Kingsley Hall, Powis Roads, Bow, E3 3HJ
Friday 24th April 2015 7.00 – 9.00 PM
PROGRAMME
19:00 - 19:10: Opening and brief introductions about/from:
- History of Kingsley Hall
- The LifeHouse Project
- 'Only Us' campaign
19:10 - 19:30: Dr Russell Razzaque (Consultant Psychiatrist, ELNFT, POD - Peer-supported Open Dialogue)
19:30 - 19:45: Q&A with Dr Razzaque
19:50 – 20:05: Interval with music provided by English folk group The Mudlarks and Poetry by David Kessel and Madeline Kenley
20:05 - 20:25 Nick Putman (Open Dialogue UK, Soteria) and Open Dialogue training team and experts from Finland
20:25 - 20:55 Q&A with Nick Putman, Dr Razzaque and the future OD practitioners - questions taken from the floor
20:55 - 21:00 Conclusions and End
Blog: friends-of-east-end-loonies.blogspot.co.uk
Email: f.e.e.l.campaign@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/feel.campaign
Donations welcome to cover costs. Thank you!
HUMANE THERAPY – NOT DRUG TYRANNY
Campaigning for fairer & compassionate mental health care since 2007. Humane therapy, not DRUGS tyranny! Working together GREATER results can be achieved! Join us :)
Friday, 24 April 2015
Saturday, 18 April 2015
ARE PSYCHOSES CURABLE?
ARE PSYCHOSES CURABLE? – does this 5 minute clip prove anything?
PSYCHOSIS mystifies – except that everyone, INCLUDING YOU, can agree two simple facts. FIRSTLY, there’s no psychosis without ‘thought disorder’, broken sentences, blocked phrases. If you don’t know this, then you fail your medical exams, and rightly so. SECONDLY, childhoods matter. OK so far? Problems thinking and problematic childhoods – can you suspend disbelief for a moment and blend these two long established facts, despite what you’ve been taught all your life?
In this 5 minute audio clip (transcribed below) Sam [a pseudonym], now 45, shows that, having apparently been hit by his father so hard at age 2, he is still “being hit” today. He didn’t want to believe this, any more than you do. So listen carefully to how he stumbles over the word ‘hit’, how he argues against the idea that he is currently stronger than his dad, even though the latter is now 74, and that even thinking he is stronger is ‘prohibited’ to him, by him. Whether he was actually hit or not, I don’t know, and I’m not interested – what matters is that he still thinks he is being hit today – and he isn’t, that is something I do know. The key is that he begins to feel ‘relief’ once today’s reality percolates through the cognitive mire. You don’t have to believe me, but if you want solid clinical evidence, have a listen. Osler told you to listen to the patient, because s/he is telling you the diagnosis. Here I invite you to listen to the dialogue, because Sam and Freda are telling you the pathology.
Freda [also a pseudonym] is now aged 40. Her mum died 33 years ago, but still paralyses her thinking, even in the supermarket – check it out below. Listen to her struggling to ‘think what we’re thinking about’. Elsewhere, she is coherent. Here she’s ‘blocked’.
SO WHAT’S GOING ON?
You could dismiss these 5 minutes, as being just a bee in my bonnet trying to link thought blocks and childhoods. Or you could listen, say to line 35, where Freda says “I can’t say it” – is this true, and if so why? If she wants her mum ‘to go’ (“I want to think her gone,” line 22), why can’t she think clearly enough so that she does? Is her cognition really clogged? Is this what psychosis is all about – gummed up cognitive processes, because the sufferer ‘thinks’ the trauma is still ‘alive’ in her head? If you provide her with adequate trustworthy emotional support, could you persuade her that, since her mum is dead, it’s over? If you did, would she be cured? We know childhood traumas ceased long ago – both these two don’t – what would happen if they caught up with reality? They keep desperately pressing me for more, because think they’d be cured. Do you?
The model is simple, though far from easy. Infants learn to cope with erratic parenting. Dad shouts, mum dies, or vice versa – the actual event is not material, the context is all. Infants have no physical defence, so they devise a mental one – “this isn’t happening to me”. So here’s a message to Sam’s dad, and to all parents – no parent I have ever met wants to give their child a psychosis, and I’m sure Sam’s didn’t – but some infants are caught on the hop, and get stuck. They can be unstuck, but only when they can be persuaded that thinking is safe again – simple, but not easy. Infant survival strategies prolonged into adulthood, ‘infantism’ – it doesn’t work, it can be shown not to work, and with enough emotional support, non-psychotic thinking can be restored. Or can it?
Like any ‘thought-coach’, I use whatever ‘verbal spanners’ I can that come to hand. You may find my responses brusque – but such is the trust between the three of us that they take it on the chin, and profess to be helped by it. Could this be clinical evidence of efficacy? They think it is, do you?
