Psychiatry and Oppression: A Personal Account of Compulsory Admission and Medical Treatment

See original version here

April 9, 2009

Schizophrenia Bulletin 2009 35(4):661-663; doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp025

Benjamin Gray, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK

Introduction

Dr B.G. is an academic and researcher in the field of mental health and was also diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2003, when he spent a total of 12 months in a mental health hospital. In this article, he relates his personal experience and story to make a polemical and admittedly one-sided case against traditional psychiatry and compulsory medical treatment. He ties his experience to espouse a modern antipsychiatry. Dr B.G. concludes that there needs to be more attention paid to voice hearers’ stories and accounts of mental illness, which he links to the rise of democratic psychiatry and the growth of the hearing voices movement, headed by organizations such as Intervoice, Asylum, MindFreedom, and the Hearing Voices Network.

Hearing Voices: A Personal Story

Certainly, my negative conception of traditional psychiatry and compulsory treatment is colored by the 12 months that I spent in a psychiatric acute unit.

Discussion: The Rise of Democratic Psychiatry and the Hearing Voices Movement

A Call for the Personal Stories of Voice Hearers

To whom correspondence should be addressed; tel: (01206) 82 3828; e-mail: btgray@hotmail.com.