This is the first issue of the relaunched magazine. Some of you may know that two years ago the Executive Editor, Terry McLaughlin, unexpectedly announced that he could no longer fulfil his role because he was ill. Almost as suddenly, Terry passed away. This was not only an emotional blow to everyone who knew and loved him, but also quite disastrous for our organisation.

We had come to rely on Terry to a very great extent, and in the event he had neither the time nor the energy to collect together and neatly organise all of the strands of the magazine’s affairs before we lost him. We are very grateful to Terry for carrying the load of getting the magazine out for the years that he did, and he is much missed. However, this means that an apology is due to anyone who paid a subscription and did not receive an issue in recent times.

We are afraid that the subscription list appears to be one part mislaid, one part quite out of date, and the last part does not register the number of issues sent or owed. So we have no idea who has received more issues than they paid for or who is still owed. We hope that you will forgive us this chaos and we can start afresh, this time – short of acts of God or war, floods and riots – guaranteeing that the distribution end of things is properly managed. (If anyone wishes to dispute what they are still owed, please contact our Business Manager, Peter Bullimore.)

We are able to make this promise of proper management due to Pete Sanders of PCCS Books stepping in with an offer to run the business end of everything: from layout to overseeing printing to distribution. PCCS Books is a well-established company publishing in the field of ‘alternative’ mental health therapies and already performs the same role for another magazine. Under this agreement, the Asylum Collective keeps full editorial control but will no longer be able to disrupt the distribution.

And, as was originally the case, the magazine will again be produced quarterly. Subscriptions or copies of the magazine may now be ordered from the PCCS website, by phone or by mail. However, contributions to the magazine should be sent via one of the Editorial contacts. (See facing page for addresses.) And if you want a back issue, contact Asylum’s Business Manager. Although we do already have a fair amount of material for future issues of the magazine, we certainly do now have to plan ahead.

Generally, we like to organise each issue around a theme, so when someone sends us material it will probably be sorted into a file to see the light of day an issue or so hence. Asylum magazine will not survive unless people keep contributing words and graphics. We very much welcome the participation of groups, perhaps to collaborate closely for one issue; this gets their own message out to our readers and, coupled with a bulk-buy, provides the group with an excellent and ready supply of publicity.

Neither will Asylum survive without subscribers. Go ahead, treat yourself, or a friend: for the price of a round of drinks – subscribe! Better still, make a bulk purchase (at a reduced price per item). Bulk-buying is an essential role: helping to distribute the magazine and reaching a new audience. Contribute! Subscribe! Distribute! Join Asylum magazine in the last great struggle for civil rights! You can see that this issue of Asylum takes the theme: Paranoia.

Cutting through the discredited diagnostic and therapeutic mumbo-jumbo of ‘medical model’ psychiatry and mental health care, between them our contributors describe the experience, explain it, and offer some downto-earth ideas about combating it – mainly by means of self-help group work. Although we say so ourselves, this relaunch issue (a collectors’ item!) constitutes a valuable, handy, no-nonsense and quick reference to the topic in question.

Phil Virden, Executive Editor

Download Volume 17 No 1

Contents

• Relaunch issue. Special issue: Paranoia! The Paranoia Network.
• Editorial: Phil Virden
• Paranoia defined. Alec Jenner
• Herstory of madness. Eleanor Longden
• Notes on Paranoia. Peter H Donnelly
• Book Review. The panic Diaries by Jacqui Orr, reviewed by Paul Henderson
• My Experience of Paranoia. Peter Bullimore
• Explaining Paranoia: Psychoanalysis versus Psychiatry. Phil Virden
• Rethinking Paranoia. Dave Harper
• Paranoia and Recovery. Angelina Cosgrove
• Human Approaches to Paranoia. Peter Bullimore
• The Paranoia Group. Peter Bullimore
• Psychology and ‘the war on terror’ (2) Psychological Warfare and Paranoia. Dave Harper