Saturday, May 01, 2010

All in the Mind - The Protest Psychosis

Wow, this is a very interesting episode of All in the Mind about the politics and racism of mental illness and its diagnosis. Here is a little more information from the All in the Mind blog:

Race, racism and mental illness

Ionia_crop

"Ionia Asylum for the Criminally Insane", Michigan, USA (unverified).

Malcolm X is on the next show.

For a brief moment.

Interesting timing given news this week that the man who admitted to Malcolm X's murder, Thomas Hagan, has been released on parole after serving 45 years of his sentence (he'd apparently been on a work-release program for the last couple of decades).

...

Racism is real - on our streets, in our schools, on the TV...and in the history of medicine.

The power invested in medical pedagogy and its practioners means that doctors have always been in a unique position to define and medicalise 'difference', with all the prejudices of a given generation to guide them at any point in history.

Protestpsychosis Psychiatrist Jonathan Metzl's new book, The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease, packs a mighty powerful punch. A strong telling of a difficult history.

He's both a clinician and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, where he's Director of the Program in Culture, Health, and Medicine.

Tune in via the All in the Mind website or on-air, and here are some audio extras (which will make more sense after you hear the show)...

Jonathan_Metzl_re_Alice_Wilson - The story of "Alice Wilson", a patient at the former Ionia Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Michigian USA (pre Civil Rights era).

Jonathan_Metzl_Ionia_hospital_from_Civil_Rights_Movement_&_Beyond - The shift at Ionia during the Civil Rights era.

Don't forget the discussion can unfold here on the blog or also over on my show's website (look for Add Your Comment there).

And now, on with the show.

The Protest Psychosis

Psychiatrist Jonathan Metzl treats people in the clinic whose lives are afflicted by severe psychosis. But he also documents an explosive 'other' history of schizophrenia, and what he sees as its transformation from a diagnosis of feminine docility or creative eccentricity, to one given to angry black men during the civil rights era. You'll never see medicine and the mind in quite the same light again.

Show Transcript | Hide Transcript

Transcripts are published by the end of Wednesday.

Guests

Jonathan Metzl
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Women's Studies
Director of Program in Culture, Health, and Medicine
University of Michigan
USA
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/women/faculty/facbio.asp?ID=40

Further Information

All in the Mind blog with Natasha Mitchell
Natasha's posts, and your discussion. You can comment on the program here too - look for Add Your Comment above.

Count Me In survey (UK)
National Mental Health and Learning Disability Ethnicity Census conducted by the Care Quality Commission, UK.

The Program of Culture, Health and Medicine - University of Michigan

Count Me In Census (UK) results, 2009

81 Words: the inside story of psychiatry and homosexuality [Part 1 of 2]
Documentary produced by This American Life's Alix Spiegel, broadcast on All in the Mind in 2007.

81 Words: the inside story of psychiatry and homosexuality (Part 2 of 2)
Documentary produced by This American Life's Alix Speigel, broadcast on All in the Mind in 2007.

Mother's Little Helper on the Couch
Interview with Jonathan Metzl, 2006.

Publications

Title: The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease
Author: Jonathan Metzl
Beacon Books, 2010.

Title: Prozac on the Couch: Prescribing Gender in the Era of Wonder Drugs
Author: Jonathan Metzl
Publisher: 2003, Duke University Press

Title: Review of Jonathan Metzl's book, The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease
By Tanya M. Luhrmann, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, April 2010.

Music

CD title: Fivefold Galactic Bells
Track title: Iron Bull
Artist: Robin Fox & Michael Munson
Composer: Omni-Viola!
CD details: de rigeur records

Presenter

Natasha Mitchell


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