You can blog with us if:
you live in the UK
you identify as female
you identify as a feminist
you have now or have had mental health issues and experiences with the mental heath system.
If you want to be a regular contributor you need a wordpress account and you need to join: this yahoo group
If you want to do occasional pieces email them to us with the name you want us to use for them and a link to your own blog if you like or specify if you want them to be anonymous.
Email us at feministmhuk@googlemail.com
I am so glad I found this blog! Thank you ladies for your courage. Have you got a mailing list? I would love to stay connected. x
Thanks
We don’t have a mailing list at the moment, but I’m sure we could set one up… In the meantime, check back often!
I just found your blog on the latest Disability Blog Carnival. I’d like to contribute because I’m female, a feminist, and a women with bipolar disorder, but alas, I’m a Yank! Darn!
Can I just say that i am very please to see this blog. I have blogged about mental health esp. alternatives to the medical model and ortho psychiatry. I have been active in the mental health user movement since the early 1990s and, live in London and I still experience depression and anxiety. And life has a tendency to suck…..
I have written about mental health issues, women and feminism (btw I am socialist feminist) here:
http://www.socialistunity.com
My own blog Harpymarx: harpymarx.wordpress.com
Btw: I am interested in voice hearing and the stigma and vilification that is attached. Mainly due to my own personal experiences (from childhood onwards) and the way voice hearing is treated (high dosage of medication). And also my own struggle in coming to terms and understanding the reasons why, is it just out-of-control biochemistry or is it a combination of trauma, internalised oppression and life interacting with your biology? I look for alternatives as the drugs didn’t work and made me so much worse.
I watched that C4 programme last mth about the woman who heard voices. I reviewed it here (http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=2135)
The woman is lost a bit as the programme mainly looks at the opposing theories put forward by two men. But the fact that prime time telly decided to show the alternatives to medication and sectioning when dealing with voice hearing cheered me a bit.
Louise
how come we really blame ourselves
i’m kinda having a bad patch.
i blame me,
but my other half will not comprimise, or change that tiny little bit, to make me feel better.
its always me that does the running, for everyone.
cant all be me surely.
i’m a cheerful, positive, sensible, caring person,
do i have to dump everone to be happy?????
i dont even fell like talking to the doctor, because of past experiances.
so i’m trying to cope, but its not working.
why is this world full of arseholes????
cant us nice, sensitive people go to a place and ban them.
debbie
Um, why do contributors have to live in the UK?
Gonzo girl: Because the rules and regulations here in the UK regarding mental health differ from the rest of the world and we originally came together to discuss happenings that are specific to this country.
Then this USer will have to be content to sit back and cheer y’all on. And add you to my reader. And link to you whenever possible. And thank you for doing what you do.
Hi!
I have requested to join the yahoo group, and I already have a wordpress account as I joined a long time ago (and then never came back! :-s) but I still don’t know how to contribute…?
I’m very keen when it comes to writing, but not so good at deciphering the technological side! :-s
Recklessragdoll xxx
Hi
Hopefully I’ve approved you to join the Yahoo group now. Did that work?
Yes, thank you! All good now, I will start a-bloggin’ soon.
Cheers
xxx
God, I feel like such an idiot! I still can’t work out how to post on the blog… When I go to the yahoo group it looks like something separate from the blog itself, when I try to post a blog on wordpress I can only do it on my own blog (anni sees stories)…
I know how stupid I sound but I am ulta BAD with this stuff… TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I want to write! lol xxx
Great blog. I’d contribute, but I’m an Australian. Conveniently, I can still rant to my heart’s content at my own account (which linked me here) http://felicitybloomfield.wordpress.com. Yay for the internet.
I am a labelled paranoid schizophrenic and have had mental health issues since I was 17, I consider myself a feminist since the l970′s. I am recently widowed for the last two years and have just been able to access the internet for say these last 12 months and thanks to the help of my son. I have been reading up on so much feminist books like most of us.
I have just found your blog and I am over the moon about this as it is what I have been searching for for ages now.
I have so many experiences within my family and within the system and am up to date with what is happening in the States and in the UK as regards the critiques of bio-psychiatry and the methods of abuse that happen to people.
So yes, I will be so interested in what you say and what others have to say and their experiences. I feel this is such an important issue that affects so many women and children along with the aged. Because of abusive methods of treatment which I am passionate about.
I would like to pass on the website Crazydiamond and Elemental where women can find out about the work of Marion Aslan and partner Mike Smith here in the UK. Also the websites empathictherapy.org where people can find out about the work of Ginger Breggin and her husband Dr. Peter Breggin in the States. Also the soterianetwork.org.uk headed by Prof Mervyn Morris.
These people are involved within the NHS and in the US within the system but saying that they are working for change and they are making immense differences to the attitudes of main stream psychiatry. All of their work is positive and I feel those whose lives are profoundly affected by all the issues concerning mental health would benefit by going onto these sites and reading the books people are writing and forming their own opinions and maybe opening up discussions amongst feminists about these so important topics that affect so many women and their lives.
I hope you put this comment on your website also you check what I have said out for yourselves and this is all opened up for discussion amongst yourselves and other women.
So glad I have found you and will now enjoy reading up on all the topics and discussions.
Well done you!