My Personal Experience of Orthodox Psychiatry and Alternative Approaches

Ruth Smith's incisive and moving account of her experiences with orthodox psychiatry as delivered by the UK National Health Service sets the scene for this special section. She gives a detailed description of her own twelve years' experience as a Carer to her daughter, diagnosed with psychosis at age 24 years. She explains how they struggled to comply with the psychiatric services and cope with the, often traumatic, treatment provided to them. Clearly, we need to do better, but how? Smith explains how her study of critical texts and research papers on the subject helped to form her own critical viewpoint.