The following text is copied from the MindFreedom Lancaster wiki page Mental Breakdown as Healing Process.

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Mental Breakdown as Healing Process
Introduction

The Breakthrough

PAPER 1

Perry's work corroborated the results of R.D. Laing's famous Kingsley Hall experiment in London in the 1960s, , in which only nine out of sixty-five "certified psychotics" who were tracked afterwards were re-admitted to hospitals again. Those who insist that "schizophrenia" is a disease will have to admit that it is curable!

PAPER 2

Perry founded an experimental residential facility called Diabasis, in Berkeley, California, during the 1970s. This was designed as a comfortable home where young adults, who were experiencing the initial days of their first "acute schizophrenic break", could live in a supportive atmosphere and be empowered to go through the experience without any treatment by medication, electroshock or locked doors. The results were amazing: these full-blown "schizophrenics" were able to go through what turned out to be a complete falling apart and coming-back-together-again of their personality, and emerge "on the far side of madness", as Perry put it, "weller than well."

These are corroborated experimental results that prove that there need not be the use of extremely cruel treatments for what is already a curable disease. The idea that Schizophrenia and other diseases are "incurable" actually comes from the business plan of the Pharmaceutical industry. For example the same thing happened with Stomach Ulcers. Remember all the references there used to be to "my stress induced stomach ulcer"? Notice that those references have disappeared ? Thats because a cure was proven in the early 80's.

Quote:
"Isolation of the gastric spiral bacterium Helicobacter pylori
totally reversed the false dogma that the stomach was sterile"

( Source (external link) )

But it was not accepted lightly because it involved the discovery of an ulcer causing bacterium which "could not exist in the acid environment of the stomach", and the research results were initially suppressed by the Pharmaceutical industry who stood to lose money on drug treatments for the ulcers. A U. S. National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Panel decided the issue in 1994.

Quote:
"In 1994, however, a U. S. National Institutes of Health Consensus
Development Panel concluded that infection appears to play an important
contributory role in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcers, and recommended
that antibiotics be used in their treatment."

( Source (external link) )

Here is Dr David Healy referring to that history ...

The Research - Give me the Facts

This page will be a growing source of evidence for the existence of a non-aggressive approach to helping those who go through a so called "Mental Breakdown" as described above and identified by Perry and Laing. MindFreedom Lancaster has already identified a substantial research literature ( see below ) that can be used to start the process of setting up appropriate places of healing that follow the methods of Laing and Perry and which are based on solid evidence and peer reviewed research papers. That would require the help of a strong Psychiatrist to be the professional representative of such a project in order to fend off the aggressive criticisms and attacks that there would no doubt be from some quarters (thankyou to Michael O'Callaghan, Chairman of Global Vision Consulting Ltd. (external link) who pointed this idea out to me in a telephone conversation at the end of February 2010).

The process of so called "mental breakdown" is actually central to what makes us human and has been known about for millennia. The myths of the Ancient Greeks were partly based on observations on the archetypal states that people went into in their growing process ( see Dr. John Weir Perry, Transcript of the Global Vision interview) as that process was recognised as part of Greek society. Think of the Oracle of Delphi and other aspects of Greek culture.

As a Western civilisation we like to boast about our origins being in the Greek nation states. But we seem to have left something out. The Psyche and the knowledge of the extraordinary process of growth that it goes through in order to become what we call "the self". Yet far from being lost this knowledge has been kept alive by a number of brave souls like Dr. John Weir Perry in America and Ronald David Laing in Europe.

Quote:
Laing strongly rejected this label as being against psychiatry. He never denied that mentally ill people are in need of help — he simply did not believe that conventional psychiatry provided the answer.

( Source: R.D. Laing
By Gavin Miller (external link) )

Research Evidence

(Work in Progress)

http://spiritualrecoveries.blogspot.com/2006/05/dr-john-weir-perry-diaba... (external link)

The following references and some full works were obtained from Lancaster University day login service for local non-commercial researchers. Thank you to the University and their helpful staff !

* LancsUni_Making sense of madness - Contesting the meaning of schizophrenia - Cited by 382 Works

(mhtml format for Internet Explorer and other browser users - Firefox users see the maff format files below)

* LancsUni_Alternative treatment of psychosis - A qualitative study of Jungian medication-free treatment at Diabasis.mhtml
* LancsUni_Making sense of madness - Contesting the meaning of schizophrenia - Citation.mhtml
* LancsUni_R .D. Laing's contribution to the 'treatment' of 'schizophrenia'.mhtml
* LancsUni_R. D. Laing's approach to schizophrenia.mhtml
* LancsUni_Spiritual emergence and renewal - Perry.mhtml
* LancsUni_Spiritual emergency - The understanding and treatment of transpersonal crises.mhtml
* LancsUni_Spiritual emergency - The understanding and treatment of transpersonal crises - Cited By These Other Papers.mhtml
* LancsUni_The perceptual implications of Gaia.mhtml
* LancsUni_The world of shamanism- New views of an ancient tradition - Cites Perry Paper.mhtml
* LancsUni_WHO IS MAD_WHO IS SANE_.mhtml

(maff format for Firefox users - requires maff add on)

* LancsUni_Alternative treatment of psychosis - A qualitative study of Jungian medication-free treatment at Diabasis.maff
* LancsUni_Making sense of madness - Contesting the meaning of schizophrenia - Citation.maff
* LancsUni_R .D. Laing's contribution to the 'treatment' of 'schizophrenia'.maff
* LancsUni_R. D. Laing's approach to schizophrenia.maff
* LancsUni_Spiritual emergence and renewal - Perry.maff
* LancsUni_Spiritual emergency - The understanding and treatment of transpersonal crises.maff
* LancsUni_Spiritual emergency - The understanding and treatment of transpersonal crises - Cited By These Other Papers.maff
* LancsUni_The perceptual implications of Gaia.maff
* LancsUni_The world of shamanism- New views of an ancient tradition - Cites Perry Paper.maff
* LancsUni_WHO IS MAD_WHO IS SANE_.maff

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