Reblogging to add Image ID. Please be warned for triggering content ahead including descriptions of psych wards, psychiatric abuse, force, suicide mention, and ableist/sanist language. Anyone interested can go to the Instagram linked for further readings.
Image ID for the images in order -
The first set of infographics are purple and read the following:
1) Recognizing Psychiatry's Propaganda. Villianization of Anti-psychiatry. Pt 4. Psychiatric propaganda helps justify psychiatric abuse and sanism. It can be hard to recognise because it's been popularized and woke-washed. Here's how to spot it.
2) Perhaps the most frustrating form of psychiatric propaganda today is the pervasive myth that those who critique psychiatry are bigoted, ignorant, or anti-science. People with psych-labels are being villianized for speaking out about their trauma and psychiatric oppression. We are regularly attacked by people who label us enemies of the "mentally ill"... when we are(caps) the very people they claim to be protecting.
3) Why It Came To Be. In the 1970's the anti-psychiatry movement was gaining traction and psychiatry was panicking. Then, something convenient happened - L Ron Hubbard (the founder of Scientology) spoke out about psychiatric abuse. Psychiatry seized on this opportunity to associate all critiques of psychiatry with scientology, painting anti-psychiatry proponents as "crazy", ignorant, anti-science cult followers and conspiracy theorists. This effort was successful at diminishing public support for psychiatric survivors, an effect that is sustained to this day.
4) "[Psychiatry] could publicly dismiss criticism of the medical model and psychiatric drugs with a wave of the hand, deriding it as nonsense that arose from people who were members of a deeply unpopular cult, rather than criticism that arose from their own research." -Robert Whitaker, Anatomy of an Epidemic
5) What it Sounds Like: Erasing Lived Experience - Assuming all those who question psychiatry are neurotypical/non patients. Co-opting Social Justice - Using the language of resistance in pro psychiatry ads. Blaming Us for Sanism - "You shouldn't talk about your negative experiences because you're stigmatizing therapy/psych meds." Us vs Them - Positioning all who critique psychiatry as enemies of psych patients.
6) Why It's Harmful: It silences our voices before you even hear them - Psychiatric propagandists have specifically named and categorized common psychiatric survivor talking points as "ignorant." This means that well-meaning people close their mind to these ideas before they even get a chance to hear our experiences.
It facilitates the attack of psychiatric survivors - It allows psych survivors to be not only written off, but actively vilified- a phenomenon that many of us have experienced when trying to talk about out experiences.
It puts psychiatry into a position of "moral high ground" - This is extra helpful for psychiatry because it allows psychiatric propagandists to position themselves as moral superiors crusading against ignorance, while making psych survivors out to be enemies of the "mentally ill" (even though we are the people they claim to protect).
7) The Truth: Criticisms of psychiatry have always been grounded by psych survivors, queer people, people of color, and other marginalized people that have been victimized by psychiatry. Anti psychiatry emerged not out of hatefulness, but out of the lived experience of psych patients and a belief that people with psych labels deserve better.
The second series of infographics are in light purple saying the following:
1) Recognizing Psychiatry's Propaganda. The Biomedical Model (Pt.1). Psychiatric propaganda helps justify psychiatric abuse & sanism. It can be hard to recognize because it's been popularized & woke-washed. Here's how to spot it.
2) The most widely accepted social understanding of neurodivergence is the biomedical model, which is the idea that what we call "mental illness" is a biological fact cause by chemical imbalances. Acceptance of this model may seem "woke", but both science and lived experiences tell us these messages can actually harm those with psych labels.
3) Why It Came to Be. In the mid 1900s, psychiatrists were not highly valued. In order to gain validity, they felt they needed to align themselves with medical doctors. The biomedical model allowed them to validate their treatment, and drugs, as medically necessary- and because psych diagnoses are highly subjective, they could create an ever-growing market- thus, protecting their jobs, and their pockets. Soon enough, successful campaigning by the APA & other organizations led to this becoming a widespread cultural myth.
4) What it Sounds Like: Medicalizing - "Mental health is no different from physical health." Words like "symptom or "chemical imbalance"
"Qualifications" - "Your friends can't support you; you need a qualified therapist."
False Equivalency- "We're just like diabetics, and psych meds are just like insulin."
Othering - "Feeling anxious is fundamentally different than having anxiety."
5) Why It's Harmful: It causes sanism - Studies show the biomedical myth actually INCREASES negative attitudes towards those with psych labels.
It leads to gaslighting - In the biomedical model, all behaviors are 'symptoms" to be fixed, leaving no room for how these experiences might be reasonable responses to injustice, or have cultural/spiritual value.
It isolates - If we believe that "mental illness" is a medical condition that can only be treated by doctors, we start to view psych patients as people we can neither relate to nor support.
It creates stigma against those that refuse treatment - If you believe psych drugs are as necessary (or effective) for psych patients as insulin is for diabetics, you will begin to see denying "treatment" as irresponsible, rather than a valid, personal right.