HEALTH WARNING – since the trauma is still going on in the head, though not in reality, expert care is needed in ALL SUCH CASES, not to make matters immeasurably worse – re-traumatisation is a constant, inevitable risk – so TAKE EXTRA CARE. What seems simple, and at one level is, defeats many, inflicting enormous mental pain – don’t make it worse because you don’t know what you're doing.
This audio clip is available for download at www.DrBobJohnson.org/audio - handle with care. I reproduce it here with permission. © Dr Bob Johnson, 2015, - but please feel free to circulate it, and this transcript, without charge, as widely as you wish.
Dr Bob Johnson, Sunday, 22 March 2015
===
5 MINUTE EXCERPT, ** *** 2015. [B: is Bob, me; F: is Freda; S: is Sam; ~ is ‘blocking’.]
1. B: [to Freda] So how does your experience agree with Sam’s?
2. F: um ~~ very much ~ the same
3. B: Go on – in what way?
4. F: I’m finding it SO difficult to think. . . and not just thn~. . I find it ~ to think about what’s being said, so difficult
5. B: [softly] Wow. That’s interesting, isn’t it. Why is it so difficult to think?
6. F: In this context . . .
7. B: yes
8. F: . . we’re talking about thinking about what we’re thinking about . .
9. B: yes
10. F: how to ~ stop our parents stop us thinking. What I’m doing ~. It happens ~ that I can’t think about it. But I can’t think ~ about the supermarket shopping when my mum’s in my head either. It goes on everywhere. But here, I can’t ~ I tried to get on the point of what Sam’s saying, ‘cos it’s relevant. . .
11. B: It is relevant, yes.
12. F: . . . and I can’t think [sighs exasperatedly]. I can’t think [sighs again] properly.
13. B: [gently] It’s training, right. You’ve trained yourself not to think
14. F: mmm
15. B: say that
16. F: ~~ I’ve trained ~. I have ~ trained, I’ve trained myself not to think.
17. B: yes, ‘and now I have to train myself TO think.’
18. F: [smoothly] and now I have to train myself to think.
19. B: what do you have to think?
20. F: I have to ~ think ~ what I want to think, individually
21. B: yes? And what with respect to your mum?
22. F: ummm. I want ~ if I want. I want her to go. I want to think her gone. I really have to believe that, that I want to think her gone, so that I can think. I get myself little rhythms, and tongue tied things that I . . .
23. B: you also have to look her in the eye, I’m afraid. And beat her. Not in a physical sense, but in a victorious sense. ‘I’m stronger than you mum’ – off you go.
24. S: [coughs]
25. F: er ~ I ~~~ I’m stronger than ~ you-mum. [rapidly]
26. B: well, that wasn’t very convincing was it?
27. F: [brightly] I actually believe it.
28. B: what do you believe?
29. F: that I’m stronger than my mum
30. B: well say so then, not with b-b-g, it’s called muttering. Come on. Off the top, come on . . .
31. F: I’m stronger than you mum.
32. B: it’s a bit feeble still, isn’t it? [2mins 18]. I mean you know, it wasn’t, you know, 100%. Sit her down there [loudly] ’HELLO MUM’ . . And tell her. Go on.
33. F: umm. Hello mum, I’m stronger than you
34. B: do you believe that?
35. F: I~ um~~. I can’t say it.
36. B: [loudly, lots of emphasis] WHY NOT?
37. F: [giggles nervously] ~ for thinking and speaking ~ for myself
38. B: a very good idea, try again
39. F:~~ I’m stronger than you mum
40. B: [to Sam] what do you think of that diction? It’s not good, is it?
41. S: mmm
42. B: what do you think? What’s your comment on that diction? [2:54]
43. S: . . . ummm. [softly] Doesn’t quite believe it.
44. B: she doesn’t, does she?
45. S: no
46. B: go on, tell her.
47. S: ugh.
48. B: [brightly] what about you? Are you stronger than your dad?
49. S: . . . . I don’t, I don’t think so, no.
50. B: well I want you to say ‘HELLO DAD, I’M STRONGER THAN YOU, you're 70, heh, heh, heh’.
51. S: all right, OK. Hello dad, I’m stronger than you, you're 74. [3:28]
52. B: 74? It’s gone up since I last asked. And what happens to you when you say that?
53. S: . . . a little tiny bit of relief
54. B: Ha! So if you said it and believed it you’d have lots of relief. Is that correct?
55. S: probably, yeah
56. B: what do you mean ‘probably’. The whole object of the exercise is to get you some relief. ‘Tiny bit of relief !’ Do it again.
