DOCSLIB.ORG

Citizen Rights and Psychiatric Disability Custody of Their Children

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Citizen Rights and Psychiatric Disability Custody of Their Children ▼ ■ S p eaking out CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS AND PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITY ▼ JUDI CHAMBERLIN Discussions of rights and rights pro- These practices evolved over long peri- Judi Chamberlin is a founder of tection for people labeled “mentally ill” ods of time, and mark an advancement The Ruby Rogers Advocacy and Drop-In Center in Somerville, are often termed “the rights of the men- in social relations from absolute rule by Massachusetts. tally ill,” as if being “mentally ill,” or car- a monarch or by the state (which, of rying that label, means that this group course, still continue in many parts of has special, or different rights than the world). The right of the individual This paper has been adapted from a other people. Documents concerning to be free from arbitrary exercise of presentation at the World Mental Health Day Conference, the “rights” of “the mentally ill” usually state power is perhaps the key differ- Stockholm, Sweden, begin (and often end) with “treatment ence between the democratic nations of October 10, 1996. rights”: the “right” to treatment that is the world and those that operate under For Information Contact The decent, respectful, adequate, and so other systems. The cross-cultural value Author at The Center for forth. I submit to you that this is the of individual rights is recognized by Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Boston University, wrong way to think about rights. documents such as the Universal 930 Commonwealth avenue, Declaration of Human Rights, which Boston, MA 02215. By rights, I mean those fundamental ex- hold that all adults, anywhere in the pectations that govern the relationship world, should be free to make basic life between individuals and societies. In choices for themselves. modern, western societies, rights of in- dividuals are conceptualized as protec- Why, then, does the supposedly medical tions against arbitrary power, so that diagnosis of “mental illness” carry with individuals retain the rights of personal it such a profound effect on the rights choice and decision making. Autonomy of those so labeled? People with psychi- is a key underlying value; the adult indi- atric labels can, in almost every country vidual is free to make choices that differ of the world, regardless of its political from social norms or expectations, so and social system, be deprived of their long as those choices do not bring the liberty and put into mental institutions individual into conflict with established against their will, often indefinitely. civil or criminal law. Rights can only be They can be required to take psychiatric abridged, in theory, when individuals drugs, be given electroshock treat- come into conflict with society accord- ments, even be lobotomized. They can ing to established laws, and then only lose their civil rights, such as the right after certain procedural safeguards have to marry, the right to enter into con- been met. tracts, the ability to work in their cho- sen professions, and the right to Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal Citizen Rights and Psychiatric Disability custody of their children. Often, they of people are seriously “ill,” yet most of are socially ostracized, and such stigma them manage quite well without psychi- may extend to their relatives. Such atric interventions. Most psychiatrists things don’t happen only in so-called ❝ seem to think that a little psychiatry “backward” countries. Last year in the The fundamental would be good for everyone, and that U.S.A., for example, it was revealed that not knowing that you are “ill” is one of question is this: Why leading medical organ transplant cen- the “symptoms” of the “illness,” and so ters maintained “blacklists” of people people need to be coerced. But this is do we take one group deemed “not suitable for transplanta- not the way things are supposed to tion”; these lists included people who of people, those labeled work in a free society. had been diagnosed with mental illness, The ethical system (if I can call it that) and people with mental illness in their “mentally ill,” and deny that drives the involuntary treatment family history. system is paternalism, the idea that one Involuntary commitment, forced treat- them basic rights? ” group (the one in power, not oddly) ment, and psychiatric control over deci- knows what is best for another group sion making are really not complicated (which lacks power). The history of civi- issues, despite the efforts to make them lization is, in part, the struggle against seem so. The fundamental question is paternalism and for self-determination. this: Why do we take one group of peo- Supposedly, we live under the rule of People in power are always saying that ple, those labeled “mentally ill,” and law. Just because we believe that some- they know what is best for those they deny them basic rights? The common one is likely to commit a crime, we can- rule over, even if those poor unfortu- justifications include “special needs,” not put that person in prison. The nate individuals think they know best “vulnerabilities,” “at-risk populations,” reasons why we may believe that some- what they want. The powerful seldom and other terms designed to obscure one is a likely criminal often have to do cast their own motives in anything but this fundamental question: Is it ethically with that person’s membership in a benevolent terms. Rulers and slave mas- justifiable to confine people against class. Nearly every society has its minor- ters like to think (or to pretend) that their will, to subject them to proce- ity groups, whether they are racial, eth- their subjects love them and are grate- dures against their will, or to overrule nic, or otherwise defined, that are often ful to them, often having to ignore their life choices, on the basis of an os- believed by the dominant culture to be much evidence to the contrary. The tensibly medical diagnosis? I believe dangerous and deviant. It’s all right to struggle for freedom has always been that until we frame this question prop- abridge their rights, in this way of think- seen by the powerful as a denial of the erly, as a human rights question, we will ing, since, left to their own devices, obvious truth of the superiority of the continue to make the simple complicat- they will undoubtedly commit crimes or rulers. ed. I believe that my views about choice otherwise upset the social order. I be- All of us should be free to follow our and voluntariness are applicable to any lieve this is a basic injustice. own dreams. The U.S. Declaration of person, regardless of label (or lack of A similar analysis applies to the mental Independence states that basic rights in- label), who can express his or her own health system. We are told that certain clude “life, liberty, and the pursuit of wishes and desires, no matter how irra- individuals are vulnerable to “mental ill- happiness.” As we each pursue happi- tional they may appear to others. All ness” and that psychiatric interventions ness, most of us seek economic stability, people deserve to have their choices re- are what they “need.” Is it justifiable, good and comfortable places to live, spected. Only those who are genuinely therefore, to ignore their expressed choices of daily activities, and satisfying incapable of such expression fall be- wishes and proceed on the basis of the companions for friendship and love. As yond the scope of my argument. By supposedly superior wisdom of those the irrational, fallible human beings we genuinely incapable, I mean people who have the power to make the defini- are, our lives are an endless series of who are comatose or otherwise unable tions, and to enforce the consequences? steps and missteps in pursuit of those to communicate, not those who are I believe that this, too, is a basic injustice. dreams. Those who would overrule, on clearly communicating what others may the basis of “incompetence,” the not want to hear. According to psychiatrists, most people at some point show some “symptoms” dreams of others, are usually concerned of “mental illness,” and large numbers with safety issues, with little regard to speaking out 406 spring 1998—Volume 21 Number 4 happiness. If we are truly concerned subjected to involuntary interventions chemistry than we can find the “cause” with protecting people we may deem to while medical patients are not. of poetry. But even if there were real, be incompetent, surely we must zeal- biological diseases, psychiatrists would- Supposedly, the difference is “compe- ously protect their right to pursue hap- n’t therefore derive the power to lock tence.” We allow people we deem com- piness as well as their right to be safe. people up and treat them against their petent to make irrational or wrong Otherwise, we are prescribing one stan- will, or to overrule their personal life decisions, while assuming a paternalis- dard for so-called normals, which al- decisions. These are legal and, ultimate- tic stance toward so-called “incompe- lows (and even celebrates) the primacy ly, moral decisions, not medical ones. tents,” to protect them from their own of the pursuit of happiness, and anoth- shortcomings. But I believe that compe- What, then, is the best way to help peo- er, more sober and more severe stan- tence, like beauty, lies very much in the ple who are confused, who are behav- dard for those for whom we presume to eye of the beholder. Take, for example, ing in non-ordinary ways, who seem to decide their “best interest.” teenagers who choose to smoke ciga- be out of contact with the ordinary This historic confusion of medicine and rettes. Almost by definition, teenagers world and society’s expectations? This power skews our language and our are unable to judge long-term conse- is another point where discussion usu- thinking.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • United for a Revolution in Mental Health Care
