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Advocating for change

Video: Psychiatrist Discussing Problems With The Mental Health System

Re: Hearing you I have avoided it. I figured it might go...


@Appleblossom wrote:

I tend towards alternative approaches. Eg.,

https://www.mindaustralia.org.au/news/stratford-scholarship-recipient-explore-new-responses-suicide

Seems interesting, @Appleblossom . I'll have to make time to watch the full speech video they link to. The article sounds nice enough, but it's the finer details of these sorts of initiatives that are crucial. Hopefully the video will have more clarification on those.

 


@Appleblossom wrote:

we need robust debate in our advocacy space.


Yup.

And free speech. That is essential.

Niall McLaren has mentioned in several of his writings the culture of suppression within the mental health industry - how sceptical therapists are warned in the harshest possible terms to keep their mouths shut about their misgivings about the industry's standard practices and ideologies, lest the industry elders destroy their careers.

But the suppression is all over the place.

Regardless of whether your a therapist, a patient, a carer, or anyone else, there are tons of important things you simply aren't aloud to say by the powers that be. Important things that need to be said out loud, in order for there to be any sort of meaningful and productive discussion about these matters.

But instead, it's like we're trying to have a crisis talk about what to do about the dozens of locals who have died and the hundred of houses that have disappeared within the past few days, while being forbidden by the authorities from mentioning the fact that there's a monster bushfire raging through the county.

How can we contemplate solutions when we can't even earnestly discuss the problem?

It boggles the mind... I swear, a lot of the time I feel like the whole mental health dialogue is something straight out of a George Orwell novel.

Re: Hearing you I have avoided it. I figured it might go...

Yep, about suppression of speech. @chibam It is pretty clear in the psychoanalytic literature that suppression ain’t good… ie.. causes mental health problems. 

yep, re the system is like an Orwellian nightmare.

 

when I joined the forum 10 years ago I was more optimistic, despite my history. I have had to watch the systems mess with my family again, since then, Not happy. I still do my best for advocacy for human rights and best possible outcomes. 

 

There are also abolitionist groups who no longer believe gradual reform is possible. They are anti carceral. Just talking and finding language that reflects my observations.