Rough Times

131 Pages·1973·10.314 MB·English

by  Jerome Agel, The Rough Times Staff

uia}muaur/i[[iupvii|,6]o.8oTt!}uoti}Tuamuciununoo//:sdt)i|
te hgaint
in the pages Of one Of the most important,
ageous, imovative, radical and thoughthiL pe-
fro in the world
UOu Tlus
"erty The Radical Therapist)
te hold facts and new ideas about dealing suo-
rfu"y with and liberating the imer self and
I Cftyg life in America.
t3"deut mental hospitals
t oppression of women, non-white peoples,
; new ideas for freedom, for the future, for
I
not pretty or soothing reading
it's among the most important reading you
be doing this decndel
ROUGH TIMES ,J
/
unlldi
The Rough Times Staf f
Prodrced by Jerome Agel
BALLANTINE BOOKS . NEW YORK
Contents
troduetion
I. Hoaphals and Change
to the ^ay\un, by Judy GreenbeTg
Ordeal in a Mental Hospital, 4roiz)/moz4r
belal Change at HalTowdale State Hospital: Im-
prosoton L by Cynthia Ganung
beLal CThange at Harrowdale State Hospital: Im-
prewiron H, by Phil Brown 32
*edical Psychiatry in Italy: "Irove Is Not Enoug[i,"
bii Donata Mebane-Francescato and Susan Jorues 43
l4ontal Health in China, Sczrz Fr¢uei'seo Bfty Area
US€hina Friendship Association 50
Become Mentally Healthy or I'u Kill you,
by )udy Greenberg 53
Mental Patients' Liberation Projectitatement and
Bill of Rights, Iveni yowl Mcured P¢!je7ats' Lj.bera-
•ton Project 60
n. Professionatism 65
To a Psychiatrist upon Terminating Treatment,
t]y ]rdy Greenberg 70
Copyrigbt © 1973 by Jerome Agel 0® P\ofesstonalis", by Michael I,. Gtem 72
The M]th Of Skill and the Chess Nature of Profession-
All rights reserved.
all:SHL, by Nancy Henley and Phil Brown 76
SBN 345-23o59rfui65
Professionalism: Reply to Henley and BrowiL
by Ken Couseus
ii:tn:¥rfantging|.¥e?'L;;33
Etotheraplzing Soc:iety, by Rick Kunnes
PrintedintheUnitedStatesOfAmerica Notes from a Social Worker, by FJorcrice Rrmfo
Therapist Tuned Woman, by Pa! Webbz.#k
P8yincFo°]ff?&]?ego;¥a:0;I:y:io#Schialvess#dayti°o:
3oTELa€tN5EFEfgt?gg;¥ocr.kyN.y.1oo22
Social Issues ( (SPSSI), by ZAlilrty Beckt7raii 107
in. Self-Hell)
Facing Down the Man, 6y Ivaney Henky
ufui%##,#a±-SE%al#£eurracfoyy#
by Tin de C-ifis
SuffH?esf¥bfy°rK¥£;„nghovI;th Heavy Strangers and I
PcOHee'fg:Scy£:¥6?„Sfee±/1#mandhig Psychiatric I
Ph%_.P_1£,: '£ s _?Sgychi;a9ckshR¥';i2iug=on Dng Edretr I
Peycholdslcal oppression is a pervasive aspect Of
Pe8]%;„?%C%aentryrogh£%fos#!:;dg'/e" moderii capitalism. The choices of bourgeois ex-
istence are madness, total apathy, and conformity.
IV.Opprechnas.MenquHealth
f#p¥rsgo:gc£°dtharea¥di?ti?ci#;fo#„z;£;fro%
Psg;h££tryac.Eanzg°„m.g#ty:.Nev_"Cues"
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n
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5;-tifi"E=owU\n ;rm`al and PoELed R=p\-dso-i
Ba;5#£E3%Thepoutiesof psychiatry, 2
VLeF##tst§ Feminst .tralysis, Boston Lesbian 22
Tairigban8 WfrLnet Bhes. by Jon Hillson
Introduction
A year ago we put out our first anthology, a col-
lection Of articles from the first year Of RT. Although
the bock has been well received by thousands Of peo-
wo have been self<ritical Of it, and of all our past
+"+i
ues, because of the imcertain direction Of RT. A year
tp we were fewer in number and tucked away in North
Dakota. Although we had different positions on RT'8
role in making a revolution, there was a de facto
con8cusus Of aiming our work toward professionals,
•utents, and intenectuals, bdieving that they held the
#Dtofin¥Ekfyth£Eeent,:thialaltfhyfiee±isinYte*fr¥:
rotDo Of those people are open to change, most of them
•ro too comfortable in their professionauy detached at-
dfude8, pseudo-hip life-styles, and removed position
from world revolution as well as |]econal change.
We began to see our position in terns of being pelt
Of a revolutionary movement. Our goals were more
llnked to a broad-based socialist movement than to a
r&dlcal caueus at a professional convention. We began
to peassert, with more force and conviction, that RT
•hould be part Of a movement to build a revolutionary
|®w world.
What does it mean to build a revolutionary new
World? This is a complex question, involviflg ongoing
•trugivo and constant change. In its broadest outlines,
thl. now world would be one in which no one made
profit from another, where men did not dominate won-
on, whites dominate nonwhites, or parents dominate
ir
x Rough Tiives
Introduction ri
media, day-torday relationships-these are the common
psychological problems which people face every day Of
their lives. We believe that people can locate the bases
