Madness Radio

Can psychotherapy work against the mainstream system? What does it take to be truly compassionate as a professional? And what are the downsides of promising alternatives such as Open Dialogue? Michael Montgomery grew up in Ireland and experienced firsthand the impacts of trauma and violence; a meeting with a visionary friend introduced him to psychiatric oppression. Today he is an existential psychoanalyst in the tradition of R.D. Laing and trained in Open Dialogue, and he joins Madness Radio guest producer Nicki Glasser and host Will Hall to discuss his work. (transcript) (58 min version) www.drmontgomery.comThe post Compassionate Therapy | Michael Montgomery | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Is “schizophrenia” a broken brain — or shamanic journeying to ancestral dimensions? Is being “out of touch with reality” actually visions of deeper truth and racial healing? Dick Russell – author of 17 books including on the JFK assassination and a biography of Jungian James Hillman – followed doctors’ advice when his son Franklin was diagnosed psychotic. But Franklin, who is of mixed race, only got worse — until Russell and Franklin’s mother Etta Russell-Scott joined West African traditional healer Malidoma Somé on a spiritual quest. Franklin’s creative flourishing helped repair the relationship between father and son, and with Franklin’s support, Russell wrote My Mysterious Son: A Life-Changing Passage between Schizophrenia and Shamanism to bring crucial lessons for all of us. (transcript here) (58 min version) https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781629144870/my-mysterious-son/ https://dickrussell.substack.com/ https://dickrussell.org/ www.madinamerica.com/2014/12/mysterious-son/ malidoma.com/about/ https://dickrussell.substack.com/The post Schizophrenia Shamanism and Family | Dick Russell | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Will Hall greets community FM station Valley Free Radio for its 20 years anniversary celebration! Founders Will and Ed Russell sparked the volunteer-run station in Northampton, Massachusetts, dedicated to peace, ecology, and social justice — and home to Madness Radio. Congrats on 20 years of amazing volunteer run community programming and an antidote to our corporate drive media! Video here: https://youtu.be/yz2ZI2LXQMo https://valleyfreeradio.org/ https://www.northamptonchamber.com/blog/investor-spotlight-valley-free-radio https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNDnCWBx0Nb/ https://valleyadvocate.com/…/20-hours-to-celebrate-20…/ Low Power To The People | Valley AdvocateThe post Valley Free Radio Anniversary | Will Hall | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Mad Camp is an annual summer camp for mad people in Northern California – with people joining from all over the world! What’s it all about? Madness Radio producer and co-host Jessica Gallinger attended Mad Camp 2024 and interviewed Mad Campers about their experience, she’s joined by Mad Camp co-founders Dina Tyler and Will Hall to talk about the crazy wild vision they are unfolding to shift the timeline. Original music – Sarah Harper – Soundcloud & Instagram: @SarahHarperRock. https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/02/mad-camp/ www.madcamp.net www.madcampeurope.netThe post Mad Camp 2024 | Jessica Gallinger | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

How do decriminalizing drug use and sex work advance mad liberation? What lessons can psychiatric survivors learn from the harm reduction movement? Caty Simon’s activist leadership spans the low-income rights, psychiatric survivors, sex worker, and drug users union movements, and she was a key organizer at Freedom Center in Western Massachusetts. Caty is on the leadership team of National Survivors Union (NSU), the US drug users union; is a founding co-organizer of Whose Corner Is It Anyway, a mutual aid group by and for low-income, street, and survival sex workers who use opioids and/or stimulants and/or experience housing insecurity; and leads Narcofeminism Storyshare, a collaborative autobiographical story development and key publics training stigma reduction project at NC Survivors Union, the flagship affiliate group of NSU. Caty is currently a research assistant at the Yale School of Medicine, and in 2023 received the International Drug Policy Reform Conference’s Alfred R. Lindesmith Award. Caty reunites with longtime colleagues and Madness Radio co-hosts Jacks McNamara and Will Hall to talk about psychiatric incarceration and her 20 years experience in the harm reduction movement for drug user, sex worker, and mad people liberation. (Transcript) 58 min version To contact Caty: [email protected] The principles of harm reduction, as defined by the National Harm Reduction Coalition: https://harmreduction.org/about-us/principles-of-harm-reduction/ Whose Corner Is It Anyway crowdfund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/whose-corner-is-it-anyway Caty’s research publications on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bMlmEE4AAAAJ&hl=en A Contemporary Drug Problems journal article on the Narcofeminism Storyshare project: https://bit.ly/3OMVdRz NC Survivors Union website: https://www.ncsurvivorsunion.org Caty Simon chapter in Outside Mental Health: Voices and Visions of Madness https://bit.ly/42mRWQL A series of interviews with late Arise for Social Justice Executive Director Michaelann Bewsee, discussed in the interview, from the Smith College Collection: https://smith.