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Beresford's 2020 Article: The Terms Mad And Madness

1417 Words6 Pages

Part A: In Beresford’s 2020 article, the terms ‘mad’ and ‘madness’ are analyzed in relation to the broader topic of mental health. It aims to explain why these terms are so controversial when used to describe people suffering from mental distress and how the emergence of ‘Mad studies’ as a framework has made it possible for words like ‘mad’ and ‘madness’ to be reclaimed by survivors. To put it simply, to reclaim something means to take it back--- in this case, that would be the terms ‘mad’ and ‘madness’ as these kinds of words and terminology have been and continue to be used negatively against mental health service users. Reclaiming these words/terms is crucial, as it takes power away from the language that has been and is used to degrade …show more content…

Which, as we concluded previously the biomedical framework is not a framework that positively impacts survivors, and even though LeFrancois is focusing on psychiatrising children these are facts that apply to all mental health service users. Child psychiatrisation as a form of oppression against children is not a stretch in my opinion as, I have personally dealt with certain terms being used to insult me as a mental health service user and I have dealt with them since I was a young. Age does not make being a stigmatized member of society easier. Reclaiming these words as a survivor matters to me because it takes power away from the people trying to hurt me. I have struggled from mental distress since I was a child and my mum like many other parents tried to help me through the use of mental health …show more content…

Eugenics being, “…the belief that human evolution can be crafted by the encouraged breeding of people who are considered the most desirable—the “fit”—and the discouraged breeding of those who are considered the least desirable—the “unfit” (Withers, 2012, p.13). Reading Wither’s article about eugenics reinforced my beliefs about the horrible way society has and continues to act towards people suffering from mental distress. Society would genuinely rather see people sterilized or dead before offering them actual help or support. The idea that ‘mentally ill’ people are less desirable and ‘unfit’ is still valid today. I can think of two instances immediately when someone has offered me their unsolicited opinions--- opinions that very clearly supported the eugenics

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Margaret Sanger was a birth rights advocate and in her later years, supported eugenics. Eugenics is the belief that all of the good human qualities can be the main characteristics instead of all the bad qualities in the human population. In the speech, Sanger believes that people with mental illnesses should have limited children or no children at all which proves that she supported negative eugenics and sterilization.

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Eugenics is not a thought of morale and is not designed to save the entire human race, just the upper socioeconomic class. In North Carolina, feeble minded individuals were used as subjects for all kinds of genocidal experiments. Feeble minded simply means someone who suffers from an illness or mental deficiency and are often easier persuaded because they think they are getting help when they were really being coerced into becoming a test

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Darwinists in turn, believed biology to be destiny and that if one's ancestors were unfit their children would be as well. Much like in evolution, Spencer assumed that the unfit populations would decline overtime due to their failure to compete, however paranoia led some Americans to speed up this process, introducing eugenics. Eugenics were supposed to improve men, ridding the undesirable traits of the unfit and changing genetic structure to create more fit individuals. The Eugenics movement in America took people of color, the mentally ill or disabled, LGBTQ individuals, and other members of society deemed unfit, and conducted experimentation ranging from forced breeding, involuntary sterilization, or institutionalization on them. Although the movement was eventually stomped out, it violated thousands of

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From her experience with “madness,” she concluded that psychiatry was a naive field. Early in the book, she explains how society viewed mental illness in the past, saying it was demonic possession, where the treatment was to drill a hole in the patient’s skull. As the book advances, the author turns to David Rosenhan, a noted psychologist, and his study that included 8 normal people going undercover in different psychiatric facilities and claiming they heard empty, hollow voices in their heads, all of them were admitted, and most were diagnosed with schizophrenia. The study showed how psychiatry did not know how to differentiate between the sane from the insane, it also uncovered the mistreatment that patients received when they were admitted and the conditions that the patients lived in. Rosenhan’s study created mistrust in the field of psychiatry with some people saying that patients are more likely to recover if they are not admitted to a facility.

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Throughout this assignment it is going to explain how legislations and social policies have changed the response to the needs of individuals who suffer from mental health conditions, it is also going analyse the impact of the recent changes within social policies. The history behind mental health has had a major impact on today’s society, how the legislations and policies have been reformed over the centuries. Treatment and social standards have also change dramatically; in 1247 the first Bethlem Royal Hospital was built in London. This hospital was originally built to collect money; food etc for the Crusader Church, this building was used as a church for a hundred years.

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In 1917, a law was passed creating the Oregon State Board of Eugenics. Eugenics is the concept of promoting people with sought after physical and mental traits to reproduce in order to enhance society. The board was allowed to sterilize inmates and patients in prisons and mental institutions, and if they could not reproduce, the thought was it would improve society. However, in 1983 the law was abolished. Sterilizing people does not stop the following generation from having physical or mental abnormalities nor does it prevent crime, using genetics to predict the mental state of future generations is not logical, and the sterilizations were unfair and inhumane.

