Dear Friends,
We wish congratulate with musician Dee Sada for curating an awesome event last Sunday at Cafe Oto, Dalston, dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the radical experiment at Kingsley Hall by RD Laing and colleagues. Wonderful contributions were shared by Luke Fowler, Dr Leon Redler, Dr Joseph Berke, The Bohman Brothers and a special "I LOVE them, for they are my Friends" performance with Dee Sada, Billy Steiger and an humorous Dr Berke. An excerpt of the evening can be viewed here www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1SLxTv6tZU
The conversation about the community of Bow will continue this Friday the 12th after the projection of the film/documentary Asylum, by Peter Robinson, at the Kingsley Hall itself. Confirmed guests for the panel discussion are Adrian Laing, Dr Shatzman and Francis Gillett. Doors will open at 6.30pm.
Also a gentle reminder for our monthly FEEL meeting, which is taking place next Monday the 15th.
I DOC Italy:
Screening of the documentary "The crazy woman next-door"
by Antonietta De Lillo. Introduced by poet and translator Cristina Viti
Date: Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Opening times: 6.30pm
Venue: Italian Cultural Institute
Organised by: Italian Cultural Institute
Free Event Booking Online
Poet Alda Merini tells her life in a personal and familiar narrative, fluctuating between public and private, lingering on the most significant chapters of her existence: childhood, womanhood, love, maternity and the relationship with her children, madness and the lucid reflection on poetry and art. The face of the poet and the details of her eyes, hands, and body create a portrait that does not hide the contradictions of one of the most important and renowned literary figures of the twentieth century. Alda Merini (Milan, 21 March 1931 – Milan, 1st November 2009) was a poet, writer and aphorist.
Cristina Viti's translation of Mariapia Veladiano's first novel (A Life Apart, MacLehose 2013) was the runner-up for the John Florio Prize. Other translations (including Elsa Morante, Erri De Luca, Amelia Rosselli) and poetry have appeared in a number of magazines and reviews. Her translation of the poetry of Gëzim Hajdari is forthcoming from Shearsman Press.
--------------------------------
DO WE NEED A CRITICAL PSYCHOTHERAPY?
Freud Museum and The University of Roehampton
20 Maresfield Gardens, London NW3 5SX
Saturday 13th June 2015 Day Conference 9.30am - 5.00pm
Exploring the talking therapies in neoliberal society
Speakers from different theoretical perspectives address questions about the provision of talking therapies in contemporary society, and how it affects therapeutic practice.
-Is it important for psychotherapy to be 'critical' and socially engaged?
-Do psychotherapists do a disservice to their clients by not being so?
-Do psychotherapy trainings discourage critical thought and promote an other-wordly sense of psychotherapy and the ‘inner world’? -What models of 'mental illness' and 'mental health' are appropriate for psychotherapy in the 21st century?
-Have mental health services and the 'mental health agenda' become part of the ideological mechanisms of neo-liberal society?
This conference will be of interest and benefit to anyone involved in psychotherapy today.
Speakers include
Del Loewenthal, Julian Lousada, Ian Parker, Hugh Middleton, David Morgan, Adrian Cocking, Mari Ruti, Anastasios Gaitanidis, Julie Walsh, Tom Cotton, Jay Watts, Rai Waddingham.
For further information please click here
For online booking please click here
Registration: £60 / £45 concessions (£5 discount for members of the Freud Museum and students and staff of Roehampton University).
Pre-Conference Evening Symposium
The Many Faces of ‘Critical Psychotherapy': An evening of dialogue and debate
Thursday 11th June 2015
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Talks and discussion at the Anna Freud Centre exploring different notions of the term ‘critical psychotherapy’ and putting them into dialogue.
Del Loewenthal – Introduction
Michael Rustin – Work in Contemporary Capitalism
Steven Groarke – Psychoanalysis and Resistance
Andrew Samuels – The Activist Client
Registration: £12 / £8 concessions
For further information please click here
For online booking please click here
--------------------------------
The British Psychological Society is pleased to announce the publishing of the BPS Good Practice Guidance on Hoarding
We would like to invite you to join us at the launch of A Psychological Perspective on Hoarding:
On Tuesday 16th June 3pm -5pm at the British Psychological Society London Office, 30 Tabernacle Street, London EC2 4UA.
The British Psychological Society requires everyone who wishes to attend to register online via this link: response.questback.com/britishpsychologicalsociety/dcphoarding/
--------------------------------
How Come We Didn't Know?
A photographic exhibition by Marion Macalpine
Showing between 16th - 27th June
Mondays to Thursdays 9am-8pm
Fridays 9am – 6pm
Saturdays 9 am – 5pm
Highlighting the many different ways that healthcare corporations are taking over the NHS.
Marion is a Hackney resident and member of Hackney Keep Our NHS Public.
The Brady Arts and Community Centre
192-196 Hanbury Street London E1 5HU
Tel: 020 7364 7900
www.hackneykeepournhspublic.org/exhibition-how-come-we-didnt-know.html
--------------------------------
End Austerity Now - National Demonstration Starts at 12:00PM
Saturday 20th June Assemble 12pm, Bank of England (Queen Victoria St) City of London
March to Parliament Square Organised by The People's Assembly
There is no need for ANY cuts to public spending; no need to decimate public services; no need for unemployment or pay and pension cuts; no need for Austerity and privatisation. There IS an alternative. We need a government to reverse damaging austerity, and replace it with a new set of policies providing us with a fair, sustainable and secure future. We can no longer tolerate politicians looking out for themselves and for the rich and powerful. Our political representatives must start governing in the interests of the majority.
www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/calendar
-----------------------------
THE DIVIDED LAING or, The Two Ronnies
A Rehearsed Reading
Written by Patrick Marmion
Directed by Michael Kingsbury
Cast: William Houston, Alan Cox, Michael Matus and Laura-Kate Gordon
A surreal comedy about utopian ambition, the nature of madness and the seething mind of RD Laing " The Divided Laing" depicts the final days of the community at the Kingsley Hall.
23rd of June 6:30PM
Kingsley Hall, Powis Road, E3 3HJ
Free of charge
RSVP michael@spellboundproductions.co.uk
--------------------------------
MARCH ON STREATHAM JOB CENTRE Friday, June 26 at 1:30pm. Meet at Streatham Memorial Gardens, Streatham High Road/Streatham Common North to march to Streatham Job Centre Plus, Crown House, Station Approach, London SW16 6HW
A mass protest against Lambeth Community Mental Health Services moving to Streatham Job Centre, and the establishment of the UK's first psychological therapies department at Streatham Job Centre - explicitly merging mental health services with the DWP's agenda of harassment posing as "Back to Work."
"Curing unemployment is a growth market for psychologists. Job Centres are becoming medical centres, claimants are becoming patients, and unemployment is being redefined as a psychological disorder."
- Organised by the Mental Health Resistance Network
--------------------------------
BREAKING THE FRAME 2: Second Gathering on the Politics of Technology
July 9-12 2015, Unstone Grange, Derbyshire
Organised by CorporateWatch, Scientists for Global Responsibility, Luddites200 and others
Come to Breaking The Frame 2 for a fresh conversation on the politics of technology. Join us in July for 3 days of workshops and campaign planning, plus music, food by Veggies, walking in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside, hands-on activities and more
We live in a world dominated by technology and by systems created by technical experts. So whether it's where your food and energy comes from or if there is a right to privacy, almost everything in life is profoundly shaped by those technologies. Technologies do bring some genuine benefits, but because their design is almost entirely controlled by corporate and military technical elites, they tend to reinforce corporate power and destroy the environment. Breaking The Frame is based on the idea that everyone has the right to take part in decisions about technology, and that is crucial to creating an economically just and sustainable society.
Last year's gathering was supported by more than 20 organisations. Whether you're a technology politics campaigner, trade unionist, environmentalist, critical scientist, developer of alternative technology, artist or plain concerned citizen, Breaking the Frame is not to be missed.
Booking: places are limited, so you'll need to book in advance. We aim to ensure that no-one is excluded for reasons of cost.
For those who are travelling from London, a group will taking the 12.58pm train from St Pancras on Thursday 9th - we'd love you to join us.
There will be panels on basic technology politics/technocracy, democratic control of technology, alternative technology and the transition to an economically just and sustainable society.
Workshops run by leading campaign groups will focus on the technology politics of food, the workplace, privacy/policing, gender, energy, health, militarism, mining/infrastructure, etc.
For more information visit breakingtheframe.org.uk/btf2015/, contact info@breakingtheframe.org.uk or call 020 7426 0005.
--------------------------------
Dr Bob Johnson & Peter Bullimore with National Paranoia Network
Present a Half Day Panel Discussion
Psychoses – the case for optimism
It’s time we –
(1) reversed PSYCHIATRIC NIHILISM
(2) stopped relying on MIND NUMBING DRUGS, &
(3) re-kindled the HEALING HAND OF KINDNESS
_
(1) DSM-psychiatry isn’t working – 1 in 50 deaths is SUICIDE [>800,000 of 56m in 2012. WHO]
(2) All psychiatric drugs work by ‘INTOXICATION’alcohol [Myth of Chemical Cure p 244]
(3) More psychoses were CURED 1796-1850 than ever since. [Mad in America p24]
Panel: Dr Bob Johnson, Dr Eleanor Longden, Oliver James(stc), Peter Bullimore.
