The Mental Health Crisis: What is really going on? With Dr Lucy Johnstone

We are constantly told that there is a mental health crisis. Research tells us that it is no longer 1 in 4 people who have a mental health problem - the figure is now closer to 9 in 10. But what is really going on? Should we continue with soaring numbers of drug prescriptions, and calls for more services and research? Or do we need to ask more fundamental questions about our rising levels of unhappiness and despair?

In this provocative talk, Lucy Johnstone will challenge current thinking about this issue and suggest different ways forward. There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion.

Dr Lucy Johnstone is a consultant clinical psychologist, author of 'Users and abusers of psychiatry' (3rd edition Routledge 2021) and ‘A straight-talking guide to psychiatric diagnosis’ (PCCS Books, 2nd edition 2022); co-editor of 'Formulation in psychology and psychotherapy: making sense of people's problems' (Routledge, 2nd edition 2013); and co-author of ‘A straight talking introduction to the Power Threat Meaning Framework’, 2020, PCCS Books) along with a number of other chapters and articles taking a critical perspective on mental health theory and practice. She is the former Programme Director of the Bristol Clinical Psychology Doctorate in the UK and has worked in Adult Mental Health settings for many years, most recently in a service in South Wales.

Lucy was lead author, along with Professor Mary Boyle, for the ‘Power Threat Meaning Framework’ (2018), a British Psychological Society publication co-produced with service users, which outlines a conceptual alternative to psychiatric diagnosis. Lucy is an experienced conference speaker and lecturer, and currently works as an independent trainer. She is a visiting professor at London South Bank University, and lives in Bristol, UK.

This talk will be recorded for those delegates who can't attend live