Rethinking, Reforming, Critiquing

Retired psychologist Philip Hickey critiques ideas, news and research studies while providing "an alternative perspective on psychiatry's so-called mental disorders."

Written by Robert Whitaker and Lisa Cosgrove, "Psychiatry Under the Influence investigates the actions and practices of the American Psychiatric Association and academic psychiatry in the United States, and presents it as a case study of institutional corruption."

Written by Stuart A. Kirk, Tomi Gomory, and David Cohen, this book "provides an engaging and readable scientific and social critique of current mental health practices. The authors are scholars, researchers, and clinicians who have written extensively about community care, diagnosis, and psychoactive drugs."

Edited by Brenda A. LeFrançois, Robert Menzies, Geoffrey Reaume. "With contributions from scholars in numerous disciplines, as well as activists and psychiatric survivors, [this book] presents diverse critical voices that convey the lived experiences of the psychiatrized and challenges dominant understandings of "mental illness.""

Written by Grace Jackson, "Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent is a critical appraisal of the medications which an estimated 20% of Americans consume on a regular (and sometimes involuntary) basis."

A collection edited by Mark Rapley, Joanna Moncrieff, and Jacqui Dillon: "Psychiatry and psychology have constructed a mental health system that does no justice to the problems it claims to understand and creates multiple problems for its users. Yet the myth of biologically-based mental illness defines our present.

China Mills' book "seeks to de-familiarize current ‘Western’ conceptions of psychology and psychiatry using postcolonial theory. It leads us to wonder whether we should call for equality in global access to psychiatry, whether everyone should have the right to a psychotropic citizenship and whether mental health can, or should, be global."

"Psychiatric diagnosis has become one of the most contested practices in mental health services today. Lucy Johnstone asks 'Do you still need your psychiatric diagnosis?' This book will help you to decide... If the authors of the diagnostic manuals are admitting that psychiatric diagnoses are not supported by evidence, then no one should be forced to accept them."

"An hour-long interview format, Madness Radio focuses on personal experiences of ‘madness’ and extreme states of consciousness from beyond conventional perspectives and mainstream treatments. Madness Radio also features authors, advocates, and researchers on madness-related topics, including civil rights, science, policy reform, holistic health, history, and art."

The website of critical psychiatrist and author Peter Breggin provides information on Breggin's books and involvement in precedent legal cases dealing with psychiatric science, practices and ethics.