Back Issues Archive

Asylum Magazine (Volume 21 No 3) Autumn 2014

Most of the material for this issue was gathered together by Cheryl Prax who campaigns against electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Included are pieces which discuss the bio-electrical realities, the so-said efficacy, the harmful ‘side effects’, and the social and judicial aspects of this controversial psychiatric treatment; mixed in are a number of accounts of what it is like to be subjected to shock treatment. Read more


Asylum Magazine (Volume 21 No 2) Summer 2014

Four of the last fve issues were given over to one particular theme or another, and they were usually put together by a group of people who wanted to highlight a particular aspect of psychiatry or their response to it. This means we have accumulated a fair number of contributions from readers on a whole array of topics, some of which we can now publish. Read more


Asylum Magazine (Volume 21 No 1) Spring 2014

Special edition: Creative responses to difficult times… The idea of this issue of the magazine arose from a conference on the future of counselling and psychotherapy, organised by the Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and held in London in December 2012. As members of the Alliance, we have been campaigning against the state’s co-option of the psychological therapies as a healthcare profession. Read more


Asylum Magazine (Volume 20 No 4) Autumn 2013

The asylum. Early 15c, from Latin asylum ‘sanctuary’, from Greek asylon ‘refuge’. Noun use of asylos: ‘inviolable, safe from violence’; especially of persons seeking protection. From a- ‘without’ + syle ‘right of seizure’. So, literally: ‘an inviolable place’. Inviolable. The history of the asylum reads like a fairy tale, a once upon a time of incarceration, forced treatment, demented nurses, torturous contraptions, terror and secrets. Read more


Asylum Magazine (Volume 20 No 3) Summer 2013

So far this year, each issue of the magazine took a particular theme. We hope you found them interesting. We apologise to anyone who has sent in a contribution not on one of those themes, and not had much of an acknowledgement. This issue catches up on some of the backlog of material we have on a variety of topics, and we hope soon to publish more. Read more


Asylum Magazine (Volume 20 No 2) Summer 2013

Self-Harm: Minimising Harm, Maximising Hope… This special issue on self-harm came out of a conference in September 2012 that Asylum co-hosted with the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, alongside harm-ed and Manchester Metropolitan University. The conference highlighted some of the tensions between the perspectives of people who self-harm and those who care for them. Read more