#this is mostly about instagram

[anti-ao3]

ppl when they get shat on for paying to boost their idiotic fake news/scams/triggering bullshit: um i'm clearly the victim here!!!! you guys took it out of context!!!!

[izzypaw]

every social media except here gives me so much anxiety now 😭😭😭

[trans-axolotl]

so im going into therapy (or social work, more broadly) as a profession (in school rn). i know that not everyone in anti psych would support that, understandably, and im not under an illusion that therapy isnt tied to the whole system and process. but i want to bring a liberationist, anti-racist, pro-mad, and abolitionist ideology to help who i can

do you have any suggested resources or reading recommendations or idk any insight on how to inform the way i go about juggling anti psychiatry in a profession that is considered going hand in hand with it?

Hi anon.

I think there can be ways that people working in the psych system can leverage power and resources in a way where they're acting in solidarity with psych survivors and mad people, but in reality, this very rarely happens, even among professionals who identify as radical or as having lived experience.

Fundamentally, the psychiatric system is one that perpetuates structural violence, and in smaller and larger ways, anyone who works within the system to legitimize it contributes to and is complicit in that violence. So I think that for anyone who is planning to work within the system, you need to be upfront with yourself that there is harm occurring and that isn't something you can just ignore or act like that's something you're separate from. Even if you're not working inpatient or facilitating forced drugging of someone, there's still a lot of ways that therapists can be complicit in psychiatric violence.

One of the most obvious ways is through mandatory reporting. I believe that in order to be an ethical therapist you must break the law--mandatory reporting is a dangerous way that mad people are surveilled by the state, and therapists must work to interrupt that and prevent it. There are a lot of therapists out there already talking about practical ways to avoid mandatory reporting and how to be upfront with clients about it, and I can link some of that at the end of this post. I won't say it's always easy, but we have an obligation to each other to do everything we can to stop psych incarceration from happening.

I think there's a lot of ways that even outpatient, therapists are asked to enable other forms of psychiatric violence. Even if in your practice, you're really focusing on liberation, respecting autonomy, etc, there are ways that other psych professionals might try to get you to help them perpetuate different forms of harm. And because of your degree and licensure, there's this power imbalance between you and your client that means you do have the power to enable these kinds of harms. The degree next to your name means that you will always be believed over your client and that is a lot of power to hold. If you're working with a client with an eating disorder and their dietitian gives an ultimatum that they have to be hospitalized or they're refusing to provide care, what do you do? If your client's psychiatrist is refusing to answer questions or let them switch to other types of medications, what do you do? If your client is involved in a court case and you're getting subpoenaed for their medical records, what do you do? If your MSW program requires you to do one of your internships in an inpatient program, how do you prevent that from happening? There are a lot more examples I can think of, but these are just a few things I wanted to highlight for ways that therapy is still entangled in the larger system.

Another thing that feels important to me is to make the distinction between being a "good therapist" and helping people, because I don't think those things are the same. I see a lot of "radical" therapists get fixated on this idea that they need figure out ways to make the psych system run smoother, to improve access, to overall make the psych system better, and that this is the only way to help people. It's really important to be able to separate those ideas. For me, psych abolition is a project of building up our capacity to care for each other while destroying the systems that currently enact violence on us, and reformist ideas about expanding psychiatric systems, increasing funding, and legitimize psychiatric authority gets in the way of actually transforming care. I think in order to help people, you need to commit to being a "bad therapist" in the eyes of a capitalist healthcare system.

One recommendation I have is to read Franco Basaglia's writing and learn about his approach of the democratic psychiatry movement. As a psychiatrist, he saw his role as a way to disrupt the system and deinstitutionalize. He has this quote where he talks about how they weren't focused on eliminating problems, but rather on how deinstitutionalization would create more chaos and new problems--and how that created so much possibility for transformation. I think he's proof that there are certainly ways that psych professionals can act as accomplices who actually are in solidarity with psych survivors, but it's rare.

Last point I have is that although you gain something from professional training and licensure, there's also a lot you lose. MSW programs often don't actually teach you the skills you want to learn about how to actually support people--there's a lot you're going to have to learn from continuing education credits. From my friends who have gotten their MSW, I've heard a lot of complaints about how surface level a lot of information is, and also about how a lot of the way that information is taught reinforces hierarchal ideas and doesn't respect patient autonomy. I'll also say that gaining licensure oftentimes creates barriers for radical action--I've seen so many therapists who then become so attached to holding onto and not losing that licensure that they weigh it above mad people's lives. I've heard so many therapists say "Oh I can't speak up against restraint because I'll lose my job/I can't ignore mandatory reporting because I'll lose my license/etc etc etc." And I think that can be a really damaging mindset that harms your potential to actually help people. There are several therapists I know who are in the process of intentional de-licensure because of this, but regardless if you pursue that path or not, this is a mindset you need to be on guard against.

All that being said, I think there is a need for more abolitionist therapists who are able to help support our communities, both in terms of creating that space for individual support and on a collective level. There are ways that you can leverage your access to resources and the way you're seen as legitimate in the system to help advocate for people, get them support, and interfere with psych violence. I have a therapist comrade who keeps working in inpatient psychiatry specifically so that they can continue to sneak in banned materials to the ward, prevent illegal restraints, be involved in court proceedings as an advocate, connect people to mad liberation resources, let psych patients use their phone, document psychiatric abuse with the plan to fairly soon release that information as a whistleblower, and more that I'm not going to talk about publicly. They still grapple with the fact that they are currently perpetuating harm at the same time, but to them, it's worth it to be able to sabotage things in that way. And I think that there are ways that you can take the information you learn in your program that is actually useful and find ways to bring that directly to your communities, and that there is good you can. I just think you have to be very intentional and aware of what it takes to actually do that, rather than just staying complacent with the label of being a "radical therapist" without doing anything to make that true.