6) "Because psychiatric ideology mystifies people's difficulties into an 'illness' that only experts are capable of treating... we abandon and isolate people when they need love and nurturance." -Judi Chamberlin
7) The Truth. The "chemical imbalance" theory has been discredited. There is NO known biological cause for what we call "mental illness." Psychiatric treatment is not always effective & many recover without clinical treatment.
We can recognize & accept neurodivergence WITHOUT spreading misinformation or othering those w/ psych labels.
8) "The National Association for Mental Health, which usually pushed the line that mental illness is no different from any other disease... publishes a booklet for police officers, instructing them on how to take mental patients into custody. People usually are not hauled in by the police because thay have heart disease, diabetes, or cancer- mental illness is clearly not an illness like any other." -Judi Chamberlin
The third series of infographics are in pink saying the following:
1) Recognizing Psychiatry's Propaganda. How Stigma Became a Buzzword (Pt. 2).
2) If you're on social media, you've probably seen posts talking about the "stigma against mental illness". On the surface, these movements are breaking taboos and making change; however these conversations often fail to meet the moment by softening or ignoring the deeper issues at play: sanism.
3) Why It Came to Be. Anti-stigma work was originated by psych survivors who were resisting the labels placed on them by psychiatry, and the prejudice that accompanied these labels. However, psychiatry soon co-opted the movement and began to sculpt the narrative to their advantage claiming that it is psychiatry itself that should be destigmatized. Psychiatry used the language of anti-stigma to position their abuse as virtuous, claiming they were "breaking taboos", even though psychiatry created the stigmas and taboos in the first place.
4) What it Sounds Like: Softening Psychiatry - "Therapy is cool." "Therapy is for Everyone!"
New Hierarchies - White women with anxiety being the face of "anti stigma".
Ignoring the real problem - "No need to be ashamed. Get help. Speak out."
Associating psychiatry with progress - "A diagnosis is a privilege." Queer icons in psychiatry ads.
5) Why It's Harmful. It's one-sided - Psychiatry's idea of stigma is that it only exists against people who seek help- completely ignoring the stigma against psychiatric survivors & those that deny clinical treatment.
It focuses on the privileged - Psychiatry only uplifts the voices of those that will speak highly of psychiatry.People who are more likely to be abused by psychiatry-marginalized people & those with more stigmatized diagnoses- are left in the margins.
It redirects conversations about systemic oppression to softer, less radical issues - When we overuse words like "stigma" and "taboo", we suggest that our fears of speaking up are solely rooted in uncomfortable feelings, without any acknowledgement for the material consequences of being publicly Mad. We encourage people to "reach out" or "speak up" without any attempt to make it safe to do so.
6) /columns titled Real Anti- Stigma Work vs Harmful Propaganda/
Real Anti- Stigma Work: Centers the most marginalized, Led by psych survivors, Locates the cause of stigma within a greater system of oppression, Recognizes the diversity of experiences with psychiatry, Prioritizes psych patients autonomy, Intersectional.
Harmful Propaganda: Centers the privileged and famous, Led by clinicians, Does not acknowledge systemic sanism, Only uplifts those with positive experiences with psychiatry, Guilts and blames those that deny clinical treatment, Apolitical.
7) The Truth: Destigmatizing those with psych labels is an important part of psychiatric survivor advocacy. But destigmatization cannot occur under psychiatry (the institution that created, and perpetuates, the stigma) and can't be accomplished without total abolition of systemic sanism & psychiatric oppression.
8) re: how anti-stigma language is used to attack psych survivors
"There is and should be stigma against abuse. Just because the helpers and the perpetrators are part of the same system doesn't change that." - Cat Montgomery
The fourth set of infographics are in blue saying the following:
1) Recognizing Psychiatry's Propaganda: Cautionary Tales (Pt. 3).
2) Fear-mongering is one of the most powerful & common forms of propaganda. Psychiatry uses fear mongering by telling cautionary tales that convince people that if the "mentally ill" are not forcibly "treated", they will become violent, kill themselves, or relapse. The trope of the "untreated" shows up everywhere, from movies to PSAs, leading the masses to support forced psychiatry out of fear.
"She came off her meds and then she killed herself."
Media tropes of "escaped mental patients" or "off their meds"
"He thought he could get better on his own but he couldn't."
"They resisted going to rehab and then they relapsed."
It villianizes people with psych labels, particularly those that deny treatment - These messages depend on creating fear of the "unhinged", unpredictable mental patient, directly creating sanist myths.
It supports the "for your own good" myth - These messages convince people that forcing their loved one into taking meds or going to a hospital will save their life. In reality, it traumatizes them, paternalizes them, and derives them of choice.
It uses the failures of psychiatry to prove its worth - Withdrawal is a well-documented and potentially deadly effect of coming off psych meds, but psychiatry consistently uses it to try to convince people that psych meds are necessary. Suicide after hospitalization proves that hospitalization fails to heal not that the person should have stayed there longer.
