. This is ceasing the pain which drives people to want to take their lives and understanding the psyche of individuals and their pains such that they want to cease their conscious existence.

This is no easy task and there is one even harder challenge: applying the lessons learned. Knowing the ethical standards of mental healthcare and current suicide prevention makes me fear what this could involve so there needs to be a strict framework.

Assisted suicide also needs to be legalised. This is an imperative. The suicidal must not be allowed to die alone nor have to use shitty methods. They must not have their wishes implicitly criminalised. Self termination is the ultimate right and it is the highest form of compassion. It already happens in the UK unregulated and with few prosecutions but the 'compassionate' still try to block it and censor information about it.

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Thursday 9 February 2012

Being born in a poor, disadvantaged background

Why the fuck isn't ths a mental illness?

I will always remember my old friend Steven Okon. He attended one of the top schools in the UK. It was very posh but he wasn't. He was from a broken home. I met him next in a children's home.

What was his impairment? Being born poor. At the age of 10 he excelled so much he broke through the barriers to get a fully assisted place at the top 5 school we both went to. He wasn't filling any tick box. He was talented in ways which I will never be almost 25 year on. He was poor though.

He didn't fit in. He was cool but alone and, perhaps, aloof. He distanced himself from all but a few people and eventually left this top private school in the first year. I met him again when my impairments were signficiant such that my family decided to throw me out. I met him in a children's home and he was in a system which didn't help him out of the trap of disability. He was a looked after child and his life was less ordinary when it needn't have been.

I hate arguing about his value for society but his value was mountains of cash. I would argue the loss to the individual is far greater. He deserved the fullest life opportunities just like any damn soul.

Argh. I get so damn tired or arguing the same shit. Born equal, die equal. What happens in between better be the same.

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Stuff on schizo-

Distress and disability

Some suffer little distress but have high levels of disability and vice versa. Some suffer extremes of distress and disability. Others don't.

The assumption is psychopathology and disability go together as the same continuum of mental health but I don't think this is true. I think they need to be separated because in some cultures and settings high levels of psychopathology don't meet with high levels of disability. Bentall's criticisms also challenge the validity and reliability of the research which adds fuel to the idea of the separation between psychopathology and disability.

This createa a triple continua model but I think this is wrong. This is wrong because I disagree with psychopathology. It is meant to reduce disability but in practice doesn't. Many people still suffer disability and this is broader than the labelling system of psychopathology. The disability and its rectification is the important thing but seeing disability doesn't need psychiatric labels or diagnosis. It is the worse life many people live when it needn't be a worse life. This is the product of the determinants of social disability and equality discrimination.

I would love to see a disability rectifcation system which encompasses all disadvantage but it can not be medicalised. If it was then black skinned people will be turned white by doctors. A disability rectification system unites the fight for all equality if the definition of disability disregards psychopathology and just seeks to understand how anyone becomes disadvantaged, and resolve it such that equality discrimination no longer exists.

It is prejudice and discrimination which creates the need for a psychiatric system to define psychopathological labels in the first place. This is the root of The Great Confinement but why it had to happen - to deal with those outcast and disadvantaged by social prejudice and discrimination against different human types, types such as those labelled with dementia praecox or manic depression way back in the day.

Before the mentally ill there were black skinned people who suffered the inequities of 'civilised' society. Slavery ended but it took the black rights struggle to bring a modicum of equal treatment in the 20th century. Today black skinned people still have to survive disadvantage and psychiatric oppression in the UK and US, and other countries too. This creates worse life outcomes which could be seen as disability and may create traumas which express as the symptoms of the modern 'definition' (it varies so much in clinical practice that it can't be considered as a defined concept) of schizophrenia.

And don't even get me fucking started on the distress. Fuck me. The greatest challenge is solving distress, especially subjective distress. I don't think positivisitic scientific methods are ready to be applied to subjective self reported unwellness. Perhaps the people have the answer rather than the scientists because many scientists are pretty unhappy.

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I'm officially recognised as homeless yesterday

Thankfully in the UK it means I'm not on the streets. The technical term for this is rooflessness. I'm warm and in a recovery house. Soon I will be moving to temporary accomodation then who knows where my shitty life will go.

There is a positive side. My revenge. My parents will never see my again. It isn't true revenge though. It is sensible to cut out a cancer and remove them from my life. I'm sure I will be cut out of their will and my sister can enjoy it all. I don't want their dirty money nor their shit in my life.

I just miss my little cat. My life is so lonely without waking up with her around. She's a mangey moggy but she's the best. She is pure.

Right now I am low though. At least it can't get any worse...or can it?

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Wednesday 8 February 2012

Applied social psychiatry

Like...der and stuff. What is the future of mental health? Read the title.

Social psychiatry is all theory but its application will change the prognosis and/or disability - in my opinion - more than a century of suppression of psychopathology.

It worked for mobility disabilty. Lifts and ramps as well as wheelchairs. Lifts and ramps are installed because of a legal requirement. This is applied social medicine. Mental disability needs this sort of shit.

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I wonder what people would think of me..

...if they knew I pray for death every night this year. Or almost. One night I forgot.

This is yet another reason why I hate god. I wish I was never born.

Tortured by humans and tortured by god. All others see is the outside.

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Digital exclusion and mental illness

Mental illness and other disabilities come with recognised factors of exclusion but digital exclusion is little known or considered. This surprises me because many of the advances of the modern digital age are made possible through digital computer technology, from digital TV to the internet.

It is too easy to forget just what technology makes possible. Those who know how to use it can live a cheaper, fuller life and the opposite of this is what exclusion creates: a life less lived.

Digital creates opportunities from social networks and communciations to apply for jobs and finding housing. These are all areas where mental illness already creates exclusion. Lack of access to the digital world makes things worse.

Digital is also a new form of literacy. Language and arithmetic skills are assets of the Industrial Age. Computer and technological skills are assets at the end of the IA and the start of the next wave of civilisation's evolution. It is a new form of illiteracy and, I would guess, the digitally illiterate are more often mentally ill. In the future there may even be a new learning disability not related to IQ or a diagnosis not of dyslexia but of slow learning or in using a computer.