    Winter 2009-10 www.MindFreedom.org Protesters give a Mad Pride injection to the psychiatric industry directly outside the doors of the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting during a “Festival of Resistance” co-sponsored by MindFreedom International and the California Network of Mental Health Clients. See page 8 for more. Victory! MindFreedom Helps Ray Sandford Stop His Forced Electroshock Mad Pride in Media Launched: Directory of Alternative Mental Health Judi Chamberlin Leads From Hospice United for a Revolution in Mental Health Care www.MindFreedom.org Published PbyAGE MFI • MindFreedom International Wins Campaigns for Human Rights and From the Executive Director: Everyone Has Something To Offer Alternatives in the Mental Health System Please join! BY DAVID W. OAKS all psychiatric oppression “BY This is a TUESDAY.” MindFreedom International Sponsor Group or Affiliate has a Because of generous support from place where www.MindFreedom.org (MFI) is one of the few groups liaison on the MFI Support Coalition MindFreedom groups and members, “So,” Judi said, “that’s what I MindFreedom in the mental health field that is Advisory Council. [email protected] in the last few months I have had want. By Tuesday.” members can post to forums independent with no funding from MFI’s mission: “In a spirit of the privilege of visiting MindFree- In that spirit, here are some tips for and blogs that are or links to governments, mental mutual cooperation, MindFreedom MindFreedom International dom International (MFI) activists in our members in effective leadership open to public health providers, drug companies, International leads a nonviolent 454 Willamette, Suite 216 Norway, Maine, Massachusetts, Min- in MindFreedom International, for a view.
    [Show full text]
  • Empowering Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities: the Role of the Peer Model in Cils
    Empowering Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities: The Role of the Peer Model in CILs The Recovery Movement and its Relationship to Independent Living Presenter: Daniel Fisher, MD, PhD Executive Director National Empowerment Center 1 History of the Consumer/Survivor Movement Adapted from Sally Zinman and Gayle Bluebird 2 Introduction • In the 1960s and 1970s, social change movements and civil rights were part of our culture. • State hospitals across the country were being shut down, laws limiting involuntary commitment • Anecdotally, once released from these mental hospitals, people began meeting together in groups outside the hospital with shared feelings of anger about their abusive treatment and the need for independent living in the community. 3 Howie the Harp “Crazy folk (as he called us) are the most talented people in the galaxy. Instead of diagnosing, locking up, and treating us, the world should recognize our true worth and support our talents, creativity, and sensitivity,” said Howie the Harp, who carried a harmonica with him everywhere, to make music, mediate conflict, and create peace. 4 Activities in 1970s • Political, militant activism— demonstrations, values • Annual Conference on Human Rights and Against Psychiatric Oppression held at campgrounds and college campuses • Madness Network News, vehicle for communication • Landmark book published in 1978: On Our Own: Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System by Judi Chamberlin 5 Madness Network News—1976 Cover Photograph of a 30-day “sleep-in” protest in then- Governor Jerry Brown’s office to protest deaths and abuses in State hospitals in CA 6 Leonard Roy Frank Editor Madness Network News 7 Cookie Gant 1949–2003 “Artiste Extraordinaire” Early activist, outspoken poet, and performer, she spoke as a person with a disability, shock survivor, lesbian, and seller of buttons and other wares.
    [Show full text]
  • Consumer-Operated Services: the Evidence
    The Consumer- Evidence Operated Services The Consumer- Evidence Operated Services U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Acknowledgments This document was produced for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) by Abt Associates, Inc., and Advocates for Human Potential, Inc., under contract number 280-04-0095 and Westat under contract number 270-03-6005, with SAMHSA, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Pamela Fischer, Ph.D., and Crystal Blyler, Ph.D. served as the Government Project Officers. Disclaimer The views, opinions, and content of this publication are those of the authors and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), SAMHSA, or HHS. Public Domain Notice All material appearing in this document is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission from SAMHSA. Citation of the source is appreciated. However, this publication may not be reproduced or distributed for a fee without the specific, written authorization from the Office of Communications, SAMHSA, HHS. Electronic Access and Copies of Publication This publication may be downloaded or ordered at http://store.samhsa.gov. Or, please call SAMHSA’s Health Information Network at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727) (English and Español). Recommended Citation Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Consumer-Operated Services: The Evidence. HHS Pub. No. SMA-11-4633, Rockville, MD: Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011.
