'Finding our own solutions' : the women's movement and mental health activism in late twentieth-century England
This thesis examines the development of mental health activism in the womenâs movement in England from the establishment of the Womenâs Liberation Movement (WLM) in 1968 until the end of the first nationwide charity campaign to focus on women and mental health, MINDâs Stress on Women, in 1994. Constructing in-depth case studies, this thesis assesses the assumption in the late 1960s and early 1970s that consciousness-raising facilitated womenâs positive mental health, examines the formation of the London Womenâs Liberation Workshop Psychology Group, traces the development of the Womenâs Therapy Centre in London, and explores how the mental health charity MIND increasingly utilised and popularised womenâs movement ideas and approaches across the 1980s and 1990s. In doing so, it explores how womenâs movement mental health activists increasingly aligned feminist critiques of psychiatry and psychology, with the positive promotion of psychotherapy. Existing accounts of womenâs movement mental health activism focus on the rejection of psychology and psychotherapy by its members. This thesis highlights how womenâs movement members established community-based organisations and grassroots self-help
Mahoney, Kate
DA Great Britain
'Finding our own solutions' : the women's movement and mental health activism in late twentieth-century England. This thesis examines the development of mental health activism in the womenâs movement in England from the establishment of the Womenâs Liberation Movement (WLM) in 1968 until the end of the first nationwide charity campaign to focus on women and mental health, MINDâs Stress on Women, in 1994. Constructing in-depth case studies, this thesis assesses the assumption in the late 1960s and early 1970s that consciousness-raising facilitated womenâs positive mental health, examines the formation of the London Womenâs Liberation Workshop Psychology Group, traces the development of the Womenâs Therapy Centre in London, and explores how the mental health charity MIND increasingly utilised and popularised womenâs movement ideas and approaches across the 1980s and 1990s. In doing so, it explores how womenâs movement mental health activists increasingly aligned feminist critiques of psychiatry and psychology, with the positive promotion of psychotherapy. Existing accounts of womenâs movement mental health activism focus on the rejection of psychology and psychotherapy by its members. This thesis highlights how womenâs movement members established community-based organisations and grassroots self-help
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