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?pid=5afb0a04-510f-45d3-ac09-ae2201473430 Two key corrections by Caty: The national reduction in overdoses this year was 14.5%, not 10% or less, as I erroneously said in the interview. Also, to clarify further on my statement that the DSM-V’s diagnostic criteria for mild opioid use disorder could easily apply to someone who is prescribed opioids for pain, this is why they must specify in the DSM-V entry on opioid use disorder that “These criteria [are] not considered to be met for those individuals taking opioids solely under appropriate medical supervision.”The post Sex Drugs Harm Reduction | Caty Simon | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Legendary psychiatric survivor activist Irit Shimrat escaped psychiatric incarceration to become a leading anti-psychiatry organizer. Co-founder of the Ontario Psychiatric Survivors’ Alliance, Irit edited the Canadian magazine Phoenix Rising: The Voice of the Psychiatrized and wrote Call Me Crazy: Stories from the Mad Movement, bringing together the stories of many leading activists. Irit shares her experiences from the inside of locked wards, and from the outside – organizing to abolish them. (Transcript) 58 min version Call me Crazy: Stories from the Mad Movement by Irit Shimrat Spotlight on Institutional Psychiatry Edited by Irit Shimrat Phoenix Rising: The Voice of the Psychiatrized Don Weitz Legacy Project Lunatics Liberation Front web archive Go Nuts!The post Escaped Lunatic | Irit Shimrat | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Do grieving goats lick psychedelic lichen? Altered states are part of nature, used by plants and animals for survival(!). How does ecology reveal the evolutionary – and spiritual – purpose of psychosis? Steven Morgan, psychiatric survivor and trainer in Intentional Peer Support, led the Another Way sanctuary and was project director for Soteria Vermont. Today he journeys in the wilderness to find healing and spiritual renewal, and with host Will Hall discusses psychosis as part of evolution, psychedelics in natural ecology, personal visions of Christianity, and communicating with bacteria through expanded consciousness. (Transcript) 58 min version stevenmorganjr.com www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-reinventing-bipolar-steven-morgan/ Music by Steven Morgan The World We Used to Live In by Vine Deloria Jr. Intentional Peer Support Soteria VermontThe post Visionary Ecology | Steven Morgan | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Will Hall’s June 2024 Grand Rounds talk at University of California San Francisco Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences – where he was locked up as a young man! – titled “New Visions of Psychosis: Abolition as Clinical Best Practice.” Revenge is a dish best served cold. Video here: https://youtu.be/adYrzmJ2w50?si=nwAQBM2F6oYmbShe transcript here. 58 min versionThe post Grand Rounds UCSF Psychiatry – Will Hall – Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Is madness dysfunction and breakdown – or part of human evolution that helps us survive? Writers going back to Hippocrates saw madness as the organism’s way to cope with its environment, so why has this view almost disappeared today? Justin Garson, professor of philosophy at Hunter College and author of Madness: a Philosophical Exploration, joins co-hosts Will Hall and Jessica Gallinger to discuss madness as a strategy, beyond the biological vs psychological debate. (Transcript) 58 min version Justin Garson’s website Madness: A Philosophical Exploration The post Philosophy of Madness | Justin Garson | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What can R.D. Laing, madness, and Star Trek teach us about the end of the world – and saving it? Will Hall reads “Can Madness Save the World? Where R.D. Laing—and Star Trek—Meet,” published on Mad In America March 14, 2024. The essay draws on the original series Star Trek episode City on the Edge of Forever and on The Obvious, Laing’s speech at the 1967 Dialectics Of Liberation Congress. (Trust us, this all does makes sense!) www.madinamerica.com/2024/03/can-madness-save-the-world-where-r-d-laing-and-star-trek-meet/The post The End of the World | Will Hall | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Does hearing God’s voice make you mentally ill? Will psychiatry help you cope with grief and rejection – or make things worse? After a distressing romantic breakup Alison Smith went to her college clinic for help – and was locked up, drugged, and labeled psychotic. Positive and mysterious voices – including visions of Jesus – suddenly turned dark and persecutory, and Alison was driven into psychiatry-induced madness. Co-hosts Will Hall and Jacks McNamara join Alison to discuss religious voices – and psychiatric violence to suppress them. Alison’s writing has appeared in Granta, Real Simple, and PBS’s Stories from the Stage, and her acclaimed memoir Name All the Animals was named a ten best books of the year by People magazine (yes, that People magazine). A coming of age story, Name All the Animals opens on the day Alison’s brother died in a car crash and explores themes of grief, faith and sexuality. Alison lives in Northampton, MA and is working on a new memoir about hearing voices. www.namealltheanimals.com Transcript 58 min versionThe post Crazy or Religious? | Alison Smith | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Dina Tyler’s FANTASTIC, heartful, brilliant December 2023 Grand Rounds talk at UCSF Medical School, “Improving Outcomes for Psychosis: Psychiatric Survivor and Critical Psychiatry Perspectives.” Also available as a video. (Transcript) (Slides from talk) (58 min) www.dinatyler.com Journal of Humanistic PsychologyThe post UCSF Grand Rounds | Dina Tyler | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Audiobook mp3 of Chapter 7 “A Ten Day Voyage”, from The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise, by R.D. Laing, read by Will Hall. Full book .mp3 (cntrl/rtclck save as to download): https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookFULL.mp3 Full book as chapters on this YouTube playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMya78GAdrpxtOjEayvMp1lC88ce21kUb Individual chapters as .mp3 (ctrl/rtclick to save as): https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh1.