Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health
Health & Fitness:Mental Health
This week, we interview Dr Peter Gordon. Dr Gordon describes himself as a gardener with an interest in medicine. He trained in both medicine and landscape architecture before specialising in psychiatry and now works with older adults in Scotland. In addition, he is an activist and campaigner and has a range of creative interests including filmmaking, photography, writing and poetry.
In this interview, we walk about Peter’s own experiences of psychiatric treatment and how we need to address the divide that exists between the arts and the medical sciences.
In this episode we discuss:
What led Dr Gordon to have combined interests in the arts and the sciences, training both in architecture and medicine. How Peter was interested in the plurality of thinking required for psychiatry as opposed to general medicine. How he feels that his training in both the arts and the sciences led to a more rounded appreciation of why purely biological approach might miss opportunities to help people. How Peter became an activist, partly in response to the commonly taught subjective/objective diagnostic approach. How we should be focussed on the potential of any medical intervention to cause harm and should consider this carefully alongside any potential benefit. How we need to take account of all experiences to ensure we provide the maximum benefit and minimum harm to people. Peter’s own experiences with the mental health system, taking antidepressant drugs and experiencing treatment within a psychiatric hospital. How stopping his antidepressant drug resulted in withdrawal effects and led to Peter’s only episode of severe depression. Why Peter is concerned that we seem to be downplaying the experiences of people who have struggled with psychiatric drugs. How Peter’s experiences have influenced his approach to prescribing. The dominance of the biological approach and why it should not dictate how we respond to individual experiences. How the evidence is starting to show that diagnosis can often disempower and bring about ‘otherness’. Peter’s plea for people to be kind to one another and work together to maximise well-being.Relevant links:
Peter’s blog: Hole Ouisa
The caption is wrong
Paroxetine tablets [Film-coated]
Peter’s films on Vimeo
Mary Midgley
Nathan Filer, The Shock of the Fall
Raymond Tallis
To get in touch with us email: podcasts@madinamerica.com
© Mad in America 2018
Alita Taylor - Open Dialogue - Making Meaning
Jim van Os - Towards Resilience and Possibilities and Away from Diseases and Symptoms
Darcia Narvaez - Reclaiming Humanity
Will Davies - The Happiness Industry
Sandy Steingard - Anatomy of a Psychiatrist
Derek Summerfield - Moving Global Mental Health "Outside Our Heads"
China Mills - Global Mental Health - Coloniality, Technology and Medicalization
Jhilmil Breckenridge and Bhargavi Davar - Global Mental Health - An Old System Wearing New Clothes
Melissa Raven - The Global Mental Health Movement - Cause for Concern
Zach Bush - Healthy Planet/Healthy Mind
John Read and Sue Cunliffe - The 57th Maudsley Debate - This House Believes that ECT has no Place in Modern Medicine
Conflicts of Interest Questioned in Review of Prescribed Drug Dependence
Julia Rucklidge - Nutrition, Mental Health and TED
World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day 2018 - Part 2 - Robert Whitaker
World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day 2018 - Part 1 - Nicole Lamberson, Josef Witt-Doerring, Chris Paige
Peter Groot and Akansha Vaswani - Tapering Strips and Shared Decision-Making
Sami Timimi and John Read - Latest Developments with The UK Royal College of Psychiatrists
Sera Davidow - Intersections Between Sexual Violence and Psychiatric Abuse
Laura Delano - Connecting people through the Inner Compass Initiative and Withdrawal Project
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Good Mood Revolution
Mental Health Insights
MQ Open Mind
Speaking of Suicide
The Suicide Prevention Movement
Depression Talks Podcast