    [Show full text]
  • History of the Consumer/Survivor Movement
    Purpose: Learn about the history of our movement in order to rededicate ourselves to its core values and inform our ongoing work. 1 History of the Consumer/Survivor Movement Sally Zinman 2 Introduction 1960s and 1970s social change movements Civil rights movement; African-American, women, gays, and people with physical disabilities organized For decades, mental patients were denied basic civil liberties and suffered systemic inhumane treatment Spent lifetimes locked up in State hospitals. New laws limited involuntary commitment Now big State hospitals were shut down and people released 3 New Liberation Movement Once released from the hospital people held groups Former “patients” shared anger about their abusive treatment Their peers validated their feelings. Expressed the need for independent living in the community A new civil rights movement was born from these isolated groups across the country Based on the desire for personal freedom and radical systemic change A liberation movement 4 1970’s 5 The Beginnings The 1970’s was a time Of finding each other Of realizing that we were not alone Of militant groups and actions Of self and group education Of defining our core values Of finding and growing our voice out of the anger and hurt bred by the oppression of the mental health system. Of separatism as a means of empowering ourselves. 6 Processes Groups autonomous, belief in local control No money from mental health system Separatist No major outreach 7 Principles All within context of a civil rights movement for
    [Show full text]
  • Judi Chamberlin Papers
    Special Collections and University Archives : University Libraries Judi Chamberlin Papers 1944-2010 (Bulk: 1970-2006) 30 boxes (45 linear ft.) Call no.: MS 768 Collection overview A pioneer in the psychiatric survivors' movement, Judi Chamberlin spent four decades as an activist for the civil rights of mental patients. Following horrific experiences as a patient in the mental health system, Chamberlin was galvanized to take action on patients' rights, helping to found the Mental Patients' Liberation Front in 1971. Taking cues from the struggle for civil rights, she helped build a movement that privileged the patient's perspective and that demanded choice in treatment. Through her writing, organizing, and international advocacy, she contributed to a number of disability rights organizations that have had a profound influence on public policy. Her tireless efforts have been recognized with the Distinguished Service Award of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities in 1992 and many other honors. Chamberlin died of pulmonary disease at home in Arlington, Mass., in January 2010. An important record of the development of the psychiatric survivors' movement from its earliest days, the Chamberlin Papers include rich correspondence between Chamberlin, fellow activists, survivors, and medical professionals; records of her work with the MPLF and other rights organizations, conferences and meetings, and her efforts to build the movement internationally. See similar SCUA collections: Disability Political activism Social justice Women Background on Judi Chamberlin No, anger is not 'nice,' but it's real, it comes from the gut, and not to be angry at being shit upon is being dead -- which is exactly what shrinks and their kind want us all to become.
    [Show full text]
  • The Search for Political Identity by People with Psychiatric Diagnoses
    William & Mary Law Review Volume 44 (2002-2003) Issue 3 Disability and Identity Conference Article 9 February 2003 "Discredited" and "Discreditable:" The Search for Political Identity by People with Psychiatric Diagnoses Susan Stefan Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr Part of the Disability Law Commons Repository Citation Susan Stefan, "Discredited" and "Discreditable:" The Search for Political Identity by People with Psychiatric Diagnoses, 44 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1341 (2003), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/ wmlr/vol44/iss3/9 Copyright c 2003 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr "DISCREDITED" AND "DISCREDITABLE": THE SEARCH FOR POLITICAL IDENTITY BY PEOPLE WITH PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSES SUSAN STEFAN* You're never the same-mental health diagnosis is an opinion and attitude. You cannot cure or have remissionfrom others' attitudesof rejection.1 Friendsand family-they don't understandmy illness/disability- they think I am getting away with something-that there is nothing wrong with me.2 INTRODUCTION Identity matters. In particular, identity matters to people who are stigmatized and stereotyped because they belong to a socially disfavored group. Although individual members of these groups may have very different ideas about how to respond to prejudice and mistreatment, the matter of identity itself-membership in the group-is generally not at issue. Justice Clarence Thomas and the Reverend Jesse Jackson may have sharply conflicting ideas about the meaning of being an African American in our society, but the identity of each man as an African American is hardly open to question.
