#psychiatric care centre

[casualvoidbread]

What Is the Role of a Therapist in Mental Health Rehabilitation?

It is no secret that strong mental health can significantly contribute to an individual’s overall well-being. However, as we have repeatedly seen, mental health can be impacted by various factors. This realization highlights the Importance of Rehabilitation

When considering Rehabilitation, our attention is automatically drawn to identifying the best Psychologists/Therapists we can seek.

This Article Explains the Significant Role Therapists Play in Mental Rehabilitation. Role of a Therapist

Experienced doctors working with a well-known Rehabilitation Centre in Bangalore explain that in the realm of mental health rehabilitation, therapists continue to play a crucial role as guides and supporters. By implementing a combination of empathy, evidence-based techniques, and a compassionate approach, therapists ensure the safe recovery of their clients.

How Does This Happen?

Creating a conducive environment Therapists need to provide a safe and supportive environment where individuals can express themselves freely. This helps them understand their clients better.

Conduct specific Analysis Every patient's history is different. As such, getting closer to a patient and studying his behavior, responses and thought patterns helps the therapist to arrive at a tailor-made treatment program for each individual. 

Implement evidence-based approach There are many latest technologies driven treatment programs that therapists have used very successfully to get into the depth of an individual’s concern and address it smoothly. Rest assured, a patient's physical and mental comfort is not compromised at any stage of study.

Encourage self-reflection An expert therapist will give every opportunity to his client to self-reflect on his mental health condition and come out with probabilities of what could be the cause of his discomfort.

Advocating for good health and well-being Through frequent education programs, therapists share the secrets of maintaining good mental health and more importantly, sustaining it for longer periods. 

Mental Health Rehabilitation is not as easy as it is perceived to be. When matters get tricky and complicated, the best option is to visit an experienced therapist and seek his opinion. If you are Looking at the Best Choice, do not look beyond MaargaMindcare, recognized by many for its success in Rehab for Anxiety and Depression.

[shantihomedigitalagency]

http://shantihomeindia.com/

[anoojamithun]

Shalom Institute of Mental Health and Research at Palakkad, Keralais a psychiatric hospital that also serves as a psychosocial rehabilitation and de-addiction centre. It was founded to help people suffering from stress, mental diseases, and other psychological illnesses. Our Department of Psychiatry provides comprehensive assessments, diagnosis, and therapy for people with mental health issues. We have a highly qualified psychiatrist on staffs who is dedicated to identifying and treating common mental diseases and increasing patients' well-being.

[jagrutiehabin]

Find Elder Care Homes In Navi Mumbai

Jagruti Rehabilitation Centre provides elder care homes in Navi Mumbai and treatment for mental diseases and addiction with the goal of improving people's lives. Our offerings are easily available, reasonably priced, and of the greatest calibre. Our Mumbai treatment centre also supports social recovery by educating and mobilising the general public in campaigns to fight addiction and lessen the stigma associated with addiction. You can always get help from us to overcome your addiction.

[synapseazalea]

What is Essence Psychological Health Services?

The essence of psychological health services is considered to be privately owned psychology services. These services are growing in popularity to offer premium psychological services that are sensitive to the requirements of families, women, and children. In other words, it can be said that these services are working to improve lives by focusing on specialized issues of an individual. If you choose these services, you can get culturally, ethnically, and gender-appropriate services. Here is the list of services that you can expect to get from a service provider.

                                        What are the main core areas of the essence of psychological health services?

Trauma and Stress-Related Disorders

Trauma and stress-related disorders are a group of behavioral and emotional problems which is the result of traumatic or stressful events like childhood physical/sexual abuse, childhood neglect, family conflict, and others. In such a case, the essence psychological health services help by determining the issue.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health

The child and adolescent stage is the vital stage of life when the brain develops rapidly. This is a stage when they start acquiring cognitive or social, or emotional skills that help to shape their mental health as well as their future. At this stage of life, bullying, violence, and other early adverse experiences at school and home increase the risk of mental illness. As a result, a child faces mental health conditions that include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, developmental disorders, conduct disorders, behavioral disorders, and anxiety. Thus, the essence psychological health services play an important role in serving the best for child and adolescent mental health.

Psychotherapy and Counselling

There are different types of mental health conditions that can be treated with counseling and psychotherapy. These kinds of treatment emphasize increasing well-being, healing, and better function of a person. When you choose the essence of psychological health services, you can able to get the benefits of these two treatment methods.

Substance Use Disorder

Substance use disorder usually affects the behavior and brain of an individual, resulting in an inability to control the use of medication or drugs. In such a case, the selection of services is the best option to overcome addictions.

Apart from these, these services also focus on school-based mental health issues, pregnancy issues, and many others. If you have any psychological needs and help, then considering your nearby drug rehabilitation center in Abuja can be the right option.

[lokisprettygirl]

Rain to his Fire (Modern! Daemon Targaryen x Female Reader) (Non Canon 80s Au) (18+)

Series Masterlist

Chapter 1

Summary: In 1985, you were assigned as a custodian in the King's Landing Psychiatric inpatient and wellness center after your mother's passing. Your job was mundane and boring, but that was until a new patient arrived, a young man with a wild and eccentric personality, harbouring a secret that will change your life forever.

Warning: 18+, discussion of mental health (it's a fic based in a mental health facility), the fic would contain several mentions of several disorders like mpd, did etc, if something triggers you don't read, smoking.

“Room 393 needs cleaning up, new guy is coming” you heard your supervisor Mona so you sighed and quickly nodded. Working as a custodian in a mental health facility wasn't ever really a dream job for you but you didn't have any option at the moment. Your mother had worked all her life for the center and when she passed, as per her request beforehand, the job was immediately offered to you, and you had debts to pay so you couldn't really deny that offer.

