Peter Stastny was born in Vienna, Austria, where he graduated from medical school in 1976. Since 1978, he has been working and residing in New York City. He taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx and has conducted several publically funded research projects in the area of vocational rehabilitation, social support and self-help, in collaboration with individuals who had survived personal crises and psychiatric interventions. Currently, he is working on the development of alternative services that obviate psychiatric intervention and offer autonomous paths towards recovery and full integration. These activities have engendered a close collaboration with the user-survivor movement, as manifested by joint research projects, publications, service demonstrations, and community work. He is a founding member of the International Network Toward Alternatives and Recovery (INTAR). Find more information at peter-lehmann-publishing.com/ps +++++ Peter Lehmann, Dr. phil. h.c., is a certified pedagogue, independent publisher, author, freelance activist in Berlin, and Associate of the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal. Since 1979, he regularly speaks on and publishes in the field of alternatives beyond psychiatry, support in coming off psychiatric drugs, and safeguarding human rights of people with psychiatric diagnoses. He was co-founder and, until 2010, for many years board-member of the European Network of (ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry. In 2010, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and in 2011, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the President of Germany. English publications include, "Withdrawal from Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs" (edited in 2022 together with Craig Newnes), "Coming off Psychiatric Drugs: Successful Withdrawal from Neuroleptics, Antidepressants, Mood Stabilizers, Ritalin and Tranquilizers" (edited in 2004, ebook in 2022).

The great book of alternatives to psychiatry around the world. (Ex-)users and survivors of psychiatry, therapists, psychiatrists, lawyers, social scientists and relatives report about their alternative work, their successes, their individual and collective experiences. The book highlights alternatives beyond psychiatry, current possibilities of self-help for individuals experiencing madness, and strategies toward implementing humane treatment. What helps me if I go mad? How can I find trustworthy help for a relative or a friend in need? How can I protect myself from coercive treatment? As a family member or friend, how can I help? What should I do if I can no longer bear to work in the mental health field? What are the alternatives to psychiatry, how can I get involved in creating alternatives? Assuming psychiatry would be abolished, what do you propose instead? Those are some of the questions, which are addressed by the 61 authors from all continents.