I live a life with a high level of worse outcomes compared to my peers - my family and many of my friends. The one thing which keeps my head above water is my digital literacy which usually excels. This may create a bias in my thinking but it may also help me see a problem for others in my situation.

I am able to live a reasonable life because I use the internet to shop for things, live cheap but spend on things which I want. I live frugally but with luxuries others don't have who are reduced to my quality of life.

I've been at the bad end of things till I learned to live poor and live well. It is still shit though. No one should have to go through this shit.

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Alien hand syndrome, schizophrenia and getting research commissioned

I don't know what the process is which gets researched commissioned. I wish I did because I would tell mental health commissioners to stop wasting time on biomedical research.

Then, in a typically we sort of way, I would ask them to looking into the prevalence of schizophrenia in people who've had a corpus callosotomy. This is the operation used to treat severe epilepsy in adults where the connection between the two halves of the brain is severed. In fact I would be interested to know about these individual's experience of consciousness and if they ever experience psychosis.

It is an exercise which seeks to answer a question which only I'm interested in: is psychosis or a form of psychosis a battle between the two hemispheres and consciousnesses which are forming separately in the two hemispheres.

This isn't such a silly question because of alien hand syndrome. This is where a person who's had a callosotomy loses voluntary control of one half of their body. The best known example if the fictional character Dr Strangelove. One side of his body is a fan of the Nazis and occassionally Dr Strangelove does a Nazi salute in the eponymous film.

This research is purely biomedical and does little to help patients which is why it is as pointless as much of the rest of the neuropsychiatric research which seems primarily aimed at seeking to justify the medicalisation of the mental illness of schizophrenia.

My greatest fear is that if, perhaps, some forms of psychosis and schizophrenia are a battle between the two hemispheres then doctors would use psychosurgery for mental disorder which is totally inappropriate. They wouldn't think to think this may be an evolutionary process or schizophrenia is a result of a suppressed evolutionary process. They would just seek to treat the supposed biological problem like epilepsy.

My hope is that no one who has had this drastic operation experiences psychosis or schizophrenia and they also have a different experience of consciousness, one which is different from the ego dystonic state seen in coping voice hearers. My hope is people could see it as a positive evoluntionary process - two consciousnesses are better than one. Perhaps there is conflict but the conflicts can be resolved which new forms of treatment which then allow people to regain function and excel with the next step in the evolution of human consciousness.

I would guess this evolution when it works in harmony is what a lot of people experience anyway. Lots of people have a voice in their head or experience an internal dualogue which they consider normal and an essential part of their decision-making process. Though it isn't considered as such the internal dualogue is a conversation, something which requires two consciousnesses. These may exist operating on each hemisphere.

Perhaps.

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Tuesday 7 February 2012

Whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger

I think this is Nietschze but I'm sure other people have said this.

Is it true? Is emotional strength earned by suffering?

Research, of course, would identify if this is true for individuals and the average.

Given modern theories of psychology I would guess not. I would guess emotional traumas lead to mental illness and mental illness lead to a reduced ability to handle emotional.

How is emotional strength earned then? There are people who can go through hell on Earth and never speak about their pain nor be affected by it. There are those who can withstand significant amounts of trauma and abuse but recover easily or are not affected. How do these types become?

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Monday 6 February 2012

What is schizophrenia?

Now this is hard. Bleuler's answer was the splitting of the faculties of the mind as he saw it. Kraeplin saw it as dominant psychosis. Modern doctors see it is a syndrome of positive and negative symptoms which at its core is a high level of psychosocial impairment from delusions and hallucinations caused by a brain disease. Or at least I think so. There is a lot of different views held by different types of clinicians even with the biomedical and psychosocial dogmas.

I have my own view. I think the disability and distress is very real and relates to the psychopathology as well as, and perhaps more significantly, the social and cultural factors. I think the core of a lot of the distress is the hallucinations though some people get pleasure from them or can handle them. I think there are many factors behind the disability component but this and the distress are strong causal factors in the suicide rate as well as inadvertant deaths caused by the hallucinations.

I think the positive symptoms are an example of psychopathology, I.e. in themselves they're just things which psychiatrists think are bad things. Just like homosexuality was. The negative symptoms are usually coping mechanisms or natural human responses to extreme suffering caused by internal and external factors. This is my opinion of the current mainstream and consensus definition of schizophrenia. Much of the cause is the positive symptoms and many of the negative symptoms are effects though it isn't quite as simple as that.

I think a new model of schizophrenia simply considered individual factors instead of the clustering approach. This goes beyond historical subtypes and expands the remit of psychosis healthcare to include all people based on single symptoms. What I mean is people can experience mild psychosis which would be considered sub-clinical, I.e. wouldn't be diagnosed as schizophrenia but might cause distress.

The two areas of import are distress and disability. The former is multifaceted as is any individuals suffering. The disability in my opinion is something which requires a new direction: as well as changing the individual there needs to be changes in society.

The potential of this alternative is a label-less system which could cover all mental illnesses and end the domination of psychiatry. Access to mental healthcare is open to everyone and primarily works to better distress and disability. The only label need be miserable human or, at worst, person experiencing psychosis they need help with.

This is of course a really idealistic idea which would never happen in practice but perhaps one day it might. Single symptoms are dealt with, not syndromes. The onus is on the individual and this is where things are difficult and different to the current system. This is achieved by ensuring people are educated in mental health to a high level. This is about empowering everyone to be masters of themselves and the human condition. Psychiatrists and other doctors have been flawed in their ability to truly understand their patients because they never know what's going on inside a persons head nor have the time to know everything which is going on in a persons life. They're like modern neurologists without brain scanners.

There are problems with leaving everything up to individuals of course but what I'm talking about is a new direction of empowerment of individuals as well as offering expertise and assistance from healthcare services which also change society to reduce disability and distress as well as normalising individuals on request or...I suppose...when it is absolutely necessary for the good of society or some bullshit like that.

