unbelievables: a photo essay

[This post is--again--inspired by a breathtaking mixed media project of Timothy Kelly's that he will hopefully one day post; and in honor of mother's day. Best viewed on a full screen.] …………….. Every time I tried to talk to my grandfather about my mother before he died, the story was the same:  “it was the … Continue reading »

Psychosis & Luhrmann’s ‘Epistemological Double Register’ (Part I)

I’ve been meaning to return to Tanya Luhrmann’s essay “A Hyperreal God and Modern Belief” for some time; I finally now have a chance to get back to it.  What initially intrigued me most about this text was the fact that it was not written about, or with any direct reference to, psychosis; the overlap, … Continue reading »

Phenomenological Method (with gravitas)

I’m slowly—admittedly with some trepidation!—beginning to prepare for an INPP talk I’ll be giving at Durham University in July.  The task I’ve set myself is to critically unpack the implications of the slippage (this, I feel, is the generous way of putting it) between first and third-person perspective in contemporary phenomenological psychopathology. With this goal … Continue reading »

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 »

(Im)possibilities of transdisciplinarity?

I’ve just finished a draft of a presentation (“Technologies of the Self: Agency in First Person Accounts of Psychosis“) for the Society for Psychological Anthropology biennial,  but what I want to briefly discuss here–prompted by writing this short and relatively low-stakes presentation–is the very real difficulty of actually ‘doing’ inter- or transdisciplinary work. The first … Continue reading »

Taking issue with Philosophy, Psychology & Psychiatry (PPP)

[Edit: see also my recent "Dialogue with Professor K"] Given the amount of work I have to do, I shouldn’t be posting at all, but, furious, fuming, inflamed,  here I am.  The latest issue of the PPP (the journal Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology, that is) just came out, and of 8 scholars total, only 1 … Continue reading »

Voices and ‘psychosis’: dissociation at what cost?

I’ve long been troubled by attempts to dissociate “voices” from other aspects of psychosis, but this concern struck me with particular poignancy a few days ago when I was introducing Chicago Hearing Voices to a group of very marginalized service users (most transitioning off the streets) at a peer-run drop-in center in Uptown.  “I don’t … Continue reading »

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 »