Peter Stastny & Peter Lehmann (eds.)
Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry
About the Co-authors
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Volkmar
Aderhold, born in 1954, is an M.D. and doctor of psychiatry,
psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic medicine. He has worked
since 1982 in psychiatry, from 1996-2006 as a senior physician
in the area of psychosis at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
in the University Clinic of Hamburg-Eppendorf. Since 2006, he
has been a member of the Institute for Social Psychiatry at
the University of Greifswald. And free-lancing with advanced
training and implementation of the Open Dialogue within hospitals
and outpatient structures. Publications include Psychotherapie
der Psychosen – Integrative Behandlungsansätze aus
Skandinavien (Psychotherapy of Psychosis: Integrative
Treatment Approaches from Scandinavia), in collaboration
with Yrjö Alanen, et al., 2003; Neue
Antidepressiva, atypische Neuroleptika – Risiken, Placebo-Effekte,
Niedrigdosierung und Alternativen. Mit einem Exkurs zur Wiederkehr
des Elektroschocks (New Antidepressants, Atypical
Neuroleptics: Risks, placebo effects, low doses and alternatives.
With a digression to the return of the electroshock (2017,
in collaboration with Peter Lehmann, Marc Rufer and Josef Zehentbauer;
e-book
in 2023). Co-author of Withdrawal
from Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs (2023). |
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Laurie Ahern.
Psychiatric Survivor, living in USA. Associate Director of Disability
Rights International (DRI). Co-founder and co-director of the
National Empowerment Center, Inc., a federally-funded recovery
and technical assistance center. Former vice president of the
National Association of Rights, Protection and Advocacy (NARPA).
Recipient of the National Mental Health Association's Clifford
Beers Award and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law's Advocacy
Award. Co-author/investigator of the both MDRI-reports: Hidden
Suffering: Romania's Segregation and Abuse of Infants and Children
with Disabilities (2006) and Behind Closed Doors: Human
Rights Abuses in Psychiatric Facilities, Orphanages and Rehabilitation
Centers of Turkey (2005). |
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Birgitta Alakare.
Psychiatrist, psychotherapist (advance specialist level) and
family therapy trainer, lived in Finland. Worked in Western
Lapland District both in outpatient clinic and Keropudas Hospital
since 1982. Involved in developing practices with people suffering
from psychosis or showing its first signs. Birgitta Alakare
passed away on February 19, 2021. |
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Karyn Baker
has worked in mental health since 1983 and has had her own family
experience. Since 1996, she has been the Director of the Family
Outreach and Response Program in Toronto, Canada. Karyn has
developed education and support programs for families using
a critical psychiatric perspective. Presently, she has been
given the lead role in Toronto to develop programs for families
with a relative recovering from first time label of psychosis.
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Ulrich Bartmann,
born in 1948 in Westfalen. Qualified psychologist and psychotherapist.
While studying, worked in substance abuse services and as a
teacher in technical colleges and specialized secondary schools
for social pedagogy. From 1976 until 1996, he worked as a behavioral
therapist in psychiatry. 1989 Doctorate work on the therapeutic
effect of slow jogging on the psyche. Since 1996, he has been
a professor of Social Work Methods at the University for Applied
Sciences at Würzburg – Schweinfurt, and faculty coordinator
for the track "Social work with individuals who experience substance-related
and mental health problems." Supervisor for behavioral therapy.
Published works: Joggen und Laufen für die Psyche. Ein
Weg zur seelischen Ausgeglichenheit (Jogging and Running
for the Mind: A Path to Spiritual Balance), 5th edition
2009, editor of Fortschritte in Lauftherapie (Advances in
Running Therapy), as well as publications about addiction
disorders, clinical social work and quality assurance in social
work. |
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Agnes Beier,
born 1961. Art exhibits of paintings and written texts, public
readings of her own poetry, and publications in anthologies. |
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Regina Bellion,
born 1941, cleaning-woman, factory-worker, haute-couture sales-woman,
teacher, waitress etc. Today living in retirement in Wilhelmshaven. |
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Wilma Boevink
was born in 1963. Social scientist. Working in Utrecht at Trimbos-instituut
(the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction) as
a senior researcher. Founder of TREE, a user-led training
and consulting company in the area of recovery, empowerment
and experiential expertise of persons with psychiatric disabilities.
From 2006-2009, Chair of Stichting Weerklank, the Dutch organisation
of people who hear voices and have psychotic experiences; from
2008-2013, Professor of Recovery at Hanze University Groningen.