Wouldn't this be a better future for everyone including those diagnosed with schizophrenia? The disability aspect would be reduced by valuing, understanding and accepting all people no matter how different they are. The commonality is our shared humanity and yet we can be treated as individuals too.

It is a shame I live in the present where mental health is still too often about power structures and socio-political needs as much as anything else.

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Sunday 5 February 2012

A label-less system of mental health

Is this possible?

Yes and no. Yes in terms of destroying psychopathology but starting anew. Distress or misery is the label.

The problem is label assigns the right treatment first time or should do. A label less system doesn't allow for this. Science demands labels to do experiments and work out what works for different disabilities or forms of distress.

Then again, there is the future of the majority of mental health in my opinion: an individual. Everyone develops their own system to recognise their own problems and how they can be solved. It requires everyone to become as knowledgeable as a psychologist, psychiatrist, priest and sociologist and then some before they earn their 'license' to have their own system.

This possibility allows for a label less system.

Alternative a complaints based system, e.g. I feel shit because I miss the supportive and chaotic work environment of a certain workplace or I miss spending time with a certain lady friend, is one which simplifies things to temporary suffering and the solutions. People still retain their humanity and individuality. The problem, of course, is disability but if this could be changed without or with minimal suppression of the indvidual then this would be great and reduce the requirement for a label.

The old research from the psychiatric system could still be applied because the single factors could be used on their own rather than being averaged with others to form scores on scales like PANSS or GAD measures. E.g. if a person likes their delusions but doesn't want the hallucinations then the single measure of hallucinations could be looked at in terms of what works to suppress these or help a person cope or be resilient to them or whatever.

This is an all person mental health system which doesn't label people as medically ill and respects their individuality too. These two ideas are about empowering individuals rather than experts or other powerholders which has historically been a problem in mental healthcare - especially with psychiatry.

This is also about bringing science to a wider problem. Call it well being or distress or what makes it a shit of a life for too many people. It is about moving away from the cluster approach and fearing offering the priviledge of the invalid to those who aren't.

The key problems I'm stuck with are disability and insight. The latter is part of the power of psychiatry and I have no solution - I know I've been crazy at times and not realised how detrimental and risky it can be to my life. The former, the disability, is also important as a problem. I don't want anyone to be disabled because to me it means they will have a shit life when it shouldn't be that way. Disadvantages exist but disability needn't, not in developed societies.

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Inquiry into the Label of Schizophrenia

Sato, M 2006, Renaming schizophrenia: a Japanese perspective, World Psychiatry
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472254/

