Peter Stastny and Peter Lehmann (Eds.) Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry PrefacebyRobertWhitaker Contributionsby VolkmarAderhold,LaurieAhern,BirgittaAlakare, KarynBaker, UlrichBartmann,AgnesBeier,ReginaBellion, WilmaBoevink,PatBracken,StefanBräunling,LudgerBruckmann, GiuseppeBucalo,DorotheaS.Buck-Zerchin,SarahCarr, TinaColdham,BhargaviDavar,AnneMarieDiGiacomo, ConstanceDollwet,JeanneDumont,MerindaEpstein, SandraEscher,JamesB.Gottstein,ChrisHansen,GeoffHardy, PetraHartmann,AlfredHausotter,MichaelHerrick,GuyHolmes, AndrewHughes,TheodorItten,MathsJesperson,KristineJones, HanneloreKlafki,MiriamKrücke,PeterLehmann,BruceE.Levine, HaroldA.Maio,RufusMay,SheryMead,KateMillett, MaryseMitchell-Brody,DavidW.Oaks,PeterRippmann, MariusRomme,MarcRufer,GiselaSartori,ErichSchützendorf, JaakkoSeikkula,AndySmith,ZoranSolomun,PeterStastny, ChrisStevenson,DanTaylor,PhilipThomas,JanWallcraft, DavidWebb,UtaWehde,ScottWelsch,SalmaYasmeen, LauraZieglerandUrsulaZingler Translations by Christine Holzhausen, Katy E. McNally and Mary Murphy Peter Lehmann Publishing ·Berlin· Eugene · Shrewsbury ·2007 4 This book is simultaneously published in German by Peter Lehmann Publishing under the title Statt Psychiatrie 2 (ISBN 978-3-925931-38-3, ed. by P. Lehmann and P. Stastny). Please find information on the internet at www.peter-lehmann-publishing.com/books/without/german. The italic explanations in the brackets are written by the editors. © This collection Peter Lehmann Publishing. Individual chapters the authors. All rights reser - ved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or utilized in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher and/or the authors. Published by Peter Lehmann Publishing Cover design by Reinhard Wojke, Berlin · Printed by Interpress, Budapest Peter Lehmann Publishing, Zabel-Krüger-Damm 183, 13469 Berlin, Germany, Tel. +49 30 85963706 · Branch offices: Eugene, Oregon (USA) / Shrewsbury, Shropshire (U.K.). Please send all postal mail direct to our Berlin switchboard. [email protected] · www.peter-lehmann-publishing.com British edition ISBN 978-0-9545428-1-8 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. American edition Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Alternatives beyond psychiatry / Peter Stastny and Peter Lehmann, eds. ; preface by Robert Whitaker ; contributions by Volkmar Aderhold ... [et al.] ; translations by Christine Holzhausen, Katy E. McNally and Mary Murphy. p. ; cm. Published also in German under the title: Statt Psychiatrie 2. Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “61 therapists, psychiatrists, social scientists, lawyers, relatives and psychiatric (ex-) patients from all continents report about their alternative work, their objectives and successes, their individual and collective experiences. The book highlights alternatives beyond psychiatry, possibilities of self-help for individuals experiencing madness, and strategies toward implementing humane treatment”—Provided by publisher. Includes English translations of the German contributions. ISBN-13: 978-0-9788399-1-8 (softcover) ISBN-13: 978-0-9545428-1-8 (softcover) 1. Mental illness—Alternative treatment. 2. Psychotherapy patients—Abuse of. 3. Mentally ill—Abuse of. 4. Antipsychiatry. [DNLM: 1. Mental Disorders—therapy. 2. Dissent and Disputes. 3. Human Rights. 4. Psychiatry—methods. 5. Treatment Refusal. WM 100 A466 2007] I. Stastny, Peter. II. Lehmann, Peter, 1950- III. Aderhold, Volkmar, 1954- IV. Title: Statt Psychiatrie 2. RC480.5.A472 2007 616.89’14—dc22 2007029028 5 Contents Preface .................................. 11 Robert Whitaker Note about Liability ............................ 13 Introduction ............................... 15 WhyPsychiatryHurtsMoreThanItHelps Introduction ............................... 17 Seventy Years of Coercion in Psychiatric Institutions, Experienced and Witnessed ....................... 19 Dorothea S. Buck-Zerchin The Illusion of Mental Illness ...................... 29 Kate Millett Antipsychiatric Work by Relatives: Unrestrained Anger and Commitment to Alternatives ....................... 38 Uta Wehde ActualAlternatives Introduction ............................... 41 A. Individual Strategies with and without Professional Support What Helps Me if I Go Mad? With Contributions by Ludger Bruckmann, Chris Hansen, Andy Smith, Sarah Carr, Alfred Hausotter, Merinda Epstein, Harold A. Maio, Agnes Beier, Peter Lehmann, Zoran Solomun, Ursula Zingler, David Webb, Tina Coldham and Constance Dollwet ................. 44 Peter Lehmann 6 How We Discovered the Soteria Principle ............... 75 Regina Bellion Depression and the Use of Natural Healing Methods .......... 