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh2.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh3.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh4.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh5.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh6.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh7.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh8.mp3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._D. LaingThe post A Ten Day Voyage | R.D. Laing Politics of Experience Audiobook | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Why are assault, kidnapping, and torture legal – when you have a psychiatric diagnosis? Is psychiatry’s legal double standard unjust in the same way a double standard would be for being female or Black? Does disability justice mean psychiatric abolition – and reparations? Tina Minkowitz, survivor of psychiatric institutionalization and a human rights lawyer, helped draft and negotiate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Tina joins Will Hall to discuss why abolition of forced psychiatric treatment means the non-negotiable right to be an equal human being. Tina is founder and president of the Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, and author of Reimagining Crisis Support: Matrix, Roadmap and Policy. 58 min version transcript here National Council on Disability from Privileges to Rights report http://chrusp.org/ 10th International Conference on Human Rights and Psychiatric Oppression Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Reimagining Crisis Support: Matrix, Roadmap and Policy (free download) A Danger to Self and Others: Health and Criminal Consequences of Involuntary Hospitalization  The post Abolition Is Disability Justice | Tina Minkowitz | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Are psychotherapy’s assumptions completely misguided? What is really at stake in the research and practice of psychology? Is it possible to take a step back and see “psy” for what it is? Craig Newnes is a Jewish dad, grandad, musician, writer, and former director of one of the UK’s largest NHS Psychological Therapies Directorates, and he joins Will Hall to discuss a critical view of the entire psy industry. Past editor of the British Psychological Society clinical psychology division newsletter for 19 years, Craig has doctorates in History and Clinical Psychology and currently edits the Journal of Critical Psychology Counseling and Psychotherapy. He has published over 200 articles and 25 books, including the upcoming Psychomusicology, available from Egalitarian Publishing. (58 min version) (transcript here) Racism in Psychology Finniendo – an illustrated saga for children https://www.egalitarianpublishing.com Survivor Poetry 52 Ways to Change Your Life. Tearagh’t: a novel Teaching Critical Psychology A Critical A to Z of Electroshock Clinical Psychology: A critical examination Inscription, Diagnosis, Deception and the Mental Health Industry: How Psy governs us all The post Abolish Psy? | Craig Newnes | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

How does the terror of child abuse inspire the heights of spiritual awakening? Are risky behaviors with drugs and extreme sports also a search towards healing? Co-hosts Dina Tyler and Will Hall talk with Paris Williams, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and went through his own experience of extreme states and madness. Paris took flight from extreme childhood trauma and became a world class hang glider pilot, competing world wide, soaring miles above the earth, and risking his life again and again. Today he works as a therapist for people with psychosis, including from a spiritual emergence and trauma perspective and as a teacher in Hakomi psychotherapy, and is the author of the book Rethinking Madness. (58 min version) (Transcript here) https://youtu.be/JRCRYLB5FWs https://pariswilliamsphd.com https://rethinkingmadness.comThe post Flight From Trauma | Paris Williams | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Therapist Ryan Hofrichter flips the mic on Madness Radio host Will Hall for a wide-ranging discussion about madness, psychiatry, and being a therapist. Topics include power in therapy, psychiatric diagnosis harms, naming ethical and professional dilemmas, working outside of the mainstream mental health system, understanding emotional distress in context, tragedy as potentially transformative, the psychiatric survivor movement, preventing mental health crises by creating healthy communities… and more. Thanks Ryan for listening! (58 min version) Full interview transcript and details on Ryan’s website here.The post Rethinking Therapy | Will Hall and Ryan Hofrichter | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Can teens lead their own mental health education? Are suicidal feelings and self harm “contagions” that young people shouldn’t talk about? How can mutual aid and peer support solve our youth mental health crisis? Felicity Krueger emerged out of trauma, anxiety, and the challenges of multi-racial adoption to become a leading teen advocate in Kentucky and nationwide. Felicity joins Oryx Cohen and co-hoist Will Hall to discuss her work today, including training youth in Emotional CPR – a peer support response to distress and an alternative to police and pharma. (Transcript here.) https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Voices-PJ-Moynihan/dp/B0821RFTJY https://youthmovenational.org https://kypartnership.org/ky-youth-m-o-v-e www.power2u.org www.emotional-cpr.orgThe post Youth Leadership | Felicity Krueger & Oryx Cohen | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Are trauma, medication injury, and holistic health connected? Does Lyme disease infection relate to tardive dyskinesia from psychiatric drugs? Is there a spiritual purpose to debilitating illness? Monica Cassani is a psychiatric survivor and early leader in internet support with the Beyond Meds – Everything Matters website and community. Monica’s struggle with chronic iatrogenic illness led her to discover personal renewal and spiritual awakening – and gain a deeper understanding of illness, healing, and the ecological nature of the self. (Alternate 58 min version here.) Tardive Dyskinesia, Chronic Lyme Disease, and Infection – Mad In America Everything Matters – Beyond Meds MDs and systemic infections (Lyme and Tardive Dyskinesia)The post Lyme And Dyskinesia | Monica Cassani | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Read this book! Is discriminating against people who have — or are labeled with — psychiatric disabilities ever justified? Is denying equality before the law necessary in times of crisis – or does it open the door to widespread abuse and violence? Journalist and community development activist Rob Wipond’s new book Your Consent Is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions, Forced Treatment, and Abusive Guardianships is a devastating investigative exposé of the normalized assault, kidnapping, and torture that is forced psychiatric treatment. It is hard to conclude anything other than this abusive practice must be brought to an end. So what can be done? Rob and Will Hall discuss these issues and more, and delve into what voluntary alternatives are possible — and how to stop the current dominant medicalized system from suppressing these alternatives. Rob has written a blistering account of some of psychiatry’s biggest lies; please read this book (if you can – advisory of upsetting content), join the abolition movement, and help sound the alarm to finally put an end to forced treatment based on disability. (58 min version) (transcript) https://robwipond.com/The post Consent Not Required | Rob Wipond | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Should we reform – or abolish – psychiatry? Can capitalism provide mental health, or do we need some kind of socialism or anti-capitalism? Vesper Moore is a leader in the youngest wave of the psychiatric survivor movement; he was radicalized against psychiatry as a teen when his mother sought help and met medical violence instead. Vesper joins co-hosts Jacks McNamara and Will Hall, two veterans of 15 years of movement organizing, to envision ending psychiatric harm and achieving real care for people in emotional distress. (Alternate 58 minute version here. Transcript.) https://linktr.ee/vespermoore https://www.vespermoore.com/ https://madnessnetworknews.com/The post Abolish Psychiatry | Vesper Moore | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

When Karin Jervert withdrew from 5 psychiatric medications the conflicting voices and forces in her head became pathways to art and spirit. Through Buddhism and earth-based ceremony Karin discovered a new world – and a new sense of self – from her suffering. Co-hosts Jacks McNamara and Will Hall discuss art, ancestors, and the nature of reality with Karin, who today is arts editor for Mad In America. Karin creates nonfiction essays, visual art, graphic narratives, and poetry that explore transforming trauma – including the trauma of forced psychiatric treatment. (Alternate 58 min version here.) www.eventbrite.com/e/504023888017 www.something-wonderful.net/art-as-alchemy www.medium.com/@karinjervert/five-poems-minus-one-7f2dce663908The post Tea with Spirit | Karin Jervert | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

When Cassie Wilson experienced mental distress due to an internship setting triggering past trauma memories, she called student counseling – and then police came to her home, handcuffed her, and detained her in a hospital for 6 days. In this episode Cassie, a psychiatric survivor and student of human rights and neuroscience, discusses with co-hosts Jacks McNamara and Will Hall her experiences in the psychiatric system and how this experience aligns with the violent and carceral dynamics of prisons. Cassie wrote about this experience in an essay entitlted “At the Forefront of Medicine: My Summer Involuntary Hospitlization” which can be read in the Chicago Maroon. You can contact her at cassidyw312 (at) (gmail) (dot) com. (Alternate 58 minute version here.) At the Forefront of Medicine: My Summer Involuntary Hospitalization  The post Psychiatric Incarceration | Cassie Wilson | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Mad Camp is coming! July 20-24 2023 – and annually – mad people are gathering for summer camp in the forested mountains two hours north of San Francisco. You heard that right! Swimming, hiking, campfires, hanging out, napping, dancing, music, art, dancing, the stars… Mad Camp is all about community friendship and connection. And there are also stirrings of mad camps on the east coast in Europe! The all-volunteer Mad Camp organizers are now raising funds for scholarships — and we need your help and more volunteers! Check out the Mad Camp website: www.madcamp.net! Make a donation on our Donation page! www.madcamp.net Mad Camp Email List Join Here: https://madcamp.substack.com/The post Mad Camp Is Coming | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

