PCCS Books Paperback English
Drop the Disorder + Do Something!
Activism to change the culture of mental health
Edited by Jo Watson
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The culture of psychiatric diagnosis causes harm. It labels people in distress. It silences them. It takes away theirindividuality and agency. At its worst, it removes their human rights. It onlyasks, 'What's wrong with you?' and doesn't ask, 'What happened to you?' It fails to acknowledge the complexity of an individual's story and theirsocial context. This powerful follow-up to the first Drop the Disorder!book (PCCS Books, 2019) assembles 40 contributors who are challenging theculture of psychiatric diagnosis and disorder. They include high-profilenames such as 'V' (formerly known as Eve Ensler, author of The VaginaMonologues), child therapist Kate Silverton and Canadian physician GaborMaté (TheMyth of Normal), leading researchers and writers, includingprofessors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett (The Spirit Level) andJoanna Moncrieff; Robert Whitaker of madinamerica.com, and frontlinecampaigner Jacqui Dillon, alongside a host of other activists, service usersand refusers, poets, artists, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists and otherpractitioners and leaders in the mental health and homeless sectors who aretrying to do things differently in their own spheres. This book's message is 'dosomething', and its hard-hitting and inspiring chapters tell us whyand how.
The culture of psychiatric diagnosis causes harm. It labels people in distress. It silences them. It takes away theirindividuality and agency. At its worst, it removes their human rights. It onlyasks, 'What's wrong with you?' and doesn't ask, 'What happened to you?' It fails to acknowledge the complexity of an individual's story and theirsocial context. This powerful follow-up to the first Drop the Disorder!book (PCCS Books, 2019) assembles 40 contributors who are challenging theculture of psychiatric diagnosis and disorder. They include high-profilenames such as 'V' (formerly known as Eve Ensler, author of The VaginaMonologues), child therapist Kate Silverton and Canadian physician GaborMaté (TheMyth of Normal), leading researchers and writers, includingprofessors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett (The Spirit Level) andJoanna Moncrieff; Robert Whitaker of madinamerica.com, and frontlinecampaigner Jacqui Dillon, alongside a host of other activists, service usersand refusers, poets, artists, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists and otherpractitioners and leaders in the mental health and homeless sectors who aretrying to do things differently in their own spheres. This book's message is 'dosomething', and its hard-hitting and inspiring chapters tell us whyand how.