Chair – David Brindle, the Guardian
Saturday 10th October 2015, 1:30pm – 5:00pm
Venue: Bloomsbury Suite, Friends House,
173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Rates: £15, concessions £5.00. Contributions/donations welcomed
Email: lindawhiting54@yahoo.co.uk Tel 07763652490/ 07590837694 – www.DrBobJohnson.org/audio
Dear Friends,
The Open Dialogue event the other week brought along a good number of like-minded participants to our quest of effective and humane mental health services.
Dr Razzaque updated us about the OD pilot that was recently completed by the NELFT and three other trusts. It was a great shame to find out that our trust in East London apparently had not shown interest to get involved, when invited to take part to the pilot.
Nick Putman brought along with him a few trainees, fresh from the Open Dialogue UK training that week, and it was inspiring to hear that some of them are service users themselves. A very pleasant Adrian Laing, which came along to check out the event, was invited to join the team on stage for a much appreciated impromptu contribution.
Myra has suggested for the Kingsley Hall to be used as a base for this type of training to develop and as Liam Kirk said, the Open Dialogue seems to be returning to its spiritual home.
Most of us have already heard and seen enough of the obsolete system which, funded on terror and damaging dependency to medication, has been patronising the services for far long with poor results.
We really wish to see this new movement take shape and for the ripple to bring real benefits to people asap.
Notes of most of the event are available to share; send us a message if you wish to have a copy. A photo album can be viewed here goo.gl/BKcyrM
FEEL was on a local paper recently as some of our poets and Friends will be contributing to the closing Cabaret event of The Expert View, a micro festival by Bobby Baker and the Daily Life Ltd team. Please do check all the events of the festival that will take place between Thu 7th and Fri 8th exploring ‘expertise’ in arts and mental health from the perspectives of all involved dailylifeltd.co.uk/the-expert-view-a-micro-festival-save-the-dates/
To follow, please find a few interesting and important dates for your diary and find attached Word file with details of the just published Poetry Express e-magazine No.48 from Survivors' Poetry.
The next FEEL monthly meeting is on Monday the 18th of May at LARC. Join us if you can.
--------------------------------
Next week between the 11th and the 17th is mental health awareness week.
Also time to use the SMILEY TEARY BADGE. The "ONLY US" campaign can be now followed on Twitter
"There's "them" — and then there's "us". They are mentally ill and dangerous We are well, happy and safe"
Is this really true? Or is the uncomfortable truth that there's a continuum, a scale along which we all slide back and forth during our lives, sometimes happy, occasionally depressed or very anxious; mostly well balanced but with moody moments; usually in touch with reality, but at times detached or even psychotic. When we separate ourselves and imagine humanity divided into two different groups, we hurt those labelled as sick, ill, even mad. We allow stigma, prejudice and exclusion to ruin potentially good and creative lives. But we also hurt ourselves, because we stress ourselves out with false smiles and the suppression of our own vulnerabilities. Don't be afraid of your vulnerability, your sensitivity, your mad side. Be bold, and, if you've ever had your own experience of some kind of mental health issue, whether or not you were diagnosed....... get yourself the SMILEY TEARY BADGE
There is no them and us THERE'S ONLY US
- Order the badge at www.buttonbadges.co.uk — 20 badges for £10 (Just quote 'SMILEY TEARY BADGE' (you don't need to send them the image)
- Give the badges to your friends. Keep one for yourself. Think about the implications.
- Monday May 11th (the start of Mental Health Awareness Week) put on your badge. Wear it all week. Find other badge-wearers. And talk to each other. We all have something in common. They are ONLY US
--------------------------------
MAY 16th INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST PSYCHIATRIC ELECTROSHOCK LONDON PROTEST
Electroshock can be given against your will in the UK and Worldwide.
(Please, see leaflet and press release attached)
Date: Saturday May 16, 2015; Time: 14:00 until 18:00
Place: Houses of Parliament (Old Palace Yard - behind Westminster Abbey) London SW1P 3JY
Contact: Cheryl Prax speakoutagainstpsychiatry@gmail.com 07961 852 913
On May 16, 2015, from 2pm until 6pm, there will be a demonstration at the Houses of Parliament (Old Palace Yard - behind Westminster Abbey) London SW1P 3JY against Electroshock as a psychiatric ‘treatment’. The demonstration will be part of a coordinated international event involving over thirty cities in nine countries on the same day. This historic event has been organized by three shock survivors: Ted Chabasinski from California, Debra Schwartzkopff from Oregon, and Mary Maddock from Ireland. Protests will begin in Rotorua, New Zealand, early on May 16, and end many hours later at an evening forum to be held in New York City.
