Ethical Matters:
No Such Thing as Normal

We are diagnosed and treated for mental disorders more than ever, despite increasing evidence that environmental factors play a far greater role than biological ones. Dr Marieke Bigg asks: how can we heal when psychiatry rests on the belief that mental distress is explained by brain structures, chemical imbalances and genetics?

Treatments from lobotomies to electroconvulsive therapy to prescription drugs have been touted as cures for ‘disorder’. And somewhere along the way, the pharmaceutical industry has leapfrogged its patients, making millions designing drugs to treat disorders, then billions dreaming up disorders that require drugs.

Laying out the steps for a mental health system that helps rather than harms, Marieke Bigg asks: how can we heal when faced with an industry that banks on keeping us sick?

Marieke Bigg holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Cambridge. Her work focused on the role of biological models and biologists in public deliberations on biotechnology and reproductive medicine. She is a trainee psychotherapist and a peer support coordinator at the mental health charity, Mind.

Marieke’s book, No Such Thing as Normal: Disorders, Diagnoses, and the Limits of Psychiatry, will be available to buy in person from Newham Bookshop on the day.

Age Recommendation:

16+

Price: *All ticket prices below include a £1 booking fee*

In advance: Standard £10 • Living Support £7 • Students £7 • Members FREE
On the door: Standard £11 • Living Support £8 • Students £8 • Members FREE
Online: Standard £7 • Members FREE

Access Information

Due to the age and Grade II listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Hive Cafe (street access, step-free). There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.