Posted by Quintal on December 3, 2006, at 18:17:26
In reply to Re: Illness increases vulnerability to the irratio » Quintal, posted by Squiggles on December 3, 2006, at 17:45:29
> I think that since the sixties, the idealistic
> push for deinstitutionalization of asylums has
> saved the government a lot of money, and left
> many mentally ill people out on the street, or
> in situations where they have acted beyond their ability for self-protection and self-interest; sometimes even committing crimes without intent.I agree.
> You may be imagining that I am proposing asylums of the Victorian Era or even the 50s where in poor public environments, patients were treated without respect of rights and dignity. I am not proposing a return to that. I am suggesting that clinics (apart from public health) specifically for mental illness or social discord be open. And yes, I think that is necessary not only because hospitals cannot handle the surge of patients now, but because there IS a stigma against the mentally, and NO you cannot get over it with the good will posters of various government associations. You have a society to deal with that is much larger, and not part of the inner circle of academic psychiatry.
Yes, I was imagining a system similar to the 1950s asylums. When you quote Dr.Torrey's idea of institutions in the same thread as declaring your opposition to democracy in medicine I hope you see how misunderstandings like this arise? Thanks for clarifying. I believe the institutions of the 1950s were supposed to uphold the patient's rights though, and the word given to the Victorian institutions - asylum - meaning refuge from persecution - implies they were founded on similar intentions. Abuse flourished in them, as it seems to whenever people are given total command over another's freedom. How do you propose this would not happen again if you deny some democratic rights to inpatients? I think that is the major bugbear about returning to approach for myself and many other people who are opposed to it.
Q
poster:Quintal
thread:709872
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061129/msgs/710032.html