Encounters with psychiatric institutions
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Madness and Civilization Starting a dialogue with and about madness in Ireland Lydia Sapouna School of Applied Social Studies University College Cork, Ireland
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Madness and Civilization Starting a dialogue with and about madness in Ireland Lydia Sapouna School of Applied Social Studies University College Cork, Ireland. Encounters with psychiatric institutions. Leros Psychiatric Hospital Greece. Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital Cork. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Encounters with psychiatric institutions
Madness and CivilizationStarting a dialogue with and about
madness in Ireland
Lydia SapounaSchool of Applied Social StudiesUniversity College Cork, Ireland
Leros Psychiatric Hospital Greece
Encounters with psychiatric institutions
Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital Cork
We closed it and we are leaving. 6.5.93. Goodbye
The universality of
Leros?
Psychiatry as ‘a monologue of reason about madness’
Problematising the ‘self-evident’ in psychiatric knowledge and practice. Investigations into the making of psychiatric
knowledge can be critical and transformativeBiomedical approaches: one truth among manyIncreasing articulation of different ‘truths’ by people
with self-experience of distress.
Foucault’s Madness and Civilization; a framework to problematise, in a systematic way, mental health
thinking and practice
increasing articulation of concerns about current responses to human distress: inhumane physical conditions in hospital unitsover-reliance on and excessive use of
medicationlack of meaningful community-based
alternatives to hospitalisationinvoluntary treatmentabuse of professional powerlack of information and choice in relation to
‘treatment’ options failure to capture the complexity of human experiences
bio-medical approach at best provide temporary symptomatic relief, but may compound, exacerbate and even cause further deep distress
Background to the emerging user movement in Ireland
CriticalQuestion dominant
knowledge and practice in mental health
construct new ways of knowing and understanding human experiences of distress
Validity of self-
experience
Such approaches can be
Transformative
Such approaches can also break the silence of ‘madness’ moving it from nothingness to community engagement and visibility, often celebrating the ‘gift’ and ‘normality of madness’
Human rights: Campaign to delete section 59b of the 2001 Mental Health Act
Peer Advocacy: Irish Advocacy NetworkCommunity Development: West Cork Mental
Health Services Housing: Sli Eile social housing projectMental Health TriloguesSuch campaigns, initiatives and new
approaches remain quite isolated and fragmented events, and have not yet achieved to significantly influence the bigger scheme of mental health thinking and practice at a national level.
Critical and transformative approaches in Ireland: Individual examples of campaigns and innovations
Critical Conferences organised by Schools of Nursing and Applied Social Studies 2009 & 2010 to provide a platform for new thinking/ideas/approaches in mental health
CVNI emerged out of these deliberations as a coalition of service users, carers, professionals, academics, national campaigning and advocacy groups, all looking for a mental health system not based on the traditional bio-medical model
A democratic space with no hierarchical structures, open to everybody who wishes to join its discussions
Origins of the Critical Voices Network Ireland CVNI
Confidentiality Equality – no hierarchyInclude all voices Respectful attention to those who may be
quieter than othersWelcome diversityTreat ourselves and others with respectMake decisions by consensusRoles within the group are there to serve the
groupEspouse and encourage creativity and
spontaneity.
Culture of CVNI (work in progress)
Annual critical perspectives conferences in University College Cork
Public talks and seminars including: American medical journalist Robert Whitaker
(author of Mad in America, Anatomy of an Epidemic)
Professor of Social Work David Cohen (critical perspectives on ADHD)
Health Action International; seminar on conflicts of interest concerning the relationship of the pharmaceutical industry with science and medicine
CVNI events
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/Irishnetworkofcriticalvoicesinmentalhealth/
E-list: [email protected]: http://www.criticalvoicesnetwork.com/Quarterly national meetingsRegional meetings (East and South)Networking groups focusing on areas such as:
Setting up hearing voices groupsResidential crisis facilitiesTestimonials projectCultivating activismHuman rights and legal issues such as forced
‘treatment’, capacity legislation, advanced directives
CVNI Networking Activities
Creating a space where different and sometimes conflicting voices can be heard and respected rather than silenced
Not an easy exchange as positions of certainty are challenged!
Opportunity for change through understanding the Other, telling stories, making sense of experiences, reconstructing and validating previously silenced meanings
Concluding remarks: Starting a dialogue with and about madness?
Foucaults classic text can be a tool to :think systematically about professional powerquestion diagnosis of normality-medicalisation
of human distress; DSM V has just been approved by the APA!
ask systematic questions about the nature of what we do in mental health rather than focus on questions of resources
Shake certainty of professional truths, thus providing an opportunity for transformation towards a more democratic, person-centred, respectful response to human distress
Concluding remarks: Starting a dialogue with and about madness?