    [Show full text]
  • The Disability Studies Reader
    CHAPTER 7 A Mad Fight: Psychiatry and Disability Activism Bradley Lewis 100 SUMMARY The Mad Pride movement is made up of activists resisting and critiquing physician-centered psychiatric systems, finding alternative approaches to mental health and helping people choose minimal involvement with psychiatric institutions. They believe mainstream psychiatry over exaggerates pathology and forces conformity though diagnosis and treatment. In this chapter, Bradley Lewis highlights the political and epistemological similarities between the Mad Pride movement and other areas of disability studies. For instance, the social categories of normal and abnormal legitimize the medicalization of different bodies and minds and exert pressure on institutions to stay on the side of normality, or in this case, sanity. Lewis briefly traces the historical roots of Mad Pride to show how diagnoses of insanity were often political abuses aimed at normalizing differing opinions and experiences. The movement entered into the debate to fight involuntary hospitalization and recast mental illness as a myth rather than an objective reality. Today’s Mad Pride often works within mental health services systems by bringing together “consumers” (rather than “survivors” or “ex-patients”) who contribute real input for psychiatric policy. Nevertheless, Mad Pride still wages an epistemological and political struggle with psychiatry, which has undergone a “scientific revolution” that values “objective” data and undervalues humanistic inquiries. For example, biopsychiatric methods led to Prozac-type drugs being prescribed to 67.5 million Americans between 1987 and 2002. Mad Pride staged a hunger strike to protest the reduction of mental illness to a brain disease, arguing this model couldn’t be proved by evidence and limited consumers’ options for treatments like therapy or peer-support.
    [Show full text]
  • Judi Chamberlin November 7, 2002 Page: 1
    Judi Chamberlin November 7, 2002 Page: 1 Subject: Judi Chamberlin Location: Arlington, MA Date: November 7, 2002 Interviewer: Darby Penney DP: This is Darby Penney. I’m interviewing Judi Chamberlin at her home in Arlington, Massachusetts on November 7th, 2002. Judi, can you tell me where and when you were born? JC: I was born in New York City, October 30th, 1944. DP: And where in New York City? JC: I was born in Manhattan. I was raised in Brooklyn. DP: What kind of family life did you have? JC: I was an only child. My parents were very loving. We were somewhere between working class and middle class. DP: What kind of occupations did they have ? JC: My dad was a factory worker when I was kid, although later he got out of that and got into more white collar things, and my mother worked as a school secretary. DP: And where did you go to school? JC: In Brooklyn. I went to public school, high school and, never really…I don’t have a college degree. I sort of dabbled and I got a little bit of college education but not much. DP: So, what was your first encounter with the mental health system? JC: I was 21 years old and I was married and I had a miscarriage and I got incredibly depressed and, you know, just, wasn’t getting out of bed. Wasn’t functioning. Just crying and everything. And my obstetrician— I had a very good relationship with him— got very concerned about me and he said that he thought I should see a psychiatrist.
