Call out for submissions to special issue of Asylum magazine 'Anti-capitalism and mental health

http://www.asylumonline.net/call.htm


Deadline – Monday 30th April 
Please email submissions to editors@asylumonline.net 

We are planning a special issue of Asylum Magazine for September 2012 that will explore the issue of 'anti-capitalism and mental health'.

This is a call out for contributions on this theme! If we want to make mental health services more democratic is it necessary to take a look at the economic and political system in which they are situated?

About

Asylum Magazine Asylum is an international magazine for democratic psychiatry, psychology, education and community development incorporating the newsletter of psychology, politics, resistance. It is a forum for free debate, open to anyone with an interest in psychiatry or mental health. We especially welcome contributions from service users or ex-users (or survivors), carers, and frontline psychiatric or mental health workers (anonymously, if you wish). The magazine is not-for-profit and run by a collective of unpaid volunteers

Themes to respond to:

How does capitalism, an economic system based on profit, exploitation, productivity and division, limit the struggle to democratise mental health services or the potential to radically change our understanding of what it means to be mentally healthy or ill?

Why is health, and specifically mental health, often missing from the anti-capitalist lefts agenda? And do critical psychiatry networks adequately deal with the economic/political aspects of their struggle?

How good are as 'activists/campaigners' at looking after our own mental health or the health of our comrades? Is mental illness a barrier to 'getting involved'?

For example, what are the impacts of capitalist ideals such as productivity, work and efficiency on mental health and recovery? Do these features of the capitalist economy limit our ability to promote user autonomy? Have you felt your treatment options were limited due to resource constraints? Have you adapted your therapy to fit budget cuts? Can we create truly emancipatory alternatives/safe spaces within the capitalist system?

Format:

We're looking for analytical articles, personal experiences, illustrations and poems that respond to the questions raised above. If you have anything to contribute to this discussion then get in touch!

Please try to use accessible language, if you need to use jargon please explain it. Ideas should be presented in a clear, coherent style. Articles can be up to 800 words.

Graphics:

The covers & inside covers are colour-printed. The rest is black & white. This means that most graphics have to be in fairly bold line or in photos which are either b&w or will translate quite easily into b&w.

Graphics must be sent as jpegs (or equivalent) with a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Graphics on the web are normally much lower than that.

Copyright permission must be given for the use of any graphic.