Eggplant Oriented Psychiatric Treatment by Alison Hymes

The president of the APA now claims to be "recovery" oriented as does NAMI,
the CSB psychiatrist on behalf of Western State hospital and the UVA psychiatric nurse administrator and I know each of them is as recovery oriented as Bush is oriented towards cleaning our air and water. Yet another concept stolen as Sylvia Caras points out so I revert to eggplant oriented treatment trusting the powers that want to be over us won't steal it as a phrase.

Now some people are going to prefer avocado oriented treatment instead,
and I think that's fine, because I am all about choice for all of us who
have so far survived the degradations of the MH system. And a few may prefer
licorice stick oriented treatment, and again I support them in their choice
although it is not mine.

What will eggplant oriented treatment look like? Choice above all.
Choice not to engage in treatment at all, choice to engage in some aspects and
not others and to drop out at any point of our own choosing without repercussions of any kind, choice of what we want and think works for us rather than what is convenient, comfortable and/or profitable for providers to offer.

Freedom. Respect. Dignity. Truth telling. Truly informed consent. And end to the paradigm that says madness is worse than ruined health and poverty and
death. Ability to accept difference, that we may not respect authority particularly and that that is not a pathology but instead a characteristic to be left alone and respected.

An end to slander and generalizations and any phrase that starts out "all people with mental illness" or "jails are mental institutions" .

And end to fake consumers who are really NAMI parents and siblings in disguise posing to take our places at decision making tables.

A demand for customer service and respect from providers or we leave.

 Create your own educational wiki!Help Add to Del.ici.ous Add to Digg Add to RedditPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS