head-first wrote: For better or for worse, much of the medication given to people with severe mental illness will undermine their ability to be creative. I've worked on psych wards, and instilling a state of apathy was usually seen as preferable to one where a patient might be mentally active, but a danger to themselves or others.
Ever read DEMON BOX by Ken Kesey? It's short "fiction" and essays, of which the title piece is sorta both and it deals with the topic of over-medication as being more a way to "process" more "units" (units = patients) without damaging the staff, than it is especially a healing process. That said, it's probably better than a lobotomy.
|