At the Heart of a Mad Movement: The Life and Work of Peter Campbell, Psychiatric System Pioneer

by Peter Barham (Editor), Peter Beresford (Editor), Ker Wallwork (Editor)

Overview

This book showcases and celebrates the writings of Peter Campbell, an activist, writer, educator, and a veteran survivor of the mental health system, conveying the variety and vitality of Campbell's accomplishments across the years from 1967 to 2022.

Diagnosed with severe psychosis and with a history of hospitalizations reaching back to 1967, Peter Campbell was an indefatigable critic of orthodox psychiatry and of many aspects of the mental health system. He was a founder and veteran of the groundbreaking psychiatric survivors’ movement in 1980s and 1990s Britain. The diverse essays within this book cover topics such as seclusion, spiritual crisis, lived experience of psychosis, ECT and psychiatric drugs, and the survivor movement, together with a number of in-depth interviews, as well as other creative contributions such as dramatic scripts and satirical sketches. Brought together, these diverse creations are an eloquent testimony to the humanity, unflagging commitment and staying power of a hugely significant writer, innovator, commentator and critic.

Written in Campbell's accessible and witty style, this will be an invaluable resource for practitioners in psychiatry and all disciplines, people with lived experience of psychosis and their relatives and carers, activists, and all concerned with distress and mental wellbeing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781041066453
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/10/2025
Series:	The International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis Book Series
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Peter Barham is a psychologist and historian of mental health. He has been working, writing, and engaging critically in the mental health field for more than fifty years.

Peter Beresford OBE is Visiting Professor at the University of East Anglia and Co-Chair of Shaping Our Lives, the national disabled people’s and service users’ organization and network.

Ker Wallwork is the project archivist for the Peter Campbell Legacy Project, hosted by the Bishopsgate Institute, where Peter Campbell’s extensive archives, compiled over more than four decades, have been donated.

Table of Contents

Part 1: IN AND OUT THE BIN, 1967-85  1.00a Introduction  1.00b ‘IN & OUT THE BIN’ (1983-85): synopsis.  1.1. ‘First Taste’  1.2 ‘Cambridge –The Golden Land’  1.3 ‘Breakdowns and Shakedowns’  1.4 ‘Life on the Inside’  1.5 ‘Therapeutica –Chinks in the Armour’  1.6 ‘Drugs: The Many-Headed Guard Dog’  PART 2: HOLDING IT ALL TOGETHER, 1983-2000   2.00 Introduction  2.01 Letters to Open Mind magazine (1983-85)  2.02 ‘We’re Not Mad, We’re Angry’ (1986)  2.03 ‘Bleak Reading on Judgement Day’ (1986)  2.04 Cartoons by Niall, ‘Melvin Menz’  2.05 ‘Madness Café’ [abridged]  2.06 ‘Nutter’s Diary’ [2 sections, abridged]  2.07 ‘Hotel Galactica’ [abridged]  2.08 ‘Typing Error’ (c 1986)  2.09 ‘Losing & Regaining Control’ (1986)  2.10 ‘Self-advocacy: Working Together for Change’ (1990)  2.11 ‘The Needs of people in crisis’ (1990)  2.12 ‘Spiritual crisis’ (1993)  2.13 ‘The Last Communication’ (1993)  2.14 ‘Valuing Psychosis: A Personal View’ (1994)  2.15 ‘Service-user’s perspective on the care prog approach’ (1995)  2.16 ‘Through the Revolving Door’ (1999)  2.17 ‘Back to Cambridge’ (Testimony 2000)  2.18 ‘The Experience of Seclusion’ (Testimony 2000)  2.19 ‘Being on Section’ (Testimony 2000)  2.20 ‘At the Richmond Fellowship’ (Testimony 2000)  2.21 ‘Alternative Therapies’ (Testimony 2000)  2.22 ‘Working with Children’ (Testimony 2000)  PART 3: A QUEST FOR LIBERATION, 2000-2022  3.00 Introduction  3.01 ‘Coming Out of the Closet’(Testimony 2000)  3.02 ‘Control in the community’ (2000)  3.03 ‘Surviving Social Inclusion’ (c 2000)  3.04 ‘Discharged’ (Testimony 2000)  3.05. ‘A Barren Experience’ (a crisis admission) by ‘Niall’ (2001)  3.06 ‘It’s Not the Real You’ (2001)  3.07. ‘An Outline History of Mental Health Advocacy’ (2004)  3.08 Testimony interview (2005): Napsbury  3.09 Testimony interview (2005): experience of ECT  3.10. Testimony interview (2005): experience of psychiatric medication  3.11. ‘The Survivor Movement in the 1980s’ (2006)  3.12. ‘Seclusion: The Bigger Picture’ (2007)  3.13. Personal account of seclusion (n/d)  3.14. ‘People with Mental Health Problems Don’t Know What is Good for Them’ (n/d)  3.15. ‘Speaking for Ourselves’ (2022)  Part 4: BIG RED AND AFTERWORDS  4.00 BIG RED  Afterwords  4.01 The Editors  4.02. Sarah Carr  4.03. Colin King  4.04 Acknowledgements  4.05 Resources  4.06 Index

