Doctoring the Mind: Why Psychiatric Treatments Fail by Richard Bentall: review

Daily Telegraph, 05/07/2009

Full story here

The message of Doctoring the Mind is that the West’s dependence on drugs to treat mental illness is madness ... Bentall argues for a new approach to severe mental illness ... In this person-centred model, the patient partly defines his own recovery. He may consider, for example, that he is better off continuing to hear voices (so long as those voices do not trouble him or others) than he is living on a strong drug regime which makes him unable to work, enjoy either a social or a sex life, or contribute to society.

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Working across the world to spread positive and hopeful messages about the experience of hearing voices

The voices in your head...

All in the Mind Blog, ABC Radio

This weekend's show features a roundtable with 3 people pushing the boundaries on this front. Dr Rufus May, Dr Sandra Escher and Dr Dirk Corstens - all active in the international "hearing voices community" - were in Australia this week at the Recovery from Psychosis conference held in Perth. They argue that auditory hallucinations, like those experienced in schizophrenia, aren't a meaningless symptom. Instead, they advocate probing the content of those voices - the good, the bad and the frightening - and "dialoguing" with the voices to better manage them and understand their origins.

Their approach does polarize. Some fervently disagree with their therapeutic strategy arguing that it is irresponsible and even dangerous. Others with a personal experience of voices find it refreshing, and something of a relief to have the nuances of their inner world acknowledged. And, a large number of folk in mainstream medicine now also recognise the limitations of a purely medical model for working with matters of the mind. To ignore the contents of auditory hallucinations, is to ignore the full experience of the person presenting to them, and where does that get anyone?

Note: See the comments in response to blog - very interesting