A paper just published in British Journal of Psychiatry Open has met with criticism and anger in some quarters. The paper, co-authored by Sebastião Viola and Joanna Moncrieff, prominent members of the Critical Psychiatry Network,[…]
Category: Blog
Neoliberal Governmentality, Austerity and Psychopolitics
Recent protests over austerity related benefit cuts indicate that British society is divided. Government attempts to reduce the number of people on benefits are creating a chasm between rich and poor. The most vulnerable in[…]
Uncertain (human) Science, Bricks and Walls
My blood pressure has been up-and-down for years. Usually, when it’s measured in the surgery it’s up, but at home it’s down. A consultant physician told me in 1994 I had white-coat (labile) hypertension, and[…]
Young black people on benefits have highest rates of sanctioning, but who cares?
I spent most of yesterday going through the written evidence submitted to the Commons Select Committee on Work and Pensions for its review of benefit sanction policy, Beyond the Oakley review. The government originally set[…]
Postpsychiatry Revisited
Now and again you read something that makes you blink and stops you dead in your tracks. When you realise that the text that provoked this response is something you co-authored and published fifteen years[…]
A Prescription for Clinical Psychology
Recent events suggest that the profession of clinical psychology is adrift, and lacks any ethical or self-critical direction. These events include the failure of the British Psychological Society (BPS) to engage with the perspectives of[…]
True Christmas Comradeship
Some years ago shortly after I moved to work in Bradford, something happened that made me think carefully about what it means to be a psychiatrist. In the lead up to Christmas we managed to[…]