Involuntary Care and Treatment in Psychiatric Settings – Manifestations of Power and Violence?

Ann-Charlott Timander

doi:10.16993/sjdr.684

Abstract

In this article I am trying to disengage from the common forms of discussion about violence related to mental health service users/survivors, such as, for example, biomedical ideologies and statistical assertion that imply that service users/survivors are more likely to enact violence. I want to explore how service users/survivors experience involuntary ‘care and treatment’ in psychiatric facilities in Sweden today, and how their experiences can possibly be understood by taking into consideration the context, or more precisely the dominant ideologies/discourses surrounding mental and emotional distress/’madness’ in Western countries, i. e. the biomedical model/bio medical models, and by drawing on alternative and counter discourses around ‘madness’. Coming from a Mad Studies perspective, I argue, that the experiences the ‘women’ spoke about should be seen as manifestations of power and violence, and as breaches of Human Rights.

Highlights

In this article I am trying to disengage from the common forms of discussion about violence related to mental health service users/survivors, such as biomedical ideologies and statistical assertions that imply that service users/survivors are more likely to enact violence (Daley, Costa & Beresford 2019)
In this piece of qualitative research, I explore how service users/survivors experience involuntary ‘care and treatment’ in psychiatric facilities in Sweden today and how this ‘care and treatment’ affect their lives, and I explore how their experiences can possibly be understood by taking into consideration the context, or more precisely the dominant ideologies/discourses surrounding embodied mental and emotional distress/‘madness’ in Western countries and by drawing on alternative and counter discourses around ‘madness’
Coming from a Mad Studies perspective, I argue that the biomedical understanding of embodied mental and emotional distress is dominant in Western contemporary societies and that ordinary people and professionals are, to a greater or lesser extent, socialised to view experiences of embodied mental and emotional distress from a biomedical perspective (Timander 2015; Timander, Grinyer & Möller 2015)

Summary

Introduction

In this article I am trying to disengage from the common forms of discussion about violence related to mental health service users/survivors, such as biomedical ideologies and statistical assertions that imply that service users/survivors are more likely to enact violence (Daley, Costa & Beresford 2019). I have an interest in the ‘issue’, but my purpose is, hopefully, to broaden the understanding of violence manifest in the lives of mental health service users/survivors and to explore the impact of institutions (psychiatric) that manage ‘abnormality’ in current Western societies and their practices. In this piece of qualitative research, I explore how service users/survivors experience involuntary ‘care and treatment’ in psychiatric facilities in Sweden today and how this ‘care and treatment’ affect their lives, and I explore how their experiences can possibly be understood by taking into consideration the context, or more precisely the dominant ideologies/discourses surrounding embodied mental and emotional distress/‘madness’ in Western countries (i.e., the biomedical model/bio medical models) and by drawing on alternative and counter discourses around ‘madness’. This article draws on narratives told by 15 ‘female’ service users/survivors in Sweden today

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion