http://bananapeelproject.org/2008/11/11/consuming-patients/ Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:54:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://bananapeelproject.org/2008/11/11/consuming-patients/#comment-212 Alison Hymes Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:34:40 +0000 http://bananapeelproject.org/2008/11/11/consuming-patients/#comment-212 Um, labels/words aside, there is less and less autonomy for people who use community mental health centers in the United States as choices of type of services decline, most especially the almost complete elimination of counseling as an option and as laws have been passed in almost every state allowing community mental health centers to commit their clients to outpatient forced treatment. Consumer was meant to be a term of empowerment but has not turned out to be so, it is just another term co-opted by providers and has no real meaning at all. Psychiatric survivor is one of the identies/terms of choice by folks who have been in the psychiatric system that has not been co-opted by the system and is resisted mightily by both the system and academics who are pushing more forced treatment for people's "own good.". I find it hard to read torture described as a "technique" by the way but that's probably just me. Um, labels/words aside, there is less and less autonomy for people who use community mental health centers in the United States as choices of type of services decline, most especially the almost complete elimination of counseling as an option and as laws have been passed in almost every state allowing community mental health centers to commit their clients to outpatient forced treatment. Consumer was meant to be a term of empowerment but has not turned out to be so, it is just another term co-opted by providers and has no real meaning at all. Psychiatric survivor is one of the identies/terms of choice by folks who have been in the psychiatric system that has not been co-opted by the system and is resisted mightily by both the system and academics who are pushing more forced treatment for people’s “own good.”. I find it hard to read torture described as a “technique” by the way but that’s probably just me.

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