The essay from Mad In America Sept 2021 “Ending The Silence Around Psychedelic Therapy Abuse”, read by Will Hall: Michael Pollan’s hugely influential new book on psychedelic medicine, How to Change Your Mind, is overly enthusiastic and largely uncritical. All the new hype and questionable science about miracle treatments as the next wave of cures for mental disorders leaves out huge risks, including the risk of therapy abuse… Also check the companion essay with more detail about my personal experience with psychedelic therapists Aharon Grossbard and Francoise Bourzat of the Center for Consciousness Medicine at www.medium.com/@willhall, with updates and links at the end of that essay.The post Psychedelic Therapy Abuse: Ending the Silence | Will Hall | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What if we just started having conversations about how to help each other through hard times? And took the time needed to really have discussions and hear the experiences of mad people? Erick Fabris is a psychiatric survivor activist and organizer based in Toronto Canada, and was part of the West End Survivors in Toronto that set up the first Mad Pride event in Canada, For ten years he worked with a patient’s council advising one of the country’s biggest hospitals, the Center for Addiction and Mental Health Care CAMH. Erick is the author of Tranquil Prisons: Chemical Incarceration Under Community Treatment Orders, a searing indictment of forced psychiatric drugging in the community. He is the founder of Crazy Talks and Mad Stories, a creative community event in Toronto, and is researching with the Mad Canada Shadow Report Group. (Alternate 58 minute version here.) https://www.erickfabris.com/crazytalks/ https://madcanada.wixsite.com/shadowreportThe post Mad Conversations | Erick Fabris | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What does a life dedicated to love and freedom look like? Laura-Marie River Victor Peace Nopales joins co-hosts Jacks McNamara and Will Hall to explore the most important questions of all — by way of dreams, peace activism, and living in community. Laura-Marie is a queer traveler, maker of zines, radical mental health-er, fat liberation-er, queer liberation-er, and autistic liberation-er, and co-creator of Disabled Resilience Permaculture. (Alternate 58 min version here.) Laura-Marie’s sites: www.listeningtothenoiseuntilitmakessense.com www.ilikeyourstims.com www.instagram.com/xtrikeslutsx https://www.facebook.com/listeningtothenoiseuntilitmakessense https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3gDcxFhXldzUWozp26ykGg https://soundcloud.com/robotmad Las Vegas Radical Mental Health Collective: https://lvrmhc.org Jacks’ website: https://jacksmcnamara.net And check out Jacks’ awesome podcast So Many Wings! https://somanywings.orgThe post Love Is a Skill | Laura-Marie & Jacks McNamara | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Just in time for the holidays, a chapter from Outside Mental Health: Voices and Visions of Madness: “Christmas Vacation in the Schizophrenia Factory,” a personal account from Will Hall from a visit back to visit his family for Christmas, first published in 2015. (Everything is better now.) You can purchase Outside Mental Health at your favorite independent bookseller or other retailer, and download a free ebook version at www.outsidementalhealth.com.The post Schizophrenia Factory Christmas Story | Will Hall | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Can survivors be therapists – and even better at it? Jacks McNamara – poet, trauma healing coach, and co-founder of The Icarus Project – joins Will Hall to discuss the calling to became a therapist/counselor/coach inspired by their own struggles and survivor mutual aid. What makes a “good therapist”? Is mutual aid and friendship enough or do we need professional healers? How does sharing your trauma and oppression with clients affect working as a therapist? What about licensing and credentials – can they get in the way of truly helping people? And is a therapist at heart a wounded healer? Jacks McNamara is a genderqueer poet, parent, artist, activist, educator, performer, and somatic healing practitioner based on the Tewa land called O’ga P’ogeh, also known today as Santa Fe, New Mexico. Jacks is a Lambda literary fellow, and their first book of poetry, Inbetweenland, was released by Deviant Type Press in 2013. Co-author of Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness, Jacks is a neuro-creative psychiatric survivor who has toured the US and Canada offering workshops and performances. Jacks is the co-founder of The Icarus Project, now the Fireweed Collective, offering mental health education and mutual aid through