By Rebecca Donaldson “It’s in your mind that I am abandoning you,” were the last words my psychologist uttered on the phone to me before she did, in fact, abandon me. Four years later, and I am still attempting to smile again and move forward. I am not sure which was more traumatic: my […]
The ERNI Declaration is a shared position statement that posits that EMOTIONS ARE NOT ILLNESSES. It states that ‘people experience a range of emotional distress including misery, a sense of failure, despair for the future, self-loathing, worry, loneliness, heart-break (and so on). These things can and do result in great suffering, but they are not […]
I was asked to review this book and as I currently work within the NHS in London the first thing that crossed my mind was that Frank McCutcheon wrote the entire book under a nom de plume as the content is frankly so deeply shocking. I have found myself considering writing the review anonymously as […]
I have been on both sides of the fence of mental health services. I have been a ‘patient’ and I have worked as an Integrative therapist for the NHS and non-profit organisations. When emotional distress, trauma and pain are understood through the lens of pathology, I feel saddened and fearful.
So, at 26 years old, I knew my heart was with pursuing a career in counselling, alongside that was a passion to work with children and young people. I myself had benefitted as a young person from strong role models and counselling. I had grand aspirations to give something back (and in my own way change the world)!
On 13th February A Disorder for Everyone was held in Cornwall and attended by over 120 people. Two of those who came were two allies from Norway. Siv and Inger-Mari share their thoughts about the day here.
Over the summer I was lying in bed above a cycle hire shop in Krakow, Poland when I heard a ping on my phone. I was feeling happy that morning because I was on holiday with my family and, in spite of the weakness of the pound, our budget was stretching further than I’d anticipated. […]
I have grappled with the angle to take with writing a review of Drop the Disorder. Should it be from my perspective as Family Psychotherapist working in our NHS Crisis teams and struggling to have my no labeling stance heard or respected by my colleagues clinging to their DSM bibles of pharmaceutical damage? Or perhaps […]
In around 1965, when my mother, Anne, was twelve, she was told she was schizophrenic. A smart, quick-witted child with a talent for comedic poetry and a love of Oscar Wilde, she was not suited to the strict, nun-led Catholic schooling thrust upon her.
For 17 years I worked in mainstream mental health services. I qualified as a social worker in 2001, got my first job in mental health in 2002. I wanted to make a difference! Having grown up with a fair amount of traumatic experiences myself, I felt I had something to give. And while that is […]