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This article was originally published on Mad in America on May 27, 2020, and is written by Ana Florence. It can be accessed here. MIA's Ana Florence interviews United Nations Special Rapporteur Dainius Pūras about...

Only last year, Mad in Asia Pacific ran Yeni Rosa Damayanti’s photo-essay on the horrific conditions the mentally ill in Indonesia had been abandoned in during and after the 2018 earthquake and tsunami that struck Central Sulawesi. Damayanti, a lead TCI Asia...

This article was originally published on Mad in America on March 23, 2020 and is written by Leah Harris. It can be accessed here. Connection, whether one-on-one or in groups, is at the heart of peer support. In...

The following concerned organisations have drafted a collective statement on the heightened risk that people living with psychosocial disabilities face amidst a pandemic like COVID-19.-Pan African Network of Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities-Redesfera Latinoamericana de la Diversidad Psicosocial-TCI Asia Pacific (Transforming Communities for...

This article was originally written by Tina Minkowitz for Mad in America on March 5, 2020 and can be accessed here. In a new report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture writes that "Involuntary psychiatric interventions...

本系列為Mad in Asia Pacific與台灣失序者聯盟（失序盟）成員的對話，失序盟成員從失序者/瘋人/酷兒的位置出發，探索台灣精神失序相關議題。本系列內容於Mad in Asia Pacific分為上、下集發表，並另有刊載英文版。 台灣失序者聯盟成員暨作者 王修梧 郝天行 林昭生 秀 感謝劉昆峰與曾郁翔協助我們諸多題項的翻譯 心理健康體制試圖「幫助」人時，常常反造成二度傷害，我看到你們對此有很深的興趣。台灣的生物醫療取向有多盛行呢？ 台灣主要的心理健康服務有：精神醫療（只有精神科醫師能提供）、心理治療（臨床心理師與諮商心理師提供）。沒有服務是完美的，上述這些專業服務都有造成二度創傷的風險，主要的問題在沒有建立透明的投訴機制。目前沒有提供遭受不當對待的病人或案主一個完善的中立第三方檢舉管道；而精神醫療過失部分則很難舉證過失。 二度創傷的形成，與服務本身是否為生物醫療取向，不見得是充分必要關係。但的確，以實證科學「生物醫療取向」為基礎的西醫精神醫學，在台灣十分盛行。台灣施行全民健保，在一般考量醫療費用的情況下，民眾幾乎使用健保看診，且2016年起已經取消鎖卡限制。但心理諮商沒有普遍納入健保，看醫學中心或診所的精神科，一次150-600NTD左右；而心理諮商一小時則為1500-2500NTD，大約是最低工資的十分之一。 健保包含西醫與中醫（通常被視為整合醫學、替代醫學），根據台灣2017年的全民健康保險醫療統計資料(2018出版)，該年「精神、行為和神經發展疾患」類就診率，西醫是每十萬人口10,408人，將近10%人口就診西醫精神科；中醫則是每十萬人口735人，西醫就診率是中醫就診率的14倍之多。而這還沒計入西醫精神科的急診就診率（中醫沒有精神科急診）。而根據衛生福利部官方統計，2018年抗憂鬱藥物使用人數為1330,204人，約占台灣人口的5.6%，用藥人數逐年成長，但大眾媒體仍會強調這樣的使用人數比憂鬱症盛行率低，所以用藥率不夠高──我們認為這樣的論述是很荒謬的，也忽視了精神痛苦的社會脈絡。

In this two-part series, Mad in Asia Pacific is in conversation with the members of Taiwan Mad Alliance, namely Shu Shu, Tien-Hsing Hao, Zhao Sheng Lin, Fyon*. We explored some of the issues faced by queer and mad people with psychosocial disability...

In light of the widespread outbreak of Coronavirus over the past few months, the Korean Association for Mental Illness issued a warning statement for psychiatric hospitals on February 25, 2020. Korean Association for Mental Illness made a statement...

This post was originally written by Kanga Kong for Bloomberg on February 22, 2020 and can be accessed here. Almost all patients at a psychiatric ward of a South Korean hospital tested positive for the coronavirus, with local reports...

Note: This article, authored by Jacob Hess, was first published on Mad in America on January 8, 2020, and can be accessed here. In the largest newspaper in the world this week, one of the largest problems in the world...