they hate me for my slut waist and recurring self harming behavior

when im in an "imprisoning people for their beliefs" competition and my opponent is a psychiatrist

genuine question. what else are you supposed to do with people who WILL kill themselves the second they’re given free reign?

So this is always the question that comes up when I discuss the fact that psych wards are a form of incarceration. It can be really difficult to imagine alternatives for how to care for suicidal people when we've only ever seen psych wards, but I think that it is super important for us to do!

I think it's important to acknowledge that getting rid of psych wards would require a fundamental reshaping of the psychiatric system. So much of mental healthcare is connected to a fucked up, carceral system, where ableism is rampant. Mandatory reporting of self-harm laws, bullshit restrictions on medication, crisis hotlines that call the police--the psychiatric system is connected in a lot of big and small ways that all enable psych incarceration and mistreatment to happen. so it's not enough to just get rid of psych wards, we also have to change the wider landscape of mental healthcare.

secondly, I think we also need to look at factors that drive people into crisis in the first place. no matter what we change about society, there are always going to be people who are mentally ill and neurodivergent, and people are always going to be experiencing mental distress. so while getting rid of capitalism and fighting against oppression to create a better society won't change the fact that there are people in crisis, i think it might help to reduce the numbers of people. if our mental healthcare system wasn't so fucked, that maybe some people would be able to get help before things get to a crisis point for them. If medication was more accessible, if therapy wasn't super expensive, if there is more acceptance and education and resources and communities were better informed about how to support mentally ill people, then maybe not as many people would end up in some types of crisis. We can't talk about getting rid of psych wards without also talking about fighting against racism, colonialism, capitalism, transphobia--the things that are contributing to a lot of people's experiences of crisis.

But to really answer your question: in terms of actual physical replacements for psych wards, i think peer respite houses are really promising. peer respite houses are something that already exist in dozens of states, and they are spaces that offer 24/7 short term crisis stabilization in a home like environment. they have a very specific code of ethics and principles that define peer respite that makes it different from a hospital. To classify as peer respite, it has to be staffed by a people who have lived experience with mental health, which means that all professionals and staff there are also going to be people who are mentally ill and neurodivergent. Peer respite can offer a place for someone to be in direct contact with support 24/7 without locking people up. They're focused on reducing power imbalance between staff and patients, and don't practice abusive treatments like strip-searching, solitary confinement, and forced medicalization. they allow you to bring in your own belongings, leave when you want to, and have vistors. they aren't a perfect solution, but I think they are a hell of a lot better than psych wards and offer a way for people to be under suicide watch without being incarcerated. Here's a great link to read more about the mission and structure of peer respite. Here's a link to a mostly current directory of peer respite in the USA.

I also think that we just need to accept the fact that psych wards do not work, that many people attempt suicide instantly after leaving psych wards, and that there is no justification for abusing people in the name of treatment. suicidal people deserve autonomy and respect, and we deserve to be able to have input about what's happening to us.

there's also a lot of things that I think can be used as alternatives to psych incarceration for suicidal people before we get to the point where crisis stablization is needing, like mad mapping/pod networks and Wellness Recovery Action Planning or a similiar type of recovery plan. I also think that thinking about how to support people who are suicidal requires a fundamental restructuring of how we think about suicide (I might make a post about this later). and that there's a lot of ways we can support suicidal people that don't require formal institutions. you can get a group of people together to do informal suicide watch for a friend, you can work to understand your own suicidal ideation in alternative frameworks (suicidal ideation as communication, resistance, tons of other ways), you can create skill sharing networks where you all work on therapy skills together and try to build up your own distress tolerance skills, you can visit people in the psych ward and sneak them in candy and a stuffed animal, you can pass out zines about harm reduction for self-harm in your friend group.

this got a little long but to sum it up: there are alternatives to psych wards, even when people are actively suicidal. peer respite is one option, and any alternative to psych incarceration also has to come along with societal changes, fighting oppression, and mindset shifts.

(psychiatrist voice) everyone who disagrees with me has a mental disorder

i've seen posts talk about psychs restricting or withholding medication and want to add the opposite, there are psychs who push or require patients to take unneeded medication and overmedication is also a problem of autonomy not often brought up because it's done to patients where people consider it "necessary", like psychotic patients. we are then excluded from treatment programs or treatment itself for questioning this or refusing the medication. schizophrenic long-term patients have loss of brain tissue as a result.personally I have diagnosed neurological conditions now.

so both restriction of meds and overmedication should be considered same issue with lack of autonomy of the patient and there is not enough awareness of the effects of the medication, mostly because it's *assumed* the psych "knows best"

why do you hate psychology /gen

The reasons are the mostly the same to why I hate psychiatry:

lack of autonomy for patients, general power imbalance between patient and provider

separation of the mind from the body

excessive focus on the individual to the point of blaming them

neglect of material/sociopolitical conditions

pathologization + stigmatization of human functioning/suffering and marginalized peoples existence (ex: turning things like gayness and an enslaved person's drive to be free into a disorder)

the subjectivity of diagnostic categories and how they're heavily biased to the view point of abled people

structurally works to control and oppress people under the guise of "helping them," works in tandem with the carceral system to insitutionalize and imprison people

relies on the belief that a provider can know a patients needs and wants better than the patient themself

the development of these practices have been founded on egregious human rights violations that continue to this day

none of these things are like a "bad apple" situation, none of it is a side effect. it's inherently built into psychiatry and psychology. it can't be reformed. similar situation to the police and criminal justice system. it requires abolishing, and any needed services it did provide need to be provided under a liberatory framework.

also if anyone is reading this and about to tack on with how their psych provider was wonderful actually blah blah blah consider: you are the exception, not the rule, and you likely have that due to some kind of privilege. you are not the focus here. be quiet, please. also that provider is still operating under an oppressive framework, and you have no idea how they've treated other clients.

read this book read this book read this book r

i think people who believe homelessness is due to personal flaws rather than systemic inequities should jump off a cliff

idk im starting to get the feeling that governments of countries/states just want people to kill themselves

controversial opinion but i don't think

hello my loyal followers

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my favorite tool btw. if u even care

is it worth buying some razor blades just to try them out