Psychiatry, Mental Institutions, And The Mad In Apartheid South Africa (african Studies)

In the late 1970s, South African mental institutions were plagued with scandals about human rights abuse, and psychiatric practitioners were accused of being agents of the apartheid state. Between 1939 and 1994, some psychiatric practitioners supported the mandate of the racist and heteropatriarchal government and most mental patients were treated abysmally. However, unlike studies worldwide that show that women, homosexuals and minorities were institutionalized in far higher numbers than heterosexual men, Psychiatry, Mental Institutions and the Mad in Apartheid South Africa reveals how in South Africa, per capita, white heterosexual males made up the majority of patients in state institutions. The book therefore challenges the monolithic and omnipotent view of the apartheid government and its mental health policy.While not contesting the belief that human rights abuses occurred within South Africa's mental health system, Tiffany Fawn Jones argues that the disparity among practitioners and the fluidity of their beliefs, along with the disjointed mental health infrastructure, diffused state control. More importantly, the book shows how patients were also, to a limited extent, able to challenge the constraints of their institutionalization. This volume places the discussions of South Africa's mental institutions in an international context, highlighting the role that international organizations, such as the Church of Scientology, and political events such as the gay rights movement and the Cold War also played in shaping mental health policy in South Africa. In the late 1970s, South African mental institutions were plagued with scandals about human rights abuse, and psychiatric practitioners were accused of being agents of the apartheid state. Between 1939 and 1994, some psychiatric practitioners supported the mandate of the racist and heteropatriarchal government and most mental patients were treated abysmally. However, unlike studies worldwide that show that women, homosexuals and minorities were institutionalized in far higher numbers than heterosexual men, Psychiatry, Mental Institutions and the Mad in Apartheid South Africa reveals how in South Africa , per capita, white heterosexual males made up the majority of patients in state institutions. The book therefore challenges the monolithic and omnipotent view of the apartheid government and its mental health policy. While not contesting the belief that human rights abuses occurred within South Africas mental health system, Tiffany Fawn Jones argues that the disparity among practitioners and the fluidity of their beliefs, along with the disjointed mental health infrastructure, diffused state control. More importantly, the book shows how patients were also, to a limited extent, able to challenge the constraints of their institutionalization. This volume places the discussions of South Africas mental institutions in an international context, highlighting the role that international organizations, such as the Church of Scientology, and political events such as the gay rights movement and the Cold War also played in shaping mental health policy in South Africa. Prospects Of A Progressive Mental Health System In South Africa Before Apartheid: Tara Hospital And Psychobiology, C.1939-1948 -- The Disordered State: Government Policies And Institutions For The Administration Of The Mad During Apartheid, 1948-1973 -- Patient Accounts: Life In State Institutions And Challenging Exile, 1939-1961 -- Heinous Crimes: Community And Cross-cultural Psychiatry, And State Mental Health Services For Non-whites, 1948-1990 -- Controlling And Challenging Sexuality: Psychiatric Struggles Over Homosexuality In The 1960s-1980s -- Monopoly On Madness?: Private Long-term Mental Institutions In South Africa, 1963-1989 -- Critics Of The System?: The Church Of Scientology And The International Vilification Of Psychiatry In South Africa -- Conclusion. Tiffany Fawn Jones. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [225]-246) And Index. This book is an examination of South African mental institutions and policy from 1939-1994. It examines how racial, gender and sexual discrimination affected practitioners' views and practices, and also reveals the role that patients and international events played in shaping mental health policy.