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 »
Category Archives: Schizophrenia
Language / Politics / Schizophrenia / Theory
Schizophrenia, “Success” and She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (SWMNBN)
I have finally reached the point where I can no longer refrain from writing a critical cultural commentary on a certain someone, a certain ‘celebrity consumer academic,’ who I’m confident I do not need to name because of the truly singular position she has come to occupy in public and academic discourse. Following the advice … Continue reading »
"Mad Studies" / First-person account / Language / Politics / Research methodology / Schizophrenia / Theory
On “first person accounts”
As I’ve almost certainly mentioned before, I have extremely ambivalent feelings about “first person accounts”–accounts which, all too often, “reduce [their author] from a whole and usual [thinker/citizen] to a tainted, discounted one.” (Yes, I’m intentionally riffing on Goffman.) The conviction that recovery stories are empowering, to some extent understandably, endures, and yet from the … 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 »
Excerpts from the journals of E
What follows is actually a re-post of excerpts (and limited commentary) from the journals of my mother’s first husband, during the approximately one and a half year period following his first psychotic break and ending, as I’ve described before, in commitment and life-long institutionalization. In re-reading my own, admittedly minor, attempts at thematization and contextualization, … Continue reading »
maeror meror (in mourning)
[Edit: to complete the e-trail, see also David Dobbs commentary at Wired, and Maia Szalavitz' (very over-simplified) article at Time. Both "re-mix" and quote parts of this post.] I suspect it would strike most people as ‘mad,’ particularly perhaps, to those who know me, to identify any sort of kinship, any common bond, with James … Continue reading »