Inquiry into the 'Schizophrenia' Label (ISL)
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The Inquiry into the 'Schizophrenia' Label (ISL) is an independent inquiry into the usefulness and validity of 'schizophrenia' as a medical illness and the social and personal implications and consequences of the diagnosis on people given the label. ISL is supported by national and international organisations, groups and individuals.
An independent panel will examine evidence from people who have been affected by the label of 'schizophrenia' (or similar labels such as 'psychosis'), including mental health service users and carers, those who use these labels to describe mental health problems in other people, and those who have concerns about the use of such labels. We hope to use this evidence to lobby for change in psychiatric practice via the Royal College of Psychiatry and other professional bodies nationally, internationally via the World Psychiatric Association, and the creators of International Classification of Diseases (ISD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) which are used as standard texts for diagnosing mental 'illnesses'.
The concept of 'schizophrenia' as a diagnosis has been used within bio-medical western psychiatry for about one hundred years and is now being spread across the globe, together with other ways of labelling problems of living. However, the usefulness and validity of schizophrenia as a medical illness is now questionable and its continuing use as a label criticised from scientific, transcultural, ethical and social perspectives (link to why the problem page).  Whatever the scientific validity and / or clinical usefulnesss of 'schizophrenia' as a medical diagnosis, it must be recognized that 'schizophrenia' (or 'psychosis') as a label has significant social implications and serious consequences for people given the label. HENCE THIS INQUIRY.
We are aware of a project called the 'Schizophrenia Commission', the terms of reference of which assumes that 'schizophrenia' is a valid diagnostic entity and so considers 'schizophrenia' from a medical and psychiatric system perspective. Our Inquiry takes a social-political and service-user / survivor perspective and focuses on the lived experience of people given the label and the consequences for them of receiving the label.
The Inquiry into 'Schizophrenia' Label (ISL) is independent, free of any connection with the pharmaceutical industry or psychiatric establishment (including research organisations) directly or indirectly, and transparent in the manner of its funding and working. The inquiry panel and co-ordinating committee are providing their services pro bono and expenses incurred by the inquiry are being met by donations of private individuals details of which are available. ISP incorporates consultation with people affected by the label 'schizophrenia' (or similar labels such as 'psychosis'), those who use the label (or similar labels such as 'psychosis') to describe mental health problems in other people, and those who have concerns about the use of such labels.
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Supporters
So far, we have support from the following organisations:
 • National Survivor User Network (NSUN)
UK network of survivors and users of mental health services
 • Afiya  Trust
A national charity that works to reduce inequalities in health and social care provision for people from racialised communities in the UK.
 • Rights and Wellbeing of Racialised Groups (RawOrg)
A Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) think-tank on mental health and mental health services in UK 
 • Sharing Voices Bradford
A Community Development Mental Health organisation that works within the inner city areas of Bradford
 • World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP) 
A network with branches around the world
 • Asylum Collective and Magazine
An international group of people committed to democratic psychiatry
 • Soteria Network UK
An international movement of service users, survivors, activists, carers and professionals fighting for more humane, non-coercive mental health services.
 • European Network of (ex) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP)
A network with members in Europe
And individuals:
Richard Bentall
Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool
Kamaldeep Bhui
Professor of Cultural Psychiatry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
President of World Congress of Cultural Psychiatry, London March 2012
President-elect World Association of Cultural Psychiatry
Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, East London NHS Foundation Trust (fine)
Trustee of Careif, an International Mental Health Charity (terrific)
Mary Boyle
Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of East London
Pat Bracken
Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director of Mental Health Services in West Cork, Ireland.
Erica Burman
Research Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University
Group Analyst
Steven Coles
Clinical Psychologist, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
Dawn Edge
Academic researcher in the School of Community Based Medicine, University of Manchester
John Eversley
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Social Care, London  South Bank University
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Humanities, London Metropolitan University
Sue Holttum
Senior Lecturer (Research), Clinical Psychology Programme, Canterbury Christ Church University
Rhodri Huws
Consultant Psychiatrist, Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Trust
Member of Critical Psychiatry Network
David Ingleby
Emeritus Professor of Intercultural Psychology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Willy Brandt Memorial Professor at the School of International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Malmö University
Consultant to the Council of Europe's Expert Committee on Mobility, Migration and Access to Health Care
Lucy Johnstone
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Cwm Taf Health Board, South Wales
Former Programme Director, Bristol Clinical Psychology Doctorate
Frank Keating
Senior Lecturer in Health and Social Care, Royal Holloway University of London
Hugh Middleton
Clinical Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist; University of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Health Care Trust
Member of Critical Psychiatry Network
Zenobia Nadirshaw
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Associate Fellow of the BPS & Chartered Scientist
James Nazroo
Professor of Sociology and Director of the Cathie Marsh Centre, School of Social Science, University of Manchester
Mark Rapley
Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of East London
Member of Critical Psychiatry Network
John Read
Professor of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Peter Scott-Blackman
Former CEO of Afiya Trust, London
Mohammad Shabbir
CEO of Sharing Voices Bradford
Helen Spandler
Senior Research Fellow, School of Social Work, University of Central Lancashire Preston
Sami Timimi
Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation NHS Trust
Visiting Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Health & Social Sciences,
Lincoln University
Member of Critical Psychiatry Network
Why the Inquiry?
 • There are problems with the concept 'schizophrenia' when considered from a historical perspective. Its emergence as a 'new' construct in the early 1900s; its dubious validity even in terms of methodology at that time; and its construction in a context of racist eugenic thinking dominated by the ideology inherent in the concept 'degeneration'.
 • The concept of schizophrenia has not proved useful as a basis for research into understanding mental health problems from a biological viewpoint; its use in international study has confused rather than clarified issues around therapy for, and outcome of, mental health problems.
 • Schizophrenia does not seem to mean very much (as explanation for mental health problems) to many service users or their carers and relatives.
 • The use of medication is not necessarily related to a diagnosis being made first and so the separation of the schizophrenia diagnosis from 'therapy' would clarify the reasons for medication being used in states of agitation and thereby reduce its abuse.
 • When looked at transculturally, schizophrenia does not stand up as a useful way of identifying people with problems of living even when these are conceptualised as 'mental' ill health; for example, some of the symptoms considered as cardinal signs of 'illness' such as 'hearing voices' may not be sustainable as pathological cross-culturally; and a growing body of evidence suggests that, even in 'western' cultures, the notion that
'hearing voices' is inherently 'pathological' is unsustainable.