Former active member of the Dutch user-movement in psychiatry
and board member of the European Network of (ex-) Users and
Survivors of Psychiatry. Publications include, Stories of
Recovery: Working Together towards Experiential Knowledge in
Mental Health Care (ed., 2006). Contributor to Coming
off Psychiatric Drugs (2004); Recovery of People
with Mental Illness: Philosophical and related perspectives
(2012); Empowerment, Lifelong Learning and Recovery in
Mental Health: Towards a new paradigm (2012). |
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Pat Bracken
is currently Clinical Director of the Mental Health Service
in West Cork, Ireland. He trained in medicine, psychiatry and
philosophy in Ireland and in the UK. He was Professor of Philosophy,
Diversity and Mental Health at the University of Central Lancashire
in the years 2006-2008. He was co-editor of the book Rethinking
the Trauma of War with Celia Petty, published in 1998. His
own book Trauma: Culture, Meaning and Philosophy was
published in 2002. With Phil Thomas, he published the book Postpsychiatry:
A New Direction for Mental Health in 2005. |
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Stefan Bräunling,
born in 1967. Father of two children. Qualified Psychologist,
Master of Public Health. From 1997 to 2007, staff worker at
the Berlin Runaway House, since then, working within the field
of health promotion for the organisation "Gesundheit Berlin-Brandenburg".
Also works with the Berlin Crisis Services. |
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Ludger Bruckmann.
Born on July 13, 1947. Qualified merchant in retail trade and
bicycle mechanic. Since 1980, active in antipsychiatric self-help
organisations. Co-founder of the Verein zum Schutz vor psychiatrischer
Gewalt (Organisation for the Protection from Psychiatric
Violence). Participated in the development and founding of the
Berlin Runaway House, working there from the beginning in 1996
until he retired in July 2010. 2002, founding member of Für
alle Fälle (In Any Case), board-member from 2002-2012.
Until 2020, for many years board-member of the Verein zum
Schutz vor psychiatrischer Gewalt. Ludger passed away on
November 23, 2020. |
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Giuseppe Bucalo
was born in Sydney (Australia) in 1962. Now living in Sicily,
Italy. In 1986, co-founder of the Comitato d'Iniziativa Antipsichiatrica
(Committee of Antipsychiatric Initiatives) and, in 1994, of
Telefono Viola (Purple Telephone; www.ecn.org/telviola)
and La Sindrome Associativa (The Associative Syndrome)
in Sicily. Since 1996, member of Associazione Penelope
in Taormina. Book publications among others: Dietro ogni
scemo c'è un villaggio (Behind Every Fool There Is a
Village), 1993; Malati di Niente (Sick of Nothing),
1996; La malattia mentale non esiste (Mental Illness Does
Not Exist), 1996; Dizionario Antipsichiatrico (The Antipsychiatric
Dictionary), 1997; Sentire le voci (Hearing Voices),
1998. |
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Dorothea
S. Buck-Zerchin (1917-2019), sculptor. Victim of forced
sterilization during the Nazi era. After free artistic activity,
taught art and handicraft at the Technical College for Social
Pedagogy in Hamburg from 1969-82. Since 1970, active in the
self-help movement. 1992, co-founder of the German Bundesverband
Psychiatrie-Erfahrener (BPE; Federal Association of [ex-] Users
and Survivors of Psychiatry), now Honorary Chair. 1989, co-founder
of the "Psychosis-Seminars". Countless lectures in Germany and
abroad and contributions in specialised journals and anthologies.
1997, awarded with the Bundesverdienstkreuz erster Klasse
(decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany for service to
the community). Publications include Auf der Spur des Morgensterns
– Psychose als Selbstfindung (On the Trail of the Morning
Star: Psychosis as Self-Discovery), edited by Hans Krieger,
1990; Ermutigungen (Encouragements), 2012;
Mit meinen herzlichen Grüßen! Ihre Dorothea Buck.
Der Gartenhaus-Briefwechsel (With my heartful regards! Your
Dorothea Buck – The summerhouse correspondence), 2016;
The Sky and Beyond – On the Trail of Dorothea Buck,
film by Alexandra Pohlmeier, 2008. |
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Sarah Carr.
Born 1971 in England. Sarah has had lifelong experiences of
mental distress, with several diagnoses and treatments along
the way. She studied Theology to Master's level. She now works
as a research analyst for a social care organisation in London,
specialising in service user/survivor participation in research
and service development. But her real love is writing and film
making, through which one day she hopes to speak the unspeakable. |
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Tina Coldham
used mental health services for over 17 years. She has used
this experience to promote user/survivor perspectives in all
her work when she became self-employed as a trainer/lecturer,
researcher and consultant. She became active through setting
up self-help groups, and also being part of a local campaigning
user group. This led to national and international involvement.
Tina was elected to the National Advisory Panel for Mind Link
– the user/survivor arm of national Mind, the leading mental
health charity in England and Wales, and was Chair for two years.