At thirty you didn't really see your life heading towards anything better anyways and you didn't really despise working here. Helping people feel good at times. Your job wasn't limited to cleaning services, you would often get assigned to patients who needed a caregiver for physical and emotional needs.

King's landing psychiatric inpatient and wellness center was a six floor building at the outskirts of London, it was established in 1955 and your mother had started her job the same year, it's been thirty years now and two years since she had passed, she was living nearby because she was married and had a child, you on other hand didn't want to travel back n forth so you chose to live here itself as a permanent live in staff of the wellness center.

You were accustomed to seeing patients coming in for various disorders, most were delusional at worst or suffered from some sort of dysphoria. However, the patients at the King's Landing Wellness Center were not usually considered dangerous and you had never felt threatened by any one of them except a few women who lashed out at you and pushed you around last year. But with time, you had learned to provide them with the care and attention they needed instead of judging them for the outburst.

“Are you listening y/n?” You snapped back to reality as Mona called your name and gathered your cleaning cart to go fix room 393, there was this girl that had just gotten released from the facility, Tanya, she was a shy, quiet girl in her mid twenties with a debilitating case of multiple personality disorder.

You mostly kept to yourself at the facility as you didn't want to get involved or too overly attached with the patients.

The moment you took the mattress off to deep clean the bed, you discovered a piece of paper underneath. Curiosity got the better of you, and you decided to open it. Once you saw the writing on the paper, a feeling of unease coursed through your body, the words seemed almost ominous

“They are going to hurt me. I know, I'll never get out of here, if you find this please make sure to check up on me please”

You sighed before you folded the paper and placed it inside your apron quickly before it would get lost. What did she mean you wondered? The centre was under the supervision of three doctors. Doctor Vis was a man in his early forties and he was the most feared of all three because of his unorthodox methods of treatment but the other two doctors, Lisa and Darren seemed more approachable.

As you made your way out of room 393, you saw Doctor Vis standing in the hallway, having a conversation with another man. The other man stood with his back against the wall while Doctor Vis stood uncomfortably close to him, he was handcuffed so you assumed that he was being aggressive in his therapy session, as you walked past them you looked at the man briefly and normally you'd have looked away but this time you couldn't for some reason, he had a shiny silver hair that you had never really seen on a man before and it caught your eye immediately. The uniform he had on wasn't a surprise as it was a dress code for the patients, a white shirt and same coloured trousers.

His eyes met yours briefly and he smirked so you looked away immediately ,

“You didn't tell me you hired such beautiful chicks around here to be your servant-” Daemon had barely finished his sentence before Vis grabbed his collar to warn him. Vis looked as you walked past them and turned to make left into the hallway, disappearing out of their sight.

“Don't make this more difficult than it already is you moron”

Dr. Vis escorted Daemon into the room where he was immediately uncuffed. With the doctor now gone, Daemon let out an angry roar before throwing the chair into the room's window, shattering it into pieces.

“New guy is here” you mumbled as you reached the canteen. The rest of the staff members, including those from the pantry and cleaning services, were already gathered at the table. Shyla, who was the same age as you approached you. But in contrast to you, Shyla appeared to have a backup plan in mind after her tenure here.

“Oh god have you guys seen him, he's really hotttt in a really weird way”

You gulped as she said that, she always lived on the edge, it was unprofessional and unethical to talk about patients this way. Besides, he wasn't hot at all.

“Cut out with the heart eyes girl he must be a cuckoo to be here”

Another woman, Dina , intervened as she whispered very quietly, you didn't appreciate her language but then she wasn't wrong, sane people didn't come here.

“Hey y/n, new patient broke the window in 393, clean it up”

Mona suddenly entered the canteen so you sighed but then you were left feeling confused.

“How did he break it? Those windows are supposed to be unbreakable” you asked her curiously as the windows in the patient's room were specifically designed to withstand extreme conditions and were built to be unbreakable for security reasons.

“Don't question what's and how's, do your job girl” she glared at you so you picked up your cleaning cart again.

As you entered room 393, you spotted the new patient on the bed, seemingly engrossed in a book. Your brow furrowed as you took in the sight of the debris of shattered glass scattered around the room. Quickly, you grabbed a broom and began the cleaning process, starting from the corners to ensure that you picked up every last shard. As you swept, you couldn't help but feel puzzled as to how the window was broken in the first place,

“You shouldn't be doing such things, they are not afraid of sending violent patients to the lone ward” you mumbled so he looked up from his book and then glanced at you from top to bottom before he let out a snicker.

“Awnnn do you get paid to offer advice around here or cleaning is your only area of expertise?”

You glared at him as he said that but you remained calm, you couldn't raise your voice with patients even though you had been wanting to do it for a long while now.

“Sir im just-” you cringed internally as you addressed him as sir, it wasn't a norm but then you didn't really know his name yet. He had changed out of his uniform so you couldn't even read the name tag.

“Do your fucking job girl and get out”

You cut back on your words as he spoke rudely to you, perhaps he was admitted for extreme anger issues, whatever it was you just wanted to get out and not see him at least for a day.

You missed Tanya, she was a sweet girl, and you hadn't forgotten the note you had found under her bed this morning but then she wasn't exactly stable in her mind, people often scribbled down their most intrusive thoughts in their free time, and there was abundance of that around here. Besides you had bid her goodbye, she had hugged you warmly and she seemed happier for once.

