NEWS BLIPS
MindFreedom's list of news articles on the
Bush Administration efforts to "screen" all Americans for "mental illness" | While the whole scenario makes me think of the Sondheim play
Anyone Can Whistle, for some reason, the fact that it is being played out has much darker implications than when Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury performed this comic operetta on Broadway in 1964 |
Credit: [1] Thanks to Jason King for making note of the Adbuster's website |
[2] About Anyone Can Whistle "A surrealistic satire, Anyone Can Whistle proclaims the sanity of madness as well as the virtue of nonconformity. The mayoress, played by Angela Lansbury in the original production, is constantly escorted by four dancing chorus boys who provide plenty of glitter to cover up the lack of sincerity in her patronizing addresses to the townspeople | The link provided here gives you more detail |
VIRTUAL REALITY PSYCHOSIS
I believe there's such a thing as "mental illness" | This appears to place me at odds with the likes of R D Laing and Thomas Szasz and other rights advocates in the so-called 'anti-psychiatry" movement | But, I would maintain, I am not at odds with them at all | Longer story |
What I'm getting at is that far too many people have reported experiences, scenarios and descriptions of reality that vary significantly from what is generally accepted as "real", that none of us can afford to set these reports aside without serious reflection |
It isn't just Americans who fail to reflect on these alternate perceptual worlds that most dismiss as madness | Historically, people around the planet have not wanted to hear about visions of life they may find disturbing |
Yet humanity grows from learning about how others outside the dominant cultures see the world | We have come, begrudingly, to accept the idea of multiculturalism with tangible objects like modes of dress, furniture styles and manners of writing and art | Accepting the cultures that cannot so easily be seen ~ and which are sometimes idosycratically single ~ is a much harder sell |
And the first step in learning is to recognize and understand personal language and experience | Since much in the mental health system is focused on pathology and "fixing" it, the task of
understanding pretty much gets forgotten | Yet this kind of advance is vital if we are to ever get beyond the stunted concept of "treatment" and on to learning how to communicate with souls whose worlds look very much like that of dominant culture, but are veiled in ways imperceptable by the naked eye |
With this in mind, here are some folks who are trying to bridge these psychic communications gaps |
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Second Life Blog writes about an alternate 3-D virtual world, with occasionaly forays into the reals of physical planet earth | This is one entry about beginning communication |
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Virtual Reality Psychosis is a VR program developed by an Australian researcher, together with consultation and assistance from a woman who has experienced life through a set of "schizophrenic" filters |
• A BBC article that posits the opinion that
VR "hallucinations" can be helpful | Paul Corry of the UK's National Schizophrenia Fellowship told BBC News Online: "One area where it could be introduced immediately is in tackling the public's prejudice, ignorance and fear of severe mental illness.
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A film about visual hallucinations,
Spider, with Ralph Fiennes | One reviewer of the film commented on its pace:
I'm also tired and irritated of idiots who say its too slow moving for them. These are the type of shallow viewers that expect things to keep happening and hopping every minute! I like the pace of this film. A pace like this enhances the performances and the dark mood. If you think its too slow then their is something wrong with you. You lack the type of patience that is required for thought provoking films.
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A Mind's Eye | A new site, not much on it, but the site authro's references to transcultural mapping seem worth keeping a watch on |
DRUG WARS
Prozac Spotlight | "
No one lives outside the mental environment, and everyone has a story," says the head to one of the FORUM sections on this
AdBusters hosted site |
The site has some noble and principled objectives:
"All human beings are created different and every human being has the right to be mentally free and independent"
Our aim is to foster these rights and freedoms, as stated in the universal declaration of mental rights and freedoms. We want a healthy mental environment, not a toxic culture; we want access to the relevant information that drugtakers need to know; and we want to foster madpride, not the maltreatment of those considered mad.
This is a dialogue not a diatribe, so check out the forums and join us in conversation.
The site, quite evidently based on an edition of AdBusters magazine, is succinct, readable, easy to navigate, has a short but impressive links list and is ably edited by Richard DeGrandpre |
Look for the lengthy bio about former cokehead and dry alcoholic George Duyba Bush |
