A new essay on Finnish Open Dialogue

For all interested in Open Dialogue (the subject of my third film): A few days ago I posted an essay on the well-read blog Mad In America, all about my thoughts over the last five years on the Finnish Program “Open Dialogue.” The comments after the essay are worth reading too — some really good ones. Meanwhile, in the essay I am fairly critical of the people who are helping to spread Open Dialogue around the world, mostly because they’re not taking a strong enough stand on some of the basic issues that made Finnish Open Dialogue an evidence-based success, namely, focusing work on people in a first-episode psychosis and working with minimal or no meds. Perhaps not surprisingly, none of those folks commented on the essay — though, considering the prominence of the blog Mad In America, it’s pretty likely that most of them (or all of them?) read my piece. But that, sadly, is the nature of the mental health field: discussion and dialogue are great in theory, but questionable in practical reality……

Here’s a link to the piece:

http://www.madinamerica.com/2015/04/essay-finnish-open-dialogue-five-year-follow/

Meanwhile, greetings all — and I plan to be posting a lot more here soon!!

-Daniel

One thought on “A new essay on Finnish Open Dialogue

  1. Thank you Daniel,
    Great to read you keep being involved in the international developments of Open Dialogue in the US and around the world.

    This is to let people who are interested know about an international conference focusing on democratic processes in Open Dialogue: Jaakko Seikkula on extended social networks in Finland, Volkmar Aderhold from Germany, the PARACHUTE New York City project, recent clinical work with Open Dialogue in the NHS in England and new roles for peer supporters. The Open Dialogue 2016 conference will take place on 2nd February 2016 in London, UK.

    More information on speakers and panelists is available on the conference website http://opendialogueapproach.co.uk/2016-conference/

    Kind regards,
    Ute

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