She was also involved in setting up the National Survivor User
Network in 2005 and just finished a term as Chair in January
2011. However, Tina still finds time to actively campaign at
grass roots level for better mental health services which respect
human rights.. |
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Bhargavi Davar
finished her Ph.D. in 1993 on the subject of the philosophical
foundations of psychiatry and related sciences. She studied
existential philosophy and psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, critical
theory, anti-psychiatry, the history of psychiatry, and philosophies
of self, mind and freedom. She also contributed to a critique
of psychiatry from women's point of view with several academic
publications. In 1999, she created the Bapu Trust, a national
organisation advocating for change in the Indian mental health
system. She has received several fellowships, grants and awards,
including the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship. In 2006, she finished
a comprehensive study of traditional healing in India, situating
it in the context of inner life. In February 2015, she received
the World Women Leadership Achievement Award 2015. She has a
passion for research and writing, and lives with her daughter
(born in 1999) in Pune, India, where she practices arts-based
therapies and is an avid gardener. |
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Anne Marie
DiGiacomo has been working in human services since 1977
in non-profit and community mental health arenas, receiving
her Masters of Social Work in 1986. During the first 18 years
of her career, she worked with children, adolescents and families
in both residential and day treatment settings and private practice.
Since 1996, she has worked at Windhorse Associates and Windhorse
Community Services in the position of Clinical Director, Co-Executive
Director, Admissions Director and Senior Clinician. Anne Marie
is a practicing Buddhist and brings a contemplative perspective
to her therapeutic work as a psychotherapist and Sandplay therapist.
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Constance Dollwet,
born in 1964, grew up in Saarland, admitted to a psychiatric
facility in 1986, then started anew in an intentional community
of individuals experienced with psychosis in Wederath/Hunsrück.
Involved in self-help activities of (ex-) users and survivors
of psychiatry with readings, writing seminars, and cabaret acts
as "Schizzobaby" together with Bianca Schmid.Book
publication: Schreiben – Mein Weg aus der Sprachlosigkeit
(Writing: My Way Out of Speechlessness), 2000. Constance
Dollwet passed away on September 23, 2016. |
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Jeanne Dumont,
Ph.D. is a researcher and psychiatric survivor living in New
York State. She was the principal investigator of the US National
Research Demonstration "Crisis Hostel Project". She has considerable
experience conducting concept mappings for theory development,
program planning and evaluation. She has also served on numerous
mental health related boards, committees and advisory groups.
She served as a co-principal investigator for the project "Recovery:
What helps and what hinders? A national research project for
the development of recovery facilitating system performance
indicators." |
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Merinda Epstein,
living in Australia. Active in mad politics since 1991. Winner
of the 2004 Australian Human Rights Award for her work with
people diagnosed with mental illness. Working for the Victorian
Mental Health Legal Centre, a NGO established to defend the
legal rights of people with psychiatric diagnoses caught up
with forced detainment and treatment, at risk of losing their
children under Family Law statutes or embroiled within the criminal
justice system. Publications and lectures about human rights
issues for women diagnosed with 'Borderline Personality Disorder'
and the relationship between such labels, childhood abuse and
neglect and real or perceived shortfalls of articulated mad
politics. |
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Sandra Escher,
PhD, working as researcher at the University of Maastricht,
The Netherlands. Honorary Researcher at UCE (University of Central
England) in Birmingham. In 2011, she was awarded with the "Officer
in the Order of Oranje-Nassau" for her work with children
hearing voices. Publications (together with Marius Romme) include
Accepting Voices (1993); Making Sense of Voices
(2000); Living with Voices: 50 stories of recovery –
in addition with Jacqui Dillon, Dirk Corstens & Mervyn Morris,
2009); Children Hearing Voices: What you need to know and
what you can do (2010); Psychosis as a Personal Crisis:
An experience-based approach (ed. 2012). Sandra Escher passed
away on May 31, 2021. |
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James B. (Jim)
Gottstein. Born in Washington State in the USA in 1953.
Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1978. Subject to brief
psychiatric hospitalizations in 1982 and 1985. Attorney advocate
for people diagnosed with serious mental illness, including
the successful billion dollar litigation reconstituting Alaska's
one million acre Alaska Mental Health Land Trust, the 2006 landmark
Alaska Supreme Court decision on forced drugging in Myers
vs. Alaska Psychiatric Institute, the 2007 Witherhorn
v. Alaska Psychiatric Institute, disallowing involuntary
commitment for being gravely disabled unless the person is unable
to survive safely in freedom and the 2008 case, Bigley v.
Alaska Psychiatric Institute, re-affirming psychiatric patients'
rights to procedural and substantive due process. He has served
and continues to serve on various boards and currently devotes
most of his time to the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights),
whose mission is to organize a serious, strategic, coordinated
legal effort against forced psychiatric drugging. |
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Chris Hansen.