During the lunch service you saw his smug face again as he sat down in the corner of the cafeteria, his eyes met with yours and he gave you a small smile but you didn't return it. Though you didn't want to take his words personally, he was dealing with something and that's why he was here.

“Mrs Rodriguez, are you finished with your food?” You asked the elderly lady so she snapped out of her thoughts and nodded but as you raised your hand forward to pick up her plate she grabbed your hand,

“Simon thinks i should eat less” she mumbled almost fearfully and your heart clenched for her, Simon was merely a figment of her imagination.

“Well he's wrong because you are eating as much as you should” she let go of your hand and smiled as you said that to her. When you reached around his table you noticed that he hadn't even touched his food,

“Are you going to eat sir? Your half an hour is almost over” you asked him so he chuckled. New patients in the center had strict rules and regulations to follow during the beginning of their treatment.

“Who should I be asking around here for a smoke?” He asked you and your brows furrowed.

“That's not allowed, i will help you with a nicotine patch if you're feeling restless -” he rolled his eyes as you said that.

“I don't need that shit” he grumbled under his breath so you looked at the time. Looking at him you couldn't really tell what actually was wrong with him, well besides the anger issues obviously, he seemed almost normal, almost self aware which really wasn't usual around this place.

“Please finish your food, dinner service is around 8 and a man of your size won't get any nutrition from the snacks we offer during tea time” you spoke a bit sternly and the corner of his mouth curved into a small smile.

“What's your name y/n?” He asked you so you looked at him baffled, he clearly read your name on the badge and he said it as well.

“I don't know your name either” you mumbled politely so he gave you a smile

“Daemon”

“Have an easy day Mr. Daemon, first few days are always difficult” you ultimately grabbed his plate as you left because he didn't seem to be in any mood to eat at the time.

Around evening as you finished your shift you made your way to your room at the fourth floor to take a shower and relax a bit. You took out the note you had found under Tanya's bed and placed it inside your cupboard safely, a part of you continued to feel uneasy about this thing, another was thinking about Daemon.

Why was he there? What had he done? You were not allowed to enquire about these things unless or until you were told the information by the authorities.

Daemon couldn't really sleep at night, how could he? He was locked up in here and was being treated as if he was crazy but he knew what he was and he wasn't delusional about it either. Even as sleep came for him he had a horrible nightmare that had him tossing and turning in his bed again so he woke up and stepped out of his room quietly as the room was starting to suffocate him. That's when he found the window at the end of the corridor and that was all he needed.

Around 2 at night, you were enjoying a peaceful moment to yourself on the terrace of the building, taking a break with a cigarette. As you were absorbed in your own thoughts, you heard a loud thud sound from behind you. Startled, you jumped and quickly turned around, only to find the new patient, Daemon, standing there. You couldn't believe how he had gotten there, he didn't have the key to the door and you clearly remembered locking it when you had gotten in. The terrace was strictly off-limits to patients for obvious reasons.

“What..are you doing here, you can't be here mister” you almost sounded frantic and kind of scared to be honest. And why didn't he have a shirt on? It was freaking cold out here. And why was he so freaking ripped?

“Hooking me up with a bloody nicotine patch when you got this sweet thing right here?” he asked you as he approached you so you took a few steps behind you until you had hit the ledge. You quickly threw the cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it under your flip flops before he could attempt to steal it from you.

“Now that's a waste of a good cigarette” he almost seemed offended with his brows furrowed and scowl on his face.

“Look, don't come near me alright?” You warned him so he crossed his arms and stepped closer to you despite your warning.

“I'm not going to harm you, I can, don't get me wrong.. but I won't”

Was that supposed to make you feel better?

“Please come with me, let me take you to your room .. please”

As he heard your gentle voice his teeth gritted together. “Please just listen to me ..it's only best for you” You brought your arm forward to grab his forearm but you flinched away as soon as you had touched his skin.

“Are you sick? You're burning like a furnace” You asked him worriedly so he scratched his scalp before he looked around and took a deep breath “And how did you get here?”

“I'm not sick, do I look sick to you?” He asked you so you shook your head but that was pointless, if he was a regular smoker, perhaps he was feeling the withdrawal.

“Just one puff, I'll be indebted to you forever darling, please, what do you want me to do beg? I can beg on my knees .You want that?..”

“Ohhh shut up for god's sake -” You cut him off mid sentence as he started to ramble but the stupid smirk on his face was still there. “I'll lose my job Daemon -”

“Nobody will know”

“I can't do it.. please understand please..”

He sighed and the pleading look on your face made him willing to listen to you ultimately.

How did he even come up here? You had come via the main entrance and it was locked from inside. As you escorted him back to his room, you mumbled a quick good night but he suddenly grabbed you by the shoulders and pushed you against the door, your heart was right into your mouth at the moment for several different reasons, you had been pushed over by several women at the facility but never a man, especially not a man like him who seemed so strong and so unstable. If worse comes to worse you knew you wouldn't be able to defend yourself.

“Daemon let go of me” you mumbled sternly but his hands were on your upper arms, holding you tightly still. He wasn't hurting you, not yet at least.

“Shhhhh shhh shhhh” as he whispered in your ear you were going to scream but nothing came out of your throat, not even a squeak, you feared that he was going to touch you inappropriately, if this wasn't inappropriate as it was, but then he placed his nose on the crook of your neck and took a sniff. Like a wild animal he sniffed you, literally.

One sniff, two sniff, and then one two three at once, you couldn't help but wonder why you weren't feeling as uncomfortable as you should have in a similar situation.

“What are you doing?” You asked him gently to not aggregate him so he looked you right in the eyes before he cupped your cheeks and stared at your lips, his nose rubbed slightly against yours before he closed his eyes, grunted a little and finally stepped away from you. His chest was heaving from breathlessness, same as yours as you both stared at each other for a moment. What the hell was that?

