Over the last few days (beginning with a conversation with Timothy Kelly, whose blog Mental Health Musings everyone who wants to understand the complexities of the US c/s/x movement should be reading), I’ve been thinking even more than usual about the politics of mental health organizing in this country. The realization I’m coming to is … Continue reading »
Category Archives: Bioresearch
Beyond Harrow & Jobe: Taking Stock of the Current Debate on Psychiatric Medications
A few days ago, Jobe & Harrow’s (2013) most recent paper on the long-term use of antipsychotics appeared in Schizophrenia Bulletin, along with a plain language discussion by Bob Whitaker at Mad in America. Although I understand that the intention is to “open up dialogue” about psychotropic medication use, particularly antipsychotics, my perception is that … Continue reading »
Harrow & Whitaker: Science, journalism & “public” discourse
In the spirit of Felicity Callard’s great post at Durham’s Centre for Medical Humanities and following several different conversations I’ve recently had with friends and colleagues here in Chicago, over the past day or two I’ve been trawling through my own private ‘archives.’ While not a ‘letter to the editors’ (rather one directed to a … Continue reading »
Medication-Free First Episode Psychosis Research: An “Insider’s Guide”
[Update: see revealing Facebook discussion here.] Five or six years ago, when I was first diagnosed with psychosis (eventually schizophrenia), I participated, on entry into an FEP speciality clinic, in a two-wave longitudinal study on neurocognitive and sensorimotor function , visual attention, and emotional memory in first episode psychosis (involving eye-tracking, fMRI, and both face-to-face … Continue reading »
Return of the Social: Rewriting the recent history of schizophrenia
I’ve long felt a certain ambivalence regarding Tanya Luhrmann’s work on psychosis (see, e.g., a much earlier post here). Part of my frustration stems from Luhrmann’s disconnect, so far as I can tell, from the complexities of the user/survivor movement, and part from disappointment that the tremendous potential latent in her topics of choice—potential, above … Continue reading »
