The whole point of power structures is to blindly, aggressively and reactively defend and perpetuate themselves. Informed consent, transparency and accountability in psychiatry are a pallid, abstract theory, not an honourable and practical reality.
In New Zealand there is now more rules and regulations, teamwork and oversight in mental health services so the sort of psychopathic staff excesses seen in Lake Alice and Cherry Farm psychiatric hospitals don't recur with the sort of monotonous regularity they once did.
However the psychological profile of the majority of people who gravitate towards, and stay, in psychiatric employment remains the same: damaged and disordered authoritarian conformists.
They may look a little different superficially: ostensibly right-on lefties with well-thumbed Noam Chomsky books who do yoga in the weekends and listen to Nick Cave after work. But that's just an affectation, a hobby. It's performative -- a way to feel morally superior. The cultural and ideological norms of polite society morph with the times. 70 years ago those same people would have been church-going conservatives reading Malcolm Muggeridge while sneering at disruptive activists.
New Zealand still has involuntary ECT. But to call voluntary ECT informed consent is risible. When I complained to the Health and Disability Commission that I didn't exactly get informed consent for ECT because there was no mention of devastating long term memory loss (ten years, in my case) I was told that they didn't have to put everything in the consent form.
When I ordered a copy of my medical files there was an internal memo stating they had nothing to worry about because I didn't want money. God knows what crap was in all the redacted material.
In my experience with the public system I encountered many doctors and staff that presented as sick in the head. I saw doctors go way beyond what was rational or warranted forcing harmful medications and treatments in alarming excess. They were very overbearing and punitive. It’s a great profession for sadists!
The whole point of power structures is to blindly, aggressively and reactively defend and perpetuate themselves. Informed consent, transparency and accountability in psychiatry are a pallid, abstract theory, not an honourable and practical reality.
In New Zealand there is now more rules and regulations, teamwork and oversight in mental health services so the sort of psychopathic staff excesses seen in Lake Alice and Cherry Farm psychiatric hospitals don't recur with the sort of monotonous regularity they once did.
However the psychological profile of the majority of people who gravitate towards, and stay, in psychiatric employment remains the same: damaged and disordered authoritarian conformists.
They may look a little different superficially: ostensibly right-on lefties with well-thumbed Noam Chomsky books who do yoga in the weekends and listen to Nick Cave after work. But that's just an affectation, a hobby. It's performative -- a way to feel morally superior. The cultural and ideological norms of polite society morph with the times. 70 years ago those same people would have been church-going conservatives reading Malcolm Muggeridge while sneering at disruptive activists.
New Zealand still has involuntary ECT. But to call voluntary ECT informed consent is risible. When I complained to the Health and Disability Commission that I didn't exactly get informed consent for ECT because there was no mention of devastating long term memory loss (ten years, in my case) I was told that they didn't have to put everything in the consent form.
When I ordered a copy of my medical files there was an internal memo stating they had nothing to worry about because I didn't want money. God knows what crap was in all the redacted material.
Bravo! Well stated
Thanks Niall..Aussie🏏- MH- like cave people, with bats, running the MH System... 👍✌️
In my experience with the public system I encountered many doctors and staff that presented as sick in the head. I saw doctors go way beyond what was rational or warranted forcing harmful medications and treatments in alarming excess. They were very overbearing and punitive. It’s a great profession for sadists!