Our Autumn issue opens with our feature article by Mud, also our cover artist, who makes a powerful case for changing the way health professionals treat suicidal people.

Two articles welcome back, and reflect on, Mad Pride and its evolution over the past thirty years. In other pieces, Robert Chapman draws on lessons from the neurodiversity movement to develop a Marxist analysis of neurodiversity; and Nelsy Cristancho explains how she’s managing heal herself from the madness of socio-capitalism. The  Deaths by Welfare project is documenting the devasting impact of welfare reforms on the lives of people, especially disabled people and people of colour. – China Mills explains how.

Several pieces in this issue engage with the controversies around psychiatric medication. H. Spandler reflects on the recent study debunking the ‘chemical imbalance’ theory of depression and suggests we avoid merely replacing this with another overly simplistic trope. Lindsay-Rose Dykema, a Queer Psychiatrist and prison/police abolitionist, contributes two articles, including one which reflects on the dilemma of having a more critical stance on medication than her service user colleague. Jonathan Gadsby and Mick McKeown call for the right for nurses to conscientiously object to taking part in forced medication.

We have an update from Miss Diagnosis about her Eco Worrier initiative and an illustration of the problems with the IAPT programme by an anonymous practitioner. This issue also includes details of an exciting new play by Pete Carruthers; a report on a Manchester workshop on building an emancipatory mental health approach; and an attempt by one of our readers to get Asylum into the ward he was sectioned in. Moving beyond the shores of the UK, we learn about the Intiative for a Diverse Movement in Mental Health in Greece and the changes to mental health legislation there. As usual, we include a range of other short pieces including a story by Chris Bird about getting sectioned and a range of poetry and illustrations.

Contents

The Wrong Kind of Sick – Mud  ***SAMPLE ARTICLE***
Mad Pride: Summer 2022 – H Spandler
Mad Pride: from 1993–2022 – Liam Kirk
Deaths by Welfare project – China Mills
Conscientious objection to forced pharmaceutical treatment – Jonathan Gadsby & Mick McKeown
Poem: Untitled – Henry Briffa
Towards Neurodivergent Marxism – Robert Chapman
The Psychiatrist’s Catch-22 – Lindsay-Rose Dykema ***SAMPLE ARTICLE***
The Letter – RM Yager
Chemical imbalances or problems in living? You don’t decide! – H Spandler ***SAMPLE ARTICLE***
New mental health legislation in Greece: Will anything really change?
The IAPT Machine
Update from Miss Diagnosis – Ms Benn
Standing up to Socio-Capitalist “Madness” – Nelsy Cristancho
The Possibility of Colour
On the Ward (a story about getting sectioned) – Chris Bird
Poem: The Gift That Came Here – Deni Naffziger
How it Began – O. L. Addy
CHARM day in Manchester – Ian Parker
Getting Asylum into mental health services
Say Their Names – Lindsay-Rose Dykema

Sample articles

• The Wrong Kind of Sick – Mud
• The Psychiatrist’s Catch-22 – Lindsay-Rose Dykema
• Chemical imbalances or problems in living? You don’t decide! – H Spandler

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