Die Patientin, die Touristin und die rhizomatische Ebene
[Anm. d. Red.: Dieser Artikel ist nicht identisch mit dem Original, das in den Sozialpsychiatrischen Informationen veröffentlicht wurde bzw. zur Veröffentlichung vorgesehen ist. Die veröffentlichte Version von Milan Röhricht, Die Patientin, die Touristin und die rhizomatische Ebene, Sozialpsychiatrische Informationen 4/2021, ist online unter (bitte URL angeben) zu finden.] Die 20-jährige Anne Rau, die nach einem Selbstmordversuch in eine psychiatrische Klinik aufgenommen wurde, fand schließlich den richtigen Ausdruck, um zu vermitteln, was ihr fehlte: etwas kleines und einfaches, aber unermesslich Wichtiges. Sie nannte es eine natürliche Selbstverständlichkeit. Sie fühlte sich unfähig,…
Keep readingThe patient, the tourist and the rhizomatic plane
[Editors’s note: this article is not identicle to the German translation (to be) published in the Sozialpsychiatrische Informationen. The published version by Milan Röhricht, Die Patientin, die Touristin und die rhizomatische Ebene, Sozialpsychiatrische Informationen 4/2021, is available from October 2021] Anne Rau, a 20-year-old admitted to a psychiatric ward after attempting suicide, eventually found the right phrase to convey what she was missing: something small and simple yet immeasurably important. She called it natural self-evidence. She felt unable to connect with others around her, like an alien in the room,…
Keep readingObservations from an open circle
[Editor’s note: the following observations were made by the author over a period of four months during a fortnightly philosophical reading group with patients in a psychiatric rehabilitation institution. Friedrich Nietzsche’s ‘On the Genealogy of Morality’ was read. To ensure anonymity certain facts have been altered, leaving a representative, but in no way replicable account. An abridged version of this essay was published on Mad in America – https://www.madinamerica.com/2020/02/observations-open-circle/%5D * Dear patients, I would like to warmly invite you to take part in a philosophical reading group. In an open circle…
Keep readingInstitutional Psychotherapy
[Editor’s note: this is an addendum to the article ‘Demystifying phenomenological and social psychiatry’ (Isolatarium, 1/2019). Although it is published separately here, it has also been integrated into the aforementioned article.] Commonly considered as conceptional founders of Institutional Psychotherapy (IP) [1] are François Tosquelles, Jean Oury, Hermann Simon, Frantz Fanon and George Canguilhem. Their work built upon the theory of Jacques Lacan, which was later complemented by Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze. Many of these individuals were heavily influenced by the experience of occupation during World War Two; of totalitarian…
Keep readingDemystifying phenomenological and social psychiatry
Contents Introduction Theoretical aspects (Philosophical considerations: phenomenology and anthropology; Anti-Psychiatry; Neuropsychiatry; Terminology: ‘social psychiatry’ vs. ‘socialpsychiatry’; Embodied and enactive cognition) Institutional and methodological aspects (Milieu therapy; Therapeutic community; Soteria; Institutional Psychotherapy; Open dialogue; Trialogue, incl. psychosis seminars) Conclusion Recommended literature Introduction With the social context of psychiatry experiencing a renaissance of interest from a younger generation of aspiring professionals, the need to create clarity in the vast spectrum of associated themes arises. To be sure, such an overview will in itself cause certain problems due to its simplification of the…
Keep readingEnvisioning a future for psychiatric care
[Editor’s note: many of the concepts only touched upon here are clarified in the accompanying article ‘Demystifying phenomenological and social psychiatry’.] T. F. Main coined the term therapeutic community (TC) [1] as both a manner and method of psychiatric care shortly after World War Two, highlighting institutional deficits of conventional hospitals which may thus be addressed: “The concept of a hospital [means] that patients are robbed of their status as responsible human beings […] making them ‘patients’ […] in a state of retirement from society.” [2] However, it was only…
Keep readingImpressions from a closed psychiatric ward
[Editor’s note: to ensure anonymity of the patient data as well as the institution, all of the facts and quotes included have been altered, leaving a representative, but in no way replicable account. Further, the author has asked to remain anonymous.] “When suffering from a mental illness one no longer has a free will.” A floor plan of the ward should have been included here, illustrating the conditions in which patients are being forced to ‘live’. However, to ensure I am not legally compromised (trade and corporate secrets etc.), I…
Keep readingEffect of cannabis potency on the consumer
Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in the world, with the predicted number of users exceeding 200 million people (UNODC, 2015). Within Europe, it is estimated that a quarter of the population aged between 15-64 years have tried cannabis, with nearly 7% indicating they have consumed it in the past year (EMCDDA, 2016). This frequency of use far surpasses the use of other illegal drugs: cocaine, the second most frequently used drug, is reported to have a lifetime use of 5.1%, with only 1.1% claiming to have consumed…
Keep readingOne last call for the legalisation of cannabis
Although considered acceptable on an individual basis by many, little has changed to the cannabis laws across most of Europe over the last few years. Not, actually, since its reclassification in Britain from Class C to Class B drug in May 2008[1], moving it up the scale away from ‘soft drugs’ like anabolic steroids, and towards the ‘harder drugs’ of the Class A crack and cocaine, amongst others.[2] In the aftermath of this change in policy, Professor David Nutt was sacked from his position as head of the Advisory Council…
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