Editorial Reviews

‘The publication of this book is very welcome. It celebrates the life and work of Peter Campbell, a pioneering mental health activist who spoke from his own extensive experience of being a psychiatric patient, frequently detained in the mentalhospitals of England. His writing gives a perceptive, eloquent and, ultimately, damning account of the mental health system in the closing decades of the last century. The editors are to be congratulated on gathering together Campbell’s many essays and articles, and, in particular, his powerful autobiography of his early ‘asylum’ years.’

Dr Allan Beveridge, Co-Book Review Editor, British Journal of Psychiatry, History and Humanities Editor, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

‘This new collection of the writings of Peter Campbell, psychiatric survivor and mental health activist, provides an important corrective to the standard histories of postwar psychological medicine.  Against the familiar rehearsals of policy development and therapeutic innovations, these writings offer a valuable insider account of the lived experience of five decades which witnessed the transformation of psychiatry and mental health care in modern Britain. The humanity and energy of Campbell's approach shines through these writings and through the work of his editors.  This is a truly valuable work.’

Dr Rhodri Hayward, School of History, Queen Mary, University of London

‘Peter Campbell was an extraordinary communicator and advocate for people with lives disrupted by profound mental illness, as his was. I was captivated by Peter's vivid turn of phrase and deep, haunting insights, into both mental illness and NHS mental healthcare. He went right to the nub of the matter, and expressed complex ideas clearly, elegantly and convincingly. As psy-professionals, we can learn much from his writings regarding patients’ perspectives, and how we can work together constructively for the better.’

Dr Claire Hilton, Psychiatrist and Historian

‘What a treat!  Peter Campbell consistently channelled the spirit of the psychiatric survivor movement over many decades, but many are unaware of the scope and depth of his contributions.  Fusing the personal and political, the individual and the collective, this collection is engaging, insightful, and highly relevant today. This book will enable contemporary survivors, activists and researchers to stand on the shoulder of a gentle giant of the movement.  Modest during his life, I hope this book ensures his legacy.’ 

Hel Spandler, Editor, Asylum, the radical mental health magazine and Professor of Mental Health, University of Central Lancashire

‘Speaking for myself as a Black racialized misdiagnosed male, Peter’s case resonates. I empathize and celebrate his bravery, his resilience, and embrace his position as an activist for change in relation to the historical dehumanization he endured…. I feel Peter’s energy through his biography and life, his personal commitment towards radical ethical dismantling of a mental health system.’

From the ‘Afterword’ by Colin King, Black survivor research activist and founder of the Whiteness and Race Equality Network

From the Publisher