annie robb - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta Indonesia
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Papers by annie robb
In Africa, the violations of human rights of people with psychosocial disabilities have been larg... more In Africa, the violations of human rights of people with psychosocial disabilities have been largely ignored and they remain invisible. Most often issues such as lack of access to justice, education, employment, the right to be included and participate in the community without discrimination and freedom from violence and abuse is overlooked and compromised by a narrow focus and emphasis that is directed at delivery of western medical services. NHRI's can play a significant role in broadening the inclusion of people with psychosocial disabilities as rights holders in all aspects of their lives which have previously been ignored.
According to Be´hague (2008) anthropologists working in an array of countries have demonstrated h... more According to Be´hague (2008) anthropologists working in an array of countries have demonstrated how the expansion and diffusion of psychiatric processes has resulted in shifting definitions of 'that which is considered ''pathological" and so, of that which falls legitimately under psychiatry's domain. This expansion means that psychiatric practice has become increasingly important not only for defining and treating mental illness, but also for the creation and management of modern identities and of modern society itself.
This research paper explores the experiential life meanings of a group of middleclass South Afric... more This research paper explores the experiential life meanings of a group of middleclass South African women that identify with having been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Having a mental illness contains the pejorative of madness and often results in silence of those diagnosed. This Survivor Research includes first person descriptions in an attempt to reflect these often marginalized voices responding to and their understandings of the diagnosis and experience thereof. It can be read as a journey embarked upon by the researcher into exploring what does a Bipolar diagnosis mean for herself, the group and in relation to cultural assumptions, practices and beliefs of the common public consciousness. It is an exegesis of a mental illness that goes beyond the boundaries of the medical paradigm of popular understandings, probing the significance and relevance of the diagnosis. In approaching a search for new possibilities of interpreting the lives of those regarded as mentally ill and challenging the marginalizing power of discrimination leads the researcher to argue and question if the manifestation of mental illness should rather be interpreted as an expression of sentiral diversity in society. It also leads the researcher in exploring the agency for change.
Key words: Bipolar Disorder, mental illness, psychiatry, Post-psychiatry, psychiatric discourse, anti psychiatry, users and survivors of psychiatry, psychosocial disability
Conference Presentations by annie robb
In 2015, the South African Gauteng Provincial Health Department embarked on an ambitious plan to ... more In 2015, the South African Gauteng Provincial Health Department embarked on an ambitious plan to “deinstitutionalize” over 1700 residents of Lifecare Esidimeni Hospitals. Most residents were sent to unequipped and inappropriate NGO’s that were unregistered. More than 141 residents died in this process. At the time of writing it would appear that a culture of corruption and total disregard for the lives of these mentally disabled people existed that was trumped by greed as residents were seen as simply “business opportunities” to generate income for others.[ http://www.enca.com/coverage/esidimeni-a-tragedy-unfolds
Backround information on the tragedy can be found here: http://annemarierobb.wixsite.com/esidimenicampaign
]An Alternative Dispute Resolution[ https://www.enca.com/south-africa/live-stream-life-esidimeni-arbitration-to-hear-families-testimony] tribunal is at this time November 2017 hearing the stories of pain and grief of the families, and Government and NGO associates are been questioned as to what happened.
Words and history tell that psychiatry itself is rooted in colonialism, an alienating process whe... more Words and history tell that psychiatry itself is rooted in colonialism,
an alienating process where people come to understand themselves
in foreign terms, a colonization of the mind . We need to grasp the hegemony of ‘Western’ psychiatry, a psychiatry developed in specific high-income countries (HICs) of the global North and exported to the global South over the past 100 years with foreign ideas of incarceration and deprivation of the liberty of the mad (“mentally ill”) and coercive forced treatment with little or no choice of any alternatives outside of “medicine”. A benign paternalism. One that can result in death and tragedy as happened in South Africa in 2016. We await our second liberation in Africa - that of the decolonization project.
In Africa, the violations of human rights of people with psychosocial disabilities have been larg... more In Africa, the violations of human rights of people with psychosocial disabilities have been largely ignored and they remain invisible. Most often issues such as lack of access to justice, education, employment, the right to be included and participate in the community without discrimination and freedom from violence and abuse is overlooked and compromised by a narrow focus and emphasis that is directed at delivery of western medical services. NHRI's can play a significant role in broadening the inclusion of people with psychosocial disabilities as rights holders in all aspects of their lives which have previously been ignored.
According to Be´hague (2008) anthropologists working in an array of countries have demonstrated h... more According to Be´hague (2008) anthropologists working in an array of countries have demonstrated how the expansion and diffusion of psychiatric processes has resulted in shifting definitions of 'that which is considered ''pathological" and so, of that which falls legitimately under psychiatry's domain. This expansion means that psychiatric practice has become increasingly important not only for defining and treating mental illness, but also for the creation and management of modern identities and of modern society itself.
This research paper explores the experiential life meanings of a group of middleclass South Afric... more This research paper explores the experiential life meanings of a group of middleclass South African women that identify with having been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Having a mental illness contains the pejorative of madness and often results in silence of those diagnosed. This Survivor Research includes first person descriptions in an attempt to reflect these often marginalized voices responding to and their understandings of the diagnosis and experience thereof. It can be read as a journey embarked upon by the researcher into exploring what does a Bipolar diagnosis mean for herself, the group and in relation to cultural assumptions, practices and beliefs of the common public consciousness. It is an exegesis of a mental illness that goes beyond the boundaries of the medical paradigm of popular understandings, probing the significance and relevance of the diagnosis. In approaching a search for new possibilities of interpreting the lives of those regarded as mentally ill and challenging the marginalizing power of discrimination leads the researcher to argue and question if the manifestation of mental illness should rather be interpreted as an expression of sentiral diversity in society. It also leads the researcher in exploring the agency for change.
Key words: Bipolar Disorder, mental illness, psychiatry, Post-psychiatry, psychiatric discourse, anti psychiatry, users and survivors of psychiatry, psychosocial disability
In 2015, the South African Gauteng Provincial Health Department embarked on an ambitious plan to ... more In 2015, the South African Gauteng Provincial Health Department embarked on an ambitious plan to “deinstitutionalize” over 1700 residents of Lifecare Esidimeni Hospitals. Most residents were sent to unequipped and inappropriate NGO’s that were unregistered. More than 141 residents died in this process. At the time of writing it would appear that a culture of corruption and total disregard for the lives of these mentally disabled people existed that was trumped by greed as residents were seen as simply “business opportunities” to generate income for others.[ http://www.enca.com/coverage/esidimeni-a-tragedy-unfolds
Backround information on the tragedy can be found here: http://annemarierobb.wixsite.com/esidimenicampaign
]An Alternative Dispute Resolution[ https://www.enca.com/south-africa/live-stream-life-esidimeni-arbitration-to-hear-families-testimony] tribunal is at this time November 2017 hearing the stories of pain and grief of the families, and Government and NGO associates are been questioned as to what happened.
Words and history tell that psychiatry itself is rooted in colonialism, an alienating process whe... more Words and history tell that psychiatry itself is rooted in colonialism,
an alienating process where people come to understand themselves
in foreign terms, a colonization of the mind . We need to grasp the hegemony of ‘Western’ psychiatry, a psychiatry developed in specific high-income countries (HICs) of the global North and exported to the global South over the past 100 years with foreign ideas of incarceration and deprivation of the liberty of the mad (“mentally ill”) and coercive forced treatment with little or no choice of any alternatives outside of “medicine”. A benign paternalism. One that can result in death and tragedy as happened in South Africa in 2016. We await our second liberation in Africa - that of the decolonization project.