 • When 'schizophrenia' as a diagnostic concept is used in a multi-ethnic setting, many problems emerge; in Britain it has become conflated with racist oppression, raising questions about the racist nature of the diagnosis itself in conjunction with psychiatric stigma.
Current practice in UK
The use of the label 'schizophrenia' persists in psychiatric research, as well as in clinical practice and guidelines, such as those issued by NICE. It thus continues to have a great deal of influence. In view of the problems with the label, psychiatrists have come under pressure to abandon its use as a diagnosis, with the result that the label 'psychosis' is being used more generally to label the people who would otherwise be labelled with 'schizophrenia'. Hence the inquiry will include the label 'psychosis' as implying 'schizophrenia'.
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Find out more
What IS this schizophrenia Is it time to abandon it as a diagnosis? http://www.sumanfernando.com/What%20is%20schizophrenia.pdf
"
What IS this schizophrenia?Itistimetoabandonitas'diagnosis'BySumanFernando,December2009
Fromtheverybeginningofitsconstruction,schizophrenia,togetherwitheugenics,wasaproductofracethinking,representedinMorels'theoryofdegeneration(amplifiedbyLombrosoin'atavism').ThisideologywasabsorbedintotheNazimovementthattriedtogetridofdegenerateraces,degenerateartetc.Togetherwiththislinktoracism,schizophreniawasconstructedtoencompassthecombinationofmentalillness,criminalityandinherentinferiority.Itisnotsurprisingthereforethatschizophreniacarriesastigma.Northatthelabelofschizophreniacarriesracistimplications.Inaway,thatiswhatisitissupposedtodo–toimplydegeneracy,racialinferiorityandcriminality.Whathashappenedmorerecently,isthatthenegativelabellingcarriedbyschizophreniahasspreadtothemoregeneraldiagnosisof'psychosis'becauseinmoderntimes(inBritainatanyrate)thetwolabels(schizophreniaandpsychosis)areusedalmostsynonymously.Thecaseagainstschizophreniaasadiagnosisisnowverystrong.
Whyschizophreniashouldbeabandonedasa'diagnosis'.
Althoughgenerallyacceptedformanyyears,mainlythroughitseemsreverencetothe'fatherofpsychiatry'(Kraepelin),thediagnosis'hasremainedapersistentsourceofcontroversyanduncertainty'(vanPraag,1976:481).InapaperintheLancet,Hay(1984)ishighlycriticalofKraepelin'soriginalapproachinidentifyingaunitarypsychosisintheasylumpatients(identifiedbyKraepelinas'psychotic')whowerenotsufferingfrommanicdepression.SarbinandMancuso(1980)pointoutthat30yearsofresearchhasfailedtoproduceamarkerthatwouldestablishthevalidityofschizophreniaasan'illness'.And,writingfromabackgroundofmanyyearsofresearchingschizophrenia,Johnstone(1999)refersto'thecentraldifficultyofthelackofaneffectivevalidatingcriterion[forschizophrenia]'and'thelackofclarityofanyunderlyingprocess'(1999:ix).PsychologistRichardMarshall(1995)rejectsanyscientificbasisfortheconceptschizophreniaasrepresenting'illness':'The'illness'notiononwhichschizophreniaisbasedisatthelevelofmetaphororanalogy.Itissimplyaresultofananalogywithorganicillness.Itismetaphoricalthinking–itisasifwhatistermedschizophreniaisillness,aresultoforganicdefect.….Fromatruescientificviewpoint,then,anillegitimateandunwarrantedassumptionhasbeenmade.Wehavemovedfromtherealmsofscienceandintothereachesofbelief.'(1995:57,italicsinoriginal).
Afteranalysingtheconceptschizophreniaintermsofitsconstruction,itsdiagnosticcriteriaanditsgeneticresearch,psychologistMaryBoyle(2002)comestotheconclusionthatabandoningitwouldenablethestudyof'phenomena'(thatatpresentarelinkedtogetherintoanillnesswhichisassumedtohavea'cause')intheirownright,takingonboard'questionsaboutcontext,aboutcontentandfunctionandaboutsocialandpersonalmeanings'(2002:245).AnotherpsychologistRichardBentall(1990),afterreviewingtheevidenceonreliabilityandvalidityofschizophreniaasaclinicaldiagnosisinwesternsettings,concludesthatthe'currentfaithinthescientificmeaningfulnessoftheschizophreniadiagnosiscannotbejustified'(1990:32).Theconceptofschizophreniaasanillnesshasnotshownitselfusefulforpurposesofbiologicalresearch.Onereviewerofthetopic(Barnes,1987)concludes:'Foreverypointaboutthebiologyofschizophreniathereisacounterpoint.Theoriesabouttheoriginanddiseaseprocessofschizophreniaareoftenbuiltonamultitudeorempiricalobservationsandapaucityofhardfacts.'(1987:433)Anotherreview(LiebermanandKoreen,1993)findsa'fragmentarybodyofdatawhichprovidesneitherconsistentnorconclusiveevidenceforanyspecificetiologictheory.'(1993:371).McGorry(1991),apsychiatrist,andCharlton(2000),apsychologist,botharguingfromaneuroscientificperspective,believethatusingtheconcept'schizophrenia'isactuallyimpedingpsychiatricresearchandpreventingtherapyforpeoplewithmentalhealthproblems.AndBentalletal.,(1988)attributethelackofanysubstantialprogressinschizophreniaresearchinacenturyto'schizophrenia'notbeingameaningfulscientificconcept.
SchizophreniaasadiagnosiswasusedintheinternationalresearchbytheWorldHealthOrganisationinitsInternationalPilotStudyofSchizophrena(IPSS).Theuncriticaluseofaconceptthathadnocross-culturalvaliditywasstronglycriticisedbyArthurKleinman(1977),adoyenoftransculturalpsychiatry–acriticismechoedbyothers(e.g.Marsella,1982;Favazza,1985;Fernando,1991).AndIhavearguedinmybooksthattheuseofschizophreniaasadiagnosisisnolongerusefulinamultiethnicsociety.Butworsethanthat,theuseoftheschizophreniadiagnosisisexperiencedbyblackpeoplegiventhediagnosis-andblackcommunitiesasawhole–asoppressiveandirrelevantinassessingmentalhealthproblemsamongblackpeople.Recentlyagroupofprofessionalshavecalledpubliclyfortheabolitionofthe'schizophrenialabel'(Available:http://www.caslcampaign.com/accessed2January2009).
Summaryofthecaseagainsttheuseof'schizophrenia'/'psychosis'asadiagnosisThetwolabels(schizophreniaandpsychosis)usedtodaysynonymouslyinpsychiatricpracticearebothseriouslyproblematic.First,thereareproblemswiththeconcept'schizophrenia'whenconsideredfromahistoricalperspective.Itsemergenceasa'new'constructintheearly1900s;itsdubiousvalidityevenintermsofmethodologyatthattime;anditsconstructioninacontextofracisteugenicthinkingdominatedbytheideologyinherentintheconcept'degeneration'.Second,theconceptofschizophreniahasnotprovedusefulasabasisforresearchintounderstandingmentalhealthproblemsfromabiologicalviewpoint;itsuseininternationalstudy(i.e.intheIPSS)–rightlycriticizedasflawedbecauseof'categoryfallacy'-hasbeenunsuccessfulinthatresultsofstudyhaveconfusedratherthanclarifiedissuesaroundtherapyfor,andoutcomeof,mentalhealthproblems.Third,whenlookedattransculturally,schizophreniadoesnotstandupasausefulwayofidentifyingmentalillhealth;someofthesymptomsconsideredcardinalsignsof'illness'suchas'hearingvoices'maynotbesustainableaspathologicalcross-culturally.Fourth,schizophreniadoesnotseemtomeanverymuch(asexplanationformentalhealthproblems)toeitherserviceusersortheircarersandrelatives.Fifth,theuseofmedication–ofteninhighdoses–isnotnecessarilyrelatedtoadiagnosisbeingmadefirstandsotheseparationoftheschizophreniadiagnosisfrom'therapy'wouldclarifythereasonsformedicationbeingusedinstatesofagitationandtherebyreduceitsabuse.Finally,when'schizophrenia'asadiagnosticconceptisusedinamulti-ethnicsetting,manyseriousproblemsemerge;inBritainithasbecomeconflatedwithracistoppression,raisingquestionsabouttheracistnatureofthediagnosisitselfinconjunctionwithpsychiatricstigma.Onecannotbutconcludethattheusefulnessofschizophrenia/psychosisasaconceptdenoting'illness'isnowunsustainableanditsrelevanceinamulti-ethnicsocietyissuspect.
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The Case against Schizophrenia: Critical Psychiatry Network
The year 2011 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the introduction of the diagnosis of schizophrenia by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (Bleuler, 1911). In this article we propose that the best way to celebrate this event is to consign the diagnosis to history. In doing so, we declare our support for the position already set out by the Campaign for the Abolition of the Schizophrenia Label, that there can no longer be any justification for the continued use of the diagnosis because the way it is used is unscientific and harmful (CASL, 2010).
We endorse the Campaign by presenting additional information in support of their position. There are three arguments against the way the diagnosis of schizophrenia is used; it has no scientific basis, it is harmful, it leads to stigma. It is worth noting that the latest thinking from the American Psychiatric Association suggests that there may be no place for subtypes of schizophrenia in DSM-V, although the concept is still retained (DSM-V, 2010). The arguments we develop here are specifically directed at the diagnosis of schizophrenia. We are not proposing the complete abandonment of diagnosis in psychiatry, which needs to be recognized for what it is. Diagnoses are simply working concepts for clinicians justified by their clinical utility (Kendell & Jablensky, 2003). The problem is that the label 'schizophrenia' has lost any such value, because it has become reified into something that it is not.

