Asylum magazine strives to link the politics of mental health to broader progressive political struggles, social movements and campaigns. For example, Extinction Rebellion has been calling attention to the devastating impact of climate change. It has already had significant transformational impact, at least on public consciousness, not dissimilar to that of the #MeToo campaign in raising awareness of sexual violence.
In one of Georges Simenon’s short novels, Maigret’s Doubts, Inspector Maigret receives the visit of a man who suspects his wife of wanting to poison him. The man tells of having been off colour recently and accuses his wife on the basis of having found some rat poison in the broom cupboard. Read more
Vincenzo Passante Spaccapietra came to the UK from Trieste, home of the Italian democratic psychiatry movement. He was surprised by what he found. Some people do not fit into our society, they are neglected by unfair social structures and become desperate. What should we, as members of society, do about this? Read more
Introduction
ASYLUM calls itself the radical mental health magazine. Being radical, or critical, may seem like a relatively straightforward project, but it isn’t always easy to define, or straightforward to put into practice.
An insider’s account of working in modern mental health services
I worked in a Home Treatment team for almost 2 years. I took the job reluctantly, after deciding to give the NHS another chance. I had previously worked for the NHS in various roles for 12 years. Read more
This is an attempt to give some practical advice on a problem most people don’t have much experience of but is becoming increasingly common amongst those on the margins of society. Most people realise that carting someone off to the thought police in the loony bin is, if anything, worse than handing them over to the real police – but it’s very difficult to think of an alternative when faced with an extremely exhausting and terrifying situation.