a Healing Justice lens. Jacks is the subject of the poetic documentary film Crooked Beauty. Also check out Jacks’ previous interview on Madness Radio! www.jacksmcnamara.net www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-queer-poetry-inbetweenland-jacks-mcnamara/ www.madinamerica.com/2012/06/crooked-beauty/ www.instagram.com/jacksmcnamara/The post Survivors As Therapists | Jacks McNamara | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Nedra Deadwyler of Atlanta Georgia’s Civil Bikes interviews Madness Radio’s Will Hall about bicycles, mental health, and human liberation, for the KBOO FM Bicycle Show. https://www.nedradeadwylerconsulting.com/ http://www.civilbikes.com/The post Bicycles and Madness! | Nedra Deadwyler | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Jay Mahler was one of the originators of the psychiatric survivors movement in the 1960s, joining protests with the Free Speech Movement at the University of California Berkeley- the beginnings of protest against the US war in Vietnam – and then dedicating his life to ending forced treatment and protecting psychiatric patient rights. He was a much loved leader in the movement with extensive impact on the lives of everyone involved in survivor / peer / consumer mental health advocacy, in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Jay passed away this May and will be dearly missed, he was a really genuine kindhearted man who touched everyone who knew him. Thanks to Dina Tyler for co-hosting this recent interview with Jay. Pool of Consumer Champions https://www.pocc.org Peers.net-Jay Mahler Remembering Jay Mahler | Michael Cornwall www.nyaprs.org/ nyaprs.org part 2The post Nothing About Us Without Us | Jay Mahler | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Survivingantidepressants.org is one of the leading and longest running communities of mutual and and peer self-help around psychiatric drug withdrawal. Adele Framer – alto strata – founded the site in 2011 and shares her experience and learning on supporting people coming off antidepressants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines and other medications, including the emerging field of psychiatric medication withdrawal research. (Special thanks to Oddball Magazine for production assistance.) (Alternate 58 min version here.) www.survivingantidepressants.org  The post Medication Withdrawal | Adele Framer | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

In this guest podcast, Jason Wright of Oddball Magazine sits down with Madness Radio host Will Hall, author of the Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs, to discuss mental health abolition, harm reduction, democratic socialism, and more in a far ranging conversation. You may have noticed the world is falling apart, time to think big and outside! (And seriously consider vitamin D supplementation). Check out Jason’s work and the community at Oddball Magazine here: https://oddballmagazine.com/The post Oddball Magazine w/ Will Hall | Jason Wright | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

At the Madness Radio book launch a few years ago writer and poet Susie Meserve read her creative nonfiction essay “A Little Crazy,” included in the anthology Show Me All Your Scars: True Stories of Living With Mental Illness and featuring an intimate (and not entirely flattering) portrait of her boyfriend at the time in 2004 – “schizophrenic” Will Hall. https://susiemeserve.com https://www.creativenonfiction.org/books/show-me-all-your-scars Madness Radio book launch on YouTube Outside Mental Health: Voices and Visions of Madness book siteThe post A Little Crazy – Show Me All Your Scars | Susie Meserve | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

You’re shut inside and it’s time for a children’s book! For this episode we’ve selected 1999’s The Iceling by Will Hall.The post Pandemic Story Time | The Iceling | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Jyl Ion hears voices, but she refuses to view these non-ordinary experiences as a sign of mental illness. Instead Jyl came off 16 years of multiple toxic medications, talks to her ancestor spirits and has reclaimed access to unsanctioned knowledge. She struggled through the aftermath of sexual violence and was bedridden for two years of illness withdrawing from psychiatric meds – and now emerges as a strong survivor. Today Jyl has turned her voice hearing and her traumatic past into gifts, and works professionally as a forensic medium helping law enforcement solve missing persons cases. Her new book of poetry is called Soft Out Spoken. 58 min version https://jylanais.com/The post Awakening as a Medium | Jyl Ion | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Do bipolar and psychosis have a healing potential blocked by suppression, medications, and avoidance? What if we could help people safely and intentionally explore, express, and understand these frightening states? Can breathwork ceremonies open the doors of perception like psychedelics — but without the drugs or risks? Are journeys into altered states too dangerous for people with madness – or just need to be tailored to individual needs? Sean Blackwell had an overwhelming emotional crisis diagnosed as bipolar that emerged into a spiritual awakening that enriched his life. Today he facilitates and researches breathwork groups: intense focused breathing with blindfolds and music to discover the healing potential at the root of psychiatric crisis. His book and YouTube channel is Bipolar or Waking up. You