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Dangerous Gifts: Towards a New Wave of Mad Resistance

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Dangerous Gifts: Towards a New Wave of Mad Resistance Dangerous Gifts: Towards a New Wave of Mad Resistance Jonah Bossewitch Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2016 ©2016 Jonah Bossewitch All rights reserved ABSTRACT Dangerous Gifts: Towards a New Wave of Mad Resistance Jonah Bossewitch This dissertation examines significant shifts in the politics of psychiatric resistance and mental health activism that have appeared in the past decade. This new wave of resistance has emerged against the backdrop of an increasingly expansive diagnostic/treatment para- digm, and within the context of activist ideologies that can be traced through the veins of broader trends in social movements. In contrast to earlier generations of consumer/survivor/ex-patient activists, many of whom dogmatically challenged the existence of mental illness, the emerging wave of mad activists are demanding a voice in the production of psychiatric knowledge and greater control over the narration of their own identities. After years as a participant-observer at a leading radical mental health advocacy organization, The Icarus Project, I present an ethnography of conflicts at sites including Occupy Wall Street and the DSM-5 protests at the 2012 American Psychiatric Association conference. These studies bring this shift into focus, demonstrate how non-credentialed stakehold- ers continue to be silenced and marginalized, and help us understand the complex ideas these activists are expressing. This new wave of resistance emerged amidst a revolution in communication technologies, and throughout the dissertation I consider how activists are utilizing communications tools, and the ways in which their politics of resistance res- onate deeply with the communicative modalities and cultural practices across the web. Finally, this project concludes with an analysis of psychiatry’s current state and probable trajectories, and provides recommendations for applying the lessons from the movement towards greater emancipation and empowerment. Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Participatory Paradoxes . 4 1.2 Mad Voices . 6 1.3 Unleashing Patient Power . 10 1.4 New Normals . 12 1.4.1 Listening to the Deaf . 12 1.4.2 Anything but Neurotypical . 14 1.4.3 Abnormal Growths . 15 1.5 Medical Authorities . 18 1.6 Transcending Dualities . 21 1.7 Creatively Maladjusted . 26 1.8 A Method to This Madness . 30 1.9 Projecting Forward . 35 2 Counterfactual Cures: Manufacturing Disease and Dissent 41 2.1 Bad Pharma . 43 2.2 Early-onset Misconduct . 52 2.2.1 Where Science Meets Hope . 57 2.2.2 Atypical Childhoods Lost . 61 2.2.3 Diagnostic Wormholes . 68 2.3 Pathological Soothsayers . 74 2.4 Ferocious Attacks and Formulaic Defenses . 82 2.5 Transcending Monocultures . 85 3 Occupy Mental Health: Liberty Park Madness 88 3.1 owsmentalhealth: Emotional First Aid . 91 3.1.1 Joie de Vivre . 98 3.1.2 Is There a Doctor in the House? . 102 3.1.3 Involuntary Treatment . 104 3.1.4 License to Support . 107 3.1.5 Which 99%? . 110 3.1.6 Vibe Checkers and Knife Wielding Psychotics . 112 3.1.7 Coda: Post-Zuccotti Shelter and Support . 116 3.2 Rising Up Without Burning Out . 117 i 3.2.1 Cacophonous Choruses . 120 3.2.2 (In)Validating the mainstream . 123 3.2.3 Coercive Ideations . 127 3.2.4 What is Radical Mental Health? . 130 3.3 Conclusion . 132 4 APA 2012: Oppositionally Defiant Protestors 136 4.1 A Pivotal Moment . 138 4.2 Streets of Philadelphia . 142 4.2.1 The Friends Center . 142 4.2.2 Extreme Mental and Emotional Problems . 149 4.2.3 Hey, Hey APA! . 155 4.3 Imagining a Different Future . 157 4.4 Now in 3-D! . 159 4.5 The Radical Caucus Ruckus . 161 4.5.1 A Pot Luck Parable . 164 4.5.2 Seats at the Proverbial Table . 169 4.5.3 Involuntary Votes . 170 4.6 Conclusion . 175 5 You Are Not Alone: The Icarus Project and Psychosocial Wellbeing 178 5.1 Friends Make the Best Medicine . 181 5.1.1 Meeting Pre-ramble . 192 5.2 Discursive Snapshots . 198 5.2.1 Crooked Beauty . 199 5.2.2 Open Source, Open Minds . 216 5.2.3 The Problems in ’the’ Movement . 227 5.3 Addendum: Mad Maps . 232 5.4 Virtual Phenomenologic Interventions . 234 5.5 Conclusion . 239 6 Mad Horizons 242 6.1 Jonah Doe . 244 6.2 Corrective Lenses . 246 6.3 Exploratory Salvos . 250 6.3.1 MADLOVE: A Designer Asylum . 250 6.3.2 Understanding Psychosis . 255 6.3.3 Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies . 261 ii 6.4 Mad Futures . 266 6.5 #alternatives . 272 6.6 Conclusion . 