Click the image above to buy a copy of Ethical Strife at Amazon.co.uk.
Buy
best price books (also CD's, e-gadgets etc.) at Amazon and make Ben some
commission
Click here
to return to main page for 'Ethical Strife'
4/ Editorial introductions
Chapter 20 - Democracy
in Psychiatric Settings: collectivism vs. individualism by Gary
Winship
While the NHS has opted to purchase
forms of treatment generally known as 'brief' therapies, there are powerful moral
and practical arguments in favour of alternative approaches to 'illness' and care.
In chapter twenty Gary Winship charts the progress of democracy in psychiatric
settings, relating this to cultural and political changes in society over recent
decades. He begins by making a distinction between collectivist approaches to
therapy (therapeutic collectivism) and approaches derived from a philosophy of
individualism. He describes how a small, maturing therapeutic community under
his management aspired to a system of democratic functioning, detailing the scope
and the limitations of the work as well as the praticalities of working in such
an environment. Gary sets the material he presents in the context of a broader
discussion of political ideology and the nature of democracy.