For resources--here's my psych abolition drive with a lot of different zines, books, workbooks on different psych abolition topics. I really would recommend reading Psychiatry Inside Out by Franco Basaglia as an example of successful psychiatric resistance.

I would also suggest checking out Mutual Aid/Self Social therapy--the people who created this project are trusted comrades of mine, have both gotten their MSW or LMFT, and they have a lot of helpful insight into how to navigate things like avoiding mandatory reporting, de-licensure, etc. They have a discord server and also have regular online MAST meetings to train people on what MAST is and how to set up a MAST collective.

Genuinely wishing you the best of luck through school and appreciate that you're actively thinking about these things.

[canisalbus]

*gasp* ITS THE PERSON WITH THE SICK DOG ANTHRO DESINGS AND INTERESTING AS FUCK LORE WHO'S ART I FOUND UNCREDITED ON PINTEREST!! I HAVE FOUND YOU IN THE WILD! FUCK YEAH

.

[yasbeych]

this is how I see g1 megatron

[icarusdiesatdawn]

jon liked my wiggly art on instagram y'all. this is insane to me

it only occured to me yesterday that I could follow the starkids on the Social Media(tm) because I'm such a "tumblr only" kinda guy yknow.

Like I had my obligatory insta for a while now because at some point people kept asking me where they could find my art, but I don't really use it much outside of posting my drawings sometimes. And I only follow other arstist I like or people I know irl. Literally youtube people only exist in my youtube for me

Anyway, absolutely WILD to me, but know that I know I can get REWARDED (starcan members possibly seeing my posts) it's motivating to post more fanart to instagram

((fyi: my tumblr sideblog for art is @cauldronsart and I use the same handle for insta as well, if anyone wants to find me there))

[outlying-hyppocrate]

So Normal about my characters. yes i gave them their own handwriting styles and made up little dialogues on paper like they were passing notes in class. still Normal by the way

[solar-halos]

ways i think thg characters would get (social media) famous (a very mixed batch of modern au/canon compliant hcs)

• i’ve mentioned this before but finnick would get very popular singing popular songs in his caesar flickerman impression. “hellomy nameiscaesarflickerman. and this is MY COVER of espresso by my late greatgreatgreatgreat grandmother sabrina carpenter” (inspo: this fucking guy. this is exactly my type of humor bc i laughed so fucking hard at this when i first saw it i couldn’t breathe. anyway onto the rest of the post)

• because alt/goth annie owns my heart, she is making get ready with mes that are completely silent save for the pitter patter of her feet (inspo: malloryheartsyou). however one day she drops a five hour analysis on her fav piece of media and everyone freaks out over the sound of her voice

• brutus and gloss are the token guy best friends that everyone is weird about who sit in their rooms and watch stupid movies and give even stupider commentary

• cashmere is doing a little bit of everything! baking, makeup, sewing you name it. i feel like when she’s not in the capitol she just tries to stay busy (inspo: mia maples! love her our diy queen)

• glimmer THRIVES on doing shorts on how she thrift flips her clothes into something y2k inspired. she also makes questionable items into the cutest items ever (inspo for last part: this fashionista original diva. love her southern twang)

• clove is doing her makeup while telling crazy fucking stories “yeah he cheated on me—“ *checks her lipgloss, dabs at the excess “—so i drove his car off a cliff. while he was in it. i am excellent with a snorkel”

• cato is saying something stupid as fuck for views + comments. “isn’t it crazy how there isn’t a single color that starts with an O and ends with a E?” “women have it one day out of the year, but men have it all the time. what is it?” “there are no words that rhyme with pillow”

• johanna would have a podcast talking about various conspiracy theories like she believes them. sometimes finnick joins her and he continues the bit

• beetee is just straight up matpat. i dont think i have to link him but specifically his fnaf era. idk something about him making passionate youtube videos defending arguments he didn’t even believe with his life is just very young adult beetee to me that guy would be contrarian just for the sake of it

[extantodyssey]

all the parts, minus a few red blood cells

-

today’s offering: a nick valentine from my sketchbook 💘

[pardonmydelays]

"what's your role in the fandom" i am a clown who writes the most terrible posts only liked by two of my mutuals out of pity

[foursaints]

also there’s this one specific pic of assad with those thin circular jfp glasses and Uhmmm yeah. u need to find it and look at it bc ur assad=evan vision is so clear but like.. cmon

$6000 and my firstborn to whoever can get this picture of assad into my askbox my god by the lord’s name PLEASE

[milkcioccolato]

I SURPASSED 1K ON MY INSTAGRAM TODAY YAYYYYYYYY

I’m so happyyyy

[leapdayowo]

Goop!Wally au

First goodbye

A bit of angst is coming very soon..

[bookwyrminspiration]

some info from Shannon on upcoming events!!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shannon Messenger (@sw_messenger)

[butchnavi]

the second highlight of pride for me (after seeing my college best friend the most radiant I've seen her in my life from the sheer euphoria of being at her first pride) has to be three separate pretty girls asking to take a picture with/of me specifically because they found me cute???! ME???! SKIBJDJRJRJGJKGJJH I LOVE LESBIANS

[louferrignojrofficial]

okay i’m going to sleep, hopefully i’ll wake up from a dream about lou and then actually see lou again