Born in New Zealand, Chris worked in mental health management
until committed to a psychiatric ward. As a result, she became
involved in user/survivor politics, including lead roles in
the "Like Minds Like Mine" anti-discrimination campaign
(NZ) and research from a user perspective on workforce development
and mental health service policies. She had been a board member
of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, and
has also worked as a part of the NZ delegation to the United
Nations working on the Convention for Rights of Persons With
Disabilities. Currently developing work within USA and internationally,
Chris is extending her activism to writing, teaching and developing
intentional peer support services, particularly alternatives
to acute inpatient care. |
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Geoff Hardy
has been a gay activist since the early 1970s. A trained massage
therapist and counsellor (College of Holistic Medicine), he
is a Partner at The Natural Health Centre in Shrewsbury. |
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Petra Hartmann,
born in 1969, education in social pedagogy, 2 children. 2002-08,
staff member at the Runaway House Villa Stöckle.
Since 2010, developing a center for mental-health related grievances
and information in Berlin. |
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Alfred Hausotter.
Born in 1954. Married with two children. Ph.D. in clinical psychology
and health psychology. Between 1974 and 1983 survived several
schizoaffective psychotic episodes. Active since 1997 in assisted
living. Book publications: Der GottTeufel – Innenansicht
einer Psychose (The GodDevil: An inner look at psychosis),
2006; Erntedankfest – Vorgeschichte, Verlauf und Ausheilung
einer Psychose (Thanksgiving: Prehistory, process and complete
healing of a psychosis), 2015. |
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Michael Herrick
was born in 1955. In 1976, became a student of Tibetan Buddhism
under Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Master's degree in Contemplative
Psychotherapy at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, in
1984. Experience in the mental health field since 1980: worked
with the original Windhorse (Maitri Psychological Services)
as a Housemate and a Team Therapist under Edward Podvoll. Since
the early 80s, an avid student of the Integral Approach as presented
by American philosopher Ken Wilber. 2001, return to Windhorse
Associates, Inc. in Northampton, Massachusetts, as Team Leader.
From 2003-08, Executive Director of Windhorse. Now working in
London in private practice and as a tutor at the Minster-Center,
the leading Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling Training
Institute in Europe.). |
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Guy Holmes
is a clinical psychologist living and working in Shropshire,
U.K. He specialises in alternatives to psychiatry and challenging
stigma through groupwork, and has published in the areas of
male victims of childhood sexual abuse and the medicalisation
of men's problems. Books include This is Madness: A Critical
Look at Psychiatry and the Future Mental Health Services
(1999) and This is Madness Too: Critical Perspectives on
Mental Health (2001), both edited with Craig Newnes and
Cailzie Dunn, and Psychology in the Real World: Community-based
Groupwork (2010). |
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Andrew Hughes
was born in 1953 in Rochdale, England. He has been married twice
and has four children. He first received mental health services
at the age of 17, followed by many periods of madness and several
stays in hospitals with compulsory treatment. From the mid-1980s
he became involved in the self-advocacy movement, providing
occasional 'patient perspectives' and critiques of mental health
service provision at conferences and training events. In 1988
he co-founded, together with Anne Plumb and Tony Riley, Distress
Awareness Training Agency (DATA), the U.K.'s longest established
survivor training group. Since March 2000 he has been self-employed
as a trainer, researcher and consultancy worker in mental health
and the wider health, social care and disability fields. |
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Theodor Itten.
Born in 1952 in Langenthal, Switzerland. From 1971-81 studied
psychology at Middlesex and City University, psychotherapy and
ethnology in London with Ronald D. Laing and Francis Huxley.
Member of the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapy. Since
1981, has practiced psychotherapy in St. Gallen. From 2003-2008
committee member and from 2008-2011 president of the Schweizer
Psychotherapeutinnen und Psychotherapeuten Verband (Swiss
psychotherapists' association). Active for 12 years as council
member of the Swiss Foundation Pro Mente Sana. In 2002,
founded his own publishing company (www.ittenbooks.ch). Book
publications include, Rage: Managing an explosive emotion,
2011; Größenwahn – Ursachen und Folgen der
Selbstüberschätzung (Megalomania: Causes and consequences
of hubris), 2016; The New Politics of Experience and the
Bitter Herbs, 2016, together with Ron Roberts. |
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Maths Jesperson.
Born 1954. From 1980-1981, inmate of an old mental hospital.
From 1982-1988, producer at the theatre company, Mercuriusteatern,
as well as local politician of the Green Party in Lund, Sweden.
