Lady GaGa on hearing voices – YouTube

Lady GaGa on hearing voices – YouTube.

How she copes with voices in her head

Greenwich-based help for young people who hear voices like Gandhi did (From News Shopper)

Greenwich-based help for young people who hear voices like Gandhi did (From News Shopper).

Models of Madness: Psychological, Social and Biological Approaches to Psychosis (Paperback) – Routledge Mental Health

Models of Madness: Psychological, Social and Biological Approaches to Psychosis (Paperback) – Routledge Mental Health.

Are hallucinations and delusions really symptoms of an illness called ‘schizophrenia’? Are mental health problems really caused by chemical imbalances and genetic predispositions? Are psychiatric drugs as effective and safe as the drug companies claim? Is madness preventable?

This second edition of Models of Madness challenges those who hold to simplistic, pessimistic and often damaging theories and treatments of madness. In particular it challenges beliefs that madness can be explained without reference to social causes and challenges the excessive preoccupation with chemical imbalances and genetic predispositions as causes of human misery, including the conditions that are given the name ‘schizophrenia’. This edition updates the now extensive body of research showing that hallucinations, delusions etc. are best understood as reactions to adverse life events and that psychological and social approaches to helping are more effective and far safer than psychiatric drugs and electroshock treatment. A new final chapter discusses why such a damaging ideology has come to dominate mental health and, most importantly, how to change that.

By Professor John Read and Jacqui Dillon, voice hearer and Chair of the UK Hearing Voices network.

Please use the ISPS members discount code to receive a 20% discount – “ISPS2”

Oliver Sacks new book – Hearing Things: When Auditory Hallucinations Take Over the Mind

“The persistence of hallucinations causes great suffering for some. In his new book, “Hallucinations,” neuroscientist Oliver Sacks explores the many kinds of unreal experiences people have.”

Hearing Things: When Auditory Hallucinations Take Over the Mind – Mind & Body – Utne Reader.

The “Being Sane in Insane Places” report referred to in this articale is available at http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2384&context=lawreview.

I wonder if anything has really changed since 1973….

Psychosis as a Personal Crisis

A new book has been added to the the ISPS book series (published by Routledge) late in 2012

Edited by Professor Marius Romme and Dr Sandra Escher, “Psychosis as a Personal Crisis” describes an approach which is fundamentally about the person, and finding traditional medical approaches at best providing band-aid treatment for these crises, this book seems to provide a framework for this personalised response to  distressing symptoms, like voices (auditory hallucinations) and beliefs (delusions).

A sample chapter, “Psychiatry at the crossroads: The limitations of contemporary psychiatry in validating subjective experiences “, by Dr Brain Martindale, is available for download here.

Dr Martindale has written extensively on psychosis – two of his freely available papers are here:

Psychodynamic contributions to early intervention in psychosis

The rehabilitation of psychanalysis and the family in psychosis: Recovering from blaming

Abstracts, papers and recordings from World Hearing Voices Congress, 2012

These are available at the Working to Recovery web site:

“It was an amazing three days in Cardiff, with lots of learning, sharing and connections.  Looking at the past 25 years, learning about the present and planning for the future.”

The next World Hearing Voices Conference will be in Melbourne, Australia, 20 – 22 November 2013.

“Working in partnership with Intervoice, the international hearing voices network, and the Hearing Voices Network of Australia, this consumer-led event will bring to Melbourne all of the world’s leaders in working with voices.”

“The congress will feature a broad range of perspectives about voices and recovery, including indigenous and multicultural views, trauma and voices, lived experiences of recovery, innovative youth programs, a new clinical research stream, and opportunities for collaborative panels and discussion groups between voice hearers, carers/family, workers and academics.”