Psychiatrists and social workers had already decided before I was born that I was going to be a mental patient. Continue reading “The Other Half”
The Other Half
BRIGID HANNON
Fancy Doctor
I’m spiraling and my mother made me
See a strange woman with a spiteful stare
And I used big words like
Trick-o-till-o-mania and she laughs…
She thinks I make things up.
I think she isn’t worth the frame holding the degree on her wall. Continue reading “BRIGID HANNON”
The Therapist and The Two Realities of Power
There is a difference between a ‘fabricative realist’ (one who invents a reality for the purpose of manipulating or holding control over another) and a ‘deluded realist’ (one who believes in the reality that a person with more power convinces them to believe).
Neither fabricative realism nor deluded realism is realist realism: it is a situational realism that forms between two parties in a relationship that is built on a significant power differential, a power differential primarily based on access to information.
A perfect example of this might be found in the traditional therapist-client relationship. Continue reading “The Therapist and The Two Realities of Power”
Part of MITA’s literacy mission is to empower through education. We hope to inform institutionalized individuals and people affected by the mental health industry about commitment, mental hygiene law, and their rights. Continue reading “A Cognitive Autonomy Information Sheet”
Justice for Barbara Warren-Jones
In 2017, while I was incarcerated against my will in a psychiatric institution in Buffalo, NY for ten days, I shared a room with a woman I will never forget.
She was Barbara to me at the time, although on one occasion, I asked her for her last name and I wrote it down in my composition notebook. Tonight, I looked through the pages of that notebook for her name. I have not been able to bear to look at what I had written during my time in hell with my friend until now. I found what I could handle reading for tonight. Three words:
Barbara Warren Jones. Continue reading “Justice for Barbara Warren-Jones”
Gaslighting
What Is Gaslighting?
Gaslighting: manipulating someone, by psychological means, into doubting their own sanity.[1] This may involve saying something and later denying having said it, making you question your memory, making you feel that everything is your fault, and even outright lying to you (and possibly those around you). Continue reading “Gaslighting”
Christina Foster, Heart DR
Operation YOU
Every year around this time, we discuss the courage, character, and determination of hundreds of women who paved the way for us to have access to equal rights and for our voices to be not only heard but regarded as well. Continue reading “Christina Foster, Heart DR”
