- The medico-legal framework is the legal powers and instruments which
allow the subjugation of the mentally ill by psychiatry. The
medico-legal framework is not only influenced by psychiatry. The
politicians and law makers also influence the laws and so can the
public. The community Treatment Order was helped to be made a new legal
power by the work of an organisation called the Tito Trust. This
organisation was run by a woman whose son was murdered by a mental
health patient who I assume was off their medication. She promoted the
prejudice in the media and through this to the public and politicians. I
think some psychiatrists would have been against the amendments made to
the Mental Health Act 1983 because they'd historically considered
psychopathy and other personality disorders as non-classic mental
illnesses however the political need was to deal with this problem.
- In Accepting Voices by Romme and Escher (another fascinating book
which I got about half way through reading)
(http://www.mind.org.uk/shop/books/self-management_self-help/274) it
notes a diagnostic system for madness used by the Church. There were 4
categories: possession, witchcraft, heresy and canonisation. The first
three would result in terrible punishments and 'treatments' but when the
delusion/hallucination agreed with the Church's dogma the individual
could become a saint.
- it is also noteworthy that things like confession may be akin to
counselling. A person asking a priest "why do I feel like this?" may be
given a different but no less useful answer than what a psychiatrist
would offer.
- spirit possession is found in the index in DSM-IV-TR. The modern name
is Dissociative Trance Disorder. If I remember right 3% of people every
year in psychiatric wards in India have this diagnosis. Those same
people may be given other diagnoses in the UK or US. The treatments
include rubbing the body with special lotions or persuading the
force/entity to leave (an exorcism perhaps?).
- I spent most of my life as an atheist though was born to a strict
Hindu family. During times when I experienced psychosis and mania I had
quasi-religious experiences but this never broke my faith till a few
years ago. A few years ago I went through psychosis unaided. It may be
hard to believe but I do not need people to believe me. I searched for
ways to interpret it outside psychiatry. My sensory reality showed me
that there was a non-corporeal entity with influence over my internal
and external reality. It broke my faith but gave me a new one.
Antiehism. I know this non-corporeal entity exists (some call it god,
some call it spirits, some call it secret government agencies or
whatever else), and I hate it.
This is why I believe in the spirituobiopsychosocial model however I
tend to keep it to myself when I do any activism work because people
would think I am crazy. ;-)
- there is definitely the problem of the privilege of the invalid with
regards to the legal system. Defences such as Not Guilty by Reason of
Insanity or Diminished Responsibility can be ways for the mentally ill
to be treated differently from those without mental illness. They are
subjective judgements just as mental illness is a subjective judgement.
The criminal justice system would have to change if the medico-legal
framework were repealed.
Malingering as something different to depression was also another
concern of psychiatry and social systems. In the UK a person with
depression on medical welfare gets significantly more money than a
person without a diagnosis but who is unemployed for a long period of
time.The person unemployed for a long period of time without a diagnosis
of depression would essentially be considered lazy (though not by me. I
would consider them equal to a person with depression in their need for
support and that they would have a degree of social disability though it
would be lower than a person with depression.) A lazy worker can lose
their job far more easily than a depressed worker.
- I have been ruminating at length on the idea of changing society as an
objective for mental healthcare. If we consider Foucault's stuff to be
valid then the replacement to psychiatry must also aim at changing
society. It is already happening with the well being movement and moves
to build better communities in the developed world, anti-discrimination
laws and tools like the CRPD. In the UK there has been work to get soap
operas to realistically portray the mentally ill. The program "The
secret life of a manic depressive" outed one of the nation's beloved
media celebrities (Stephen Fry) as a manic depressive and was a touching
insight into this supposed illness. It lead some people to want to be
manic depressive and to see it as a valuable gift.
In the UK we have a national anti-stigma programme called Time to
Change. It had about £22 million from our National Lottery and a
fundraising activity called Comic Relief to deliver change on a series
of measures (developed by Graham Thornicroft at the Royal College of
Psychiatry) and objectives over a 4 year period. I believe it is a
landmark in developed world mental healthcare. It is, sadly, not driven
by an antipsychiatry model but I don't think the British public are
ready for this yet.
http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/
This work may do little to help survivors of psychiatric abuse but it
helps the rest of the mentally ill. It helps with the self stigma. I
hope it helps with the isolation which can lead to so many negative
effects. It helps people have compassion and gain understanding,
understanding which is not offered by the mispathologisation of the
human condition. It is my belief that the lived experience psychiatrist,
a person who is a peer rather than someone who judges based only on
external observations, is perhaps the best hope. I think there is one
already. Kay Redfield jamieson. There may be others. Survivors are best
equipped because they know what is wrong with the system. They can see
what is wrong and with this insight they have the power to fix what is
wrong so in the future there will never be survivors of psychiatry's
tyranny.
--
Don't let justice be the privilege of the elite. Support the Justice for All campaign
http://www.justice-for-all.org.uk/
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