Submission Guidelines
We have written short introductions of ourselves on this Web site so you can get to know a bit about us as people. This isn’t the book. For practical purposes, it is impossible to control what happens to material originally posted on the Internet, and we’re serious about protecting the copyright to our chapters and yours as well. Aubrey’s chapter about her life runs 5,000 words. You don’t have to write one that long, but you can. We would like to hear all the details you can give us. We are interested in your whole history of contact with the mental health system, what you liked if anything about professional services, and exactly how you experienced harm. Tell us what else in your life has helped you to recover and how your life experiences have shaped your personal attitude toward using mental health services.
You are welcome to remain anonymous and make up another name to use in print as the author of your chapter if you wish. We will need your real name, however we will keep it completely confidential should you not wish to use it. As survivors ourselves, we understand any concerns you have about publishing your real name. Whether or not you decide to is up to you. We’ll also need your postal address, email address, and phone number. Your contact information will be kept private if you send it.
We recommend that you get copies of your records to use as source material for your manuscript. We’ve gotten our records, and they have been extremely helpful in understanding what happened to us. Sometimes it’s very easy to get records, and sometimes it’s a hassle. If you haven’t seen your records, be prepared for surprises. You will probably learn things you never knew. You may discover that professionals sometimes had the wrong idea about what you said or thought, if you have a good memory or your own written journals or other writings from that time. Get those out, too.
Records have a lot of jargon, and it will be obvious they were not written for you to understand. They’re legal documents for professional purposes, and unless you paid cash for private treatment, material from them was given to the government or insurance companies and kept in computer databases that may affect your life. You can get them from private practitioners, public facilities, hospitals, courts, and prisons. Contact everywhere that something important happened and get yours. Each place can only give you the records that were created there.
Please tell us the whole truth. That means remaining anonymous for many people. We know all too well that lies and secrets are common in mental health for many reasons. It is normal for people who fear further harm based on their own past experience to keep the truth from authorities. It is normal to conceal illegal and stigmatized activities and thoughts. We want to avoid publishing lies and keeping secrets. We know from our own lives that many people are more honest with peers than with professionals, and we know that anonymity allows people to say things that are never heard any other way. At the same time, we know that professionals will be skeptical of the truth of the reports in this book. Some research about mental illness conducted on the Internet actually requires participants to allow contact with their therapists so that the researchers can verify confidential information. We’re certainly not going to do that, and we think it is your business whether you are seeing any type of mental health professional, or whether you think you have a mental illness. Please respect our trust as you write your story. Just tell everything that seems important, leaving out all the names except the one you wish to use as your own.
We hope you will decide to join our project and share your story with the goal of helping others to recover. It can make a difference. This is a critical time in history for the future of mental health services, and your voice is important. Advocates of involuntary psychiatry are passing new laws to put people under court order and calling them wonderfully successful. Meanwhile, the consumer movement is establishing voluntary peer supports that offer services integrated with psychiatry as well as non-medical alternatives.
Mental health professionals are trying to keep up with the changes and do the best they can when there is pressure from all directions for every approach you can imagine, from locking people up until they die to basing all treatment on the Bible.
Our goals are to show that recovery is possible with cooperation rather than force, to show that people can be hurt by the system, and to help professionals recognize the harm that can be done and avoid it. We want professionals to realize that being hurt by the system doesn’t translate to a lack of insight. We want professionals, family members, and consumers to know that choosing to remain out of treatment can be a rational decision, even if the person making it has difficulties. We also want to raise awareness of the many people who have experienced harm that impaired their recovery progress but chose to remain in treatment voluntarily.
Please feel free to write to us if you have any questions to ask. Send your message to editors@psychiatricharm.com
If you have never written for publication, we welcome you. Don’t worry too much about spelling, grammar, or format. We will take care of that. Gareth has been a professional editor and you will have the opportunity to review the edited text of your manuscript before it is published to make sure it is perfect. Any level of education is fine and your unique style of writing is valued.
Tell us how you feel, but also be factual and fair. Don’t name any people or facilities; we will take out any names to prevent legal problems. Do put in years and locations you were treated (state, province, country) and identify what type of professional you saw, because legal and ethical practice will vary depending on those facts.
After we have received enough submissions and reviewed them, we will let you know if yours has been selected. We will have you review your edited manuscript to make sure it is perfect. At that point, you’ll have to wait while we find a publisher and take care of negotiating the best contract we can get. We’ll get back to you about the money when we have details. Don’t expect it to be a lot, but you deserve to be paid if you are willing to share your experiences. Eventually, down the road, on a special day, you will get a book you helped to write!
Manuscripts are due by March 31st, 2006. We can accept manuscripts by email or postal mail.
If you email your manuscript, save your manuscript as a .doc or .txt document and send it to us as an attachment. Be sure to include a cover letter in the e-mail with your contact information.
If you send it by postal mail, be sure to include a cover letter and a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) for our reply.
The e-mail address is: submissions@psychiatricharm.com
The postal address is:
Editors, Psychiatric Harm
C/O Mixed State Media
1550 Larimer St. Box 255
Denver, CO 80202
USA
We will acknowledge all submissions by e-mail and keep you posted on what we are doing. Keep a copy of your manuscript safe at your home. We are primarily looking for pieces for first-time publication, however we are willing to consider previously published works if they contribute to our misison. If you want to submit previously published work, please query first. For first-time publication please do not send or post copies anywhere else. If you do that at this point, you can lose control of your copyright as an author. Rights revert upon publication. (You will have the right to do anything you want with it after publication.) We will keep the copyright to the anthology as a whole.
We salute your resilience as a survivor, whatever your choices are, and wish you well in your recovery. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
-Aubrey and Gareth
Related Pages:- About the Project
- Aubrey Ellen Shomo
- Gareth Fenley
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