5) An example of how this messaging directly leads to harmful policies; cw - violent sanism, force. [Screencaps of a video with a man - Andrew Yang - saying the following] "Half of the attacks on Asian New-Yorkers have been from the mentally ill. They're walking around, they're mentally ill. They see someone who's different and then they lash out. So this is such a crucial issue to return a sense of safety to our city. I agree with Ray that we do not need to be much more aggressive about Kendra's Law. Right now the standard is this: Someone has to self select and say 'hey, I need help. Get me services'. But a lot of people who need help don't have the capacity to raise their hand and say I need help. So we have to get people the help that they need even if they don't know it yet. And we can do this. There's been a standard in the past where if someone was clearly mentally ill, or in need of medical attention, we got them meds l, we got them that treatment. We need to rebuild the stock of psych beds so there's some place to bring them, and to make sure that if they are in supportive housing, that they are being monitored so that they take their meds. Yes mentally ill people have rights. But you know who else have rights? We do! The people and families of the city. We have the right to walk the street and not fear for our safety because a mentally ill person is going to lash out at us".
6) The Truth. Everyone deserves the right to make their own choices regarding psychiatric care. Forced care is traumatic and increases risk of suicide, not prevents it. People with psych labels are no more violent than those without, and are more likely to be victims than perpetrators. Coming off of psych drugs can cause severe withdrawal symptoms - that does not (caps) mean psych meds were necessary/effective for that person.
The fifth set of infographics are in pink saying the following:
1) Recognizing Psychiatry's Propaganda: Warning Signs (Pt. 5).
2) It's not uncommon to find people promoting lists of "warning signs" that your loved one is "mentally ill", suicidal, self-harming, etc. Not only is the language of "warning" highly stigmatizing, these campaigns do nothing to help support struggling people. "Warning sign" campaigns encourage people to constantly assess for risks, rather than being present and supportive, and leads to a culture of policing and fear.
Pathologizing - Long lists of "warning signs" for suicide, self harm, mental illness, etc
Minimizing Autonomy - "They are in denial. You need to get them help."
Policing - Encouraging people to call crisis on others without consent
Guilting - "If you miss the warning signs, it'll be too late to save them."
It turns our loved ones into "suicide police" - How many of us have stopped reaching out to loved ones because when we do, they immediately start asking questions to "assess risk"? Our ability to be present and supportive is jeapardized by our constant attempts to "look for the signs and intervene.
It erodes support networks - Teaching our community members to "watch out for the signs" and even facilitate psychiatric force leaves those struggling feeling isolated, as they feel they can't trust others.
It disrespects our autonomy and self-awareness - The whole concept of warning signs is based on the idea that people in distress don't know what we need and worse, that others should step in and make decisions for us. Whether that be how we label our experiences, or what kind of care/support we need, "warning signs" takes our self-determination away.
Warning sign lists are inaccurate studies show that psychiatry cannot predict suicide/violence any more accurately than the flip of a coin. Turning our loved ones into "suicide police" or teaching them to label and police us does not help us, but erodes trust in our relationships and closes us off.
6) If your "Mental Health Advocacy" doesn't include psych survivors, it's just sanism rebranded
The sixth set of infographics are in blue saying the following:
1) Recognizing Psychiatry's Propaganda: "But What About Suicide" (Pt. 6)
2) Nearly everyone is someone or knows someone who has lost a loved one to suicide. It is thus incredibly effective to capitalize on the grief and fear that surrounds this topic. Psychiatry does this by insisting that their force and abuse, though uncomfortable, is saving lives and preventing suicide. Even though that is a false statement, this misconception clouds people's ability to support psychiatric rights.
In the United States, a person can be forcibly committed if they meet a two pronged test: that they are both (a) mentally ill, and (b) considered to be a danger to themself or others". When this law came into effect, labelling patients as a suicide risk was the quickest and easiest way to get them committed. Thus, the idea. of "preventing suicide" became the primary justification for force.
*Psychiatric force can legally occur under a variety of circumstances, and laws vary by location and patient's legal status
Fine Print - "unless they're a danger to themselves or others"
What About-isms - "I get that force is bad, but what about people that are suicidal?"
Villianixing Self-Advocacy - "They only don't want to go to the hospital because it'll stop them from killing themself"
Loaded language - "They were put into the hospital and it saved their life."
The exception becomes the rule - Policies that govern psychiatric violence typically hide behind language such as 'only under extreme circumstances. This makes people think that these situations are rare and "last resort. However, in practice, these exceptions only become increasingly lenient, with more and more people falling under the label "extreme circumstances".
It throws the most marginalized under the bus - Human rights must be afforded to everyone, not just those that make us comfortable. Any exceptions are unjust, because they label some people unworthy of rights. Human rights are human rights, period.
It is bad suicide prevention - The carceral way we deal with suicide only contributes to a culture of silence, isolation, and violence. This mindset focuses only on stopping the act of suicide, not alleviating the suffering behind it. The result is a failure to actually prevent suicide.
The argument of whether force is justified if it can be used to prevent death is ultimately moot-psychiatric force time and time again proves to increase feelings of suicidality (scientifically, statistically, and anecdotally). The mental health system consistently fails to alleviate suicide: in fact, countries with the largest mental health systems actually have the highest suicide rates.
7) "During the so-called decade of the brain, there was neither a marked increase in the rate of recovery from mental illness, nor a detectable decrease in suicide or homelessness." -Tam Insel Director of NIMHL 2010
