- Looking after the mentally ill was traditionally a domestic responsibility
- Mentally ill always feared, shunned away, were "different"
- Asylums began in the 15th century, starting in Spain
- One of the 5 modes of power: violence, used through so called treatment, really torture to cure the mentally ill (bloodletting, trepanning, ECT, straight jackets, para anguish)
- Labelling as been around for a long time and Mad identified people have gone through many names; Imates, Survivours, Comsumers, People with lived experience, etc.
- CAMH is undergoing a major change to try and remove the stigma that had formed over the Mad who stay/go there for treatment. They are making the site into an Urban Village and mixed use property. This means that the site will be more incorporated into the community, as apposed to being isolated.
Media and Mad Pride
- What the dominant culture (in this case, abled people are the culture) deems as “abnormal”
- Can mean different things to different people and groups
- Media has power over people’s opinions on very many subjects, including the “Mad” population.
- Mad Pride: Psychiatric survivors walk the streets to raise awareness that they are there, and that they are embracing their madness.
- There has been some evidence that mental disorders can benefit some people.
- Some people actually embrace their madness and think of it as a gift.
- Ashley Smith was in an out of jail from the age of 13 to 17
- She was continually subjected to segregation and isolation
- Ashley began to strangle herself as a threat towards the guards
- The Warden finally told the guards not to enter her room as long as she was still breathing
- The next time Ashley began to strangle herself the guards didn't enter the room until about 30 minutes after the strangulation began.
- When the went into the room Ashley was dead
- Don Weitz was forcefully put into psychiatric care and was given the treatment of insulin shock
- The effects of the treatment are horrible and torturous
- Don was clearly stating throughout the treatment that we did not want to do it anymore
- Don was finally released after he promised to go back to school and would continue regular sessions with his psychotherapist
Social Advocacy & Power
- To be an anti-oppressive advocate you must first learn and use the language of those for whom you are advocating, never approach with labels."Our language (and therefore our discourses) will be an expression of a particular attempt to make (or impose) meaning in a situation. Language is therefore about much more that words - it is about power" (Fook, 2002).
- Systemic advocacy involves targeting the systemic or structural problems of an issue. A critical analyses is required of all levels of government and institutions involved in the current mental health system. In order to be a systemic advocate these are some of things you must consider; what discourse used in the current mental health system, how intersectionality is considered, the current policies in place and how they were created, and the different relations of power.