    [Show full text]
  • An End to Insanity: Recasting the Role of Mental Disability in Criminal Cases Christopher Slobogin
    Vanderbilt University Law School Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2000 An End to Insanity: Recasting the Role of Mental Disability in Criminal Cases Christopher Slobogin Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Christopher Slobogin, An End to Insanity: Recasting the Role of Mental Disability in Criminal Cases, 86 Virginia Law Review. 1199 (2000) Available at: http://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/236 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN END TO INSANITY: RECASTING THE ROLE OF MENTAL DISABILITY IN CRIMINAL CASES ChristopherSlobogin* INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1199 I. THE LESSONS OF HISTORY ........................................................... 1208 A. The Insanity Defense .............................................................. 1208 B. Other Defenses ........................................................................ 1215 C. Implications............................................................................. 1220 II. MORAL CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Self-Determination for People with Psychiatric Disabilities: an Annotated Bibliography of Resources
    Self-Determination for People with Psychiatric Disabilities: An Annotated Bibliography of Resources Compiled by Staff of the University of Illinois at Chicago, National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability and its Self-Determination Knowledge Development Workgroup Staff and Workgroup members: Larry Belcher Catherine Huynh Judi Chamberlin Jessica Jonikas Judith Cook Alexandra Laris Kathleen Furlong-Norman David Oaks Barbara Granger Laurie Powers Ramiro Guevara Joseph Rogers Tamar Heller Andrea Schmook Marty Hines Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia Leah Holmes-Bonilla Amanda Taylor Suggested citation: UIC National Research & Training Center on Psychiatric Disability and the Self-Determination Knowledge Development Workgroup. (2002). Self-Determination for people with psychiatric disabilities: An annotated bibliography of resources. Chicago, IL: Author. The Center is supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education, and the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Cooperative Agreement #H133B000700). The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position, policy, or views of either agency and no official endorsement should be inferred. History, Definitions, and Principles of Self-Determination & Recovery Alliance for Self-Determination, Center on Self-Determination, Oregon Health Sciences University. (1999). National Leadership Summit on Self-Determination and Consumer-Direction and Control: Invited papers.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mental Health Consumer and Psychiatric Survivor Movements and Their Implications for Ethical Clinical Practice
    Smith ScholarWorks Theses, Dissertations, and Projects 2014 Voices of experience : the mental health consumer and psychiatric survivor movements and their implications for ethical clinical practice Sophia L. Zucker Smith College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Zucker, Sophia L., "Voices of experience : the mental health consumer and psychiatric survivor movements and their implications for ethical clinical practice" (2014). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/826 This Masters Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations, and Projects by an authorized administrator of Smith ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sophia Zucker Voices of Experience: The Mental Health Consumer and Psychiatric Survivor Movements and Their Implications for Ethical Clinical Practice ABSTRACT This theoretical thesis explores the origins of the modern concept of “mental illness” and traces the development of the mental health consumer and psychiatric survivor movements, modern social justice movements that work to change and/or dismantle the system of oppression that has long denied those labeled mentally ill the right to make basic decisions about their own lives. Working from a critical theoretical frame influenced by historical discourse analysis and post-structuralist theory, the thesis first examines the multiple constructions of madness and mental distress in the Western world since the Middle Ages, suggesting that the current biomedical model of mental illness is similarly constructed by modern social, political, and economic forces. Attention is then turned to the mental health consumer and psychiatric survivor movements, and the discourse utilized by each movement to challenge the dominant biomedical discourse.
    [Show full text]
  • The Service User As a Person in Health Care—Service Users Organising for Self Empowerment
    International Journal of Integrated Care – ISSN 1568-4156 Volume 10, 29 January 2010 URL: http://www.ijic.org Publisher: Igitur, Utrecht Publishing & Archiving Services Copyright: Section on Person-centered Public Health The service user as a person in health care—service users organising for self empowerment Jan Wallcraft, Dr., UK Department of Health, London, UK Correspondence to: Jan Wallcraft, E-mail: [email protected] Introduction In 2009, we are discussing how to return to psychiatric patients their right to be treated as a person. The fact that we are having these events is an acceptance that there has been a problem in treating patients as people, as full citizens. In all societies there are specific laws and practices which exclude people thought to be mad or mentally ill, and medi- cine and law have worked together to achieve this exclusion. I am writing here as a person who became a mental patient in 1972 and received a PhD in 2002 through study of the mental health system and patients’ perspectives. Loss of personhood in psychiatric healthcare—the history The treatment of madness in previous centuries has rarely been humane or democratic: “They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me” Nathaniel Lee, Restoration poet on being committed to Bethlem in the 17th century [1]. Law and science in the 19th century was intended to offer justice and better health-care for the ‘mad’. There was an awareness that people could be arbitrarily labelled as lunatics and their liberty and property unfairly taken from them.
    [Show full text]