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According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, eugenics is: “a science that deals with the improvement (as by control of human mating) of hereditary qualities of a race or breed”. ("Definition of Eugenics by Merriam-Webster") The most common example of this concept would be the Holocaust, which was the extermination of Jewish people and others deemed “unfit” for society in World War Ⅱ. But little do many know, the Nazi’s were not the only people practicing eugenics in the early 1900’s, eugenics was being practiced in the United States long before the Holocaust. The American Eugenics Society aimed to educate American people on the science of Eugenics.

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a mad world Madness, lobotomies, electro-shocks, misfits, normality; these words are the ones the people use when they talked about mental illness in the 19th Century. The 50’s and the 60’s were difficult times to live with a mental disorder, due to the fact that they were a stigma to the society and we all know how a stigma works: it consumes the people with fear. In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey puts in the spotlight the mental institutions and the “great solutions” that the government and psychiatrists developed. And it makes you wonder: Were they mentally ill or they made them believe that? Throughout Ken Kesey 's novel, “One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest,” the use of manipulation is a recurring, the character that uses it the most if the Nurse Ratchet.

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Mental health has long been put on the back burner in society, stigma and misunderstanding are rooted in the issue of assisting those struggling with mental health issues. In years prior, there has been limited comprehension of what it truly means to internally struggle with one's thoughts. The stigma rooted in society can be seen over 100 years ago in the early 1900s. As seen in Thorton Wilder’s Our Town, proper mental health care has been ignored, and placing shame on those struggling has been implemented rather than researching proper care techniques and taking time to understand the struggles of those who have a difficult time staying mentally afloat, society has taken the easy route when dealing with the ‘burden’ of those with mental illness.

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This documentary will help me as a social worker in the future because it reaffirmed the importance of following the steps for psychiatric diagnosis and not merely coming to a premature diagnostic conclusion based on assessing clients’ appearances and their responses to tests, which is what occurred in this production. As mentioned in the series, How mad are you? A Search for Insanity (2008), participants may respond to tests for rational thinking differently based on a variety of factors and the results do not necessarily reveal evidence of mental disorders. I was also reminded of the importance of being a compassionate clinician who is self-aware and is cognizant of the impact verbal and non-verbal language has on clients and to operate

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With medical institutions prescribing anti-depressants and other pills that either help with little success or don’t help at all, is the younger generation safe in the hands of a mentally ill parent, and does mental instability morally justify the neglect of a child? For an example, “White Oleander” written by Janet Fitch features a young girl named Astrid who lives amidst the boundaries of the foster care system, and Fitch depicts Astrid’s coming-of-age story. Through thick and thin, Astrid learned to handle the reins of life in several different houses, each with different rules and different expectations. Claire, one of Astrid’s more notable foster mothers, was mostly likely suffering from depression and paranoia throughout the duration of her time with Astrid.

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In addition, according to Bogg (2010, p.23) “moral weakness was a common diagnosis at this point in psychiatric history, and was one reason why such treatment of those considered mad was justified by society”. Society believed that people suffering from mental health issues lived immoral lives and did not deserve to live in the community with the general

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Eugenics is the science of using artificial selection to improve genetic features of the population. It is thought that improvement of the human race can be seen through sterilization of people who exhibit undesirable traits and selective breeding. Often called Social Darwinism, the concept was widely accepted during the time of World War I. It quickly became a taboo after World War II when Nazi Germany used it as an excuse for genocide. The thought of improving the human race by manipulating who is allowed to breed can either be appalling or compelling.

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Eugenics could make the human race more tough in terms of surviving epidemics or apocalyptic conditions which could wipe us off the face of the Earth as it is an attempt to improve the human gene pool .It could get rid of genetic diseases(from common ones like type 1 diabetes to severe ones like cystic fibrosis) which cause grief to family members, reduce quality of life and costs a lot of maintain life or treat, furthermore it could greatly increase our lifespan which is all good individually but it may have consequences as a species since competition for already scarce resources may increase if the birth rate is not controlled (is that ethical as well?), overpopulation could cause a greater anthropogenic pollution of the Earth leading to our doom which started off as a way to improve our lifestyle could lead to more industry to support the higher population leading to larger ozone holes more melting of polar icecaps and higher rising of sea levels and more cases of skin cancer. We would be playing god, altering a sort of natural cycle which regulates the population or cause a frenzy where everyone wants perfection where there could be discrimination where people can’t afford or are in no situation to receive the advantages of eugenics. In this case we should make eugenics widely and cheaply available but a question arises whether that is practically possible. Therefore eugenics also touches on other controversial topics like IVF, PID an

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