“Get out lady”

He mumbled so you immediately got the fuck out of there, you were looking behind every step of the way to see if he was following you but he wasn't. At the end of the corridor you stopped as suddenly, your feet came in contact with a piece of fabric on the floor, and when you bent down to investigate, you realized it was Daemon's shirt but it was completely shredded in several pieces - the same shirt he had worn this evening.

The realization left you feeling even more puzzled and disoriented. How had he managed to enter the terrace when it was locked from the outside. It seemed impossible. It was impossible. Or perhaps there was another way? Or maybe you were going crazy yourself? Now that was possible.

As your head hit your pillow you ran your fingers over your neck, right where he was sniffing, he seemed so...so primal in that moment, so animalistic, if that was the right choice of word. Did you atleast smell good? God you hoped so. Or not. He was a patient, you had to keep that in mind, he had issues.

The next morning while Daemon was away for his therapy session with the doctors you decided to clean up his room, he had left you feeling a bit unnerved last night with his strange behavior but you weren't really scared of him and then you wondered why you weren't scared of him after what he had done.

The iron bars on his window were the first thing you had noticed as you had entered the room. As you heard loud footsteps approaching the room you quickly collected your stuff to prepare to leave.

As Dr. Vis entered with Daemon he looked at you and spoke politely “Will you please step out ?” Vis asked you so you nodded immediately.

“Yes doctor, I'm almost done” you grabbed your cart and walked past them, your eyes met with Daemon and he seemed angry, but also really sad? His eyes were read and teary, such a contrast from his snarky demeanor yesterday.

As the door slammed shut, you found yourself in a state of morbid curiosity. So instead of minding your own business as you should have, you pressed your ear against the door instead, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside. Why did he look so sad?

“You had promised you wouldn't start with the absurdity right off the bat” Dr. Vis yelled at Daemon and that bothered you. Why was he yelling at a patient like this on his second day?

“Absurdity? You think me speaking of my true self is absurd?” Daemon asked the doctor and you didn't understand what was happening, what was he suffering from?

Dazed and confused as you reached the staff area Shyla walked around the table with a smirk on her face so you finally gave in.

“What?”

As you asked her she slammed her hands on the table in a dramatic manner.

“I found out why the new guy is here”

You weren't the one to gossip but you really wanted to know why Daemon was there? Why was he here? What was hurting him?

“How did you find out?” You asked her to seem disinterested as you didn't want to make your interest apparent.

“I have my source girl” she patted herself on shoulders so you crossed your arms together.

“Uhuh and what did your source tell you?”

“Well you're not ready for this-"

“Just spill it already” you chuckled as you spoke but the way she was stalling had only gotten you more curious.

“He thinks..now listen to this..he thinks he's a dragon” she mumbled excitedly so you stared at her all perplexed.

“What?”

“The new guy believes that he's a human dragon hybrid or something like that.. unbelievable right?”

Oh well!! That was a big problem huh.

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

[identitty-dickruption]

could you explain why you’re antipsych? it’s interesting and good to hear other perspectives, so i am curious (and if you don’t feel like explaining just ignore this ask!)

as with many antipsych people, it started with personal (traumatising) experiences with the psychiatric system. for a long time, I’ve sat in the “psych critical” camp, but after listening to the experiences of others I’m finding myself drifting closer and closer to full on antipsych. so that’s my background

on a more academic level, the psychiatric system was established on a set of principles I reject. it’s all about making people think and behave in the most “normal” ways possible, rather than actually centring the needs and desires of people. this is always going to be a deeply colonial and ableist project, even beyond just that trauma it creates for specific individuals

psychiatrists also have a fuckton of power that very few other professions have access to. they can have you locked up against your will, and any resistance against this is seen as evidence that locking you up is good and right — see ‘oppositional defiance disorder’ as well as many ‘personality disorders’. if that’s not enough, they can put you in solitary confinement, medicate you against your will, etc etc and no questions are raised. it’s all in your “best interests”. you’re “too crazy to know what’s good for you”. as is also the case in my broader political philosophy, I don’t think anyone should have that much power, especially over already vulnerable individuals

to be clear, I don’t think it’s wrong or bad for people to access psychiatry. we live in the society we live in, and people have to do what they have to do to get by. hell, I’ll be seeing a new psychologist next week. but the system itself is wrong to its core, and I think there are better ways to take care of us mad folk

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Another 50 beds are opening at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre to help reduce wait times, and four more pediatric intensive care unit beds will also be funded, the provincial government said at a news conference Monday. There will be 35 medicine beds, 10 psychiatric beds and five surgical beds added to Manitoba's biggest hospital, the provincial government said in a news release — and 27 medicine beds and nine psychiatric beds are already open, officials said at a news conference held at HSC. In addition, the nine-bed pediatric ICU is getting increased funding so that it can have four more permanent beds and an additional four pediatric beds at the level below intensive care, Dr. Shawn Young, chief operating officer for HSC, said at the news conference.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Amos

Published: May 11, 2024

As a doctor and psychiatrist reflecting on the lessons of the Cass Review, I feel a deep sense of shame that my profession and speciality did not prevent the ongoing tragedy of “gender-affirming care”. As the final report makes clear, medical leaders almost universally stood aside while a small group of committed ideologues ignored or bypassed all the usual ethical and institutional safeguards to force their ideology on a group of highly vulnerable children using a corrupted model of medical treatment. 

