Peter Stastny / Peter Lehmann (Eds.)

Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry

Peter LehmannPrint edition, soft cover, English language, 432 pages, 3 figures, 14.8 x 21 x 2.6 cm, ISBN 978-0-9545428-1-8, ISBN 978-0-9788399-1-8. Peter Lehmann Publishing 2007 · Instantly deliverable
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Cover in large size | Cover back-side | About the editors & co-authors | Contents | Preface by Robert Whitaker | Introduction to the book | Introductions to the book's main chapters | Index | Extract | Reviews | Edition in German, Greek, Marathi | Information in Czech | Shipping costs |    Home

About the Book

The great book of alternatives to psychiatry around the world. The book highlights alternatives beyond psychiatry, current possibilities for self-help for individuals experiencing madness or depression, and strategies toward implementing humane treatment.

Sixty-one authors – (ex-) users and survivors of psychiatry, therapists, psychiatrists, lawyers, social scientists and relatives from all five continents – report about their alternative work, their objectives and successes, and their individual and collective experiences.

These are some of the questions, which are addressed by the authors: What helps me if I go mad or depressive?     How can I find trustworthy help for a relative or a friend in need?     How can I protect myself from coercive treatment?     As a family member or friend, how can I help?     What should I do if I can no longer bear to work in the mental health field?     What are the alternatives to psychiatry?     How can I get involved in creating alternatives?     Assuming psychiatry would be abolished, what do you propose instead?

Introductions to the book's main chapters

Why psychiatry hurts more than it helps

Actual alternatives

General and specific beneficiaries of alternative approaches

Realizing alternatives and humane treatment

Why we need alternatives to psychiatry

About the Editors

Peter LehmannPeter Stastny (right) was born in Vienna, Austria, where he graduated from medical school in 1976. Since 1978, he has been working and residing in New York City. Taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx until 2009 and has conducted several publically funded research projects in the area of vocational rehabilitation, social support and self-help, in collaboration with individuals who had survived personal crises and psychiatric interventions. Currently, Dr. Stastny is working on the development of alternative services that obviate psychiatric intervention and offer autonomous paths towards recovery and full integration. These activities have engendered a close collaboration with the user-survivor movement, as manifested by joint research projects, publications, service demonstrations, and community work. He is a founding member of the International Network Toward Alternatives and Recovery (INTAR). More about Peter Stastny

Peter Lehmann (left), D. Phil. h.c., is a certified pedagogue, independent publisher, author, freelance activist in Berlin, and Associate of the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal. Since 1979, he regularly speaks on and publishes in the field of alternatives beyond psychiatry, support in coming off psychiatric drugs, and safeguarding human rights of people with psychiatric diagnoses. He was co-founder and, until 2010, for many years board-member of the European Network of (ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry. In 2010, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and in 2011, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the President of Germany. English publications include, Withdrawal from Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs (edited in 2022 together with Craig Newnes); Coming off Psychiatric Drugs: Successful Withdrawal from Neuroleptics, Antidepressants, Lithium, Carbamazepine and Tranquilizers, edited in 2004, e-book in 2023). More about Peter Lehmann