Background Information to the Psychiatric Survivor Movement

 

Since the early 1960s, treatments, techniques and technologies for psychiatric illness have dramatically increased. Recent research was focused on discovering the neurological and genetic causes for mental illnesses and trying to understand the relationship between the person, the brain, body and the disease.  At the same time, several individuals across Canada and the United States who were clients of mental health services or ex-patients (also known as survivors) started a movement that advocated for more treatment choices, improved services and freedom from prejudices within society.  Research on the Psychiatric Survivor Movement suggests it has succeeded in providing ex-patients or survivors with social support, empowerment, mental wellbeing, self-management and reduced service use.  My personal research answered how the Psychiatric Survivor Movement became a successful and recognized movement and specifically focused on what this movement meant for mental ill patients in the late twentieth century. It explored the voices of the movement published by movement supporters and renowned medical professionals, determined how the movement responded to criticisms and examined the outcomes of the movements mobilization and efforts

 

The Movement's Beginning: Network News Newsletter

It became evident early on that the social movement of the mad has been referred to by a number of names including: “mad liberation,” “anti-psychiatry,” “ex-patient,” “ex-inmate” and “mental health consumer” movement. The long list of names reflects the diverse focuses, concerns and sectors of society that made up the movement and demonstrates how many areas of society the movement touched.   The movement is said to have started in the late 1960s, when fighting for justice, human rights and the challenging of authority made up the social climate throughout Canada and the United States of America. Information, publications, support groups and campaign programs between Canada and the United States worked together to create a unified and recognized brand for the movement. One of the earliest established voices of the movement to reach an international platform was the Madness Network News (MNN) Newsletter.  The newsletter began as a simple project led by displeased medical professionals and ex-patients in the San Francisco Bay region in the summer of 1972. In each volume, prevalent concerns at the time of its publication were expressed, breaking the silence around these issues. Expert knowledge regarding patient rights and treatment procedures were exposed to the public. Major topics addressed included the discussion of patient rights, the protest and injustices of psychiatric oppression, involuntary hospitalization, and forced drugging.

 

Judy Chamberlin and Toronto

In Canada, Judi Chamberlin, a woman who became a well-recognized psychiatric survivor, wrote a book about her experiences, titled: On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System.  Her book became a powerful tool that inspired other survivors in Toronto to develop self-help and mutual aid organization, named On Our Own. Her book also developed an appreciative audience in the United States, as American survivors could relate to her experiences. The organization On Our Own also developed a successful and widespread magazine, Phoenix Rising, which allowed individuals of the Toronto community go public and share their experience of the abusive and inappropriate treatment they received at the hands of the Canadian mental health system.

 

Criticisms and Effects of the Movement

While these publications helped establish the movement’s credibility in society, it still faced many hardships. Criticisms, by those who believed in the abilities of modern medicine, have been made that the anti-psychiatry mindset of the movement has produced a culture that ridiculed a practice that has looked to address the steadily increasing number of mentally troubled individuals of society. Critics have also argued that the psychiatric survivor movement lacked resources to provide a solid, unified voice While the movement strived to be independent from any sense of authority, it required substantial financial support from the government and the very society they claimed produced the labels and stigma they were looking to erase. This raised the question if the funding received influenced the movement’s objectives

Despite the criticism, the psychiatric survivor movement is one of the most well-known and globally effective movements of the century. It has made significant changes to the ways in which health care systems approach mental illnesses and has impacted how society perceives mental illnesses today.