Sacrificing patient health in pursuit of rights

Among the hundreds of pages of errors and wilful misbehaviour documented by the Cass Review it is easy to miss, but page 13 contains one of the most important paragraphs:

It often takes many years before strongly positive research findings are incorporated into practice. … Quite the reverse happened in the field of gender care for children.

Any doctor who values the reputation of the medical profession should be troubled that across the Western world, multiple centres aspiring to medical excellence constructed an industry of life-altering interventions with no convincing evidence of benefit and significant known harms, all in less time than it usually takes to test whether an individual treatment works.

I have described elsewhere how the clinical guidelines/standards for “gender-affirming care” abandon the medical model in order to pursue the political goals of trans rights activists (see scientific article and newspaper opinion), prioritising the right to gender self-identification over the duty to promote patient health. In order to prevent this from happening again it is equally important to understand why medicine's gatekeepers abandoned their principles for such a dubious goal.

Part of the answer is that there was an organized, strategically coordinated campaign by activists, including activist clinicians, to influence medical decision-makers in order to bypass unfavourable public opinion. For those interested there is a Thomson-Reuters report compiled for iglyo which lays the strategy out in detail. However, in most cases it appears that “gender-affirming care” was permitted, indeed promoted, by senior medical leaders who must have known what they were doing, but have not been held accountable.

Psychiatry, homosexuality, and the depathologization movement 

The main reason medical leaders sacrificed patient rights and abandoned medicine's usual safeguards for “gender-affirming care” was their uncritical acceptance of the rationale of the depathologization movement (see the legal strategy laid out by GATE). This movement argues that applying the regular medical model to gender dysphoria causes the pathologization of gender identity.

It is understandable that gender-diverse patients and their supporters might experience the diagnosis of gender dysphoria as the cause of their distress, rather than the recognition of a clinical syndrome requiring assessment. It is unacceptable that any doctor would agree not to investigate pathological causes of gender dysphoria in order to avoid acknowledging the reality that such causes exist. It is unthinkable that any medical decision-maker that endorsed “gender-affirming care” be allowed to escape responsibility for the harms caused by their decisions.

The reluctance of the psychiatric profession to stand up to the depathologization movement is largely due to historical guilt over the pathologization of homosexuality, which was classed as a mental illness until the mid-1970s. However, while no one has ever provided evidence that homosexuality is the result of mental illness, it is undeniable that some cases of non-traditional gender identity are caused by severe mental illness. (See the case of Daniel Paul Schreber for a famous example where bipolar disorder caused the delusion that a male judge was being turned into a woman to repopulate the earth.)

Due to the influence of the depathologization movement, the WPATH, AusPATH, and the whole circular facade of gender-affirming standards and guidelines assume without evidence that mental illness plays no role in the development of non-traditional gender identities. They do not address known examples of transgenderism caused by severe mental illness, such as Schreber's case; or other psychopathological processes, like trauma from sexual abuse, personality pathology, or mood disturbance. They simply note the high comorbidity of gender dysphoria with other types of mental illness, and assume that some other service will accept the responsibility of detecting and addressing the comorbidity that is missing from their model.

Effects of the medical profession's failure to address the errors of the depathologization movement

Medical leaders' acceptance of the depathologization movement's demand that no pathological cause of gender identity can be considered in the assessment and treatment of gender dysphoria has had multiple harmful effects, all clearly outlined in the WPATH and AusPATH endorsed documents and the Cass Review.

First, this acceptance prevents the diagnosis and treatment of frank mental illness in patients presenting with gender dysphoria, a process described as diagnostic overshadowing by Cass. Second, it prevents the consideration of any alternative modes of treatment. Neither the WPATH nor the AusPATH realistically discuss alternatives to “gender-affirming care”, and neither provide any real description of the management of patients after desistance or detransition.

Finally, by assuming that all gender-diverse identities are simply variations of normal development, by definition and without the possibility of question, the WPATH/AusPATH-endorsed models erect the framework of a medical protocol around a meaningless construct. Gender identity is never formally defined by the WPATH standards, which treat it as the arbitrary combination of characteristics reported by individual patients, unconstrained by the need for stability, coherence, or even an understandable connection with traditional experiences of gender.

This satisfies the political goal of the trans rights movement, that self-reported gender identity be entirely unconstrained, at the cost of abandoning the medical model which cannot safeguard patient health without the valid and reliable diagnosis of disease.

The medical profession must acknowledge and address the failures revealed by the Cass Review

I am proud to be a doctor and a psychiatrist because these disciplines have done so much to improve the human condition by continually striving to increase our understanding of human nature, health, and illness. The corruption of the medical model by a political movement revealed by the Cass Review demands the profession admit to its failures and act to correct them.

In my opinion, the appropriate response to the Cass Review would be the immediate announcement of the end of “gender-affirming care”. The existence of thousands of patients, supporters, and staff engaged with the model, and the scale of the gender-affirming infrastructure entrenched within health bureaucracies, presents practical difficulties, but there are a number of feasible first steps that must be taken to maintain public confidence in the integrity of the medical profession.

The most urgent need is for health authorities to immediately impose adequate clinical governance over services that have effectively been operating without public oversight. After up to a decade of practice, Australian gender services have established no routine data collection or reporting, with the result that no one knows how many patients have been affected, the number and variety of interventions applied, or the harms they have suffered from “gender-affirming care”.

The failure to address desistance and detransition is an unforgivable gap in the gender-affirming model. According to the anecdotal evidence that is all that is available, by the time patients realise they no longer want to transition, they have often been alienated from friends and family, leaving them entirely dependent upon the support of gender services. Fear of abandonment forces many to remain with gender services despite their doubts, while actual abandonment often causes severe distress to those who finally leave.