The diagnosis of schizophrenia has no scientific basis
There have been many excellent and thoughtful critiques of the concept of schizophrenia from a scientific perspective (Boyle, 2002; Johnstone, 2000; Bentall, 2003). Over the last thirty years or so, academic psychiatrists have worked hard to improve the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis. This is partly in response to critics of psychiatry who pointed out that the diagnosis of schizophrenia was meaningless because of poor levels of agreement between psychiatrists about key symptoms of schizophrenia. They were also unable to discriminate between sane and insane people (Rosenhan, 1973). The introduction of DSM-III and DSM-IV imposed diagnostic agreement on the profession through the use of check-lists of diagnostic criteria, but this has served to highlight an even more fundamental problems with the concept of schizophrenia, its validity.
The philosopher Carl Hempel (1961) argued that the validity of a concept like schizophrenia depended upon the extent to which it represents a naturally occurring category. If it does, then there should be an identifiable biological property of those who have the diagnosis that makes them unique and distinct from those who don't. In other words the category should 'carve nature at the joint'. The failure of basic science research to reveal a specific biological abnormality that distinguishes those who are categorised as having schizophrenia from those who don't indicates that categorical diagnostic systems such as DSM-IV and ICD-10 have outlived their usefulness (van Os, 2003; van Os, 2003a; Anckarsäter, 2010). Even researchers in genetics (Owen et al, 2007) are now arguing that the categorical diagnosis of schizophrenia is severely handicapping their studies.
A central feature of diagnosis in medicine is that it should predict the future course of the disease if left untreated (its natural history), as well as the response to specific forms of treatment. Kraepelin (1913) reported that only 13% of his patients suffering from dementia praecox (schizophrenia) recovered, but the evidence from more recent long-term outcome studies of people with the diagnosis shows that in broad terms 50% or more of people improve significantly (Bleuler, 1978; Ciompi, 1980), and many recover fully. Recent work in Singapore and Madras confirms this. Kua et al (2003) found that two thirds of patients in Singapore had good or fair outcome at 20 years. In Madras, Thara et al (2004) found that only 5 out of 61 subjects followed up over 20 years had been continuously ill. More than three quarters were in employment. There is simply no evidence to support the view that the diagnosis of schizophrenia predicts poor outcome.
Moreover, there is no evidence that there are any specific biological treatments for schizophrenia. Although antipsychotic drugs are sometimes claimed to reverse a biochemical imbalance, no such imbalance has been demonstrated. The drugs are more likely to work through their general suppressant effects, which they exert in anyone who takes them and not just in people diagnosed with schizophrenia (Moncrieff, 2008). The condition is not only unscientific but a barrier to recovery.
The diagnosis of schizophrenia is harmful
Some people appear to be happy to receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia. It is one way in which they can make sense of their experiences (Jameson, 1996). However many find it unhelpful (Rogers, et al, 1992). A large-scale study in nearly thirty countries involving face-to-face interviews with over seven hundred people diagnosed with schizophrenia found that 54% reported that the diagnosis had been a disadvantage (Thornicroft et al, 2007). Similar findings emerge in personal stories of those diagnosed with schizophrenia (Read & Reynolds,1996). In our view there are four main reasons why the diagnosis of schizophrenia can be harmful; it is a barrier to recovery, it forecloses the importance of meaning, it invokes powerlessness, it obscures the importance of contexts.
A barrier to recovery
The word 'recovery' is strongly tied to the medical model; we speak of people recovering from cancer or open heart surgery. But for many survivors and service users the word has a different meaning, one that implies speaking out, an act of reclamation, or, as Coleman (1999) says, 'having a voice'. Without a language to speak, a voice to speak with, and opportunities to be heard by others, there can be no story and no recovery. Through social action the survivor movement has created safe spaces in which individuals can start the process of telling their own stories. The point here is that the meaning of recovery for service users and survivors in Britain (Coleman, 1999; Faulkner & Layzell, 2000; May, 2000) and in the USA (Chamberlin, 1978; Deegan, 1996) is very closely tied to the struggle of survivors to have the right to tell their own stories in their own way.
The real problem with the diagnosis of schizophrenia as far as recovery is concerned is that it imposes a narrative of despair on those so identified. The late Robert Barrett, an Australian psychiatrist and anthropologist, examined the cultural preoccupations that shaped the origins of the concept of schizophrenia in the nineteenth century (Barrett, 1996). One was the contrast between the integration and disintegration of the individual. Another was a concern with the Enlightenment ideal of progress and its opposite, degeneration. Both had a great influence on the emerging discourse about schizophrenia, and this persists today. It is seen in the belief that schizophrenia is a condition that inevitably has a poor prognosis, and from which the chances of recovery (restitutio ad integrum) are slim. It is to be found in words like 'deterioration', 'deficits' and 'defect state', and instantiated in services whose purpose is to ensure the rapid and early drug treatment of young people in their first episode of psychosis to prevent 'deterioration'. These are narratives of hopelessness and despair.
It forecloses meaning
Diagnosis obliterates meaning by transforming significant experiences into a narrow disease framework. Louise Pembroke (1996) found that when her psychiatrist diagnosed her as 'schizophrenic', he not only disregarded her own spiritual understanding of her experiences, but problematised this by regarding it as a symptom of her illness. O'Hagan (1996) describes how her psychiatrist's preoccupation with her diagnosis and medical treatment meant that he turned away from her suffering and failed to engage with it. The requirement to render patients' experiences in terms of a diagnostic category means that complex and important experiences are stripped of their meaning by identifying them as symptoms.
Brunner (1996) understood her psychosis in terms of her mother's experiences of madness after moving from Jamaica to England in the 1950s and through their shared experiences as Black women in a predominantly white culture. Likewise, Dewan (1996) understood her psychosis in terms of her mixed cultural heritage (Indian and Irish Catholic). Racism features prominently in both women's understandings of their psychoses. They contrast their contextualised understandings with reductive psychiatric diagnosis in terms of disordered brain function that requires medication. This is particularly significant in the light of evidence that African and African-Caribbean people are much more likely to be diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia (e.g., Cochrane, 1977; Carpenter & Brockington, 1980; Dean et al, 1981; Harrison et al, 1988; van Os et al, 1996).
It invokes powerlessness
