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A Letter from Holland

Bill G

National Perceptions Forum has a sister organization in Holland !!! It is called Anoiksis, which is Greek for ‘An Open Mind’. It has the same relationship to Ypsilon, which is the Dutch family association, that the National Perceptions Forum has to Rethink.

Anoiksis was founded on 16 February 1993 by Maarten Vermeulen, as an offshoot of Ypsilon, which was itself founded 25 years ago by a lady called Ria van der Heijden. Anoiksis is a completely consumer-run association of people who have chronic psychoses or schizophrenia. The Greek word Anoiksis literally means ‘the opening of a flower in spring’. Currently we have over 1600 members in 27 regions, which are run by 40 regional coordinators. Locally there are regular discussions about themes such as the side-effects of medicines or about the recovery movement or about compulsory treatment and hospital admission. We also have outings to restaurants or walks in the park etc. The keynote is ‘gezelligheid’, which is a typical Dutch word for a typical Dutch phenomenon, but difficult to translate. It means something like conviviality or cosiness!

We meet nationally once a year for our National Day, when the committee present their reports and plans and there is a talk, usually by a friendly, tame psychiatrist. We also have contact with various advisory bodies like the National Mental Health Platform, the Rehabilitation Knowledge Centre, various government institutions and other patient associations; and we give presentations to Mental Health Congresses from the patients’ point of view. We take a positive/critical stance towards psychiatry, and some members train to be ‘experiential experts’, which includes one’s own experience, but goes further to include a special training.

We have just completed a national competition to find a new and better name for the stigmatising concept schizophrenia. This was the brilliant idea of Michael van Oostende, who is also moderator of Schizforum (a vibrant internet discussion forum exclusively for people with psychotic susceptibility). We had 320 entries to our competition from throughout the Netherlands. A jury of experts chose as the winner Dysfunctional Perception Syndrome – DSP -- the runner-up was Sensitive Mind Disorder (or Syndrome) – SMS !! We hope other countries will follow suit and have competitions to look for a better name. But that is only the beginning. The whole object is a long term push to increase awareness, openness, honesty and a better image – in order to counteract the stigma from which we all suffer.

Membership of Anoiksis costs EUR 16 a year, which includes our quarterly magazine Open Geest (Dutch for ‘Open Mind’). Friends of Anoiksis are also welcome for the same subscription. Please state in which category you fall.

Contact Head Office:
Anoiksis
Gansstraat 67a
3582 EC Utrecht
The Netherlands
E-mail: anoiksis[#]anoiksis.nl
Website: www.anoiksis.nl