xenodelic:

PSYCHPUNK

I’ve decided to coin a new term – psychpunk. What is psychpunk? 

Psychpunk relates to the movements of antipsychiatry, radical psychology, and radical therapy. Here are a couple of good posts summarizing the goals and general positions of these movements, but I’ll give an even briefer summary here. 

Psychpunk advocates for the rights of neurodiverse, mentally ill, and mentally disabled people to have more autonomy over their lives and treatment. It pushes back against the current establishment of psychiatry that takes away autonomy, facilitates abuse, and is built on systemic racism, sexism, ableism, and more. Psychpunk advocates for the acknowledgement that diagnostic criteria can sometimes be reductive, restrictive, or outright harmful, and that they cannot accurately describe the entire range of mental health experiences. Psychpunk advocates for the rights of mentally ill / neurodiverse people to be heard and listened to about their own condition and their right to make informed decisions about their own treatment. Psychpunk pushes for the acknowledgment of how socio-economic conditions affect mental health, and the acceptance of neurodiversity as a natural human variation and not as something inherently aberrant that must be “cured”. 

Psychpunk is not against the scientific study of psychology and mental health in and of itself, is not against the use of medications as a whole, and does not posit that mental illness is a fabrication or only a result of outside factors. It is not against the acts of diagnosis and treatment in of itself, and always acknowledges that every individual and situation is nuanced and no system can be perfect. But we still should push for the most fair and equitable system that we can achieve. 

About the flag: Inspired by the disability pride flag. The chain represents breaking free from restrictive institutions and establishments that harm us. The colors have no particular meaning. 

[Image description: 3 different flags representing the Psychpunk movement. The first flag has a dark indigo background, with three bolt shaped stripes moving diagonally across the image. The stripes are a light blue, purple, and pink. There is an indigo chain that is broken in the middle. The second flag has the same background and bolt stripes, but does not have the broken chain. The third flag has 4 horizontal stripes, from top to bottom: pink, purple, blue, indigo, with a dark indigo broken chain going diagonally across the image. End image description.]

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