--------------------------------
R.D. Laing 50: June 7th, Cafe Oto
In order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Philadelphia Association’s residency at Kingsley Hall in Bow, London, R.D. LAING 50 will explore some of their radical approaches to anti-psychiatry through conversation, film, and music.
The evening will bring together practitioners from Kingsley Hall, and artists who have researched and been inspired by its specific time/space.
Joining us on the evening:
Luke Fowler - screening of 'What You See Is Where You're At' and Q&A
Dr Leon Redler - 'My Time At Kingsley Hall' talk and Q&A
Dr Joseph Berke - 'Mary and Joseph' talk and Q&A
The Bohman Brothers - Composition commissioned for the event
Blue On Blue - 'I LOVE them, for they are my friends' - Mary Barnes inspired project commissioned for the event
For full listing information and ticket link, please visit: www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/rd-laing-50/
--------------------------------
Asylum, Film screening and discussion, Friday 12 June 6.30pm
Venue: Kingsley Hall, Powis Road, London, E3 3HJ
Tube: Bromley By Bow, DLR Bow Church
Buses: 25, 8,108, S2
Time: Arrive 6.30pm, Screening begins 7pm, followed by a discussion about the film
Cost: By donation.
“Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.” – R.D. Laing
Celebrating 50 years since the start of the radical therapeutic community at Kingsley Hall.
Both influential and infamous, psychiatrist R.D. Laing’s critique of conventional psychiatric treatments gained significant visibility and attention in the 1960’s and 70’s. His passionate voice drew attention to the dehumanising psychiatric treatment of vulnerable patients and generated an intellectual and cultural polemic reaching far beyond the psychiatric community. His experimental and alternative therapeutic communities - where the distinction between patient and therapist was dropped - were the source of both criticism and inspiration. Filmed by Peter Robinson, Asylum documents their experiences at the Archway Community in North London.
Contact:
Rebecca Greenslade E: rebeccagreenslade@hotmail.co.uk
Nat Fonnesu E: f.e.e.l.campaign@gmail.com
Organised in collaboration with Friend of East End Loonies and R.D. Laing in the 21st Century Reading Group and the Kingsley Hall. Supported by Claremont Project.
--------------------------------
The Italian Riviera Project has invited us to share their information about the educational and recreational respite breaks they provide on a self-help basis for disabled persons and their carers, supported by Community Action Southwark. For info email italianrivieraproject@yahoo.com or check goo.gl/wWXmCK
--------------------------------
Inspirational Links To Save The Male of The Species - Raising Awareness
(By kind email from a Friend)
My dad has just been in and out of hospital due to Septicaemia bought about by my dad not eating due to grief for the death of our mum; basically possible attempted suicide by neglect. In trying to support my dad and my brother who has ‘Power of Attorney’ to make decisions I found all these useful links. Please pass them on.
I thought some of these links may either be of use to you or your relatives (bereavement and counselling) or for any of your friends, children, members, students or colleagues. I was so shocked that suicide is the single biggest killer for most age ranges of men. Inspired by the programme I want to share it with as many people to promote and support all men’s wellbeing as I would women’s wellbeing.
Interestingly CALM – ‘The Campaign Against Miserable Living’ was created by men from the north east. No man need to go through stuff alone. This was what I sent my brother; who knows it may help him too.
Here are some possibly helpful links In answer to dad’s view ‘it’s all hippy shit’. Backed up by science – opening up saves male lives. Enjoy -
Here is a link to a very interesting documentary on male suicide by Panorama.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05rcrx0/panorama-a-suicide-in-the-family
This is CALM – THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST LIVING MISERABLY – looking at and promoting good male mental health by men for men. This campaign was promoted in the programme www.thecalmzone.net
Open to Hope – Expressing grief
www.opentohope.com
The Counselling Directory – Berevement
www.counselling-directory.org.uk/bereavement.html
Cruse Bereavement Care
www.cruse.org.uk
NHS Dealing with Bereavement
www.nhs.uk/livewell/bereavement/pages/coping-with-bereavement.aspx
Maytree suicide support
www.maytree.org.uk
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
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
www.DrBobJohnson.org
GMC speciality
register for
psychiatry
reg. num.
0400150
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
