Author: Will Hall

Effective family support — Krista MacKinnon on Madness Radio

How can family members help a relative in extreme crisis - instead of worsening the situation? Is there a way out of treatment power struggles and arguments about "insight"? And what do families need to change about themselves? Psychiatric survivor Krista MacKinnon, formerly at Toronto's Family Outreach and Response program and now Director of Practice Recovery, discusses practical methods for turning family relationships into tools for healing. … [click on title to read and view more]

Responding To Organizational Conflict

By Will Hall The extraordinary hope we invest in idealistic projects can even sometimes make things worse: the more we believe our group is the answer to a world gone wrong, the more our world does go wrong when the group unravels. As we feel circled by enemies and victimized by mistreatment, we spawn a terrible shame: the feeling that there must be something basically at fault with us and even our movement. Our core values are shaken, and we risk giving up our aspirations for change. We can burn out, turning our backs activist organizing entirely. … [click on title to read and view more]

Are elders living with forgetfulness, Alzheimer’s, and dementia unreachable?

Are elders living with forgetfulness, Alzheimer's, and dementia unreachable? Are there parallels with states called psychotic? Can meaning be found in the confusion of brain injury and coma? Stan Tomandl, MA, DiplPW and author of Coma Care & Palliative Work, and An Alzheimer's Surprise Party: Unveiling the Mystery, Inner Experience, and Gifts of Dementia, explores communicating with memory loss and how to make an end of life transition with dignity. [click on title for the rest of the post]

Coming Off Psych Drugs with Will Hall

coming off psych drugs

Will Hall is a nationally recognized mental health advocate, counselor, and speaker. He is also the author of the "Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs," a 52-page pamphlet containing valuable information on reducing and ultimately ending the use of psychiatric medication. Host Shannon Eliot catches up with him at the recent WRAP Around the World Conference in Oakland to chat about about mental health stigma, the controversy around psychiatric medication, suicidal feelings, and how society defines normality. …

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Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry, Gary Greenberg (Madness Radio)

picture of Gary greenberg for book of woe

Why did the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual become so controversial? Is it possible to alleviate human suffering without classifying it as a mental disorder? Gary Greenberg, psychotherapist, author of Manufacturing Depression and The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry, and journalist for Harper's, the New Yorker, and Rolling Stone, discusses the politics behind psychiatry's new Bible. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Gary Greenberg, Author of “Book Of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry” at Powells Bookstore (audio included)

When I interviewed Gary Greenberg, author of "The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry" for Madness Radio last month, I knew it would be great to invite him to an event at Powell's bookstore in Portland. Powell's and Portland Hearing Voices have co-sponsored Robert Whitaker and Ethan Watters in the past, and when Gary got into town we once again filled the store's upstairs lecture room for an awesome and thoughtful evening. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Will Hall at Grand Rounds, OHSU Department of Psychiatry – Oregon Health And Sciences University

My Grand Rounds talk at OHSU Department of Psychiatry was both video archived on their website, as well as live broadcast to several remote sites, including Oregon State Hospital. Much of the presentation followed my APA talk last October, compressed into an impossibly short timeframe made even shorter by a late start. With one or two exceptions, the crowd filling the lecture room was very welcoming and positive; it was an overall inspiring experience for me to see so much openness to change. A special thank you to Dr. Neil Falk, who helped out when OHSU asked that I have a doctor as sponsor for my talk. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Dylan Tighe – “RECORD: Questioning A Scientific View of Mental Health” Play Features Madness Radio

Theatre-Maker and musician Dylan Tighe uses his own psychiatric history to probe some of the assumptions underpinning a scientific view of mental health. The play proposes artistic expression, and lived experience- as capable of offering insights into the mind (and heart) which science cannot penetrate. This alternative record of mental health centres around Dylan Tighe's psychiatric records and personal research and includes songs from his debut album RECORD exploring his diagnosis and experience, along with a collage of sonic and musical sources, documentary, dramatic scenes and archive samples relating to the science behind the concept of "mental illness" … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Living with suicidal feelings

dark forest living with suicidal feelings

It's time for a new understanding of suicidal feelings. Is it really best to force someone into the hospital when they are suicidal? Do suicidal feelings plus "risk factors" really mean professionals can predict whether someone might try to kill themselves? And are suicidal feelings the symptom of a treatable illness that should include medication prescription? … [click on title for the rest of the post]

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Queer Poetry Inbetweenland Jacks McNamara: Madness Radio

Is trauma also a source of creative inspiration? Can sexual passion be a force for healing? And do we have to live in either/or boxes - or is there somewhere else? Artist and activist Jacks McNamara, co-founder of the Icarus Project radical support community, discusses their recently-published anthology Inbetweenland, including poetry about being genderqueer person, surviving with a broken heart, and how to travel the path from madness to the wounded healer. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Meaning of Medications David Cohen, Madness Radio

Why does the same psychiatric drug help one person - but harm another? Do psychiatric medications "work" by chemistry alone - or through expectation, placebo, and social factors? What is the difference between prescribed medications and mind altering substances like alcohol? David Cohen, social work professor at Florida International University and co-author of Your Drug May Be Your Problem, discusses the role of social context in constructing how we experience psychiatric medications. … [click on title to read the rest]

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