Asylum practices

The Annual Report of the Friends Asylum, in Philadelphia, records that It is pleasant to bear witness to the fact that mental medicine has been entering upon a new era during the past few years, and in consequence the purview of asylum practice has largely changed.. . ... 

Bedazzled by the myth of mental illness and seduced by psychiatry s usefulness for disposing of unwanted persons, the modern mind recoils from confronting the irreconcilable conflict between the political ideals of a free society and the coercive practices of psychiatry. Let us keep in mind that psychiatry began as a statist enterprise the insane asylum was a public institution, supported by the state and operated by employees of the state. The main impetus for converting private health into public health came, and continues to come, from psychiatrists. 

It is ironic, indeed, that despite the historical record summarized above, no male psychiatrist, no modern male psychiatric historian, acknowledges the witch as healer and therapist, the true mother of the modem, privately practicing physician and psychotherapist. Instead, as we have seen, Man (the Masculine Physician) robs Woman (the White Witch) of her discovery he declares her mad, and himself the enlightened healer. This process is repeated over and over in the history of medicine. Semmelweis, protector of the parturient woman from the disease-producing hand of the physician, is likewise declared mad, and imprisoned in an insane asylum. Anna O., Joseph Breuer s immortal patient, teaches her physician... 

Shorter, YAyidwA. A History of Psychiatry From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac. Hoboken, N.J. John Wiley Sons, 1998. Condenses two hundred years of psychiatric theory and practice into a compelling and coherent narrative. Through a series of gripping anecdotes, it chronicles the sometime harsh and heroic efforts of generations of scientists and physicians to ease the suffering of people with mental illness as well as society s changing attitudes toward psychiatric problems and their treatment. 

Recent trends have seen physical healthcare move from secondary to primary care, and from general hospitals to specialist cenmes. Mental health has had its own parallels, moving care from asylums to the community in the late 20th century, and more recendy enphasising GP-led care of manageable mental illnesses. You may play a part in this, e.g. by visiting GP practices to offer education or advice on patients. 

Australian government s denial of the rights of people fleeing persecution to seek asylum and the inhumane practices of mandatory detention, refused to participate in the design and construction of a prison for their arbitrary imprisonment (Farrelly, 2002). 

The emergence of the mtemational refugee regime begged the question of how states could respond to the need for international protection in practice (see Goodwin-Gill, this volume). For those claiming asylum as persecuted individuals. 

Kohli, R. S., and Mitchell, F. (eds.) (2007) Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Issues for Policy and Practice. London Palgrave Macmillan. 

Taylor, K. (2009) Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and the Politics of Access to Health Care A UK Perspective. British Journal of General Practice 59(567) 765-72. 

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