Dr.
Seth Farber, is a
psychologist (he received
his doctorate in 1984), a
social activist (both in the
human rights and anti-war
movements) and founder of
the Network Against Coercive
Psychiatry. He has had four
books published previously,
including a book critiquing
Zionism, and numerous essays
and articles. A critic of
the mental health system, he
has been a guest on many
television and radio shows.
His first book Madness,
Heresy and the Rumor of
Angels:The Revolt Against
the Mental Health System(Open
Court, Chicago, 1993)
contained a foreword by
Thomas Szasz. The
publication of his book
Lunching with Lunatics:
Adventures of a Renegade
Psychologist has been
temporarily postponed due to
circumstances beyond his
control. (See excerpts.) Dr
Farber is also an editor of
the pioneering review The
Journal of Mind and Behavior,
and is currently working on
a book on "mad liberation"
and the new spirituality.
Farber founded the Network
Against Coercive Psychiatry
in 1988.
Eternal Day: The
Christian
Alternative to
Secularism and
Modern
Psychology
(Regina Press,
1998)
A critique of
psychoanalysis
and the medical
model model of
psychology as a
form of
secularized
Augustinianism.
Augustinianism,
with its
insistence on
predestination
and eternal
damnation, was
an inversion of
the original
Christian
teaching of
human freedom to
respond to
infinite grace
and the promise
of universal
salvation.
Psychiatry Today
(2001)
Excerpt
(slightly
altered) from
essay in Review
of Existential
Psychology and
Psychiatry
(2001, 25th
Anniversary
Issue) "Against
Psychotherapy
and Biological
Psychiatry"
Organization
Network Against
Coercive
Psychiatry
Network Against
Coercive
Psychiatry is an
organization
comprised of
psychotherapists
(including
psychiatrists),
survivors of
psychiatric
incarceration
(commonly known
as "mental
patients"),
scholars and
other concerned
citizens.
Pending memoir.
Non-fiction.
Lunching with
Lunatics:Adventures
of a Renegade
Psychologist.
After years of
practicing
therapy,Dr
Farber-- a
psychologist in
the tradition of
his hero,
radical
psychiatrist
R.D. Laing--
concludes that
mental illness
is a myth and
that
"schizophrenics,"
although often
troubled, are
the vanguard of
a cultural
revolution.
Farber falls in
love with Carla,
and a few years
later with Lily,
both
"schizophrenics."
(Neither were
patients of
his.) These two
crazy women are
so intelligent
and charismatic
that their
personalities
burst through
the stereotype
of "mental
illness." Farber
talks to crazy
people in their
own language.
Psychiatrists
call it "schizophrenese"
but Farber calls
it the language
of dreams, of
poetry, of
magic. Farber's
dogged romantic
persistence
makes us wonder
whether he is a
brilliant
visionary or a
crackpot
himself--or
both. This is an
inspiring story,
profound in its
implications--it
is an
affirmation of a
vision of life
beyond the
dichotomies of
sanity and
insanity as we
know them.
Channel 34 of the Time/Warner, Channel
83 of the RCN, & Channel 33 of the VerizonFiOS
Cable Television Systems in Manhattan, New
York.
The Program can now also be viewed on the
internet at time of cable casting at:
WWW.MNN.ORGw.
NOTE: You must adjust viewing to reflect NYC time
& click on channel 34 at site
