tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2129153260738117116.post3507941048701251791..comments2024-03-22T04:40:34.682-05:00Comments on REFUSING PSYCHIATRY: X, Y and Z plusSRKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038834371981947620noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2129153260738117116.post-89449522916341383702009-12-18T08:40:28.822-06:002009-12-18T08:40:28.822-06:00As to the belief and its consequences, you have a ...As to the belief and its consequences, you have a point. I'm sure you've read Szasz's Manufacture of Madness, wherein he relates the historical experience of belief in witchcraft and prosecution of witches, to today's mental illness beliefs and institutionalization.<br /><br />Due to the inspiration of that book which I must have read in about 1970-something (not sure when it was published), I later took a history course at Northwestern U which was titled The History of Witchcraft in Europe, taught by a prof who was one of less than a handful of acknowledged experts in the subject.<br /><br />There's way more on this than almost anyone thinks. Witches were prosecuted by the smartest, most educated people in Western civilization for HUNDREDS of years -- longer than the USA has even existed. The Malibus Malificarium begins to look a lot like the DSM the more one reads about this.<br /><br />I find my self trying to recall all the discussion in that class about why witchcraft prosecutions mostly ended in the late Seventeenth Century. I think the underlying beliefs (e.g., in the Devil's Sabbath and the reality of a personal Devil present in the world) did have to lose credibility. But that was not the only factor, it was pretty complicated and there were various, very interesting details.<br /><br />By the way, Szasz's supreme statement on the future of all these things, in my humble opinion:<br /><br />"It is possible that religious, political, psychiatric, or some other kinds of evasions of personal responsibility will always be necessary for our existence as social beings. It is also possible that, in the future, some people, somewhere, will become as passionately interested in the pursuit of personal responsibility as they have been, for the past several centuries in the West, in the pursuit of personal liberty. When and if that time comes, the psychiatric enterprize will disappear and become of historical interest only."SRKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2129153260738117116.post-50823586413696117152009-12-18T00:13:49.110-06:002009-12-18T00:13:49.110-06:00So long as people believe that others can "ge...So long as people believe that others can "get" or "develop" a "disease" that renders them devoid of moral agency, they will clamor for controls and coercions of those others. Coercion goes hand in hand with ANY belief in MI. If I believed my neighbor had "disease" that would "cause" him to push me in front of a subway train, I would naturally want him quarantined, "hospitalized" or otherwise "cured" of his "disease" or removed from a position where he could harm me. One cannot just say, "hey, look, I don't care what your beliefs are regarding MI, I just insist you don't employ coercion against those so designated" doesn't fly. Coercion is the natural and logical result of a belief in MI. Absent the belief, this form of coercion would vanish. Attacking coercion and not the founding belief is ass backwards. <br /><br />People have believed in invisible boogeymen in the sky for thousands of years. In MI for a few hundred now. I have zero faith in humanity to not believe in fairy tales. As long as a myth is useful, it will be embraced. MI is a useful myth. Not to me or you--or patient z at this moment in his life. But then again, a have a dim view of humanity. I prefer the company of my dogs over the bulk of humanity.C. Rodney Yoderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08628155113976266567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2129153260738117116.post-52077799005655928842009-12-17T23:53:59.271-06:002009-12-17T23:53:59.271-06:00An occasional ideological conversion is something ...An occasional ideological conversion is something I'd like to see. Everyone opposes imprisonment of themselves. I always advocated for the immediate and unconditional liberation of ALL involuntary madhouse inmates, the eviction of most "career mental patients", the remedial care of vegetable-ized inmates, and the sure and swift trial of all criminal defendants invoking psychiatric excuses. <br /><br />Elgin and Chester were notorious for NOT freeing their most obseqious, boot-licking "model patients" and this was lost on nobody. The only other option was to become such a pain in the ass they'd want to somehow get rid of the inmate. (Neither option was ever available to me as my captors indicated up front my natural life incarceration was the name of their game.) Given the violence and coercions of the personnel, being a pain in the ass was a hard row to hoe.<br /><br />The philosophy I expound is best referred to as "Yoderian". I arrived at it indepenent of Thomas Szasz who I love and admire. Szasz was never a prisoner and hasn't written much on how best to escape from nuthouses. <br /><br />I witnessed countless inmates bellowing that THEY weren't mentally ill while denouncing their fellows as "mentally ill" and ridiculing as absurd my claim MI doens't even exist. There is nothing at all novel in this. <br /><br />Unfortunately, bringing down psychiatry is a task like bringing down, say, Christianity. An ambitious task.C. Rodney Yoderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08628155113976266567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2129153260738117116.post-38122357189903435022009-12-17T22:33:38.557-06:002009-12-17T22:33:38.557-06:00Rodney you were, precisely, that client who believ...Rodney you were, precisely, that client who believes mental illness is pure fairy tale (and you were certainly interesting to work with). Actually, "patient Z" might come closer than you think to sharing your belief.<br /><br />I have no problem with this belief, exactly as you state it. But I am not compelled to challenge every other belief about mental illness, except to the extent that it's being forced upon me or a client of mine by the state.<br /><br />The guys I work with at Elgin madhouse want to get out, first and foremost. Asserting a pure Szaszian philosophy and insisting that it be acknowledged as acceptable is a really tough row for them to hoe, no matter what they believe.<br /><br />But I certainly can hope that once in a while when one of them gets out, he or she will consider that the best amends can be made to society by helping to bring down that system which does nothing but dehumanized people.SRKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18038834371981947620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2129153260738117116.post-69372454006612259532009-12-17T21:24:00.153-06:002009-12-17T21:24:00.153-06:00Madhouse inamtes have been loudly protesting that ...Madhouse inamtes have been loudly protesting that they are "mentally ill" for hundreds of years. It's regarded as actual proof of their lunacy. "Denial" the quacks call it. <br /><br />What would be truly remarkable is if "patient z" asserted that NOBODY is or can be "mentally ill" because "mental illness" doesn't exist to start with. He'd say that NOBODY at Elgin madhouse has EVER been "mentally ill". His psychowardens wouldn't be so patronizing then. <br /><br />"I'm not mentally ill but I accede that others are" is a far cry from "I'm not mentally ill nor is anyone else because mental illness is a fairy tale cooked up by quacks and legislators." Find yourself a client who believes that Randy. Then you'll have something interesting to work with.C. Rodney Yoderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08628155113976266567noreply@blogger.com