can also listen to part two of the interview here. 58 min version https://www.bipolarawakenings.com https://www.youtube.com/user/bipolarorwakingup https://internationalintegrators.org/nita-gage  The post Breathwork for Bipolar and Psychosis | Sean Blackwell | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Do early psychosis programs serve healing – or function as surveillance and control? Are treatments for paranoia actually themselves forms of paranoia, based on scientific racism and white supremacy? By defining and enforcing “normal” does psychiatry wage a war on the imagination? Rachel Jane Liebert is a multi-media artist and Critical Psychology senior lecturer at the University of East London, using feminist research to decolonize modern psychiatry. Her new book Psycurity: Colonialism, Paranoia, and the War on Imagination brings her background as a Pakeha (white/settler) New Zealander to free madness from whiteness and express the imaginative potential of states labeled paranoia. 58 min version https://bit.ly/2ohWcQI https://racheljaneliebert.com/ https://uel.academia.edu/racheljaneliebertThe post Decolonizing Early Psychosis | Rachel Jane Liebert | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

After taking the psychedelic drug ayahuasca Martha Elisabeth went into an extended altered state diagnosed as psychotic. Her terrifying ordeal ignited a spiritual initiation that eventually brought gifts of awakening, insight, and compassion. How did Martha emerge from her ecstatic journey through a mythic, archetypal world to become an advocate and teacher? What lessons can we learn about the dangers — and potentials — of psychedelics and of altered states of consciousness labeled “madness”? Today she is a mental health case worker in the UK National Health Service, co-director of an interdisciplinary research team, and voice for more humane and spiritual treatments for madness.The post Ayahuasca Psychosis & Spirit Awakening | Martha Elisabeth | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What is at the root of world violence? How does psychiatry re-create dynamics of humiliation and shame that drive people crazy? Is there a just and equitable way out of the spirals of attack and counterattack tearing humanity apart? Evelin Lindner was nominated 3 times for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work internationally to overcome the roots of violence and war. Her Dignity and Humiliation Studies initiative is showing a new way to treat each other — from our most intimate relations to our international foreign policies — and also in our response to mental health crisis. www.humiliationstudies.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelin_Lindner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQZMxS7UI_kThe post Dignity and Humiliation | Evelin Lindner | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Audiobook mp3 of Introduction and Chapter 1 “Persons and Experience”, from The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise, by R.D. Laing, read by Will Hall. Full book .mp3 (cntrl/rtclck save as to download): https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookFULL.mp3 Full book as chapters on this YouTube playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMya78GAdrpxtOjEayvMp1lC88ce21kUb Individual chapters as .mp3 (ctrl/rtclick to save as): https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh1.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh2.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh3.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh4.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh5.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh6.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh7.mp3 https://www.madnessradio.net/audio-extra/RDLaingPoliticsOfExperienceLaingAudiobookCh8.mp3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._D. LaingThe post R.D. Laing The Politics of Experience Audiobook | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What does it mean to be called “crazy” in a crazy world? Listen to the free audiobook of the Preface to Outside Mental Health: Voices and Visions of Madness, written and read by Will Hall. Outside Mental Health: Voices and Visions of Madness reveals the human side of mental illness. Based on ten years of Madness Radio interviews, more than 60 voices of psychiatric patients, scientists, journalists, doctors, activists, and artists create a vital new conversation about empowering the human spirit. Outside Mental Health invites us to rethink what we know about bipolar, psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, medications, and mental illness in society. More info about the book here: www.outsidementalhealth.com Download the chapter here: http://bit.ly/bookpreface The post Outside Mental Health Preface Audiobook | Will Hall | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Voice hearers, mystics, visionaries, and mad people are found throughout the scriptures of Judaism. What does Jewish theology have to teach us about madness and psychiatric diagnosis? How can modern Judaism show the way to new responses to extreme and altered states, in our communities and ourselves? Caroline Mazel-Carlton is a survivor of psychiatric crisis diagnosed as psychosis, Director of Training at the Wildflower Alliance – Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community, Hearing Voiced and Alternatives to Suicide support group facilitator/trainer, and part of the Jewish Renewal movement studying