Peter Campbell (1996) saw the power of psychiatry in terms of the influence and control it had in many areas of his life. Although his psychiatric diagnosis was manic depressive psychosis, his experiences reflect more generally those of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. He makes two points about the power of psychiatry. First, the judgement that a person 'lacks insight' is profoundly disempowering, especially when 'insight' means agreeing that you are suffering from schizophrenia. To say that someone lacks insight is not to state a fact but to make a judgement, one that reduced him to a '…category of persons whose experience is devalued, status diminished and rational evidence dismissed…' (ibid: 57). He also points out how diagnosis and the biomedical model it implies is now the dominant framework through which society interprets psychosis. This has two implications; it means that it is only possible to talk about recovery in terms of symptoms control, which many service users find very unhelpful, and it contributes to the predominantly negative view, in society, of people who experience psychosis. We will return to this shortly.
It obscures the importance of contexts
We have already seen that the use of the diagnosis of schizophrenia pays scant regard to cultural contexts and personal narratives rooted in this. However, the contexts that we are particularly concerned with here are those that involve experiences of trauma and abuse. This is important because there is a substantial body of evidence linking the experience of hearing voices and other psychotic experiences to trauma and abuse in adults and children (Romme & Escher, 1989, 1993; Honig et al, 1998; Escher et al, 2002; Greenfield et al, 1994; Goodman et al 1997; Mueser 1998; Read et al 2003; Morrisson, 2003; Bebbington et al, 2004). This resonates powerfully with the experiences of the Hearing Voices Network. Speaking at a conference in Manchester in 2006, the National Chair of the organization described how it had listened to the experiences of people who hear voices for fifteen years, many of whom had been diagnosed schizophrenic, but whose life experiences included sexual, physical and racial abuse, poverty, neglect and stigma (Dillon, 2006). This is why it is so important to attempt to understand psychotic experiences in the context of the person's life story. Not to do so can be harmful because it obscures and mystifies the origins of problematic experiences and behaviour that has the potential to be understood (Romme & Escher, 2000).
The diagnosis of Schizophrenia leads to stigma
It is widely believed that improving public understanding of schizophrenia in biomedical terms will improve public attitudes towards people with the diagnosis, and thus reduce stigma. This because it is assumed that if the causes of psychosis are attributed to biological factors over which the person has no control, then the individual cannot be blamed or held responsible. In fact recent research evidence refutes this view. Angermeyer & Matschinger (2005) subjected two representative population surveys of public attitudes to psychiatric patients (using vignettes of schizophrenia and depression), conducted in the Länder of the former German Federal Republic in 1990 and 2001 to a trend analysis. Over the period of the study an increase in public acceptance of biomedical explanations of psychosis was associated with a public desire for increased distance from people with schizophrenia. These trends did not hold for major depressive disorder.
Read et al (2006) have comprehensively reviewed the literature on stigma and schizophrenia to assess whether the 'schizophrenia is an illness like any other' approach helps reduce prejudice towards those with the diagnosis. They found an increase in biological causal beliefs across Western countries in recent years, suggesting that this approach is gaining hold. However, biological attributions for psychosis were overwhelmingly associated with negative public attitudes in 18 of 19 studies, whereas psychosocial attributions were associated with positive attitudes in 11 of 12 studies. Biological attributions are thus strongly linked to negative public attitudes, or stigma. This appears particularly to be the case for the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Sayce (2000) has described in detail the implications of stigma, particularly the loss of citizenship associated with being a psychiatric patient. A label of 'chronic schizophrenia' interferes with a person's identity and biography (Riemann, 1987). In addition, the presence of "insight" in schizophrenia lowers self-esteem and leads to despair and hopelessness (Bassman, 2000), and also predicts higher levels of depression and risk of suicide attempts four years later (Crumlish et al, 2005). Hasson-Ohanon et al (2006) found that the presence of 'insight' was negatively correlated with emotional well-being, economic satisfaction and vocational status. Accepting a diagnosis of schizophrenia means that the person must also accept the negative public attitudes and stigma associated the diagnosis. As we have seen, the diagnosis brings expectations of a gloomy outlook with lifelong dependency on psychiatric treatment and little chance of complete recovery. Thus rejecting the diagnosis (or 'lack of insight') may be understood as a positive way of coping with the implications of the diagnosis for personal identity.
Conclusions
We have set out three major objections to the continued use of the diagnosis of schizophrenia. It has no scientific basis, it is harmful, and it makes stigma worse. In addition to this, it is a barrier to recovery, and it is an obstruction to the possibility of finding meaning in psychosis. It invokes powerlessness, and disregards personal contexts of trauma and abuse.
Diagnosis in psychiatry involves much more than simply 'carving nature at the joint', which lays the emphasis on diagnosis as a scientific project. Diagnosis is not only about identifying disease but also about understanding the reasons for action. The value-laden nature of diagnosis is a sign of its meaningful nature. Assuming schizophrenia is an entity of some kind directs attention away from important clinical features of diagnosis, especially those narrative aspects that are important in teasing out the different meanings of suffering, from the patient's perspective, the family's and the clinician's. We are certainly not opposed to this, but there can be no justification for the continued use of a diagnosis like 'schizophrenia' that serves to obscure meaning, is unscientific and harmful.
We fully support the Campaign for the Abolition of the Schizophrenia Label, and will work with them and others committed to getting rid of it. The onus is on clinicians and academics in the field of mental health to work much more closely with service users and carers to find more acceptable ways of identifying and naming psychosis.
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Terms of reference for the Inquiry
In carrying out its work the Inquiry will:
 • Explore the effects of the label 'schizophrenia', and the more general one 'psychosis', on people given the label focusing on (a) advantages and disadvantages they encounter from receiving the label; (b) the ways in which the criminal justice system affects them once they receive the label; and (c) whether the label is serving any purpose in the present social and political context of UK , while taking account of any relevant information (including research) from UK and other countries, especially those with non-western cultural heritages in Low and Middle Income range (as per the classification of the World Bank).
 • Receive evidence from (a) people who have been given the label 'schizophrenia' or the more general one 'psychosis'; (b) their families and carers; (c) health and social care professionals involved in systems that are set up to help them and / or control them 'in the public interest', especially those involved in enforcing compulsory admission to in-patient settings and compulsory medication while in the community.