57. S: hello dad, I’m stronger than you, you're 74 [chuckles briefly]
58. B: Hey ! See the giggle. So what happened then?
59. S: . . . . ummm . . . . like he dies or something?
60. B: no. It’s just real. If you're stronger than him, he’s not going to hit you. Say that please.
61. S: if I’m stronger than you, you can’t hit me [hurried] . . ~ can’t hit me
62. B: what happened to that sentence? Say it again [insistently].
63. S: if I’m stronger than you, ~~ you can’t ~ hit me
64. B: do you believe that?
65. S: partly
66. B what do you mean, ‘partly’ [derisive tone]
67. S: a bit
68. B: what do you mean, ‘a bit’ [argumentative] [4:40] It’s logical. Isn’t it?’
69. S: . . . I dare say ~ I don’t want to see him
70. B: [insistently] I beg your pardon?
71. S: ~ maybe . . . I don’t want to see him
72. B: Aah. Aah. ‘I don’t want to see him’. What effect does that have?
73. S: it makes me mad.
74. B: no it doesn’t, [lightly] it makes you impotent. It paralyses you. ‘I’m not looking at the person who’s hitting me. And he continues to hit me because I don’t look at him.’ [5:08] Hey, how about saying that? I like that. Off you go.
75. S: I don’t look at the person that’s hitting me . . .
76. B: yes
77. S: . . (because I don’t want to)
78. B: right. ‘I’ve trained myself to . . . ’
79. S: and umm . . . .
80. B: ‘he continues to hit me’
81. S: that makes me small and impotent, that’s like keeping me . . .[at 2]
82. B: so my advice is to look at him – OK?
83. F: I had a little thing to say there which is . . . . a bit . . .
84. B: off you go . . . [5:44]
Continues. This is an excerpt from over 3 hours of group work. The above is my rendering of the audio – check it out for yourself on www.DrBobJohnson.org/audio.
FURTHER COMMENTARY
If you look at this with a calm, non-prejudging eye, it is immediately clear, clinically, that thought block varies from line to line – it is not random, it is meaningful, and it is so much worse with some emotive topics than with others.
Starting with F: at line 12 “I can’t think properly”. Here is thought disorder from the inside. She can think clearly enough about a myriad other topics – she immediately has trouble when she begins to focus on how memories of mum derail her cognition.
Over the last 4 years I’ve spent upwards of 200 hours listening intensively to gobbledegook – raw, unadulterated, unbiased. I wonder how many others have had this privilege. The above is my conclusion. It has disturbing implications for all other aetiologies. Faulty brain chemicals, dopamine for example, do not vary within the same micro-second, neither do genomics – in order to claim these as causative factors, you’d have to assume they would impact on all thinking, and all speaking. If there is a significant neurological factor impacting on thinking and speaking – then it should impact right across the vocabulary, as it does in Alzheimer’s or paresis. Partial thought block, which characterises all psychoses, needs a different model – brain pathology alone won’t suffice. This is why clinical examination of the actual verbatim recording is so crucial – much is sane and non-psychotic, much else is anything but – how would you account for the difference?
The so-called ‘anti-psychotic’ drugs degrade the whole sensorium, not just those parts blocked, a sledgehammer by any other name. Indeed this is one explanation why they hinder recovery – fears cannot become ‘burnt out’, if thinking about them is obliterated not only emotionally, but also chemically.
Sadly, attempts to promulgate this type of detailed clinical reasoning are uphill – psychosis has for so long been taught to be life-long, intractable, and fundamentally inexplicable. And many of its more bizarre symptoms seem to confirm this – wild apparently random assertions, quite devoid of realism – the reason for which is described here. Clinical evidence presented here, however, shows that there is an underlying pattern which in favourable circumstances as here, can be discerned – but which the average sufferer from psychotic symptoms actively wishes you not to discern – for reasons touched on above. This all goes to show why the future of this approach remains problematic. At all events, I have now closed my clinic, in order to allow time to assemble further weighty clinical evidence of its efficacy. Thank you for your interest so far.
Dr Bob Johnson
Consultant Psychiatrist,
Empowering intent detoxifies psychoses
P O Box 49, Ventnor, Isle Of Wight, PO38 9AA, UK
e-mail DrBob@TruthTrustConsent.com
GMC speciality register for psychiatry
formerly Head of Therapy, Ashworth Maximum Security Hospital, Liverpool
formerly Consultant Psychiatrist, Special Unit, C-Wing, Parkhurst Prison, Isle of Wight.
MRCPsych (Member of Royal College of Psychiatrists),
MRCGP (Member of Royal College of General Practitioners).
Diploma in Psychotherapy Neurology & Psychiatry (Psychiatric Inst New York),
MA (Psychol), PhD(med computing), MBCS, DPM, MRCS.
