Involuntary care and treatment in psychiatric settings – manifestations of power and violence?

Abstract

In this article I am trying to disengage from the common forms of discussion about violence related to mental health service users/survivors, such as, for example, biomedical ideologies and statistical assertion that imply that service users/survivors are more likely to enact violence. I want to explore how service users/survivors experience involuntary ‘care and treatment’ in psychiatric facilities in Sweden today, and how their experiences can possibly be understood by taking into consideration the context, or more precisely the dominant ideologies/discourses surrounding mental and emotional distress/’madness’ in Western countries, i. e. the biomedical model/bio medical models, and by drawing on alternative and counter discourses around ‘madness’. Coming from a Mad Studies perspective, I argue, that the experiences the ‘women’ spoke about should be seen as manifestations of power and violence, and as breaches of Human Rights.