Converted 1984 to Catholicism. Since 1988, regional secretary
of Riksførbundet för Social och Mental Hælsa
(RSMH) (Swedish national organization of [ex-] users and
survivors of psychiatry). Founding member of the European
Network of (ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry 1991. From
1994-1999, editor of the European Newsletter of (ex-) Users
and Survivors of Psychiatry. Since 1999, writer of cultural
articles in a daily newspaper. Since 2000, actor in the Stumpen-Ensemble,
a theatre group with psychiatric survivors, drug addicts and
homeless people as actors. Concurrently, research work at Department
of Theatre Studies at the University of Lund. Contributor to
Coming
off psychiatric drugs (2004). |
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Kristine Jones,
Ph.D. is an economist working as a research scientist for the
Statistics and Services Research Division, Nathan Kline Institute
in Orangeburg, NY. Her research has included studies on the
impact of having a trauma history on treatment costs associated
with persons using mental health services and on the impact
of managed care compared to fee for service delivery systems
on social cost. She has conducted various cost-effectiveness
analyses of specialty mental health services in operation in
the U.S. Kristine has also done research on methods of designing
payment mechanisms to providers of mental health services. |
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Hannelore
Klafki, inspired by Marius Romme, Sandra Escher and Ron
Coleman; was the main founding-member of the German Netzwerk
Stimmenhören (Hearing Voices Network) and was its
chairperson for seven years. Since 2003, she was a board-member
of the German Bundesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener (BPE; Federal
Association of [ex-] Users and Survivors of Psychiatry)
and she was a trainer for (ex-)users and survivors of psychiatry,
their friends and supportive relatives, as well as sympathetic
workers within the psychiatric system; she offered training
on such topics as how to deal with hearing voices, self-help,
empowerment and alternatives to psychiatry. Book publication:
Meine
Stimmen – Quälgeister und Schutzengel. Texte einer
engagierten Stimmenhörerin (My Voices: Tormenters
and Guardian Angels, Texts of a Committed Voice Hearer;
2006, e-book in 2022). When Hannelore died on September
4, 2005. |
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Miriam Krücke,
born in 1979, education as a rehab-pedagogist, advanced coach
and systemic consultant, experiences in the mental health system,
since 2002, involved in anti-psychiatric activities. Head of
the office of the Bundesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener (BPE;
German federal organisation of users and survivors of psychiatry),
working as consultant for other users and survivors of psychiatry,
and organising self-help activities. For her masters thesis
on the subject of "Rehab-Pedagogic", she occupied herself with
the connections between advanced directives and independent
coping strategies in a psychiatric context. |
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Peter Lehmann,
Dr. phil. h.c.. Born in Calw, Black Forest (Germany). Certified
pedagogue. Living as independent publisher in Berlin. Author
and editor since 1986, then foundation of Peter Lehmann Publishing
and Mail-order Bookstore. 1989 co-founder of the Association
for Protection against Psychiatric Violence (running the Runaway-House
Berlin). In 1991, co-founder of the European Network of (ex-)
Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP); from 1997-1999, Chair
of ENUSP; until 2010, board member. From 1997 to 2000, board
member of joint WFMH-MHE (Mental Health Europe, independent
European section of [and combined with] World Federation for
Mental Health). Since 2004, member of INTAR (International Network
Toward Alternatives and Recovery). In 2010, awarded with an
Honorary Doctorate in acknowledgement of "exceptional scientific
and humanitarian contribution to the rights of the people with
psychiatric experience" by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
In 2011, awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic
of Germany by the President of Germany. Publications include,
Withdrawal
from Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs (co-edited 2023 with
Craig Newnes); Coming
off Psychiatric Drugs: Successful Withdrawal from Neuroleptics,
Antidepressants, Lithium, Carbamazepine and Tranquilizers
(ed. 2004); Coming
off Psychiatric Drugs: Successful Withdrawal from Neuroleptics,
Antidepressants, Mood Stabilizers, Ritalin and Tranquilizers
(e-book, ed. 2023; Neue
Antidepressiva, atypische Neuroleptika – Risiken, Placebo-Effekte,
Niedrigdosierung und Alternativen. Mit einem Exkurs zur Wiederkehr
des Elektroschocks (New Antidepressants, Atypical
Neuroleptics: Risks, placebo effects, low doses and alternatives.
With a digression to the return of the electroshock (2017,
in collaboration with Volkmar Aderhold, Marc Rufer and Josef
Zehentbauer; e-book
in 2023). |
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Bruce E. Levine,
Ph.D., living in Cincinnati, USA. Clinical psychologist in private
practice since 1985. Many lectures and workshops throughout
North America. Member of the advisory council of the International
Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology and the editorial
advisory board of Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry.
Regular contributor to Z Magazine. Articles and interviews
in numerous magazines. Book publications: Commonsense Rebellion:
Taking Back Your Life from Drugs, Shrinks, Corporations, and
a World Gone Crazy (2003), Surviving America's Depression
Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World
Gone Crazy (2007). |
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Harold A. Maio.
I live in Fort Myers, Florida, I am husband, father, son, teacher,
ceramicist, artist, retired editor. Although I from time to
time deal with deep depression, that depression has not stopped
my successes, or diminished my goals. One of those goals is
to make certain that society acknowledges that the psychiatric
industry has mistreated people terribly, and that this mistreatment
must stop–in my lifetime. |
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Rufus May.
