The book highlights alternatives beyond psychiatry, current possibilities for self-help for individuals experiencing madness or depression, and strategies toward implementing humane treatment. Sixty-one authors - (ex-) users and survivors of psychiatry, therapists, psychiatrists, lawyers, social scientists and relatives from all five continents - report about their alternative work, their objectives and successes, and their individual and collective experiences. +++ These are the main questions addressed by the 61 authors from all five continents: What helps me if I go mad or depressive? How can I find trustworthy help for a relative or a friend in need? How can I protect myself from coercive treatment? As a family member or friend, how can I help? What should I do if I can no longer bear to work in the mental health field? What are the alternatives to psychiatry? How can I get involved in creating alternatives? Assuming psychiatry would be abolished: what do you propose. instead of psychiatry?
The book highlights alternatives beyond psychiatry, current possibilities for self-help for individuals experiencing madness or depression, and strategies toward implementing humane treatment. Sixty-one authors - (ex-) users and survivors of psychiatry, therapists, psychiatrists, lawyers, social scientists and relatives from all five continents - report about their alternative work, their objectives and successes, and their individual and collective experiences. +++ These are the main questions addressed by the 61 authors from all five continents: What helps me if I go mad or depressive? How can I find trustworthy help for a relative or a friend in need? How can I protect myself from coercive treatment? As a family member or friend, how can I help? What should I do if I can no longer bear to work in the mental health field? What are the alternatives to psychiatry? How can I get involved in creating alternatives? Assuming psychiatry would be abolished: what do you propose. instead of psychiatry?
Über den Autor
Peter Stastny was born in Vienna, Austria, where he graduated from medical school in 1976. Since 1978, he has been working and residing in New York City. He taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx and has conducted several publically funded research projects in the area of vocational rehabilitation, social support and self-help, in collaboration with individuals who had survived personal crises and psychiatric interventions. Currently, he is working on the development of alternative services that obviate psychiatric intervention and offer autonomous paths towards recovery and full integration. These activities have engendered a close collaboration with the user-survivor movement, as manifested by joint research projects, publications, service demonstrations, and community work. He is a founding member of the International Network Toward Alternatives and Recovery (INTAR). Find more information at [...] +++++ Peter Lehmann, Dr. phil. h.c., is a certified pedagogue, independent publisher, author, freelance activist in Berlin, and Associate of the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal. He was co-founder and, until 2010, for many years board-member of the European Network of (ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry. In 2010, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and in 2011, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the President of Germany. English publications include, "Coming off Psychiatric Drugs: Successful Withdrawal from Neuroleptics, Antidepressants, Mood Stabilizers, Ritalin and Tranquilizers" (edited in 2004, also as e-book available); "Withdrawal from Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs" (2023, edited together with Craig Newnes; also as e-book available).
