I finished reading The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K Le Guin. I had watched both movie adaptations a little while ago. The premise is that a man named George Orr has dreams that alter reality. He is afraid of this power, so he abuses drugs to try to stop the dreams. He gets into trouble with the government after this, so he is assigned a therapist, Dr Haber. But when Haber realizes what George can do, he starts hypnotizing George so he can manipulate his dreams and reality. He dreams himself into a famous and powerful researcher. But the dreams usually go wrong in some way. Haber tells George to dream of peace on Earth; this leads to a war with aliens over the Moon instead. He tells George to dream away the overpopulation that is leading to mass starvation, so a plague comes and kills billions of people... and so on.

It is a short book with interesting if confusing themes of Daoism and antipsychiatry, but I take issue with the way minorities are written, especially George's love interest, Heather. She is a biracial (Black and white) woman who dislikes having brown skin. When Haber tells George to dream away racism, everyone becomes gray. Gray Heather is "gentler." In the end, Heather becomes brown again and her personality becomes "fiercer" and "difficult" as a result. There were other odd things about her character but suffice to say, I don't like it.

#TheLatheOfHeaven #UrsulaKLeGuin #UrsulaLeGuin #books #reading #Daoism #Taoism #psychiatry #antipsychiatry

"
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
" Jiddu Krishnamurti <https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jiddu_krishnamurti_107856>

#Quotes #Anarchism #Ableism #AntiPsychiatry

Banning under 16s from social media because "studies show social media causes xyz" is a perfect example of the mistake of individualizing social problems bleeding out from psychiatry to society at large

If social media makes people under 16 depressed have eating disorders or generally lose executive function or other effects like these its probably affecting a lot of people over 16 too.

I challenge you to think of anything we would lose in society by fixing this for everyone without blanket banning or surveillance

https://www.bbcnewsd73hkzno2ini43t4gblxvycyac5aw4gnv7t2rccijh7745uqd.onion/news/articles/cdxekqryn1jo

#Censorship #YouthLiberation #Psychiatry #AntiPsychiatry #Depression #EatingDisorder #SocialMediaBan #Australia

Okay since I'm seeing some #AntiPsychiatry I love it when my #psychiatrist tells me "both of these meds help ___ condition so I feel uncomfortable prescribing that," even when those medications aren't unsafe together. Thanks for the slap in the face doc.

Fuck, if I received help for my #depression first with wellbutrin it's very comforting to know ignorant attitudes would have prevented me from getting the treatment I needed with stimulant medication. 😮‍💨 God forbid I try to add a non stimulant that would also help my #cPTSD as well. I guess the feelings of my psychiatrist are prioritized above my quality of life in this system. :/

All #neurodiversity advocates please read this:

https://pasleciel.substack.com/p/an-antipsychiatry-faq

#antipsychiatry #abolitionism

Madness, Disability, and Abolition | Mad Liberation Front

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/madness-disability-and-abolition

#abolitionism #antipsychiatry