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.
Asylum, formerly the magazine for democratic psychiatry, was established in 1986 as a forum for free debate, open to anyone with an interest in psychiatry and mental health politics, practice and policy. We were inspired by the democratic psychiatry movement in Italy and continue to be influenced by radical mental health movements around the world, including the psychiatric survivor and Mad liberation movements. Read more
This special Welfare Rights feature was inspired by discussions with people attempting to navigate the welfare system and has been developed by co-editor Ria Dylan and I. It presents a series of articles that reflect the despair, illness and worse that people have suffered as a result of the unprecedented governmental attack upon disabled people in the UK in the previous decade. Read more
We open this issue with an article by @validconsent which underlines the profound challenges involved in our notion of ‘democratic psychiatry’. We couldn’t have put these challenges better ourselves. How does one provide a safe space for challenging and diverse opinions to be expressed: at a conference; on a psychiatric ward; on social media; or in the pages of our magazine? Read more
Well, it’s a busy time in mental health policy. Last year, PM Theresa May said she intended to abolish the Mental Health Act – on libertarian grounds. Many activists have been campaigning for this for years. Under a Tory Government might this be a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’? Perhaps we’ll soon find out. Read more
This issue consists mainly of material offered at our public event in June 2017 – Asylum: Action to Reaction. We include most of the main presentations, some of the workshops, and some reactions as well – both positive and more critical. We take criticism very seriously. Within the bounds of civility, Asylum is a completely open forum for debate. Read more