Author Emotional Health ISBN 0-9551985-0-X & Unsafe at any dose ISBN 0-9551985-1-8
Last minute events updates
Dear Friends,
While
we are getting ready for next week with our monthly meeting on Monday
the 20th and the Open Dialogue on Friday the 24th, please find a few
other forthcoming events we fondly wish to recommend. We apologise if we cannot attend them all, including the CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle walk which is happening this morning (to reach organisers at any time call/text 07985 658443) and the clashing event of the RD LAING reading group on Friday!
In Solidarity.
I Have a Dream Walk with CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle - Sat 18th April 11.45am – 4pm
Starting point: Tate Modern (outside The Turbine Hall entrance), Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Ends: Walworth
The walk will include talks about the campaign to abolish the slave trade, civil rights, the state of the NHS, homelessness, and will end at the Aylesbury Estate with a talk about the current housing crisis. CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle is a guided, stigma-busting cultural walk, designed to encourage mental and physical wellbeing, through art, exercise, humour and history. The walk is suitable for all levels of walking and is accessible to wheelchair users and people with disabilities. Join us for as long or as little as you like. The walk leaders wear orange high-viz vests and rucksacks. Call CoolTan Arts on 07985 658443 if you cannot find the walking group on the day.
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VENUE: Main Hall Osmani Centre, 58 Underwood Rd, London E1 5AW ON: Thursday 23rd April, 1.30pm - 5.30pm (including hot lunch)
For more information phone: 0207 377 9353 or email: suip@community-options.org.uk www.community-options.org.uk
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R.D. LAING IN THE 21ST CENTURY Reading Group - Fri 24th April 2015 6.30pm
25 years on from his death, the R.D. Laing Reading Group intends to bring fresh attention and understanding to the ideas of this influential psychiatrist. In the spirit of community and care, through lively, engaging peer discussion, we hope to bring connectivity and challenge to our understanding and experience of what it means to provide or receive support within a mental health context in the 21st century.
24th April 2015 Knots (1970) is a series of poems or dialogues poignantly describing how we bind ourselves within relationships.
Venue: Claremont Project, 24-27 White Lion Street, London, N1 9PD
Time: 6.30pm Cost: By donation. Wine and soft drinks provided.
Contact: Rebecca Greenslade E: rebeccagreenslade@hotmail.co.uk T: 07903 775 646
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The Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities Speak - Friday 1st May 2015 9.30am -4pm ITV studios, London.A few days before the 2015 UK General Election, Navigate Organisation Ltd (a micro business committed to well being for all and truth telling about disadvantage, racism and the need for meaningful effective change) is creating the platform for an innovative dialogue about mental health in and for BAME communities. This includes identifying how we can help guide the NHS in deploying mental health budgets to responding to BAME service user needs. Our day time event, with breaks and lunch, recognizes that this is a systemic issue closely linked with concerns about racism and the micro-aggressions that impact service providers, communities and those in distress. Register HERE
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RECOVERY Assistance Dogs for Mental Health
RECOVERY Assistance Dogs for Mental Health help individuals regain independence and wellbeing. The trained dogs are having great success in helping people to recover from Mental Health problems. RECOVERY Dogs give emotional assistance and help people to recover their wellbeing. They are registered support dogs and have an intensive training that helps to protect their owner from: * Anxiety * Loneliness * Panic Attacks The RECOVERY dogs help with: * Social Inclusion * Exercise * Protection
We are raising funds for a Camper Van to train RECOVERY Assistance Dogs for Mental Health and to campaign for Freedom from force and fear. Please support this cause donating in aid of this wonderful initiative http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/mental-health-unwrapped
Friday, 10 April 2015
April Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Last week David Kessel, FEEL founder and harbinger of Survivors movements in London, turned 68 and he deserves to have this newsletter dedicated to him.
“Fury”, a poem David read at the meeting of the Survivors History Group in March, can be found below. Attached there is also a photo of David with fellow friend Dr Peter Barham, while visiting the Mary Barnes exhibition at the Nunnery Gallery in Bow a few weeks ago and the Schizos Care flyer for those wishing to contact him. More poems and information about David can be found in our BLOG
We wish to congratulate with Nelsy Cristancho for her work and achievement, collecting together her autobiographic example of life struggle and recaptured wellness sharing her website standinguptomadness.wordpress.com
We are two weeks away from the much awaited Open Dialogue approach event on Friday the 24th of April at the Kingsley Hall. We look forward to hear and expand our understanding of the approach and how can Service Users can influence the system when requesting the type of care received.
Would have R D Laing be pleased to be there for our event? We will certainly remember him, specially as we are celebrating the 50th anniversary since his community seeded some ideas in that same building to what is slowly germinating into a variety of opportunities.
