It was a privilege once again to be able to spend a day listening and participating in the annual AD4E festival. It was truly a global event with at least 19 countries represented from 5 different continents. The festival welcomed both the curious and those who are already familiar with the debate that challenges the medicalisation of emotional distress.
AD4E’s founder Jo Watson and Lucy Johnstone organised an inspiring number of speakers and panel discussions on a variety of themes related to the challenge of the mainstream narrative around ‘mental health’ that provoked curiosity and invited participants to explore new perspectives.
The day opened with an inspiring message from Jo as she reminded us that the festival wasn’t a CPD event but a community coming together to challenge the culture of diagnosis and disorder. She said that this was the 5th online festival and that the support for AD4E continues to gather momentum.
The festival opened with the showing of the powerful poem ‘Decolonising Distress’ by Muslim psychologist and activist Sanah Ahsan. This both set the scene and created the right energy for the rest of the day.
The next talk ,‘The Challenge to Psychiatric Diagnosis’ was given by Lucy Johnstone, who spoke of how the activist community continues to grow, and stressed how even as a minority voice, we can still bring about change and shift the culture. She gave a quick but compelling overview of the core arguments against psychiatric diagnosis and introduced the Power Threat Meaning Framework as an alternative way of understanding people’s very real and sometimes extreme distess
The festival date marked the publication of the latest Drop the Disorder book which AD4E ally Jacqui Dillon officially launched with a passionate endorsement outlining the major messages of Drop The Disorder And Do Something, which has over 40 contributors. Jacqui then chaired a panel of women activists from around the world, asking what took them into their activism and what their next steps would be. This was followed by a discussion with a similar theme between Sara Boyce & Magz Gibney, two activists based in the North of Ireland.
Early afternoon found Rose Cartwright in conversation with Lucy Johnstone talking about her new memoir ‘The Maps We Carry’. Once Rose came to understand her childhood trauma, she was able to break away from the medical paradigm which had defined her symptoms of ‘OCD’. While Rose describes how her insights were catalysed by the use of psychedelics, she was careful to explain that her experience is not an endorsement of psychedelics as a safe way of accessing deep emotion. Rather she stressed the context of her experiences, and she recognised that she needed support and therapy to do the ‘work’ of her recovery journey. Rose reiterated the fact that psychedelics are not a cure, which took us neatly to another great panel event where psychedelics were discussed in more detail.
Then we saw a catch up with longstanding AD4E supporter Gabor Mate, a longstanding supporter of AD4E, when Jo took the opportunity to ask him some more questions about his own work and how the last year has been. And then another panel discussion followed on ‘children and young people and the culture of labelling’ which brought together allies who have expertise and passion around working with children.
Later, Professor Peter Gøtzsche and the founder of Mad In America, Robert Whitaker, talked about their shared passion to bring the truth to the world about exactly what scientific evidence exists when it comes to the medical discipline known as psychiatry. They reminded listeners that it is not just the ‘lack’ of evidence which undermines the validity of the psychiatric paradigm, because in fact, there is plenty of evidence of the harm which has been enacted on millions of people, while they remain duped into believing they are receiving ‘treatment’ for psychiatric conditions.
Next we saw Jacqui Dillon interview Judith Herman, whose work she had respected and admired for several decades. Judith spoke about what had inspired her to write ‘Truth & Repair’, and how she had learned so much from the women survivors she had met over the years.
The final panel of the day was a lively discussion about the way forwards in activism. It was uplifting to hear what the panel members were already doing as well as hear Bob Whitaker reiterate how systemic change, can and does arise from the grass roots – when those who have previously been harmed and silenced, are heard and given voice as they tell their stories.
But the festival was not quite over yet. After a break, the audience was invited back for an evening that felt like a night out. It started with Jo interviewing V (formerly Eve Ensler) author of the Vagina Monologues about her life and activism, and then continued with a variety of performances from such talented artists, poets and song writers. They were all using their art to challenge the disease model and the harm that results from it.
After such a day, it felt nearly impossible to return to daily life unchanged and it certainly seemed well worth investing in Jo Watson’s latest AD4E book, to gain further inspiration on how to move forwards in our activism.
On a personal note, I came away from the festival inspired to take action. AD4E is not like the bystanders who look the other way when people in very real distress are harmed further, by the medicalisation of their experiences. In contrast, AD4E left me in no doubt about how urgent it is for the truth about mythical psychiatric diagnoses to become common knowledge. Prospective patients must be enabled to make informed choices when offered drugs, ECT or other interventions which are still pedalled as the answers to individual emotional suffering.
In conclusion AD4E and their allies are actively seeking out better alternatives – and finding robust ways in which people can access the help and support they need. They collectively understand just how important it is for people experiencing extreme emotional distress to be heard, and to have their traumatic experiences validated. Yet, AD4E would not leave it there – rather they advocate for long term solutions which are not aimed at trying to ‘fix’ individuals, but are located in good, wholesome communities where stability and care can be provided for everyone who needs it.
Working together will make a difference and reverse the trend which seeks to pathologise normal experiences. Surely this in turn will reduce the inappropriate prescribing of harmful ‘treatments’ such as psychiatric drugs, and simultaneously cut the number of inappropriate admissions and detentions to psychiatric hospitals. That has to be a good thing for everyone.
If you want to hear more and are interested in purchasing recordings of any past AD4E workshops/events, please email [email protected]
As a taster, why not visit this page to hear the podcast from the AD4E festival where Lucy Johnstone interviews Rose Cartwright (LINK to this)
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Mad in the UK hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.