After being diagnosed with one of those ‘severe and enduring’ mental illnesses many begin to define themselves by their psychiatric label. They may call themselves schizophrenic or manic depressive and in so doing often confirm the chronicity inherent to those labels. I am by way of being a martial artist and when I found myself subject to the mental health system, severely labelled, medicated and without hope, I fought a personal battle in a mental landscape, the battle to define myself.                 &nb ..read more

I entered the mental health system just over 10 years ago, first as a patient, emphasis on the patience, then a service user and shortly after as a member of staff. Conditioned by the usual messages welcoming me to a jobless and dysfunctional future, I had become a half being set to fail as both parent and husband. A hungry ghost, haunting my old life, surrounded on all sides by imaginary walls, infecting my surroundings with misery.   " Encompassed on all sides with a thousand dangers, weary faint, trembling with a thousand terrors...I...in a fleshy tomb, am buried above ground."  ..read more

The man, who, being really on the Way, falls upon hard times in the world will not, as a consequence, turn to that friend who offers him refuge and comfort and encourages his old self to survive. Rather, he will seek out someone who will faithfully and inexorably help him to risk himself, so that he may endure the suffering and pass courageously through it. Only to the extent that man exposes himself over and over again to annihilation, can that which is indestructible arise within him. In this lies the dignity of daring. Von Durkheim  There is a field Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing ..read more

Donna Kemp asks who ‘owns recovery’? Recovery is everyone’s business. It seems to have been the buzz word for the last few years in mental health and is rapidly gathering momentum. Indeed, it appears to be morphing, growing arms and legs, changing its meaning and expanding its territory. Its mental health roots were firmly in the service users’ ground; it was something that service users owned – ‘you know what, despite what I’m going through with mental health services, of being care programme approached up hill and down dale, of being told what my needs are and what services and tablets can ..read more

   Though known mostly for his poetry, Tagore also wrote novels, essays, short stories, travelogues, dramas, and thousands of songs. Of Tagore's prose, his short stories are perhaps most highly regarded; indeed, he is credited with originating the Bengali-language version of the genre. His works are frequently noted for their rhythmic, optimistic, and lyrical nature. Such stories mostly borrow from deceptively simple subject matter: common people. Days are coloured bubbles that float upon the surface of fathomless night. A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the ..read more

Beyond Belief Alternative Ways of Working with Delusions, Obsessions and Unusual Experiences About the book and author  Tamasin Knight's first book Beyond Belief explores ways of helping people who have unusual beliefs. These are beliefs that may be called delusions, obsessions, or another kind of psychopathology. Psychiatric treatment attempts to remove these beliefs by medication and other methods. The new approach described in Beyond Belief is different. It is about accepting the individual's own reality and assisting them to cope and live with their beliefs. Beyond Belief expla ..read more

  Citizens Commision on Human Rights ..read more

Modern nursing theorists argue that in the field of Mental Health nursing the model, detailed by Hildegard Peplau, is still the most appropriate and powerful. Service users and carers too recognise the style of nursing as the most benficial and sadly the most lacking. Dr. Peplau emphasized the nurse-client relationship as the foundation of nursing practice. At the time, her research and emphasis on the give-and-take of nurse-client relationships was seen by many as revolutionary. Peplau went on to form an interpersonal model emphasizing the need for a partnership between nurse and cl ..read more

Rethink campaigns for a better quality of life for everyone affected by severe mental illness. They push for national policy change by lobbying people in power on crucial mental health issues, and campaign locally to ensure people can access the help they need.  Please Get involved today. General Election 2010 Campaign ..read more

Lars Martensson, 2002 Is recovery possible? Isn’t schizophrenia a chronic, lifelong disease? Yes, in general, at least with the drugs. Almost everybody who gets the diagnosis is stuck both with the diagnosis and the drugs for life. But is recovery possible without the drugs?   I will return to that question. But first we will make a trip to the Swedish city of Falun and talk with Goran Andre, a psychiatrist. In the early and mid 1990s he was head of psychiatry in Falun, and responsible for psychiatric services for a population of about 60,000 people.  During a four year p ..read more