278 References 283 iii Acknowledgements Projects like this one are never truly finished and this dissertation represents a significant milestone on the road to the stories, books and films I intend to spawn. The fullest realiza- tion of this project is our emancipation, not just words, and I hope this work helps inspire meaningful actions. There were many times I doubted I would complete this phase and I am truly ecstatic to be writing these acknowledgments right now. I could never have ar- rived at this point without the heartfelt generosity and loving support of all the people I am about to thank, and many, many more who conspired, along with the universe, to help me follow through. First, I want to thank the Columbia Journalism School’s Communications PhD pro- gram, a very special program that carefully nurtures a unique space for academic dream- ers. I was drawn the Communications PhD program while I was enrolled in Teachers College. As a student in Frank Moretti and Robbie McClintock’s History and Theories of Communication seminar I first met some of the Comm students and immediately felt a deep kinship, realizing I had finally found my academic home. The program’s faculty are also remarkable, and each of them opened my mind to entirely new worlds. This monograph has benefited greatly from the thoughtful attention and constructive comments of my dissertation committee: Michael Schudson, Todd Gitlin, Diane Vaughan, Sayantani DasGupta and Jack Bratich. As I continue to develop this work your ideas and ideals will help guide me. Your pragmatic commitment to clear, concise, and compelling prose has shaped my writing, and ultimately, my thinking. I want to especially thank Michael and Todd, who demonstrated their faith in my aca- demic success from the beginning, and helped me develop as a better writer, thinker, and person. Michael always entertained my intellectual flights, all the while providing meticu- lous, thoughtful feedback. He encouraged me to doggedly pursue my interests, and gently reminded me to flesh out my conceptual abstractions with more sociological meat. When I first started working with Todd, he reminded me of Peter Parker’s boss J. Jonah Jame- son, a hard-boiled newspaper editor helping me sniff out the best stories, challenging my iv conspiracy theories, and forcing me to back up my hunches with evidence. He became more than an editor — he became my advisor, my co-investigator and finally, my mentor. In the year leading up to my defense I had the privilege of participating in a dissertation writing group, and the brilliant feedback of Burcu Baykurt, Travis Mushett, Ri Pierce-Grove and Soomin Seo provided me with the inspiration and resolve to see this project through. Honorary mentions go to Sascha DuBrul, Erica Fletcher, Brad Lewis, Faith Rhyne and Tom Schmatzhagen and Alexander Gail Shermansong, close friends from outside my program who also closely read and debated with me throughout drafts and droughts. Together they helped me weather the cold winters of endless revisions through the warmth of their dark humor and good cheer. To all of my friends, activists and researchers involved in the mad movement, thank you for sharing your stories and lives with me. I especially want to thank the membership of the The Icarus Project, the national collective, and the local NYC Icarus chapter for their vision, courage and resilience. The perseverance of Mindfreedom, the leadership of Mad In America, the entire crew of Mindful Occupation and everyone in the Occupy Wall Street Safety Cluster. For teaching me about mad languages of compassion Sonia J. Cheruvillil, Will Hall, Rachel Liebert, Jacks McNamara, Maryse Mitchell-Brody, and Bonfire Madigan Shive. For mad visions Daniel Mackler, Andrew Grant, Anniken Hoel, Sarah Quinter, Ken Paul Rosenthal and Mitch McCabe. For mad NYC support Emily Allan, Caitlin Belforti, Nadia Gomez, Christine Guryev, Erin Lemkey, Kevin Marx, Jazmine Russel, Becca Stabile, Suki Valentine, Curt White and Hollie Zegman. For teaching me about mad heroism David Oaks, Jim Gottstein, David Egilman and Fred von Lohmann. And for teaching me about mad love, Sascha Altman DuBrul, Faith Rhyne, Eric Stiens, Erica Fletcher, and Bradley Lewis. Although digital files seem immaterial, they still require physical resources to create and sustain them. This dissertation was written in fits and starts, with regular stints in neighborhood cafes, occasional bursts in Avery or Burke library, and punctuated by intense writing retreats hosted by some of my dearest friends who opened their porches, decks, and hammocks to my feverish pecking. Special thanks to the Frankfurts for providing Fair Harbor, the Garfields for the joys of writing while Snowbound, the Fletchers for Mission Control, and the Mushett-Johnsons for waiving the toll. As a part-time student I have gotten to know many students and faculty at Columbia over the years, and want to sincerely thank everyone who has indulged me in a late-night conversations, read any of my mad papers or posts, and traveled with me across metaphys- ical landscapes.
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