Finally, while an Australian enquiry modelled on the Cass Review is absolutely necessary, it is likely to confirm what we already know about the failures of the past by replicating the UK results. An ambitious enquiry will aim to prevent future failures by considering the following additional questions, in order to identify the root causes of the current situation:

Why did gender services expand so rapidly despite the lack of evidence that they would benefit patients?

Who were the decision-makers who endorsed the creation and expansion of gender services?

What additional safeguards are necessary to ensure that medical decision-makers are not influenced by political goals?

[geminipdf]

almost 100 people on hunger strike in a refugee detention center in przemyśl, poland. it's the biggest detention center hunger strike yet.

"Foreigners stay in guarded centres for long months. They have reported poor treatment and violation of their rights. The protesters in the centre in Przemyśl demand that the Border Guards stop using psychological and physical violence against them. In information provided to Grupa Granica (Border Group), they speak of beatings and intimidation.

The men are also asking for Polish language and integration classes. They are also demanding access to medical care, including psychological and psychiatric care, and to be able to contact their relatives through social media. Another of the demands is to improve the quality and quantity of food.

"The protest was started by individuals who were being forced to eat [by the guards]. Now there are too many of us for them to force us to do anything, so they don't do anything (…). Today only three people came for breakfast. Anyway, the food itself in the centre is terrible. We get very small portions, like for a 2-3 year old child" - say the protesters.

(...)

"People are kept here for months. My friend has already been denied international protection twice, he has been in detention for ten months and does not know what to do next. That's almost a year out of his life," said the man from the centre in Przemyśl. He argued that he himself cannot return to his country since he is threatened with arrest because of the protests he took part in.

The Association for Legal Intervention reports that in the first six months of 2023, 1,008 persons, including 56 minors and 17 unaccompanied minors, were referred to Guarded Centres for Foreigners. The maximum period for which a foreigner can be detained in a GCF is 24 months."

[whumpinggrounds]

Disability Activists Worth Knowing

Hi! In honor of Disability Pride Month, which is July in the USA, I am writing about some disabled activists who I think are cool. Many of you are (hopefully) familiar with giants like Helen Keller and Judy Heumann, but there are a lot of really interesting people out there whose names aren’t as widely shared, especially those who are also POC, queer, and/or non-American.

Please feel free to add more disabled people, or information about people I’ve already listed! Note that this post is intended to be about people who advocate for the disabled community and are also disabled themselves. Non-disabled advocates have also done a lot for the community! But that is not who this post is about <3

Final disclaimer: This is a post that I researched quickly, and specifically sought out some new people I hadn’t heard about. If there’s someone on this list that’s fucked up, feel free to add that, and even feel free to @ me so I can reblog your correction. Please do not yell at me or assume I’m aware of every political opinion/possible transgression of the many people on this list pls

Now, in no particular order -

Javed Abidi was an activist who advocated for disability rights in India. He helped pass the Person with Disabilities act in Parliament, and served as the first director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People.

Ola Abu Al Ghaib is a Palestinian activist who works to promote the rights of people with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, in the Arab States, Africa, and Asia.

Ari Ne’eman is an Israeli-American activist who founded the Autism Self Advocacy Network, one of the earliest advocacy organizations run both by and for Autistic people. Currently, he consults with the ACLU on disability justice issues and is writing a book about disability history in the USA.

Dana Bolles is an American spaceflight engineer and advocate for people with disabilities in STEM. She also advocates for women and the queer community, and currently works at NASA.

Fatima al-Aqel was a Yemeni woman who advocated for blind and visually impaired women in Yemen, as well as opening Yemen’s first school for the blind. She later founded the Al-Aman Organization Blind Women Care to further opportunities for blind women in the social and professional spheres, as well as working to adapt literature to Braille.

Judi Chamberlain was an American activist, leader, speaker, and educator in the psychiatric survivors movement. Her book On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System is a foundational text in the Mad Pride movement and argues for the rights of patients in psychiatric care.

María Soledad Cisternas Reyes is a Chilean lawyer and disability rights advocate who has helped increase access for disabled people in Chile and internationally, through her work with the UN. She has also been recognized for her work on the intersection of rights of disabled people, children, women, indigenous people, and the elderly.

Tony Coelho is an American politician of Portuguese descent who was the primary sponsor of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and was a former chairman of the Epilepsy Foundation.

Justin Dart Jr. was an American activist and disability advocate who was regarded as the father (or sometimes godfather) of the ADA. Other notable accomplishments include founding his university’s first group to oppose racism, founding the American Association of People with Disabilities, and receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Vic Finkelstein is a South African disability rights activist and writer who pioneered the social model of disability. He spent the latter part of his life in Britain after being imprisoned and banned from South Africa for anti-apartheid activities.

Chen Guangcheng is a Chinese civil rights activist, often referred to as a “barefoot lawyer,” who worked on civil rights cases in rural China. Due to his advocacy and activist work surrounding land rights, women’s rights, disability rights, and the welfare of the poor, Chen was repeatedly imprisoned and eventually left China for the USA.

Rick Hansen is a Canadian paralympian and activist, most famous for circling the world in a wheelchair to raise money for charity. His journey lasted just over 2 years, with an average of 8 hours of wheeling per day. He founded the Hansen foundation to raise funds and awareness to create a world without barriers for people with disabilities.

Abha Khetarpal is an Indian poet, author, and disability rights activist and counselor who founded a counseling/educational resource website and app for people with disabilities. Her work focuses on disability and women’s rights, with a focus on sexual liberation and sexual education and access for disabled people.