Living in England. Rufus works as a clinical psychologist working
in Bradford mental health services. He is one of the organisers
of Evolving Minds a series of monthly public meetings that explore
alternative approaches to mental health. |
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Shery Mead,
born 1953 in USA. Hospitalized in 1970 and several times in
the early 90's. In response to the devastation of these hospitalizations
she developed some peer support programs including a peer run
crisis alternative. Since that time she has helped develop many
more such programs throughout the US. She is the author of a
number of academic articles and co-author of two books with
Mary Ellen Copeland: WRAP and Peer Support (2004) and
Community Links (2006). |
Photo by Tom Olin
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Kate Millett.
Born 1934. Lived from 1961-63 in Japan. Ph.D. from Columbia
University, 1970. Lived in New York City and on her farm in
Poughkeepsie, NY, where she ran an Art Colony for Women. Book
publications include: Sexual Politics (1970); Flying
(1974); The Prostitution Papers (1975); Sita (1976);
The Basement (1979); Going to Iran (1982); The
Loony-bin Trip (1990); The Politics of Cruelty (1994);
A. D.: A Memoir (1995); Mother Millett (2002).
Kate Millett died on September 6, 2017. |
Photo by Kate Reeder
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Maryse Mitchell-Brody
(1984-): Maryse is a(n): organizer, proud tía, revolutionary,
day-dreamer, tortured artist, badass facilitator, dancer, loud
new yorker, good friend, and mad one. Along with her work with
the Icarus Project, Maryse is an advocate for sex workers' rights
and a member of the Rock Dove Collective, a radical community
health exchange. Born and raised in New York City, she facilitates
workshops that examine the links between sexual shame, trauma
and emotional well-being, and explore the potential for sex
as a healing modality. |
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David W. Oaks
is a leader in the international psychiatric survivors movement
also known as the "Mad Movement." He has been a human
rights activist to transform mental health care since 1976.
He experienced five lock-ups in psychiatric institutions, typical
diagnoses, forced injections, etc. After joining the Mad Movement,
he graduated with honors in 1977 and became free of the mental
health system using non-drug alternatives. He is now director
of MindFreedom International. He lectures in many countries
all over the world. He now lives with his wife Debra in Eugene,
Oregon, USA. |
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Peter Rippmann,
Ph.D., born in 1925 in Switzerland in Stein am Rhein, began
with Germanic studies, has worked over 40 years as a senior
editor of the critical biweekly Der Schweizerische Beobachter
(The Swiss Observer). Among other topics, he was instrumental
in uncovering and publishing articles about the responsibility
of the Swiss authorities' in the discriminatory politics of
the Nazi-regime vis-à-vis Jewish refugees. Served as
well for many years as board member of the Swizz psychiatry-critical
non-profit organisation PSYCHEX. Peter Rippmann died
on July 30, 2010. |
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Marius Romme
was Professor for Social Psychiatry at the University of Maastricht,
The Netherlands, from 1974 to 1999, and afterwards Visiting
Professor at the University of Central England in Birmingham.
Awarded with the "Knight in the Order van de Nederlandse
Leeuw". Since 1987 in collaboration with Sandra Escher,
he has studied the phenomenon of hearing voices, focusing on
the experience of the voice hearers. Together they laid the
foundation for the international hearing voices movement and
published articles and books, including Accepting Voices
(1993); Making Sense of Voices (2000); Living with
Voices: 50 stories of recovery – in addition with Jacqui
Dillon, Dirk Corstens & Mervyn Morris, 2009); Children Hearing
Voices: What you need to know and what you can do (2010);
Psychosis as a Personal Crisis: An experience-based approach
(ed. 2012). |
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Marc
Rufer (Switzerland), M.D. Long-standing critic of psychiatric
diagnostic systems, psychopharmacology and the use of force
in psychiatry. Good contacts and exchange with independent (ex-)
users and survivors of psychiatry. Book publications: Irrsinn
Psychiatrie (Insane Psychiatry), 1988; 4th edition 2009;
Wer ist irr? (Who's Crazy?), 1991; Glückspillen.
Ecstasy, Prozac und das Comeback der Psychopharmaka (Happy Pills:
Ecstasy, Prozac and the Comeback of Psychotropic Drugs),
1995; Neue
Antidepressiva, atypische Neuroleptika – Risiken, Placebo-Effekte,
Niedrigdosierung und Alternativen. Mit einem Exkurs zur Wiederkehr
des Elektroschocks (New Antidepressants, Atypical
Neuroleptics: Risks, placebo effects, low doses and alternatives.
With a digression to the return of the electroshock (2017,
together with Volkmar Aderhold, Peter Lehmann and Josef Zehentbauer;
e-book
in 2023). Co-author of Coming
off Psychiatric Drugs
(2004); Withdrawal
from Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs (2023). |
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Gisela Sartori.
