The Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs, written by Will Hall and published by The Icarus Project and Freedom Center five years ago, is now available in a revised edition!

This Guide can be downloaded for free on this page: http://willhall.net/comingoffmeds

and the file can be accessed directly here: http://www.willhall.net/files/ComingOffPsychDrugsHarmReductGuide2Edonline.pdf

The new second edition has expanded Resources, scores of new collaborators and Advisors, new topics, more detail on the reducing and coming off process, and additional ideas for harm reduction and staying on medications. The Guide is Creative Commons copyright BY-NC-ND, meaning you have advance permission to copy, print, link, publish and share as much as you want (a special printer ready version is here: http://www.willhall.net/files/ComingOffPsychDrugsHarmReductGuide2EdZinePrint.pdf with instructions here: http://www.willhall.net/files/ComingOffHarmReducGuideAssemblyInstructions.pdf

Thousands of people worldwide have used this Guide to help themselves and people they know become more empowered around medications, including coming off. Hundreds of professionals and mental health agency staff have been downloading the free guide, to fill gaps in their own knowledge and give to their clients. Now the Guide in its second edition is even better, incorporating reader feedback and new ideas.

Since being published, the Guide has been translated into Spanish, Greek, and German, was featured in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, and has been used as workshop and training curriculum. 5 years ago what seemed to many as an unspeakable topic too radical for print has proven to be wildly successful. It’s helping people around the world, in the words of the introduction, to “trust themselves more and take better care of one another.” (Read about the making of the Guide here.)

What are some of the differences with the new Second Edition: Continue reading →

My friend Irit Shimrat of Vancouver Canada, author of Call Me Crazy: Stories From The Mad Movement, transcribed the talk I gave at Unitarian Church in Vancouver last March.

You can read the entire transcript here, thanks Irit!

Continue reading →

Transcriptions of some past Madness Radio shows are now available, thanks to the efforts of volunteer Madness Radio listeners Tsuyoshi Matsuo and Makoto Matsuo from Japan and editor Alex Maymi!

John McCarthy (.pdf)

Prison Mental Health Terry Kupers (.doc)

Robert Whitaker at Powells Books (.docx)

Jacqui Dillon Hearing Voices (.docx)

I was invited to give a Keynote Address at the 2012 Alternatives Conference in Portland Oregon, and I’m collecting your input on what I should say — I’m crowd sourcing my Keynote!

Please go to this Survey and take a couple of moments to share YOUR input on what my Alternatives Keynote address should cover: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YMH9B28

Continue reading →

I’m very excited to announce that Leah Harris has joined Madness Radio as our new Technical DIrector!

Leah is a longtime psychiatric survivor activist, a filmmaker, a mom, and a performance poet. I interviewed Leah on the show and you can listen to it here —

https://www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-survivor-spoken-word-leah-harris

I invited Leah to work with Madness Radio after a donor provided funds to cover costs — thanks to that anonymous donor! Leah will be editing shows, managing our online archives, and providing technical assistance to keep things running smoothly.

Welcome Leah!

Watch Leah’s video Beyond the Dirty Window on YouTube, or below.

Order Leah’s spoken word CD “Take Refuge”

Download Leah’s songs as MP3s.

Her book of poetry, entitled “Poems of Mass Construction” is available here.

Matthew Aldridge, a psychiatric nurse at London’s Lambeth Hospital, just published a new article in the 2011 Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, “Addressing Non-adherence to Antipsychotic Medication: a Harm-Reduction Approach”.

This is an extraordinarily well researched clinical discussion of professional medication practice that draws a lot from the Harm Reduction Guide To Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs that I wrote with The Icarus Project and Freedom Center. A very useful resource for giving to professionals and clinicians facing these issues.

You can download the article here:

http://bit.ly/wbUA6A

And here are the summary and abstract:

Summary
Many people decide not to take prescribed antipsychotics once they are discharged from the hospital. Continue reading →

With the help of Portland visionary colleagues Kent Bye, Jen Gouvea, and Jonathan Marrs I produced a short introductory video of me describing coming off psychiatric drugs. The approach is drawn from my Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs, which can be downloaded for free here: http://willhall.net/comingoffmeds

This video provides some basic guidance for anyone considering reducing or coming off psychiatric medications and their supporters, which is discussed in greater detail in the Harm Reduction Guide. This video and Guide are in the spirit of peer support and mutual aid for educational purposes, and not medical advice. (While everyone is different, coming off medications, especially abruptly, can sometimes be dangerous. Seek support when possible and use caution.)

You can contact me at http://www.willhall.net

Please share this video; it’s Creative Commons copyright 2011 BY-NC-ND and the url is here: http://youtu.be/O4bdG601k4k