Bring your interest and questions for Dr Russell Razzaque (Consultant Psychiatrist, North East London NHS Foundation Trust) and POD (Peer-supported Open Dialogue) Nick Putman (Open Dialogue UK, Soteria) and be prepared to meet some of the Open Dialogue Experts and Training Team from Finland opendialogueapproach.co.uk
Date: Friday 24th April 2015 Time: 7.00 – 9.00 PM (doors open 6.30 PM)
Kingsley Hall, Powis Roads, Bow, London E3 3HJ
Electronic notaking has been arranged for the evening to aid the deaf/hard of hearing audience and we might also have a BSL interpreter.
Our monthly F.E.E.L. meeting will take place on Monday the 20th as usual at LARC, 62, Fieldgate St, E1 Whitechapel, 6.30-8.30pm.
Please find to follow a series of other interesting events to take place soon, while we wish the best of luck to Nick Waller with the launch of the Lifehouse Project next Tuesday the 14th.
Lifehouse Project - Opening Night
Tuesday 14th April 2015 at St Margaret's House 17, Old Ford Road, London E2 9PJ
You are kindly invited to the opening of the Lifehouse Project on Tuesday 14th April 2015 at St Margaret's House 17, Old Ford Road, London E2 9PJ. The venue is between York Hall and the Gallery Cafe (front building, ring the meeting room (middle) bell).
The Lifehouse Project is a drop-in group for anyone experiencing mental distress. We will be open every Tuesday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and we hope to operate a 24 hour service in the future.
The Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn MP has agreed to be a patron and will be attending the opening ceremony.
If you would like further information please do not hesitate to get in contact.
We hope that you will be able to attend the event. Please RSVP Nick Waller on 07926 886 372.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best Wishes,
Nick Waller
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NSUN Members' Manifesto
With the general election approaching on the 7th May, NSUN has produced a Members' Manifesto setting out what the next government should do based on what our members have told us. Our manifesto draws on feedback from our AGM (January 2015,) the top ten list of issues identified by members in our annual survey (2013 and 2014,) and responses from members to a direct request asking what should be in NSUN’s manifesto.
Mental health care accounts for only 13% of the NHS budget and despite a growing need for services funding has been cut for three years in a row. There have been many calls for the next government to increase funding for mental health services and promote "parity of esteem" – the legal principle by which mental health is given equal priority to physical health. Investment in mental health services is vital and a theme that runs throughout our manifesto. But we also believe that “parity of esteem” should not simply apply to the equal treatment of conditions but to the equal treatment of people, which means paying attention to their views.
We want to thank everyone who contributed and commented and hope that this will be a powerful tool that supports members to challenge decisions and demand changes to improve services and support.
Read the full MANIFESTO here.
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Sanity, Madness and the Family / Family Life: An Urgent Retrospective
Apr 24, 2015 1:00 PM - 9:00 PM, School of Arts, Gordon Square Cinema, 43 Gordon Square, Birkbeck, University of London. Free entry; booking required
It is just over 50 years since the publication of Sanity, Madness and the Family, R.D. Laing’s and Aaron Esterson’s groundbreaking study of 'schizophrenia' in 11 young women. Birkbeck Research in Aesthetics of Kinship and Community (BRAKC) and the Birkbeck Guilt Working Group have organized a one-day symposium to discuss the lasting impact of that book. Contact name Dr Andrew Asibong
www.bbk.ac.uk/events-calendar/sanity-madness-and-the-family-family-life-an-urgent-retrospective
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The Expert View Micro Festival 7th and 8th of May 2015
Join Bobby and the Daily Life Ltd team for a two-day East London extravaganza exploring ‘expertise’ in arts and mental health, from the perspectives of all involved.
Thursday 7th May: Evening performance double bill at Queen Mary University, London: book
Friday 8th May: The Expert View Symposium Day at Bromley By Bow Centre: book
Friday 8th May: Cabaret evening at Kingsley Hall: book
dailylifeltd.co.uk/the-expert-view-a-micro-festival-save-the-dates/
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The Gandhi Foundation is proud to present
"An Evening with Muriel Lester" Wednesday
13th May 2015, 6 pm
Kingsley Hall, Powis Roads, Bow, London E3 3HJ
PROGRAMME
-6pm Guided tours of Kingsley Hall, Three Bees Cafe, Stalls, BOOKSALES
-7.30pm Distinguished historian Seth Koven will discuss his latest book “The Match Girl and the Heiress”· -8pm Three Bees Cafe, Stalls, BOOKSALES
-8.30pm A rehearsed reading of “Stone Hands”play based on the life of Muriel Lester, by Alexandra Carey
For more information contact: william@gandhifoundation.org or 07910215651
FREE tickets need to be booked via www.eventbrite.co.uk/muriellesterevening
Donations welcome on the evening.
