| Stigma
"By definition, of course, we believe the person
with a stigma is not quite human. On this assumption we exercise
varieties of discrimination, through which we effectively, if often un-thinkingly,
reduce his life chances" Doctor Irving Goffman (1968).
Being diagnosed as schizophrenic can entail a variety
of adverse medical, legal and social consequences. As Doctors Skrabanek
and McCormick (1989) observed: "Unfortunately...the disease
label...has important and undesirable consequences...[it] transfers people
to a new category, that of patient...being diagnosed is abnormal:
it is a form of deviance which may diminish employability, desirability
and marriage prospects or even lead to limitations of liberty by being
placed in institutional care...."
Although the Taylor and Gunn study (1999) concluded that
the threat thought to be posed by schizophrenics is largely a myth,
many people persist in thinking of schizophrenia sufferers as dangerous. (For
more on this issue, see Mind in Manchester's 'Community Scare' pages in
the 'Forum' section of our website).
In their under-publicised report, eminent forensic psychiatrists
Professor Pamela Taylor and Professor John Gunn (1999) showed that killings
by the mentally ill have actually fallen in recent years, and
that when the mentally ill have killed, alcohol or drug abuse have often
been more significant factors than any psychiatric disorder. As
President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Dr Robert Kendal (1999)
remarked: "If anyone...is frightened of being murdered, the people
we should worry about are the people who are drunk or intoxicated".
Despite this weight of evidence, discrimination
against those diagnosed as having schizophrenia remains widespread.
Perhaps because dissatisfied and unfulfilled people with low self-esteem
delight in identifying others as unworthy and inferior beings. The targets
of this process represent what Freud called the "outcast totems by
which others may judge their own and better worth".
Psychologists and sociologists have long observed that
social tensions create tendencies to scapegoat unpopular and marginalised
groups. Society should, however, be cautious in permitting such persecution.
Historian Michael Burleigh (1995) demonstrates
that the Nazi Holocaust began with the persecution and extermination
of those deemed to be mentally ill. Only after the program of 'euthanasia'
had been successfully applied to 'mental defectives' was this process
extended to other groups categorized as sub-human 'untermenshen'.
Once this precedent had been set anyone could be sent to a gas chamber.
Adverse medical consequences.
Ironically, although a diagnosis of schizophrenia
is likely to entail increased contact with medical professionals such
as doctors and nurses, interaction with these personnel may
be highly deleterious to the physical well being of those believed
to be schizophrenic. As Dr Lucy Johnstone has commented: "It is beyond
doubt that many psychiatric patients are suffering far more from their
'treatment' than from the original problem" (Johnstone, 2000).
Health-threatening consequences visited upon genuine and
alleged schizophrenia sufferers include life-threatening overdoses of
noxious drugs; the application of ethically and scientifically dubious
'treatments' such as brain surgery -or, more commonly- electric shocks
and the non-investigation of genuine disease symptoms dismissed
as hyperchondriacal imaginings (Hoeper, 1984).
Refusal to investigate physical conditions experienced
by psychiatric patients may be a much greater problem than is generally
realised: Dr Lorrin M Koran (1989) and colleagues from the Department
of Psychiatry at Stanford University investigated a sample of psychiatric
hospital in-patients and found that 39% of these had major physical illnesses
which were often causing or exacerbating psychiatric symptoms; yet, surprisingly,
almost half of these conditions (47.5%) had been overlooked by psychiatric
hospital staff.
When Jean Davison visited her GP after experiencing dizziness
due to a flue-type virus he tried to give her psychiatric drugs because
her case-notes revealed she'd received a psychiatric diagnosis some 30
years previously (Davison, 2003).
The reluctance to investigate physical symptoms reported
by those deemed to be mentally ill is thought to cause many deaths.
Additionally, the administration of lethal dozes of phenothizine drugs
by doctors and nurses to unpopular and troublesome patients has also had
fatal consequences.The enquiry into the death of Mrs. Jacqueline Shalleoe
at Long Grove Psychiatric Hospital in Surrey revealed that her prescription
sheet included eight different drugs. Five of these were given to her
by nurses under the notorious pro re nata procedure; that
is, at the nurses' discretion. She finally died after being given a Largactil
injection. Her consultant psychiatrist defended the administration of
drugs at the discretion of nursing staff , saying that this (theoretically)
meant that no drugs would be given unnecessarily. Astonishingly he added
: "It is not for the doctor to comment on what is a nursing matter".
The distinguished Canadian psychopharmacologist Doctor
Guy Chouinard has recommended that phenothiazine drugs should be used
only for short periods, with severely disturbed patients. As with
so much in psychiatry, although this may be the theory, it is often not
the practice. It is estimated that phenothiazine drugs cause at least
one death per week among those diagnosed as having schizophrenia.
Additional medical difficulties can arise from the widespread
-if officially discouraged- practice of giving supposed schizophrenics
large cocktails of different phenothiazine drugs which were never tested
-or intended to be used- together. Dr. Rob Youngston (1996) has observed:
"'polypharmacy' -the multiple application of multiples of combined
drugs -can cause such inexplicable and confusing side effects that the
original symptoms of sickness become indiscernible beneath the web of
iatrogenic sickness, which is then treated by the further application
of yet more drugs, and in stronger doses."
As Dr Lucy Johnstone remarks: "...the need to justify
psychiatry's position as a branch of medicine has led to quite unsupported
claims about the effectiveness of physical treatments, and a scandalous
denial of the damage they can cause" (Johnstone, 2000).
Psychiatrist Doctor Peter Breggin (1993) has also revealed
the vast range of medical problems which may follow a
serious psychiatric diagnosis. He's commented that visiting a psychiatrist
is potentially one of the most health-destroying actions anyone can take.
Breggin P (1993 ) 'Toxic Psychiatry' Harper
Collins.
Burleigh M (1995) 'Death and Deliverance: "Euthanasia"
in Germany c 1900-1945' Cambridge University Press.
Davison, J (2003) 'Thirty Years On' Openmind, 120 Mar/April
2003 p.14
Goffman I (1968) 'Stigma' Penguin Books.
Gould D (1985) 'The Medical Mafia' Sphere
Books.
Hoeper, E, et al. 'The Usefulness of Screening for Mental
Illness' Lancet 1: 33-5
Johnstone, L (2000) 'What is Wrong with Psychiatry?' Mental
Health Practice October 2000 Vol.4 No. 2
Kendal, Robert, quoted by Cella Hall (1999) 'Mentally
ill 'pose less threat than addicts' Daily Telegraph January 6th p4
Kennedy I (1981) 'The Unmasking of Medicine'
George Allen and Unwin.
Koran, L M (1989) 'Medical Evaluation of Psychiatric Patients.
1. Results in a State Mental Health System' Archives of General Psychiatry
August 1989. 46 pp.733-740
Skrabanek, P and McCormick, J (1989) 'Follies and Fallicies
in Medicine" Tarragon Press.
Taylor, PJ and Gunn, J (1999) 'Homicides by People
with Mental Illness: Myth and Reality". British Journal of Psychiatry,
January 1999:174:9-14.
Youngston, R and Schott, I (1996) 'Medical Blunders'
Robinson. |
