Monday, September 27, 2010

Good News

A psychiatric survivor, Will Hall, was asked to present at SAMHSA's Alternatives 2010 conference. The title of Will Hall's presentation was changed at the last minute by the organizers and he decided not to go.

Good news, however. The organizers will allow him to proceed and present as planned.

This smells vaguely of Robert Whitaker's experience with this conference. At first, he was invited and then he was uninvited. The internet rage machine immediately fired up. The organizers changed their minds again and Whitaker was back on the rostrum.

As a psychiatric survivor myself, I am not at all surprised at this equivocal whipsawing of views and intentions by people who call themselves mental health professionals. It seems to be just part of their interior landscape and I've learned the hard way not to become involved in it. It's simply not healthy.

2 comments:

  1. Yes, this Alternatives Conf group has made fools of themselves with these censorship attempts.

    They found out that ppl (such as Will Hall and Whitaker)represent many more than just themselves-- we're all out here, and in large groups can get the message out there and expose them for what they are, pharma-government and afraid to have anyone remotely speak out against or offer up ideas of other ways to live w symptoms of MI other than the government backed protocol which is DRUGS, for profit.

    You know, some ppl compare cancer treatment and psych treatment, as being 'life saving'....well if that is the case, then we would hear ppl saying, bring on the chemo! and lots of it! and think about using it as a preventative!

    Instead, we hear...'least amt used so as not to kill the patient'....same should go for psychiatric symptoms...least invasive methods.

    It's really obvious, but then logic does not prevail when it comes to profit making drug companies and their researchers and doctors who sell their drugs to consumers.

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  2. That's one of the beauties of the internet. A lot of disparate, marginalized people from the far corners of the globe can discover there are a lot of people exactly like themselves. Suddenly, isolation and self-doubt are things of the past.

    You have a good analogy to chemo and psychiatric medications.

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