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52ND MAUDSLEY DEBATE 13 May 2015
Does long-term use of psychiatric medications cause more harm than good?
The Maudsley Debates take place three times a year at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience in Denmark Hill, London.
Topics generally focus on issues that have a direct impact on mental health services, service users and mental health professionals.
These interactive, popular and exciting debates attract well known speakers and are attended by service users, carers, professionals, journalists and members of the public. The debates are free but booking is essential.
Find out more about the next Maudsley Debate www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/news/special-events/maudsley-debates/index.aspx
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ECT protest press release
Activists Launch a Worldwide Call to Action to Stop Psychiatric Electroshock - Electroconvulsive Therapy – ECT.
A worldwide campaign kicks off on Saturday 16th May against psychiatric electroshock. This campaign was started by Debra Schwartzkopff in Oregon US.
List of protests can be found here: ectjustice.com/protest.php
Blog about the protest from Ted Chabasinski who was given a course of electroshock when he was 6 years old www.madinamerica.com/2015/04/ect-day-protest-progress-report-time-take-leadership/
Peter R Breggin MD says:
‘ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) involves the application of two electrodes to the head to pass electricity through the brain with the goal of causing an intense seizure or convulsion. The process always damages the brain, resulting each time in a temporary coma and often a flat-lining of the brain waves, which is a sign of impending brain death. After one, two or three ECTs, the trauma causes typical symptoms of severe head trauma or injury including headache, nausea, memory loss, disorientation, confusion, impaired judgement, loss of personality, and emotional instability. These harmful effects worsen and some become permanent as routine treatment progresses.’
WHO: ‘Speak Out Against Psychiatry’
WHAT: Worldwide protest against the use of Psychiatric Electroshock
WHEN: Saturday 16th May 2015, 2pm – 6pm
WHERE: London protest – The Houses of Parliament (Old Palace Yard - behind Westminster Abbey) London SW1P 3JY
NOTES: ‘Speak Out Against Psychiatry’ are a campaign group, started in July 2011, that believes psychiatry does more harm than good.
Website: speakoutagainstpsychiatry.org/
Email: speakoutagainstpsychiatry@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/speakoutagainstpsychiatry/
Twitter: @soapgroup
Part of www.networkagainstpsychiatricassault.org/
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The London Launch of Bonnie Burstow's book 'Psychiatry and the Business of Madness'
12th June 2015, Palgrave Macmillan, The Stables Building, 2 Trematon Walk (near Kings Cross Station), London, N1 9FN
‘The most hard-hitting and comprehensive critique of institutional psychiatry that has come out in decades’.
You will not be allowed to enter if you are not on the confirmed guest list so please RSVP to lauren8spring@gmail.com
Please forward to interested parties. Thanks.
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Westminster Health Forum Keynote Seminar
Thursday, 9th July 2015 Central London
Next steps for public health and Health and Wellbeing Boards: priorities, funding and integration with Robert White, Director, Health Value for Money Audit, National Audit Office; Abdul Razzaq, Director of Public Health, Trafford Council and Chair, North West Directors of Public Health; Professor Rosalind Smyth, Director, Institute of Child Health, University College London and Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive, Alzheimer’s Society and Dr Jessica Allen, UCL Institute of Health Equity; Lara Carmona, Rethink Mental Illness; Steve Ford, Parkinson’s UK; Andrew Forth, Royal Institute of British Architects; Scott Matthewman, Barnsley Council; John Nawrockyi, Bracknell Forest Council; Dr Josephine Sauvage, Islington Clinical Commissioning Group and Robbie Turner, Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire
Chaired by:
Baroness Gould of Potternewton and Rt Hon the Baroness Jay of Paddington
This event is CPD certified Our Website | Book Online | Live Agenda
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Fury
There was a time when I was young
when I first learnt to face the sun
Grew in me a burning sight
bitter and lonely as the night
Held a girl in sweet embrace
and made her memory my life
Suffered patriarch's contempt
futility split my mind
Bore a son upon my back
and his sorrow broke my heart
Came to love London streets
and hummed an anarchist's lament
At heart-rending Peckham Rye
ask What, How and Why?
The kingdom of the dead
or living commonwealth?
David Kessel (Aldgate 2013)
Last week David Kessel, FEEL founder and harbinger of Survivors movements in London, turned 68 and he deserves to have this newsletter dedicated to him.
“Fury”, a poem David read at the meeting of the Survivors History Group in March, can be found below. Attached there is also a photo of David with fellow friend Dr Peter Barham, while visiting the Mary Barnes exhibition at the Nunnery Gallery in Bow a few weeks ago and the Schizos Care flyer for those wishing to contact him. More poems and information about David can be found in our BLOG
We wish to congratulate with Nelsy Cristancho for her work and achievement, collecting together her autobiographic example of life struggle and recaptured wellness sharing her website standinguptomadness.wordpress.com
We are two weeks away from the much awaited Open Dialogue approach event on Friday the 24th of April at the Kingsley Hall. We look forward to hear and expand our understanding of the approach and how can Service Users can influence the system when requesting the type of care received.
