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Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health

The Mad in America podcast, hosted by James Moore, examines mental health with a critical eye by speaking with psychologists, psychiatrists and people with lived experience.

When you hear such conversations, you realise that much of what is believed to be settled in mental health is actually up for debate. Is mental health a matter of faulty biology or is there more to it? Are the treatments used in psychiatry helpful or harmful in the long term? Are psychiatric diagnoses reliable? With the help of our guests, we examine these questions and so much more. 

This podcast is part of Mad in America’s mission to serve as a catalyst for rethinking psychiatric care and mental health. We believe that the current drug-based paradigm of care has failed our society and that scientific research, as well as the lived experience of those who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, calls for profound change. 

On the podcast over the coming weeks, we will have interviews with experts and those with lived experience of the psychiatric system. Thank you for joining us as we discuss the many issues around rethinking mental health around the world.

For more information visit madinamerica.com

 

  1. All Episodes
  2. Episode 19 Marion Brown talks about psychiatric drugs, Human Givens therapy and medically unexplained symptoms (MUS)

Episode 19 Marion Brown talks about psychiatric drugs, Human Givens therapy and medically unexplained symptoms (MUS)

May 19, 2017

This week we interview Marion Brown. Marion is Psychotherapist who works with the Human Givens approach to supporting people in emotional or psychological distress. Through her work, Marion has become increasingly concerned about the effects of psychotropic medications on patients and on their ability to engage with therapy. In this informative interview we talk about Marion’s background, how Human Givens works as a therapeutic approach and also the effects of psychiatric drugs. We also discuss medically unexplained symptoms, sometimes given as an explanation for psychiatric drug adverse or withdrawal effects.

In this episode we discuss:

•How Marion came to train as a Psychotherapist

•How she became concerned about her patients experiences with Psychiatric medications

•How, in supporting a client called Ann, Marion came to learn a great deal about psychiatric drug adverse effects and withdrawal difficulties

•That Marion came to realise that her patients experiences of strange thoughts, depersonalisation and physical difficulties were related to the medications used for anxiety and depression

•How Marion set up a self help group to try and help local people who were struggling with medications

•That GPs generally were not interested in this approach to self help

•How Marion came to realise that psychiatric drugs were affecting the interpersonal relationships of her clients and their empathy and ability to engage with therapy

•How useful Facebook and other communities have been in helping people feel less alone with their struggles

•That Marion's experience with GPs is that they find it difficult to accept that the medicines they prescribe are causing so much harm

•That we really need better guidelines to work from so Doctors can better support people experiencing protracted and severe withdrawal from psychotropic drugs

•How the drugs can lead to intense suicidal thoughts and how difficult it is for a therapist to try and support people in this state

•How Human Givens works as a therapeutic intervention

•How psychiatric drugs can interfere with a persons 'sense of self'

•The wide ranging effects of these drugs on the human nervous system

•The worrying tendency now for people suffering withdrawal or adverse effects to be labelled as having Medically Unexplained Symptoms

Podcast show notes: http://www.jfmoore.co.uk/LTW_episode_19.html

To give me your feedback please email me on feedback@jfmoore.co.uk 

© James Moore 2017