‘Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.’- Benjamin
Franklin
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| Keep taking the tablets. But maybe keep quiet about it? |
Over the past year I've immersed myself in Twitter. Like
many I started tentatively, following the usual parade of news sites and comedians.
It didn't take long though to realise the value of Twitter for discussing
mental health. It’s packed to the rafters with campaigners, professionals and
service-users. It’s also, famously, a place where people feel free to say more
or less whatever they want. Put all these elements together and the result is a
powerful (if dissonant) mix of voices in social media and in mental health.
Recently, some Twitter followers have turned their attention
to several articles in the national press which critique the use of psychiatric
medication. These articles, one by novelist Will Self, another by commentator Giles Fraser and a third
by psychiatrist Joanna Moncrieff, broadly
say the same thing: life’s ups and downs are being pathologised and psychiatric
drugs are being wildly overused.