to be a rabbi.www.westernmassrlc.org/ https://aleph.org/ The post Judaism Madness and Spirit | Caroline Mazel-Carlton | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Can the breakdown of psychosis show the way forward to spiritual breakthrough? Is there a path through the depths of mental health crisis independent of hospitals, doctors, and therapists? Adrian Bernard was labeled a chronic schizophrenic and spent 20 years living on a disability check. After surviving a spiritual ordeal tested by God he is today manager at the Second Story hospital alternative in Santa Cruz California, where listening, community, art and music help people like Adrian make their way back from madness. http://www.santacruz.com/news/busting_the_mental_illness_myths.html https://www.facebook.com/2ndStoryRespite/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtjP2nn6Nss www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7_q3F5bNyk www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctoziyxsZwE&authuser=0 www.psychosissummit.com/copy-of-charles-heriot-maitlandThe post Second Story Hospital Alternative | Adrian Bernard | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Has modern psychiatry lost its soul? How can dreams, storytelling, and imagination help people in emotional crisis – including psychosis and madness? What lessons can we learn from shamanism, the placebo effect, and the importance of the doctor’s “bedside manner”? George Mecouch MD, psychiatrist, Jungian therapist trained in Process Work, and author of While Psychiatry Slept: Reawakening the Imagination in Therapy, discusses how to recover the lost art of healing in an era dominated by technology. transcript http://www.bellysongpress.com/while-psychiatry-slept/ https://www.drgeorgemecouch.com/ Jung’s LamentThe post Jungian Therapy for Psychosis | George Mecouch | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

How is psychotherapy different when the therapist is also a survivor? What vital lessons must therapists learn from people who have experienced psychosis? If therapy is an imbalance of power between therapist and patient, how can therapists avoid the misuse of power and protect clients from harm? Olga Runciman, voice hearer, psychiatric nurse in locked wards, and survivor of a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, brings her experience with recovery to her work as a psychotherapist in private practice. http://psycovery.com https://www.madinamerica.com/author/orunciman/The post Compassionate Psychotherapy | Olga Runciman | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What does healthcare become when science is limited by a mechanistic, machine view of reality? How does a mechanistic view shape concepts of mental health and illness – and deny the fundamental aliveness of human beings? What does the study of living systems teach us for creating a different, more holistic vision? Fritjof Capra, theoretical physicist, systems theorist, and author of several international bestselling books including The Tao of Physics, The Web of Life, and most recently The Systems View of Life (co-authored with Pier Luigi Luisi), discusses a shift in scientific consciousness with far reaching implications for our understanding of mind and mental illness. www.fritjofcapra.net www.capracourse.net Photo: Basso CannarsaThe post Systems View of Life | Fritjof Capra | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

Does a diet without animal products improve mental health? Why can changing to plant based nutrition be so hard to sustain? And are people’s food ethics a symptom of eating disorder or neglected self care? Sabrina Louise, a vegan educator, consultant at Portland Community College, and ecstatic dance DJ, discusses how to transition away from eating animal products while avoiding common mistakes that can undermine health. www.rethinkingpsychiatry.org/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/ www.instagram.com/savvyfoodsolutions/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid https://minimalistbaker.com/The post Sane Vegan Transition | Sabrina Louise | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

How can people come off psychiatric medications in the safest way? What are the key lessons and vital ingredients for leaving psychiatric care? Is there life after meds? Laura Delano spent 14 years as a psychiatric patient before she left behind her psychiatric diagnoses and reclaimed herself. Today she is Director of the Inner Compass Initiative and The Withdrawal Project, working to support drug withdrawal and build community beyond the mental health system. www.theinnercompass.org withdrawal.theinnercompass.org https://bit.ly/2ISZuzh withdrawal.theinnercompass.org/preparewithdrawal theinnercompass.org/page/twp-connectThe post Life After Psych Meds | Laura Delano | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.

What’s it like to be a teenager in a psychiatric hospital? What’s it like to be a queer pregnant teenager? And is it true that friends do make the best medicine? Nina Packebush explores these questions and more in her groundbreaking debut young adult novel, Girls Like Me. Girls Like Me is an In the Margins 2018 recommended book and a Lambda Literary Finalist. Nina is a queer-identified, grown-up teen mom, writer, zine maker, and mental health advocate – as well as Madness Radio Producer. www.ninapackebush.com www.wehaveraisedpresidents.orgThe post Queer Teen Pregnancy | Nina Packebush | Madness Radio first appeared on Madness Radio.