The Therapeutic Poet in conversation with Anne Darcy about a different approach to dealing with ‘mental health’.

This is a meaty episode!

I speak to clinical psychologist Anne Darcy (bio below) who works in a personality disorder unit. We talk about what is problematic about a mental health diagnosis; labelling people with ‘disorders’. 

Anne has been using an alternative approach called The Power Threat Meaning Framework. 

A group of senior psychologists (Lucy Johnstone, Mary Boyle, John Cromby, David Harper, Peter Kinderman, David Pilgrim and John Read) and high profile service user campaigners (Jacqui Dillon and Eleanor Longden) spent five years developing the Power Threat Meaning Framework as an alternative to more traditional models based on psychiatric diagnosis.

Anne leads us through how this works so that instead of asking ‘what is wrong with you’ we start from a place of ‘what has happened to you and how has power operated and affected you in your life and how did you respond.’

We talk about the cultural influence of ‘disorders’; that ‘disorders’ are responses to stress and that all stress is culture-bound. 

We challenge the biological approach  of ‘mental health’ (that depression is hereditary and mental illness caused by chemical imbalances in the brain), discuss how the diagnosis of schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder are very often given to highly oppressed or marginalised individuals in the community.

We look at trauma, and how using the word ‘adversity’ may be more useful.

This is truly a podcast which will help to rehumanise our human experience.

Jargon Buster:
DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association - the handbook used to diagnose mental health disorders
ICD is the International Classification of Diseases - the global standard for diagnostic health information.

Show notes:

For more information on The Power Threat Meaning Framework and resources:
https://www.bps.org.uk/power-threat-meaning-framework

To buy the book (which informed much of this discussion):
https://www.pccs-books.co.uk/products/a-straight-talking-introduction-to-the-power-threat-meaning-framework-an-alternative-to-psychiatric-diagnosis


A recent article by Dr Lucy Johnstone, co author of the framework:
https://iai.tv/articles/beyond-the-mental-health-paradigm-the-power-threat-meaning-framework-auid-1803?_auid=2020

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