This piece of writing comes out of a series of discussions which occurred on the forums of libcom.org. It was repeatedly raised that depression, mental illness, and emotional stress are very common amongst libertarian political activists. Furthermore, suffering from mental illness as someone who is politically active often comes with its own set of complications. Sometimes the wider anarchist/ activist community is supportive and helpful. Other times, we can feel just as alienated amongst fellow anarchists as we do from the rest of capitalist society.
With that in mind, the goal of this pamphlet is to offer some advice on what’s generally helpful in maintaining overall mental health. We have various sections that look at these issues from different angles, roughly as follows:
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General advice
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Management strategies
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Personal accounts
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Links
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Advice from anarchist/radical mental health workers
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Essays on organisational culture and mental health
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Tips and discussion topics for groups and organisations
We don’t, however, want to pretend for a second that this pamphlet is a substitute for professional medical advice. While we’re critical of certain aspects of mental health treatment, if you’re suffering from severe depression or considering hurting yourself, please speak to someone immediately.
Living with depression isn’t easy. Far too often, on a societal as well as inter- personal level, mental health issues are ignored—or worse, written off with sufferers being blamed as weak or just overreacting.
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