Harriet McBryde Johnson was an American author, attorney, and disability rights activist who specialized in securing Social Security benefits for disabled clients who could not work. She debated Peter Singer, arguably the most famous philosopher in America today, on the right of parents to euthanize their disabled children, an encounter she wrote about in the essay Unspeakable Conversations. 

Yetnebersh Nigussie is an Ethiopian lawyer who primarily works in disability rights and anti-AIDs activism. She is a 2017 winner of the Right Livelihood award, widely considered the “Alternative Nobel Prize.”

Satendra Singh is an Indian medical doctor who has advocated extensively for disability rights and access in India, including founding an “Enabling Unit,” a group staffed entirely by people with disabilities that ensures other disabled people are able to attend medical school and associated programs with proper accommodations and support.

Lauren Tuchman was the first blind woman to be ordained as a rabbi. She advocates primarily for disability rights and an inclusive Torah.

Emmanuel Yeboah is a Ghanian athlete and activist who rode a bike across Ghana to raise awareness about the lack of disability rights and access in the country, specifically a lack of wheelchairs. He currently works on ensuring education access for children with and without disabilities in Ghana.

Stella Young was an Australian comedian and journalist who was known for coining the term “inspiration porn.”

Nabil Shaban is a Jordanian-British actor and writer who is best known as the villain Sil on Dr. Who. He co-founded Graeae, a theater group which promotes the work of disabled actors.

That’s all I have for you! Please feel free to add :) I am considering writing up a few more posts about disabled celebrities, artists, etc, so let me know if you’d be interested <3

[beardedmrbean]

A Berlin senator and former mayor of the German capital has been attacked by a man in a local library in the latest of a spate of assaults on German politicians.

Franziska Giffey, a well known figure in Germany's centre-left SPD, was briefly treated in hospital after she was hit on the head and neck with a bag "filled with hard contents", police said.

Politicians and campaign workers have been targeted in recent days, especially in eastern Germany.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the attacks were "outrageous and cowardly... Violence does not belong in a democratic debate".

Last Friday, a lead SPD candidate in next month's European elections was seriously hurt while putting up posters in Dresden.

Matthias Ecke, 41, had to have surgery in hospital after he was attacked by four people. Four teenagers are currently under investigation and at least one has been linked to the far right.

A campaign worker for the Greens in the city was beaten and kicked moments earlier.

Separately, a female Greens politician in Dresden also came under attack from two people while putting up posters on Tuesday evening.

Yvonne Mosler was pushed and spat on while she was out filming with a TV crew.

Dresden police said the two suspects, a man and a woman, had been part of a group that had been giving the Hitler salute when she began putting up election posters.

Colleagues reacted with shock to the attack on Franziska Giffey, Berlin's senator with responsibility for the economy. Ms Giffey served in Angela Merkel's last federal government as minister for women and families before becoming mayor of Berlin in 2021.

Ms Giffey wrote later on Instagram that she had visited the Alt-Rudow library in the Neukölln district of south-east Berlin because it was a special place for her: "I would have never have thought it possible that I might come under attack there."

The Berlin ex-mayor said she was shocked at how people engaged in politics had increasingly become "fair game" for attack: "There is no justification for these attacks. A boundary has been crossed and we as a society must resist it decisively."

Police said they had detained a 74-year-old man already known to them for "state security and hate crimes". Prosecutors said there were indications the man was suffering from "a mental illness" and were assessing whether he should be admitted into psychiatric care.

Berlin centre-left senator Iris Spranger condemned the spate of assaults on all politicians and campaign workers, "all of whom are committed to a robust democracy".

Federal and state interior ministers met on Tuesday to assess how to respond to the attacks.

Michael Stübgen, the Brandenburg minister who chairs the conference of interior ministers, told reporters that criminal law no longer gave politicians and campaigners adequate protection.

"Unfortunately we have see this spiral for years, and this year we are dealing with a violent spiral of physical attacks on female and male politicians, which I'm extremely worried about," he told local radio in Berlin.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is challenging for second place in European Parliament elections on 9 June, and hopes to become the dominant political party in state elections in eastern Germany in September.

However, it has been hit by spying allegations, with an aide to its top EU candidate in custody.

[the-unspeakable-tsar]

X-Manson by Doctor Benway - Annotated by Tsar

X-Manson or X-Mansion is an X-Men fanfiction written by someone under the username Dr Benway; because there is no discussion of it online, I have decided to annotate it piece by piece to dissect it via Tumblr. If you are interested in helping, please message me with things that i have missed or questions. My text notes will be like this but in pink, while Benway's story will be written in white. I will mark text with the story in red like this to drive attention to narration points that will be important later.

The annotations begin underneath the keep reading break.

Part 2

Her room is very small. It is 12 feet by 10 feet, not including the bathroom that was once a closet. Along one wall there is a steel kitchenette unit that was once lime green. It contains a sink and a refrigerator that is so small that it puts the place in violation of the building codes. Next to the kitchenette is a small table with a kitchen chair. There are papers on the table, neatly stacked. They are the weekly problem sets turned in by 231 first year physics students at the University of Saskatchewan, where she works as a teaching assistant. There is a cheque on the table as well, still in its envelope. It is for a very small amount of money, less than half of what the alcoholic prostitute downstairs collects on Disability.

The "she" in question is Kitty Pryde of the X-Men. The sets of 231 first year physics papers are in reference to how Kitty was portrayed as exceptionally bright, gifted even in her earliest appearances.

