Thank god for scientology. Or, more specifically, the “Commission des Citoyens pour les Droits de l’Hommes,” a front organization for the church dedicated to denouncing the “human rights violations” of French psychiatry. Their broad-brush condemnation of medication is probably unhelpful. But they are, as far as I can tell, the only group that has put… Continue reading The Shame(lessness) of the States
My twitter and facebook feeds are lighting up: if you need help, call 1-800-273-8255 (The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). Reach out—you’d be amazed how many people have struggled too. And, in time, get (professional) help—it helps. That last bit should come with an asterix. I’ve been struck lately by the narratives I’ve read—from this piece… Continue reading Getting Help
My students are anxious, and they’re not making it up. A meta-analysis of surveys found that one-third of college students met criteria for a mood disorder, with higher rates among women, first generation college students, and racial minorities. Since many of my students are all three, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a half-dozen… Continue reading TA (Teaching Anxiety)
A few weeks ago, I stepped off the metro at Glacière in Paris’s 14th arrondisement and walked into Sainte Anne’s hospital, where I had spent the better part of my fieldwork last year. It felt good to be back in a psychiatric hospital as an observer, not a patient. Walking through the gate was just… Continue reading Asylum
“Can you remember what you felt like when you walked through that door?” “No,” I blubber back. “You said you were feeling okay. It was just twenty minutes ago.” “I’m not okay,” I insist, through tears. “I’m not going to be okay.” It hadn’t been an easy day. I had a total meltdown over the… Continue reading Out of Sense, Out of Mind
8:00 a.m. – Breakfast 8:45 a.m. – Community Meeting 10:30 a.m. – Snack 11:00 a.m. – Group Therapy 11:45 a.m. – Lunch 1:00 p.m. – Visiting 2:00 p.m. – Activity Group 3:00 p.m. – Snack 4:30 p.m. – Walk (if approved by insurance and doctor) 5:45 p.m. – Dinner 7:00 p.m. – Visiting 8:30 p.m.… Continue reading Impatient Inpatient
“Here, everyone is an inappropriate admission. I don’t admit patients. I discharge them” – Psychiatrist, quoted in Rhodes, Emptying Beds. Before I had even met my treating psychiatrist, they were talking about my discharge. Someone from downstairs—that is, the part of the hospital that isn’t a locked psychiatric ward—came to tell me that I would… Continue reading One In, One Out
“He’s trying to figure out if he’s high or just psychotic,” I explain. I’m listening as a doctor a few feet down the hallway tells a middle aged man, “We’re worried that you’re hearing and seeing things that aren’t there, so you’re going to need to stay for a little bit.” I’m with a friend… Continue reading Auto-Ethnography
I haven’t blogged in a long time, thanks to a procrastination that my research in the mental health care system now allows me to label “apragmatism” (about which I am no longer “anosogosique”). Nonetheless, as twelve (12!) months of fieldwork in France comes to a close, I’ve been feeling an itch to write down some… Continue reading Souffrance Psychique
Perspective for those who observe mental illness, but for me, as a subject, this tree bore only dry and tasteless fruit. . . I have a chemical imbalance; I really didn’t feel those things. I have a chemical imbalance; I didn’t really experience those things. I have a chemical imbalance; I didn’t really think those… Continue reading Planes, Brains, and the Unexplained