Born 1952 in Endingen, southern Germany. MA in community psychology
from Free University of Berlin. Emigrated to Canada in 1985,
and has lived and worked in Canada's far north for the last
twenty years. Founder and long-time co-ordinator of Yukon's
Second Opinion Society, a grassroots community organization
offering alternatives to psychiatry. Developed an integrative
non-medical approach to working with aboriginal and non-aboriginal
people in emotional and social distress. Has been involved with
the antipsychiatry movement since 1980, and is a member of the
National Association of Rights, Protection and Advocacy (NARPA)
since 1992, as well as MindFreedom International and International
Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (ICSPP). Former
board member of World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
(WNUSP), and current member of International Network Toward
Alternatives and Recovery (INTAR). Currently training in integrative
body psychotherapy and transformational group process and living
on Gabriola Island near Vancouver. Author of Towards Empathy
(1995), a training resource to help womens' shelters provide
equal access for psychiatrized women. |
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Erich Schützendorf,
born in 1949, married with three children. Studied education,
psychology and sociology. Adult education program faculty leader
on the subject of aging, lecturer for social gerontology at
the college of Niederrhein. Over thirty years of interest in
people with dementia. More recently, dealing with his own aging
process and the development of ideas for life as an old man,
who might one day become dependent on others. Publications include
Das Recht der Alten auf Eigensinn (The Right of the
Elderly to Obstinacy), 3rd edition 2004; In Ruhe verrückt
werden dürfen (Getting Crazy In Peace), in
collaboration with Helmut Wallrafen-Dreisow, 12th edition 2004;
Wer pflegt, muss sich pflegen (To Work as a Carer, You Have
to Care for Yourself), 2006; In Ruhe alt werden können
(Getting Old in Peace), 2nd edition 2006. |
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Jaakko Seikkula,
Professor of psychotherapy at the Department of Psychology University
of Jyväkylä in Finland. Clinical psychologist, psychotherapist
(advance specialist level) and family therapy trainer. He has
been mainly involved in developing family and social network
based practices in psychiatry for patients with psychoses and
other severe mental health crises. |
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Andy Smith.
Lives on South coast of England with two goldfish and beautiful
dawn skies. |
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Zoran
Solomun. Film director, born in 1953 in Pula, Istria. From
1973-77, studied at the Belgrade Academy for Theater, Film,
Radio and Television. From 1985-90, leader of the independent
film group Pokret (Movement) in Belgrade. Collaboration
with various people and groups involved in anti-psychiatry.
Since 1990, has lived in Berlin. In 1997, founded the film production
company Ohne Gepäck (Without Luggage). Films include
Ah, jedan podanik! (Oh! A Subject! – 1989, a documentary
about the central psychiatric madhouse in Belgrade); Jedna
zardjala ludnica (A rusty mental institution –
1990, a documentary about alternatives to psychiatry); Müde
Weggefährten (Tired Companions – 1996, a feature
film, awarded the Max-Ophüls-Prize in 1997); Der
Chinesische Markt (The Chinese Market – 2000, a documentary,
awarded the ARTE Documentary Film Prize in 2001); Super
Art Market (2009 – documentary). |
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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. Taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
in the Bronx until 2009 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). |
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Chris Stevenson,
Professor of Mental Health Nursing in Dublin City University,
has 25 years working in the U.K. as a nurse within psychiatry
and on its margins, offering family meetings to people experiencing
psychosis and eating distress. Chris is a founding member of
the Institute for Mental Health Recovery, Ireland. Over a 100
publications, books and articles. Currently, heading a programme
of suicidology research. Altschul award for psychiatric nursing
scholarship in 2000. Book publications: Good Practice Guide
(2005) for working in strategic partnership with people experienced
in mental health services; Care of the Suicidal Person
(2007, co-authored with John Cutcliffe). |
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Dan Taylor.
Born in 1963, grew up and is still living in Accra, Ghana. Diploma
in Journalism and Marketing. In 2004, co-founder of MindFreedom
Ghana to fight for human rights and better living- and treatment-conditions
for (ex-) users and survivors of psychiatry. He is secretary
of MindFreedom Ghana, has published articles in Ghanaian newspapers
and abroad, organized symposia on prevention and rehabilitation
in the mental health field, is engaged in radio and TV shows,
and has organized a protest march against human rights abuses
and stigma in psychiatry in July 2006 in Accra with 350 people.
Dan calls for support and assistance to accentuate and strengthen
the work of MindFreedom Ghana in a developing country like Ghana.
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Philip Thomas.
Professor of Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health at the
University of Central Lancashire, England. Chair of Sharing
Voices Bradford, a community development project working with
Bradford's Black and Minority Ethnic communities. Co-author
of the column Postpsychiatry in Open Mind magazine.
