Women and Psychiatry

I experience what is commonly referred to as "mental illness", but that phrase does nothing to actually describe how it is. It began in my teenage years with an eating disorder, and progressed to periods of depression, self harm, further eating disorders and voice-hearing.

As a result of this, I have used mental health services for the last 8 years. Not because they are the answer or even especially helpful, but rather because they are currently the only option I have available to me.

Within these services I frequently witness and experience heteropatriarchal attitudes, prejudices and assumptions which demean me as a woman, as a lesbian. As an inpatient on a mixed-sex psychiatric ward I was harassed, sexually and verbally. At a mental health day centre I was exposed to racist, sexist and homophobic comments and attitudes by other service users.

Mental health services leave an awful lot to be desired, often causing more damage to the individual and leaving them feeling worse than before they had entered "the system". Individuals working within these services can be wonderful, indeed I have met a few such workers, but the system that surrounds "them" and "us" is so full of problems, inequalities, presumptions and prejudices.

Medication is used to silence and control us, medication which can produce the most awful side effects, some permanent. As much as we are assured that anti depressants, for example, are not addictive, I have come to believe that my 7 years of taking them have left me dependant on them. I am not alone in this belief.

So, mental health services can be terrible and medication can be addictive and permanently damaging. So, why am I continuing to use the former and swallow the latter?

Firstly, because they are the only free "help" available to me. Living in the UK where we have the National Health Service (NHS), health care is free, and for some (including me) medication is free. I am on benefits (welfare) and cannot afford to pay for any other help. I would love to consult alternative medical practitioners, experiment with Chinese herbalism or homeopathy, but availability of these is virtually zero on the NHS and I have no ability to pay for them privately.

Secondly, I have been receiving these treatments for so long that, despite the huge problems, it is part of my life now. I hate this but it is unfortunately true.

Thirdly, there is always the threat, veiled or not, of forced treatment. At present I could be sectioned and forced to receive treatment as an inpatient, but soon, if the government's proposed Mental Health Bill comes into force, I could be forced to receive treatment in the community. "Choosing" to receive this treatment gives me a false sense of being in control.

Fourthly, and probably most importantly, I don't know what the alternatives are, where to find them, or if they even exist at all. I envision women-only crisis houses, where women can go and receive support from one another, in a safe, caring environment. I envision consciousness raising groups, turning our anger outwards instead of inwards. I envision mass rallies of women speaking together, learning together, crying together, healing together.

Mental health services are in a mess. Therapy privatises what is inherently political. Medications dull the senses. Doctors talk of chemical imbalances when I know that I am distressed because I live in a crazy world.

I am distressed because of my experiences of sexual violence at the hands of men. I am distressed because living as a lesbian in a heterosexist world is devastating. I am distressed because we are soon to be bombing a nation already torn apart. I am distressed because I truly believe it is strange to not be distressed in the world that we live in today. Patriarchy controls women and pervades every aspect of our lives. Of course we become depressed, of course we hurt ourselves, of course our minds play tricks.

To overcome the seeming epidemic of depression and mental distress in women today, we need to target the root causes, we need to work against rape, against domestic violence, against pornography, against prostitution, against discrimination. Mental health services as they are today are doing their best to control the end result of this patriarchal oppression, but we need to attack its root. We must end violence against women.

by Philippa Willitts

Picture of my lego clone!

Name :
Philippa Willitts (Pippa)

Email :
purple_pippa@yahoo.com