The Beast/In the Belly of the Beast: Pinioned by Paper

Abstract

In our investigation thus far, we have unearthed worrisome practices and discovered some critical truths. We have seen two principles—parens patriae and protection of the peace—spawn a mammoth industry aimed at controlling people theorized as “unruly” or “in need of help,” with biological psychiatry assuming dominance. We have witnessed the ascendance of rule by diagnosis, buoyed up by a research industry dedicated to manufacturing “facts.” We have seen the increasing prominence of brain-damaging treatments. We have seen the development of an essentially self-interested alliance between the pharmaceuticals and psychiatry. Hard though this may be to wrap our mind around, what we have established, correspondingly, is that psychiatry’s basic tenets are insupportable, that no biological basis has been established for any mental illness, that the claims of chemical imbalance lack foundation, that the profession has no ability to predict dangerousness. On a very different level, we have seen concretely how psychiatry as an institution rules through texts. Indeed, as the previous chapter drew to a close, psychiatry was beginning to reveal itself as a document-driven “patient processing system.” Chapter Five picks up where Chapters One through Four left off, introducing new texts in the process.

Irit: One time I was working—and this is so ironic—for the Mental Health Advocate for British Columbia. I showed up at the office and got a pay cheque and ripped it up in front of her, and then was climbing the stairs to the top of the building while discarding articles of clothing. Granted, not rational behavior. Not smart. Well, the Advocate had her secretary call the police on me. And they were not nice. I was handcuffed in the ambulance with my hands behind my back and it was very painful.

Bonnie: Why did they say they were doing that?

Irit: As far as I know, they never tell you anything about why they do what they do. They just do it.

—Excerpt from interview with Irit Shimrat