History
Madness Radio: Visionary Psychiatrist Daniel Fisher
Can breakdown sometimes be breakthrough? Neuroscientist Daniel Fisher suffered an extreme emotional state and ended up in a locked psychiatric ward diagnosed with schizophrenia. His crisis of scientific faith fueled his recovery, and he went on to become a practicing psychiatrist bringing new insights to work with people experiencing psychosis and their families. Today Dr. Fisher is Director of the National Empowerment Center, guided by a vision he had in solitary confinement of mental health system change, including the peer movement and hospital alternatives. http://www.power2u.org/
Madness Radio: Meanings of Madness Gail Hornstein
Seamstress Agnes Richter was locked away in a mental asylum in the 1890s, and was so determined to have a voice that she embroidered her personal story onto the jacket she wore on the ward. What is the hidden history of people writing their own narratives of going insane? How important is it to listen to the experiences of "mentally ill" people? Is there meaning in madness? Gail Hornstein, Mt. Holyoke College professor and author of Agnes's Jacket: A Psychologist's Search for the Meanings of Madness, discusses the work of the Hearing Voices Movement in the UK, peer run support communities including Freedom Center in the US, and why professionals should let patients speak for themselves. http://www.gailhornstein.com http://bit.ly/aG9bnS
Madness Radio: Icarus Project Sascha DuBrul
How did the New York underground of punk rock music, squatting, and homeless protest give rise to a thriving and innovative peer-run mental health community? Are there creative gifts to be found in the depths of madness? Does the future of Mad Pride lie in the joining of activism with spirituality? Icarus Project co-founder Sascha Altman DuBrul discusses his escape into apocalyptic visions and psychiatric hospitals, and how he was inspired to challenge the identity of bipolar disorder. www.theicarusproject.net; scatter(at)theicarusproject(dot)net
Madness Radio: Bipolar Medication Myths Joanna Moncrieff
Is bipolar disorder a disease? Can medications like lithium correct chemical imbalances and stabilize mood? Do psychiatric drugs act completely differently on the brain than recreational drugs? UK psychiatrist Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, author of The Myth Of The Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment, discusses how seeing psychiatric medications as treatments for disease misleads the public about how they actually work, and obscures their potential for abuse as tools of social control. www.critpsynet.freeuk.com www.academyanalyticarts.org/moncrieff.htm http://www.mentalhealth.freeuk.com/howwo...
Madness Radio: Schizophrenia and Black Politics Jonathan Metzl
How did the definition of schizophrenia change during the civil rights and Black Power era of the 1960s? Why did a disease primarily affecting withdrawn white housewives suddenly become focused on angry and "paranoid" African American men instead? Psychiatrist and historian Jonathan Metzl, author of The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease, discusses racism and social control in psychiatric diagnosis, and how Black protest was turned into a mental disorder. http://bit.ly/byOeIw, jmetzl(at)umich(dot)edu
Madness Radio: Schizophrenia Psychotherapy Catherine Penney
Can a severe, chronic case of "schizophrenia" ever recover? Is psychotherapy an alternative to medications? What role does trauma play in madness? Hear the inspiring story of how Catherine Penney, RN, was catatonic and locked in a hospital back ward for years, and then emerged to create a new alternative healing community. www.dantescure.com www.desertgathering.com www.iraresoul.com/dvd.html
Madness Radio: Conscience of Psychiatry Peter Breggin
What do modern psychiatric drug treatments have in common with lobotomy? Is informed consent possible when patients' judgment is impaired by medication? Should psych drugs be banned? For more than 50 years Dr. Peter Breggin has been a leading crusader against psychiatric abuse, Big Pharma, and medication dangers. His latest book is The Conscience of Psychiatry: The Reform Work of Peter R. Breggin, MD. www.breggin.com
Madness Radio: Paxil On Trial Alison Bass
When GlaxoSmithKline was caught lying about the risks of its blockbuster anti-depressant Paxil, it set off ongoing investigations. How did New York state take on one of the world's most powerful companies? Was NY Governor Eliot Spitzer driven out by his corporate enemies? Pulitzer-nominated Boston Globe journalist Alison Bass, author of Side Effects: A Prosecutor, A Whistleblower, And A Bestselling Antidepressant On Trial, discusses legal battles to clean up drug company corruption, including pay-offs to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. www.alison-bass.com/
Madness Radio: Mad Science Mad Pride Bradley Lewis
What is the mad movement's best response to science? How is mad pride different from gay pride? Do we want to become equal with "normal" people -- or challenge the idea of normal itself? What about suffering and the risk of romanticizing madness? Icarus Project organizer, psychiatrist, and theorist Bradley Lewis, author of Moving Beyond Prozac, DSM, and the New Psychiatry: Birth of Postpsychiatry, discusses the identity politics of madness. www.theicarusproject.net, www.nyu.edu/gallatin/about/bios/bradley_...
Madness Radio: Our Daily Meds Melody Petersen
More than 100,000 people die in the US each year from prescription drugs -- used as directed by their doctor. How did aggressive marketing make our health care system a cause of widespread sickness? Why haven't government regulation or medical research been able to protect the public? New York Times health reporter Melody Petersen discusses her new book, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs. www.ourdailymedsthebook.com/
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