geg;g;::¥=;¥hgaz¥Sg:siii¥j;in:afg]°:gj,i¥wij-
o[ their problems in these, and other, "normal" aspects
ol their lives. It is clear that therapy carinot provide
•olutious to the institutions Of our society. In Some
£e:e;d:-a::TTh:asstmf7eee:in?I:f:o.nfie:#:::gy:p!o::n¥:,; cases, people may get helped by seeing a therapist, but
h the long rufl there is little chance of revolutionary
change in such a manner. Revolutionary change re-
quires total restructuring of institutions along with the
iie::rFai::c]:::meuo±sea|::oi£:i;!ijs;:a¥d;i;±m::i::.:fn:?.i
breakmg down Of false power divisions within them.
From this realization we make several moves. One is
gel::ge%eomtheesITci§e=:;typ.atThoefFgtg::era:fi:i:{aotrhpeeaa]c% from professional reform to social revolution. Another
18 to see that psychological oppression is not simply one
and freedom.
of many types of oppression, but that it is an all-
pervading aspect of our society, of modem capitalism.
Although many people may Cam enough money to live
decently, their survival is limited on all sides by the
life-styles in which they are forced to live. Sexism and
racism are compounded by competitiveness and com-
::::`:::-I-ii_:------------------i------ii-----:-::----:i:- modity fetishism, and vice versa, on and on. The dia-
Ietic Of oppression brings the person to the limits of
bourgeois existence, limits at which the "choices" are
madness, total apathy, conformity. It is our task to
help make revolution the viable choice, the only choice
which would be a free one.
We need a total revolution because our oppression is
total. Capitalists exploit workers in a major manufac-
:`::-_.`_-_-`_-,`_'T-:-----.```_--:--``-:--::-::-; tu[er's plaut, the plant's prctduets are used to kin in
Southeast Asia, and people are tuned on by Madison
Avenue ad men and social requisites to buy the same
plan.t's useless and/c>r defective products. The circle is
unlimited, the variations pile up. What is physical op-
ig:I;£;§i;¥Cie;j¥¥;:ji:i:jb;:i::s:aij:g;Sh¥:i¥i:i::sis:o|;:
pression at one end is psychological at the other. dreri-
cans not involved in imperialist war are being im-
prisoners, the racist IQ theories of Jeusen and Herm
Stefi:Sfurce]:£:n£=?#esg|fkis¥bf:last:°"n,mh°o¥;=¥:.the perialized when they go out on dates and bay clothes
for those dates. People are not clearly defined as allies
or enemies, but are still defined as `tyretty" or "ugly."
E3l Rough Times
Introduction x3ii
Atotalrevolutiontoendsuchasystemcomprisesmany
aper?nt ty.pes of organizing: in factories. commi..;+jaa
#:.I,Zjna&§£n£€tyth:hHekr:'#tp::;]8°£|]]S::*€ia:Whgsi::
g¥y:;:fs:Lap;:ZE:g::I:h:e:g:=ofn:a:>:nth:::t;%rfit!:.gsgte¥,][;£:i •lch other, a society where people live dally the lives
anfiF¥e:I:th::S`sense of total revolution much more th.y can at present only explore.
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faotifg,a£:;Eaft:e:t£,etE:rs%E=rsL::,d;:gk¥;z;r&sa:wing
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becertainpeoplewhoconcentrateonserf-help,haspjtal
I.
Hospitals and
Change
Millions of pectple a year are living in mental hos-
pitals. Often they have been put there because of social
nonconformity, because their families cannot tolerate
them, because their communities want them "put
away." They receive a variety of medications and
"treatments"-almost always in excess and with the
wrong indications. A few of them receive "talking psy-
chotherapy." Most of them are released for adminis-
trative expediency, not because their objective situation
has changed. Many of them live forever in back wards,
"unfit" for life with other human beings, kept away
from the other, normal people.
Mental patients in America are an oppressed group.
'They lose their civil rights, they cannot get drivers'
Hcenses, they cannot vote, they often cannot find jobs.
They go through life with the stigma Of being an ex-
mental patient. Often they are not taken seriously, are
ridiculed and teased, are the objects of others' fears and
fantasies and are-actuallyutxposed constantly to the
Same conditions which led them to develop "symptoms"
in the first place.
Inside mental hospitals, patients are driven crazy and
furtyer brutalized. They have no contrcjl over their own
lives and are constantly at the mercy of the staff. One
ward had a slogan "If you're not crazy when you arrive
here, you will be before you leave." Such a slogan is
all too true. Although hospitals can represent a some-
times needed "safe" place, they are mostly used to con-
3