04/29/2025
‘SHADOW OF PSYCHIATRY’ ALCHEMY ZINE ⚗️
My latest shareable creation for The Complex Nature of Inspiration, DCH 120, Pacifica Graduate Institute
I made a little zine for our assignment and recorded a walkthrough and posted it privately on YouTube, ask me for the link!
The context: the positives that I show in this little zine, were pretty easy to come up with since I recognize these points as pivotal in my recovery from carceral and punitive psychiatric “care” that I received during a manic episode in 1995 at the age of 23: looking squarely at myself in the mirror (p.1), acknowledging my heart and my light; finding creative outlets like art with oil pastels and horticultural arts (p.2); Al-Anon (p.3); Yoga (p.4&5); accepting the right medicines (6); nature, beloveds, and the passage of time (7); and the outcome (8), becoming a yoga therapist and supporting the healing journey of others, especially those whom also experienced mental health challenges. I was able to offer mentorship and possible maps toward greater ease to my yoga therapy clients as a result of my individuation process - an eternal quest.
These positive experiences came from an episode of “madness” made worse by conventional psychiatric interventions that remain in the shadows behind locked doors of hospital units where horrible things happen everyday to people like me who have no idea what is happening to them or why they are being treated violently and without informed consent.
It was my daimon that propelled me to make something good from this brutal experience, and to share that goodness with others as soon as I could.
This piece is new, I made it on April 28, 2025 for this assignment. It is the third zine I have made with these papers and rubber cement in the past month. The previous two were birthday cards for my sister and a friend.
