Empowering Minds Podcast: The history of psychiatric diagnosis | Episode 5

MHE Policy Officer Jonas Bull is joined by three experts to talk about the history of psychiatric diagnosis and how to develop a human rights-based perspective on mental health labels.

• Dr. Lucy Johnstone, consultant and clinical psychologist, explains how psychiatric diagnosis manuals were established and she explores other ways we can think about experiencing distress.
• Lea Labaki, human rights advocate and person with lived experience, shares her personal story of receiving a psychiatric diagnosis and the effect it had on her life. She wrote about the Belgian system of psychiatric institutions, criticising coercion in mental healthcare and institutionalisation.
• Dr. Jasna Russo is an independent scholar and a long-term activist in the mental health service user & psychiatric survivor movement. She discusses the importance of a human rights-based approach in mental healthcare.