83 Bhargavi Davar Running from the Crisis ......................... 90 Ulrich Bartmann Advance Directives: A Step towards Self-help ............. 97 Miriam Krücke B. Organized Self-help Survival, the Art of Living and Knowledge to Pass on: Recovery, Empowerment and Experiential Expertise of Persons with Severe Mental Health Problems ........................ 105 Wilma Boevink Reclaiming Mad Experience: Establishing Unusual Belief Groups and Evolving Minds Public Meetings ............. 117 Rufus May The Voices Accompany My Life .................... 128 Hannelore Klafki INTERVOICE: Accepting and Making Sense of Hearing Voices ... 131 Marius Romme and Sandra Escher The Icarus Project: Dangerous Gifts, Iridescent Visions and Mad Community ............................... 137 Maryse Mitchell-Brody C. Models of Professional Support Soteria: An Alternative Mental Health Reform Movement ...... 146 Volkmar Aderhold, Peter Stastny and Peter Lehmann Hotel Magnus Stenbock: A User-controlled House in Helsingborg, Sweden ................................. 161 Maths Jesperson Contents 7 The Windhorse Project ......................... 168 Michael Herrick, Anne Marie DiGiacomo and Scott Welsch The Crisis Hostel: Findings from a Consumer/Survivor-defined Alternative to Psychiatric Hospitalization ............... 179 Jeanne Dumont and Kristine Jones Finding Common Strength Together: The Berlin Runaway House .. 188 Petra Hartmann and Stefan Bräunling Second Opinion Society: Without Psychiatry in the Yukon ...... 199 Gisela Sartori Trauma-informed Peer Run Crisis Alternatives ............ 210 Shery Mead A Sicilian Way to Antipsychiatry: La Cura .............. 217 Giuseppe Bucalo Open Dialogues ............................. 223 Jaakko Seikkula and Birgitta Alakare Psychotherapy Instead of Psychiatry? A No-brainer .......... 240 Theodor Itten GeneralandSpecificBeneficiariesofAlternativeApproaches Introduction ............................... 253 Families: A Help or Hindrance in Recovery? ............. 254 Karyn Baker Choice and Diversity: Developing Real Alternatives for People from Non-Western (and Western) Cultures .............. 260 Philip Thomas and Salma Yasmeen Troubled Children and Teens: Commonsense Solutions without Psychiatric Drugs or Manipulations .................. 271 Bruce E. Levine 8 When a Slice of Sausage Turns into a Lens-cleaning Cloth: To Respect and Support People with Dementia ............ 281 Erich Schützendorf The Shame of “Not Being a Man”: Experiences of Gay, Straight and Bisexual Men ............................ 288 Guy Holmes and Geoff Hardy RealizingAlternativesandHumaneTreatment Introduction ............................... 297 Personal Ombudsman in Skåne: A User-controlled Service with Personal Agents .......................... 299 Maths Jesperson PSYCHEX: A Swiss Experiment .................... 304 Peter Rippmann Money, Rights and Alternatives: Enforcing Legal Rights as a Mechanism for Creating Non-medical Model Alternatives ...... 308 James B. Gottstein Upholding Psychiatric Advance Directives: “The Rights of a Flea” .. 317 Laura Ziegler MindFreedom International: Activism for Human Rights as the Basis for a Nonviolent Revolution in the Mental Health System ... 328 David W. Oaks MindFreedom Ghana: Fighting for Basic Human Conditions of Psychiatric Patients ........................... 336 Dan Taylor User-led Research to Develop an Evidence Base for Alternative Approaches ......................... 342 Jan Wallcraft Preparing People for User Involvement Work in Health and Social Care ............................... 351 Andrew Hughes Contents 9 INTAR: The International Network Toward Alternatives and Recovery .............................. 359 Laurie Ahern, Peter Stastny and Chris Stevenson Self-help, Difference in Opinion and User Control in the Age of the Internet .............................. 366 Peter Lehmann and Maths Jesperson WhyWeNeedAlternativestoPsychiatry Introduction ............................... 381 Psychiatry: Its Diagnostic Methods, Its Therapies, Its Power ..... 382 Marc Rufer Beyond Models, Beyond Paradigms: The Radical Interpretation of Recovery ....................... 400 Pat Bracken Reforms or Alternatives? A Better Psychiatry or Better Alternatives? ........................... 402 Peter Lehmann and Peter Stastny Appendix Index .................................. 413 About the Authors ........................... 418 11 Preface The first question raised by a book titled Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry is this: Why do we need alternatives? What is wrong with the “care” that main - stream psychiatry provides? While there are many answers to that question, first and foremost we can look at one startling