Would have R D Laing be pleased to be there for our event? We will certainly remember him, specially as we are celebrating the 50th anniversary since his community seeded some ideas in that same building to what is slowly germinating into a variety of opportunities.
Bring your interest and questions for Dr Russell Razzaque (Consultant Psychiatrist, North East London NHS Foundation Trust) and POD (Peer-supported Open Dialogue) Nick Putman (Open Dialogue UK, Soteria) and be prepared to meet some of the Open Dialogue Experts and Training Team from Finland opendialogueapproach.co.uk
Date: Friday 24th April 2015 Time: 7.00 – 9.00 PM (doors open 6.30 PM)
Kingsley Hall, Powis Roads, Bow, London E3 3HJ
Electronic notaking has been arranged for the evening to aid the deaf/hard of hearing audience and we might also have a BSL interpreter.
Our monthly F.E.E.L. meeting will take place on Monday the 20th as usual at LARC, 62, Fieldgate St, E1 Whitechapel, 6.30-8.30pm.
Please find to follow a series of other interesting events to take place soon, while we wish the best of luck to Nick Waller with the launch of the Lifehouse Project next Tuesday the 14th.
Lifehouse Project - Opening Night
Tuesday 14th April 2015 at St Margaret's House 17, Old Ford Road, London E2 9PJ
You are kindly invited to the opening of the Lifehouse Project on Tuesday 14th April 2015 at St Margaret's House 17, Old Ford Road, London E2 9PJ. The venue is between York Hall and the Gallery Cafe (front building, ring the meeting room (middle) bell).
The Lifehouse Project is a drop-in group for anyone experiencing mental distress. We will be open every Tuesday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and we hope to operate a 24 hour service in the future.
The Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn MP has agreed to be a patron and will be attending the opening ceremony.
If you would like further information please do not hesitate to get in contact.
We hope that you will be able to attend the event. Please RSVP Nick Waller on 07926 886 372.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best Wishes,
Nick Waller
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NSUN Members' Manifesto
With the general election approaching on the 7th May, NSUN has produced a Members' Manifesto setting out what the next government should do based on what our members have told us. Our manifesto draws on feedback from our AGM (January 2015,) the top ten list of issues identified by members in our annual survey (2013 and 2014,) and responses from members to a direct request asking what should be in NSUN’s manifesto.
Mental health care accounts for only 13% of the NHS budget and despite a growing need for services funding has been cut for three years in a row. There have been many calls for the next government to increase funding for mental health services and promote "parity of esteem" – the legal principle by which mental health is given equal priority to physical health. Investment in mental health services is vital and a theme that runs throughout our manifesto. But we also believe that “parity of esteem” should not simply apply to the equal treatment of conditions but to the equal treatment of people, which means paying attention to their views.
We want to thank everyone who contributed and commented and hope that this will be a powerful tool that supports members to challenge decisions and demand changes to improve services and support.
Read the full MANIFESTO here.
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Sanity, Madness and the Family / Family Life: An Urgent Retrospective
Apr 24, 2015 1:00 PM - 9:00 PM, School of Arts, Gordon Square Cinema, 43 Gordon Square, Birkbeck, University of London. Free entry; booking required
It is just over 50 years since the publication of Sanity, Madness and the Family, R.D. Laing’s and Aaron Esterson’s groundbreaking study of 'schizophrenia' in 11 young women. Birkbeck Research in Aesthetics of Kinship and Community (BRAKC) and the Birkbeck Guilt Working Group have organized a one-day symposium to discuss the lasting impact of that book. Contact name Dr Andrew Asibong
www.bbk.ac.uk/events-calendar/sanity-madness-and-the-family-family-life-an-urgent-retrospective
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The Expert View Micro Festival 7th and 8th of May 2015
Join Bobby and the Daily Life Ltd team for a two-day East London extravaganza exploring ‘expertise’ in arts and mental health, from the perspectives of all involved.
Thursday 7th May: Evening performance double bill at Queen Mary University, London: book
Friday 8th May: The Expert View Symposium Day at Bromley By Bow Centre: book
Friday 8th May: Cabaret evening at Kingsley Hall: book
dailylifeltd.co.uk/the-expert-view-a-micro-festival-save-the-dates/
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The Gandhi Foundation is proud to present
"An Evening with Muriel Lester" Wednesday
13th May 2015, 6 pm
Kingsley Hall, Powis Roads, Bow, London E3 3HJ
PROGRAMME
-6pm Guided tours of Kingsley Hall, Three Bees Cafe, Stalls, BOOKSALES
-7.30pm Distinguished historian Seth Koven will discuss his latest book “The Match Girl and the Heiress”· -8pm Three Bees Cafe, Stalls, BOOKSALES
-8.30pm A rehearsed reading of “Stone Hands”play based on the life of Muriel Lester, by Alexandra Carey
For more information contact: william@gandhifoundation.org or 07910215651
FREE tickets need to be booked via www.eventbrite.co.uk/muriellesterevening
Donations welcome on the evening.
