Daily dose of news:
- Crooked Beauty Film w/ Icarus Co-Founder Ashley McNamara Premieres! | The Icarus Project — Crooked Beauty is a 30-minute poetic documentary that chronicles the transformation of artist/writer/activist Ashley McNamara from victim of the Western psychiatric establishment to one of the world’s foremost progressive mental health activists.
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- Feds found Pfizer too big to nail – CNN.com — Imagine being charged with a crime, but an imaginary friend takes the rap for you. That is essentially what happened when Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, was caught illegally marketing Bextra, a painkiller that was taken off the market in 2005 because of safety concerns.
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- State Lawyers Denied Access to Patients — New York Times — New York State’s highest court has refused to order nursing homes to give state lawyers access to hundreds of psychiatric patients so they can advocate for their rights to treatment alternatives, living conditions or even release.
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- Food allergies are answer to medical mystery — LA Times — An endocrinologist ran tests, which indicated I was allergic to several foods. Results came in a flow-chart format, displaying levels of severity associated with my allergies. The most severe: cow’s milk. The next most severe: wheat.
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- If You Do Nothing Else Today, Read This — The Trouble with Spikol — Let’s imagine for a moment that you are long into the public mental health system. You have been in the hospital multiple times, in a couple of partial hospitalization programs, and have spent years in sheltered workshops and day programs. You’ve received the Prophecy of Doom, “Too sick for too long to get any better.” You’ve heard plenty of statements beginning with “You can’t, You won’t, and You will never.” You’ve been told endlessly that something is intrinsically (genetically) wrong with you and the only thing that will truly save you is a medication yet to be discovered. You’ve also been told that the most important thing you can do is get on SSI or SSDI in light of the prolonged and persistent nature of your illness. You’ve been told to engage in meaningful activities generally limited to walking, listening to music, and reading. You’ve been told countless times to avoid any stressors which might be associated with more rewarding activities and these stressors will doubtless lead to yet another hospitalization. You’ve been told so many things.