File spoon-archives/marxism-psych.archive/marxism-psych_1998/marxism-psych.9805, message 7


Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 23:45:39 +0100
From: Chris Burford <cburford-AT-gn.apc.org>
Subject: Re: M-PSY: Radical libertarian mental health activism


At 10:18 AM 5/6/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Arguments why Marxists (and everybody else, for that matter) should be
>suspicious about "empowerment" are developed in our unpublished manuscript
>"Here Be Dragons: The Myth of Psychological Empowerment," Sherri Young and
>Roland Chrisjohn, 1993.  Were we to try and get it published again we would
>of course have to update our exposition, but the basic objections hold
>regardless of specific misapplications.  Interested parties can request a
>copy (or a precis) from Sherri Young, 403-934-1922.  She doesn't have
>e-mail as far as I know.
>
>R. Chrisjohn


Can you, or anyone give a flavour? Like Hugh, I would be very interested. I
think Russell has put his finger on a major issue in modern mental health
care. Who knows, we might kindle some flame which would indeed lead to
publication.

Empowerment BTW is to some extent against "care" management which leaves
the victim as recipient of condescending saviours, who, unfortunately can
never get enough resources to meet his/her "needs". A reformist expression
of charity towards a crippled member of the reserve army of labour wracked
by need while surrounded by plenty. A particularly cruel individual
expression of the contradiction between the private ownership of the means
of production and the limited purchasing power of the masses, which is
everywhere a limiting factor in capitalist society. The mentally ill by
definition have to be in that very marginal part of the reserve army of
labour, but "cared for". The nightmare returns monthly to haunt capitalist
society in the form of headlines about psycho-killers which show "the
failure of community care".

I still think empowerment is a preferable buzz-word. Including the
empowerment of learning how to handle angry feelings. Why not?



Chris Burford





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