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52ND MAUDSLEY DEBATE 13 May 2015
Does long-term use of psychiatric medications cause more harm than good?
The Maudsley Debates take place three times a year at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience in Denmark Hill, London.
Topics generally focus on issues that have a direct impact on mental health services, service users and mental health professionals.
These interactive, popular and exciting debates attract well known speakers and are attended by service users, carers, professionals, journalists and members of the public. The debates are free but booking is essential.
Find out more about the next Maudsley Debate www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/news/special-events/maudsley-debates/index.aspx
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ECT protest press release
Activists Launch a Worldwide Call to Action to Stop Psychiatric Electroshock - Electroconvulsive Therapy – ECT.
A worldwide campaign kicks off on Saturday 16th May against psychiatric electroshock. This campaign was started by Debra Schwartzkopff in Oregon US.
List of protests can be found here: ectjustice.com/protest.php
Blog about the protest from Ted Chabasinski who was given a course of electroshock when he was 6 years old www.madinamerica.com/2015/04/ect-day-protest-progress-report-time-take-leadership/
Peter R Breggin MD says:
‘ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) involves the application of two electrodes to the head to pass electricity through the brain with the goal of causing an intense seizure or convulsion. The process always damages the brain, resulting each time in a temporary coma and often a flat-lining of the brain waves, which is a sign of impending brain death. After one, two or three ECTs, the trauma causes typical symptoms of severe head trauma or injury including headache, nausea, memory loss, disorientation, confusion, impaired judgement, loss of personality, and emotional instability. These harmful effects worsen and some become permanent as routine treatment progresses.’
WHO: ‘Speak Out Against Psychiatry’
WHAT: Worldwide protest against the use of Psychiatric Electroshock
WHEN: Saturday 16th May 2015, 2pm – 6pm
WHERE: London protest – The Houses of Parliament (Old Palace Yard - behind Westminster Abbey) London SW1P 3JY
NOTES: ‘Speak Out Against Psychiatry’ are a campaign group, started in July 2011, that believes psychiatry does more harm than good.
Website: speakoutagainstpsychiatry.org/
Email: speakoutagainstpsychiatry@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/speakoutagainstpsychiatry/
Twitter: @soapgroup
Part of www.networkagainstpsychiatricassault.org/
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The London Launch of Bonnie Burstow's book 'Psychiatry and the Business of Madness'
12th June 2015, Palgrave Macmillan, The Stables Building, 2 Trematon Walk (near Kings Cross Station), London, N1 9FN
‘The most hard-hitting and comprehensive critique of institutional psychiatry that has come out in decades’.
You will not be allowed to enter if you are not on the confirmed guest list so please RSVP to lauren8spring@gmail.com
Please forward to interested parties. Thanks.
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Westminster Health Forum Keynote Seminar
Thursday, 9th July 2015 Central London
Next steps for public health and Health and Wellbeing Boards: priorities, funding and integration with Robert White, Director, Health Value for Money Audit, National Audit Office; Abdul Razzaq, Director of Public Health, Trafford Council and Chair, North West Directors of Public Health; Professor Rosalind Smyth, Director, Institute of Child Health, University College London and Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive, Alzheimer’s Society and Dr Jessica Allen, UCL Institute of Health Equity; Lara Carmona, Rethink Mental Illness; Steve Ford, Parkinson’s UK; Andrew Forth, Royal Institute of British Architects; Scott Matthewman, Barnsley Council; John Nawrockyi, Bracknell Forest Council; Dr Josephine Sauvage, Islington Clinical Commissioning Group and Robbie Turner, Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire
Chaired by:
Baroness Gould of Potternewton and Rt Hon the Baroness Jay of Paddington
This event is CPD certified Our Website | Book Online | Live Agenda
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Fury
There was a time when I was young
when I first learnt to face the sun
Grew in me a burning sight
bitter and lonely as the night
Held a girl in sweet embrace
and made her memory my life
Suffered patriarch's contempt
futility split my mind
Bore a son upon my back
and his sorrow broke my heart
Came to love London streets
and hummed an anarchist's lament
At heart-rending Peckham Rye
ask What, How and Why?
The kingdom of the dead
or living commonwealth?
David Kessel (Aldgate 2013)
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