Founder member and co-chair of the Critical Psychiatry Network
in Britain. Book publications: Dialectics of Schizophrenia
(1997), Voices of Reason, Voices of Insanity (2000, co-authored
with Ivan Leudar), Postpsychiatry (2005, co-authored
with Pat Bracken). |
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Janet (Jan)
Wallcraft was born in England. PhD in 2002. Research fellow
of Birmingham University and University of Hertfordshire. Freelance
mental health consultant and researcher. From 1987 to 1992,
co-ordinator of Mind's user network, Mindlink. In 1992, co-founder
of the U.K. Advocacy Network. From 1987 to 1990, member of Survivors
Speak Out's national committee. 1997 to 1999, lead researcher
on the user-led Strategies for Living project at the Mental
Health Foundation. Author of Healing Minds (1998); co-author
of Handbook of Service User Involvement in Mental Health
Research (2009); On Our Own Terms: Users and Survivors
of Mental Health Services Working Together for Support and Change
(2003); Being There In A Crisis (1997); contributions
in Social Perspectives in Mental Health (2005); Mental
Health at the Crossroads (2005). Jan Wallcraft passed away
in March 2020. |
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David Webb,
born in 1955, has completed a PhD on suicide as a crisis of
the self at Victoria University in 2005 in Melbourne, Australia.
This research, motivated by David's personal history of suicide
attempts, shows that first-person knowledge of suicidality is
necessary to understand suicide, but that the first-person voice
is systematically excluded from current suicide research. During
his research, he has embraced Mad Culture as a liberating community
of people fighting for greater depth, sensitivity, compassion
and justice for those struggling for mental, emotional, social
and spiritual wellbeing. Prior to his years of madness, David
worked in the computer software industry as a programmer, designer
and analyst, and as a university lecturer. He has lived in New
York, Delhi and London and now he lives in Castlemaine, an old
goldrush town near Melbourne. Book publication: Thinking
about suicide: Contemplating and comprehending the urge to die
(2010). Co-author of Coming
off Psychiatric Drugs – Successful withdrawal from neuroleptics,
antidepressants, mood stabilizers, Ritalin and tranquilizers
(2004; e-book
in 2022). Contributor to Jenseits
der Psychiatrie – Stimmen und Visionen des Wahnsinns im
Madness Radio
(2023). David Webb passed away on July 26, 2023. |
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Uta Wehde,
born in 1963, psychologist. Since 1994, executive director of
the Ambulante Dienste (Ambulatory Services) association
in Berlin. Conceptualization and implementation of the Berlin
Runaway House, founding member of the Verein zum Schutz vor
psychiatrischer Gewalt (Organisation for the Protection
from Psychiatric Violence) and long activity on the board. Co-founder
and board member of Für alle Fälle (In Any
Case). Publications critical of psychiatry, and various contributions.
Author of Das
Weglaufhaus – Zufluchtsort für Psychiatriebetroffene
(The
Runaway-house: Asylum for (ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry),
1991. |
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Scott Welsch
was born in New York State in 1969. He studied documentary filmmaking
at Harvard College and developed manic-depressive symptoms during
his senior year in 1990. Among other things, Scott likes music,
trees, games, film, chocolate, ultimate Frisbee, and Indian
food. Scott especially enjoys the spontaneity of children and
is considering a career as a play therapist. |
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Salma Yasmeen.
Living in U.K. Counselling and communication studies. Background
as a psychiatric nurse, has worked in both the statutory mental
health sector and the voluntary sector. Previously involved
in setting up and leading Sharing Voices Bradford, which has
pioneered the use of Community development approaches in mental
health. 2006, leading and managing a project that is part of
a national programme to tackle inequalities in mental health
services for black and minority ethnic communities. |
Photo by Tom Olin
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Laura Ziegler.
Living in USA. In 1976, at age 17 she was locked up, diagnosed,
and forcibly drugged until a court ordered it stopped. Active
in the mad movement since 1983, she has been a paralegal at
a mental disability law clinic, monitored mental health legal
proceedings, participated in a half-year homeless protest encampment
outside New York City Hall, and expressed her opposition to
psychiatric oppression through testimony, whistleblowing, poetry,
civil disobedience and street theater. Granddaughter of a victim
of T4. Past president of NARPA (National Association of Rights,
Protection and Advocacy). Since 1996, she has lobbied for disability
rights and prisoners rights at the Vermont Statehouse. |
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Ursula (Uschi)
Zingler, born 1939, married, mother and grandmother. 1975-2004,
editor and proofreader at a scientific publishing house. In
1981, workplace harassment caused her depression. Since 1982,
involved in the psychiatric reform movement. Committee work
beginning in 1983, including as representative of the German
Bundesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener (BPE) (Federal Association
of [ex-] Users and Survivors of Psychiatry) in the Workshop
for Further Development of Psychiatric Care at the Ministry
of Health. 1991-1993 instrumental in the merger of (ex-) users
and survivors of psychiatry on all levels. Board member of the
BPE since its founding in 1992. In this role, she took a critical
position on various topics. 2007, awarded with the Bundesverdienstkreuz
am Bande (decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany
for service to the community). Ursula Zingler passed away on
January 18, 2010. |
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