Madness Radio: Voices And Visions from Outside Mental Health explores 'madness' from beyond conventional perspectives and mainstream treatments, featuring survivors, authors, advocates, professionals, and artists.
Hosted by Will Hall, Madness Radio launched in 2005 on Valley Free Radio and aired more than 150 shows since then. We're heard on KBOO in Oregon, syndicated on other stations through Pacifica, and podcasting on iTunes and Google Play. Check our About page.
Madness Radio Producer is Nina Packebush. Thanks to past Producers Leah Harris and Jeremy Lanzman.
Madness Radio is now an affiliate of Mad In America Radio!
Check out www.madinamerica.com.
Listen to recent shows below, subscribe on the right, browse by topics, search by keyword, or list all 175+ shows by date and title. Shorter versions are also available.
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Therapy for Psychosis: Daniel Mackler
Can therapy reach people in extreme states of “psychosis” — without using medications? Do we need to give a diagnosis to help someone? Why are counselors afraid to listen to their “mad” clients?
New York psychotherapist and filmmaker Daniel Mackler discusses how be defied social work training in his work with people labeled with schizophrenia and bipolar, and what he learned from recent visits to successful treatment alternatives in Northern Europe. Daniel is the filmmaker of Take These Broken Wings and co-author with Matthew Morrissey of A Way Out of Madness.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:47 — 45.6MB)
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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
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:04 — 52.3MB)
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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.
scatter(at)theicarusproject(dot)net
http://www.theicarusproject.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:43 — 49.2MB)
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Bipolar Medication Myths: Dr 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.
http://www.critpsynet.freeuk.com
http://www.academyanalyticarts.org/moncrieff.htm
http://www.mentalhealth.freeuk.com/howwork.pdf
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:41 — 47.4MB)
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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 and psychosis was a political tool.
jmetzl(at)umich(dot)edu
http://bit.ly/byOeIw
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:03 — 47.7MB)
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Open Dialogue Alternative: Mary Olson
Is a ‘psychotic’ crisis inside one person’s mind — or does it happen between people, in their relationship? Can therapy untangle the web of madness by addressing the family, providers, and entire social network?
Smith College social worker and Fulbright scholar Mary Olson discusses the innovative work of Jaakko Seikkula and colleagues’ Open Dialogue Approach in Finland, which has achieved dramatic success helping people through extreme states labeled ‘psychosis’ and ‘schizophrenia’ — while relying much less on medication and hospitalization.
http://www.dialogicpractice.net
http://beyondmeds.com/2010/01/04/alternative-for-psychosis
http://www.willhall.net/opendialogue
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:16 — 48.8MB)
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Violent Voices: Erica van den Akker
People who hear voices are no more violent than anyone else — but what about the small number of voice hearers that do actually commit violent crimes? Are medications and locked wards the best way to help those who act on their aggressive “command hallucinations?” What is the relationship between trauma, violence, and voices?
Dutch psychiatric social worker and Hearing Voices Movement member Erica van den Akker discusses her innovative counseling work with violent offenders in the Netherlands.
alpouvar1(at)tomaatnet(dot)nl
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:28 — 44.4MB)
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Prison Mental Health: Terry Kupers
The US incarcerates more people than any country in the world – and 70% are people of color. Do we need better mental health care inside prisons — or do prisons themselves cause trauma and madness?
Psychiatrist and civil lawsuit expert witness Dr.Terry Kupers, author of Prison Madness: The Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars and What We Must Do About It, discusses overcrowding, racism, sensory deprivation, isolation, and sexual abuse in the disgraceful US prison system.
http://www.afsc.org/stopmax
http://www.criticalresistance.org
http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:29 — 48.1MB)
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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.
http://www.dantescure.com
http://www.desertgathering.com
http://www.iraresoul.com/dvd.html
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:56 — 43.9MB)
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Survivor Spoken Word: Leah Harris
Leah Harris was orphaned after both parents were diagnosed with schizophrenia and died from medication toxicity. Today she is a leading voice in survivor activism, and her powerful spoken word poetry, including “I Was A Teenage Mental Patient,” has been featured in publications including Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution, and DC Poets against the War: An Anthology. Leah is also the co-coordinator of the US Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry.
Buy her new cd “Take Refuge” at the National Empowerment Center: http://bit.ly/7f5kyN
http://www.myspace.com/dharmamamaleah
http://www.usnusp.org
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:14 — 47.9MB)
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Ireland Voices: Brian Hartnett
Can recreational drugs be an opening to genuine spiritual awakening? Brian Hartnett’s passion for rave dance music — as well as alcohol and ecstasy — cost him his career.
Doctors labeled his paranoia, telepathy, and voices symptoms of schizophrenia. But Brian went on to become one of the founders of Hearing Voices Ireland, and discover a new, heightened spirituality.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:13 — 46.0MB)
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Recovery and Diagnosis: Lisa Darbyshire
How can a chaotic and oppressive family life lead to trauma and extreme states? Do medications and diagnosis provide help, or can they make things worse?
Psychiatric abuse survivor Lisa Darbyshire, Massachusetts organizer with the Freedom Center and the Recovery Learning Community, discusses her personal experiences of hospitalization and recovery, including the struggle with learned helplessness and dependence.
http://www.freedom-center.org
http://www.westernmassrlc.org
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:01 — 43.1MB)
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Autism Self Advocacy: Ari Ne’eman
What does it mean to be autistic, have Asperger’s, or be on the autism spectrum? Is autism a disease to be overcome, or a difference to be embraced? Is autism advocacy like mad pride activism?
Ari Ne’eman, a person on the autism spectrum and director of the Autism Self Advocacy Network, discusses the autism movement’s challenge to what we consider “normal.”
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:58 — 47.6MB)
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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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:05 — 49.6MB)
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Beyond Belief: Tamasin Knight
How do we respond to bizarre beliefs like CIA brain chips, abduction by aliens, hearing voices, spirit possession, or telepathy? Is respect for a different reality “colluding” with a delusion? Or is there meaning in madness?
Medical doctor Tamasin Knight was hospitalized for delusions, and went on to write the practical guidebook Beyond Belief: Alternative Ways of Working with Delusions, Obsessions and Unusual Experiences, available as a free download at http://www.peter-lehmann-publishing.com/books/beyond-belief.pdf (PDF).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:25 — 44.4MB)
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