 • Examine whether people given the label 'schizophrenia, or the more general one 'psychosis', are discriminated against or disadvantaged as a result of their perceived racial, cultural or socio-economic backgrounds through personal prejudice, institutionalized attitudes of those  professionals carrying authority in mental health services, or theories and practices inherent in (western) psychiatry.
 • Consider how the workforce carrying responsibility for providing mental health services in the UK needs to change and develop ways of supporting and helping people given the label 'schizophrenia', or more general one 'psychosis', so that they may be able to lead more fulfilling lives.
 • Develop ways in which the guidance on the 'treatment' of people given the label 'schizophrenia', or the more general one 'psychosis', issued by NICE and other bodies should be changed.
 • Not investigate individual cases or complaints voiced during the inquiry.
Coordinating committee
Jan Wallcraft
Mental health service user researcher and writer; Honorary Fellow, Birmingham University; Visiting Fellow, University of Herts
Philip Thomas
Visiting Honorary Professor, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Bradford; Former Professor of Equality, Diversity and Mental Health, University of Central Lancashire; Former Consultant Psychiatrist at Bradford Community Health Trust
Jayasree Kalathil
Survivor researcher and writer; Editor of Open Mind; Co-chair, Social Perspectives Network
Suman Fernando
Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, London Metropolitan University; Former Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at European Centre for Migration and Social Care, University of Kent; former Consultant Psychiatrist, Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, Middlesex.
Inquiry Panel
An independent panel of experts will examine the evidence give to this Inquiry. The panel members:
 • Are not involved in active psychiatric research into the use of medication for treatment of 'mental illness' (because this inevitably involves using labels)
 • Are not working in clinical psychiatry units (and so not subject to pressures and /or conflict of interests)
 • Are residents of the UK
 • Do not have personal  or professional connections with the pharmaceutical industry
Chair 
To be decided
Ann Davies
Professor in Department of Social Policy, University of Birmingham; Former director of Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health (CEIMH)
Chinyere Inyama
Coroner at Walthamstow Coroners Court and practicing solicitor specializing in mental health issues; Formerly President of the Mental Health Review Tribunal, and Mental Health Act Commissioner.
Dominic Makuvachuma-Walker 
Psychiatric survivor; Vice-chair of National Service User Network; Formerly manager of Catch-a-Fiya Network
David Pilgrim
Professor in the School of Social Work, University of Central Lancashire; Clinical psychologist and medical sociologist with experience in acute psychiatric units and secure provision, currently interested in mental health policy and history and philosophy of mental health
Premila Trivedi
Service User Trainer and Advisor; Founding member of SIMBA in London; member of Kindred Minds, a BME user group in Southwark
Work Plan
The inquiry will offer several different methods for people to contribute evidence:
 • An online survey
 • A publicised call for written evidence
 • An opportunity for telephone interviews
 • A series of focus groups
 • An inquiry event to be organised in March 2011
Timeline
February–March 2012
 • Press launch with launch of website early February
 • Opening of Inquiry:
 • Online survey
 • Focus groups
 • Telephone interviews
 • Written submissions of evidence
 • Event in late March
April 2012
 • Evidence collected together and assembled in a dossier
 • Inquiry panel consider evidence and invite further evidence as necessary
 • Inquiry panel helped by co-ordinating committee draw conclusions and make recommendations
May 2012
 • Writing report on the evidence and the Inquiry panel's conclusions
June 2012
 • Launch of report
Funding
The Inquiry into the 'Schizophrenia' label is not seeking any resources from any funding agencies. The Inquiry Panel and the Co-ordinating Committee are providing their services free of charge.
The Inquiry is accepting donations from private individuals to meet the administration and occasional expenses of the project. The process for making donations and collecting them are being set up with one of the supporting organisations (NSUN).
Estimated expenses (for which donations are being sought)
 • Preparation of website
 • Telephone
 • Stationery
 • Postage
 • Travel (e.g. focus groups, Inquiry team, presenters of evidence)
 • Refreshments: focus groups, meetings
 
 
 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472254/

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"Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own."
Mother Teresa

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
Thomas Jefferson


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Marlene Dietrich

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We It comes in part from an appreciation that no one can truly sign their own work. Everything is many influences coming together to the one moment where a work exists. The other is a begrudging acceptance that my work was never my own. There is another consciousness or non-corporeal entity that helps and harms me in everything I do. I am not I because of this force or entity. I am "we"