Essay by Ron Merkin. All names, except the author’s, have been changed. Part One: Drugs “How do you feel about the use of psychotropic medication in the treatment of psychiatric patients?” she asked. Her question caught me completely unprepared. It was my first...
The term “mental health court” has the ring almost of an oxymoron. But for some criminal justice reformers, such programs (which include Vermont’s Chittenden Adult Drug Treatment and Mental Health Court Dockets) demonstrate a means of reducing the rate of...
Short fiction by Ron Merkin, Montpelier The Jaltsens lived in New Jersey. Walking through Manhattan after a concert we attended with them one night, my husband asked if they’d be taking the George Washington Bridge home. “Oh, no!” Alice responded. “It’d be...
The bandshell at Burlington’s Battery Park hosted speakers from across the state on Mad Pride Day. Excerpts follow. Chris Hansen, Burlington My chief qualification for being here is my own history of being seen as mad enough to lock up at a significant time in my...
How should psychiatric survivors and ex-patients interact with mainstream progressive demands for a fully funded mental health system? On July 31, the popular HBO show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver aired a 25-minute video essay about mental healthcare in the...