The current 'mental health community' is, in the main, stuck in the 1990s, talking the language of their 'carers' but with very little in the way of critical engagement - it often lacks the ideas, the vocabulary and the organisation to even see the need for fundamental change. So, it tends to fall into the trap of talking in isolating and stigmatising diagnostic and medical terms, and engages in panoptic self-surveillance that doesn't get it anywhere.This has led to a situation where people call for more 'mental health' services, but fail to see that that the system and the society we currently have causes widespread harm and needs radical reform.
What is new is what's been called the 'DSM mindset', where 'compliance culture' is so prevalent that popular myths are voiced with absolute certainty, leaving most people in the dark about better options that are available, comprehensively thought through, and offer a hopeful future that the current system fails to provide.
What follows is a growing list of resources that shows how the system we have is outdated and founded on quicksand, and what we can do about it on an individual and collective level.
If you know of any resources that would add to this page, drop me a line.