In “Supple Bodies, Healthy Minds: Yoga, Psychedelics and American Mental Health,” Lucas Richert and Matthew DeCloedt chart the entanglement of yoga and psychedelics in America during the first three quarters of the twentieth century, paying special attention to the countercultural 1960s, when the two became widely popular amongst a generation of primarily middle class, white […]
Latest articles
Paradigm Shift? Purity, Progress and the Origins of First-Episode Psychosis
In “Paradigm Shift? Purity, Progress and the Origins of First-Episode Psychosis,” Suze G. Berkhout examines images, concepts and metaphors in the medical literature on early intervention into first-episode psychosis (FEP) to understand how its embeds notions of purity and progress, and how the origins of the category is coeval with the development of new anti-psychotic […]
Evidence and Speculation: Reimagining Approaches to Architecture and Research within the Paediatric Hospital
Evidence-based design (EBD), a method of design that is derived from evidence-based medicine, might at first seem a far-cry from the concerns of speculative design, but in their article “Evidence and Speculation: Reimagining Approaches to Architecture and Research within the Paediatric Hospital,” Rebecca McLaughlan and Alan Pert show that speculative design functions in ways that […]
Sing Your Heart Out: Community Singing as Part of Mental Health Recovery
Tom Shakespeare and Alice Whieldon report on a mixed-methods study of the Norfolk-based (UK) community-run “Sing Your Heart Out” (SYHO) project in their article, “Sing Your Heart Out: Community Singing as Part of Mental Health Recovery.” Through a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with project leaders and participants, along with participant observation, Shakespeare […]
Going a Long Way in a Wheelchair
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (Gus van Sant, USA 2018). Review by Franco Ferrarini, Gastroenterologist and Film Reviewer. Don’t Worry, Gus van Sant’s latest film, explores several mental health themes through revisiting the real life memories of the cartoonist and writer John Callahan. In the film, John (Joachin Phoenix) suffered from serious […]
Climate change in Kerala: Hot air and cold facts
In this post, Professor Kesavan Rajasekharan Nayar discusses the importance of recognizing climate change as an important factor in the recent flood disaster in the state of Kerala in India especially given the clear signals from the after-effects of the disaster. Many considered talk of climate change and its impacts a few years ago as […]
Neglected No More: An Authentic Portrayal of People Affected by Leprosy
Yomeddine (Abu Bakr Shawky, Egypt 2018), showing at the London Film Festival 18, 20, and 21 October, 2018. Review by Dr Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent. In spite of its worldwide impact, leprosy remains on the World Health Organization (WHO) list of Neglected Tropical Diseases. In 2016, there were 216,108 new cases registered […]
Recovering from collective trauma: Utøya 22. juli
Utøya 22. juli, directed by Erik Poppe, Norway 2018, showing at the London Film Festival, 12th and 13 October. Review by Dr Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent. In July 2011, a far-right extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, brought Norway to a state of national mourning. After setting off a bomb in government headquarters in Oslo, […]
Troubled Minds in Troubled Times: The London Film Festival
The London Film Festival (10-21 October 2018) explores children and adolescents’ mental health Review by Dr Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent. The 62nd British Film Institute (BFI) London Film Festival (LFF) returns in October with a selection of thought-provoking films from 75 countries. It is indeed a ‘globally diverse event’ as highlighted by its […]
PTSD and Fatalité Intérieure: Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Cold War’
Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland 2018). Reviewed by Prof. Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell College, New York. Cold War is a film set mostly in Poland in the Communist era from 1949 to the 1960s. The majority of scenes are shot under a grim, steel-grey sky, befitting the spirit-crushing oppression that prevailed in that time and place. But the […]