She also sleeps in the room. There is a small bed in one corner that she sits on. There is a plastic milk crate in one corner. A 13 inch colour television and a VCR sit on the crate. The remainder of the room is filled in by bookcases. There are two that block the two windows, nailed into place with two-by-fours. The bookcases are filled with expensive books on physics that were borrowed or stolen from a number of prairie university libraries. There is another bookcase and a file cabinet blocking the door, which is also sealed off by two-by-fours. None of this stops her from getting in and out. Her landlord could care less, as long as he gets his cheque each week. Not that he would complain if he did enter. The entire room and its attached bathroom are spotlessly clean from the orange shag carpet to the offwhite spackled ceiling.

She sits on the bed. She is of average height for a woman, 64 inches tall. Her brown hair is cut short, very short. She is slight, the kind of slightness that comes from potential fatal illnesses of psychological origin. She stares. It unnerves people, drives them away. The only ones who don't notice are the ex-psychiatric patients who live in her house and her street. She is the only person who is not living there because she has no other choice.

No-one is upset now by her staring, because she is alone and staring at the television. It is tuned to the local CBC affiliate. The National has just finished, and now there will be a documentary. She is going to watch the documentary. On her table is the receipt from the counselling centre, where she went when she discovered that the documentary was going to be shown uncut.

The credits come on, indicating that the film had been produced by Film Four International, Canal Plus, RAI, ZdF, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is a film about the United States of America.

[ewan-mo]

On the way home

Sat 30th Sept 2023.

I started yesterday with a visit to the Benedict Medical Centre, a small hospital in a poor suburb of Kampala.   They are continuing to find funding a bit of a struggle.  It was worse in Covid but there are 3 government health centres in the locality who give free medication when they have it, and three or four private-for-profit ones.  Also Butabika Hospital, the main psychiatric hospital, is only about 3 miles away, so many people with a mental illness go straight there. The public perception of mental illness is that it means 'Butabika'. It takes quite a shift to imagine that mental illness can be treated at the level of a small hospital like Benedict Medical Centre.

They are hoping that having a psychiatric clinical officer will enable them to develop a good reputation for mental health care.    JF has sponsored Robin to train as a psychiatric clinical officer.  He has finished the course but has still to get a project approved.  We are helping them to raise the awareness of mental illness and its care in their community and to present the hospital as an alternative to Butabika.

Meanwhile, Joshua and I had agreed to look at the experiences of people with mental illness or epilepsy who have been confined at home, usually by their families. They may be chained, tied with ropes, or left in shackles and sometimes leg shackles as well, then locked in the room and dependent on someone else to prepare their food and attend to their personal hygiene. I would be really interested to know how they think of it all. Are they troubled by traumatic memories? Angry with their families? Resentful about the lost years? Or do they just accept that this is how it is during times when they are ill and troubled or overactive and moveous?

Some of you will remember James, who was kept locked in a dark room, chained by his ankle, from his late 20’s to age 42, about 15 years. When we saw him 6 months after our first meeting, he was being cared for by the team and on treatment, and was totally transformed. James taught me a little of what it can be like for our patients, and his story comes with me whenever I teach on international mental health. 

Joshua and I thought it would be interesting to interview some of the  patients we know who have been in similar situations. He’s made a good start, but the majority of the cases so far come just from Bwindi Hospital. Apparently the research journals get suspicious when that appears to be the case; you may have been making up the details!

I’ve asked our young colleagues to scout around to find us some more, as several thought there were some in their districts. Village health workers from the Village Health Teams (VHT), church leaders and local councillors often know their communities very well and will be aware if there are some individuals hidden in the darkness.

The VHTs remind me of the old wise women of the villages in earlier times in our English landscapes. I can remember some from the villages near where my grandmother lived in Somerset. ‘Aunt Em’ and ‘Aunt Cis’, for example. They knew all the local remedies, the herbs and potions that could help with everyday ailments. I’d quite like to talk with them again now, but they have long gone.

When Joshua and I talk, we find our conversation ranges far and wide beyond clinical matters. He’s not short of opinion on some of the political shenanigans that go on in Uganda and from his stories I learnt some fascinating details. He’s interested in English politics too though even he, who has long experience of goings on in Africa, was a bit surprised at the thinking and impact of Liz Truss. And indeed her very short tenure as our prime minister. Uganda’s current president has been in charge for 37 years. Just imagine….

Joshua is a great friend to Jamie’s Fund. He has years of experience in mental health research, and trained as an mhGAP Master Trainer in Geneva (and Italy!) directly under the auspices of the World Health Organisation. We have been very fortunate to have him and his support in our training programmes which have been making such a difference across Uganda. 

Market day at the roadside.

Hassan later drove us down to Entebbe where we had a late lunch in a café we have known for some years.  It has a lush green garden.

A metal baboon in the garden.

We were then dropped at Guinea Fowl guest house, where we spent time catching up on our computers. They were doing major road works on the residential road outside and I enjoyed watching the machines at work – as I used to do 60 years ago.  Not sure why they have selected this road for such major works – the fact that a number of military officers apparently live on it may not be a coincidence.

A grader at work, even after dark.

We went to the airport late evening and  all went smoothly.  In Brussels I was fascinated to make the acquaintance of a Ugandan dentist who has lived in London for a long time but still comes back to Uganda to see family. Her father is a doctor and her sister is a psychiatrist in UK! 

We changed planes in Brussels and got home late morning today, Saturday.

It has been a very encouraging visit.  Hugh, Linda and Avril have found the same encouragements visiting the hospitals in the west as well.  Although JF is stopping we will continue to visit and have tentative plans to return early next year when six of the PCOs JF sponsored will be graduating.

Thank you for reading our blogs and we hope you have found them of interest.  We have aimed to give you a flavour of what we have been doing.

If you would like to drop us an email, please do using the email the200x100challenge@gmail.com