Over the last few years I've read several PCCS books that focus on what is referred to as the 'medicalisation' of distress. This is where the pharmaceutical industry has aligned with modern psychiatry to create a list of diseases that are supposed to help us understand our difficult feelings and experiences.

 

'Drop the Disorder + Do Something' is a collection of writing by various authors who all basically share the above view on how an industry has been created and developed around psychiatric medication and coercive control of people who are struggling. Each author has written about their own approach to either being a professional in the field of psychiatry or as a person who has experience of treatment, and how they are working towards a different way of understanding those things.

 

There is a range of content in the book, ranging from the creative, including film-making and poetry, through to what it might look like to develop a business that is more ethically aligned with the rejection of labels. I found it a provocative read, and it made me consider my role as a sole therapist, a tiny part of the whole system as it exists. It made me want to reach out and cooperate more with other professionals, to see if I could do more to support people in the way I would like to support them with my skills and training.