from psycho central: “There is a common misconception that the closure of asylums only places ‘dangerous’ people in psychiatric wards and hospitals. we believe However, millions of Americans undergo psychiatric detention or forced treatment each year.
In many cases, families try to “help” with good intentions, but end up traumatizing and permanently harming loved ones. Investigative journalist Rob Whipond points out that most states have extended the standard for psychiatric restraint well beyond “imminent harm”, and that in practice this happens to nearly everyone. Explain what you are getting. Join us for his special two-part episode of Inside Mental Health.
Gabe Howard: What about parents? The majority of those pushing this type of legislation and this type of intervention are parents of adult children with “mental illness” who are insightful about their child’s best interests. , claims to know children well. They know this helps. You just mentioned the problem with doctors and hospitals, but it is often not the medical institution that drives this, but the family.
Rob Whipond: yes. So I have some very deep concerns about that. And one of the biggest is that this is of course a very important group. This is the most powerful lobbying group in the United States and Canada that has been restructuring these laws. Families are very vocal and very keen to try to forcibly drug their loved ones. And they influenced laws all over the country. So this is the prevailing opinion on these issues. And one of my biggest concerns is that when these families are having the conversation, they seem to have absolutely no awareness that some of them are abusive. . . Looking at what we know about America and family abuse, we have to know that it’s very common. Parents themselves who have child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and various types of emotional difficulties. Therefore, if you intend to lobby legislators to expand family powers and force family members to be drugged against their will and given severe sedatives, consider that. There is a need to. A certain amount of accountability and oversight is required to ensure this is not diabolically abused by family members who do not have the best intentions. This is very common and what I have found is that doctors simply do not have the time or resources to thoroughly investigate families to find out what is really going on. . So they often take the testimony at face value and go, oh, was that the way Person X behaved? have understood. As you know, this testimony is very strong.
. . . Another point I want to stress is that this creates a huge rift between families that can last for years and even decades. And often they really struggle because they don’t have other resources. This is the only one available today. People are guided and taught to be admitted to mental hospitals if they really need help. As one psychiatrist told me, I think many families are under the illusion of what they can do here. We don’t really solve people’s problems. We just give them medicine. There are a certain percentage of people who are helpful, but a very high percentage who don’t really make a big difference in their lives. So families will start pressuring these doctors to keep them longer, do more, and sue if these people don’t heal. . .
Gabe Howard: One of the things that worries me so much about compulsory treatment is that it is ultimately harmful. You can only eat one bite of an apple, right? And forcing someone to do something only works while you are forcing it. Once you stop forcing them, they won’t trust you anymore. They don’t trust the system anymore. They don’t believe in the process anymore and won’t ask for help. And, well, frankly, they will stay away from you. They are trying to stay away from the mental health system completely. They will probably avoid everything and get no treatment at all. So I was like, ‘Look, I know they need therapy, I know this is what’s best for them, that’s why I’m doing this, even if this isn’t what they want. Even so, I have no choice but to say, “Okay.” But is this the long-term solution you’re looking for? Or has it only solved the problem for a year, two years, or five? If you’re showing symptoms at the typical age of 24, that’s really only a short amount of time. Let’s say it stabilizes. . . From 24th to 29th. What happens after the 29th? They’re going to be very traumatized. . . They avoid everything and gain nothing. And the data seems to support that this is not a good long-term solution.
Rob Whipond: Yes, that’s a very good point and a very important one, but it really only works once. Because if you do, that person won’t be able to call anyone in peace. Because they know they are at extreme risk of being exposed to traumatic events. So how can we believe this? Ask the practitioners, and frankly, I am appalled that psychiatrists are not speaking out against compulsory treatment. Because I think you see this every day. But instead they’re expanding it, right? Their justification for the fact that it’s clearly failing a huge portion of their own patient group — it’s clearly not working for them — their response to that, you know, we’re more of that. is required. I need to do it longer. We need to get on board sooner and rejuvenate them. . . Everything is going to expand, expand, expand in amount of time and degree of power now. And I’m saying it’s time to look the other way. Now is the time to step out of there and consider that a huge portion of the population in this patient group is not doing this. All I’m doing is getting rid of them. They become afraid to ask for help. [want] that.
That is also what I want to emphasize. We should not equate aid with force, and that seems to be what we do. When we have conversations like this, we say, oh yeah, we’re not helping them if we don’t call the police. Well, wait a minute. There are many other ways to help those in distress. I have seen people in extreme distress. And I still find ways to talk to them. You can still find a way to connect. And that’s what we need to do more of as a culture and as a society. ”
***
back to the web
