Allen Frances

Apropos of Frances' point about the retrospective gratitude of patients regarding their coercion and abuse, there are a number of points that must stressed.

First off, it must be stressed that human convictions crumble all too easily under the weight of collective pressure. It has been observed that a man or a woman, when faced with a mob pouring scorn on even their deepest held convictions, will be filled with doubt regarding those beliefs. This is usually interpreted as meaning the individual has been shown the truth, when in reality it illustrates the extent to which the ideas that hold sway in a man's mind attain to their position of dominance not through rational deliberation but as a result of irrational forces below the threshold of consciousness and social-psychological pressure to conform.

This in part would explain why so many people retrospectively support their oppression, because beliefs are fragile, their fragility increasing in proportion to their lack of numerical (and of course the support of authoritative opinion, which exercises such a hold on man's minds) support. The fact that there is such numerical and authoritative support for the pro-forced psychiatry position lends it a certain cache, gives it a certain power of attraction, and impresses itself on the minds of all but a few rugged individualists with the force akin to that of a revelation, such is the power of popular opinion.

Human beings are predominantly irrational creatures, subject to unconscious pressures, and nothing exerts greater pressure on our thinking than the herd, which mobilizes all the resources at its disposal (such as derision, emotional blackmailing techniques, and the confidence and sense of power that numerical superiority confers) to ensure conformity. There are many social-psychological experiments that lend credence to this. This alone can account for such so-called "gratitude".

You must also remember the differential in treatment. Heretical patients are treated differently. In psychiatry and society itself, conformity is exacted through the application of the principles of behavior modification, whereby you mold an individual through the punishment of undesirable behaviors and reward of good behaviors. The point I am making is that conformity is not just instinctual, but extorted through the punishments meted invariably to those who challenge the system and assert their independence. Patients are intuitively aware at the least of this, and adapt their behavior accordingly, like unruly children on that show "world's strictest parents" who under great social and interpersonal pressure 'miraculously' change their ways, not because of some epiphany but because of the punishments meted out to the child for their unruly behavior and by rewarding the good behaviors, which, true to the idea of operant conditioning, have conditioned the child's emotional reflexes, associating negative emotions with certain behaviors and positive emotions with certain others.

The ways in which the system and society punishes the heretical patient are many.

There are of course the "treatments" themselves, which throughout the history of the profession have been sufficiently grisly enough as to impart to those who become aware of their existence that you don't want to be the recipient of their administration. The fear only increases when one has actually been the recipient of such treatment. Administered on the ward or within the sanctity of the home (a sanctity state psychiatrists and community mental health workers do not recognize), this makes for a very effective weapon in the war on psychiatric heresy, kind of like the ceremonial burnings of heretics made for a very effective weapon in the war on religious heresy. Indeed, our society is the legatee of former societies, such as totalitarian societies and theocratic societies, that used fear as a means of exerting control.

The foregoing constitutes a kind of punitive moral exclusion, but that isn't the only species of exclusion society/psychiatry avails itself of in dealing with heretics. Both in society and on the ward patients who rebel and shun their identity are excluded and marginalized, one of the most devastating punishments for man the social animal, a punishment which entails immense social privations that ravage the very being of the patient, rendering him/her devoid of the emotional and spiritual nourishment that human contact brings and which we all subsist and depend upon for our happiness and self-esteem, without which we become bitter, self-loathing misanthropes. By excluding people in this way we also deprive him/her of a vital network of social and interpersonal support which lubricates the course of our social existence, with all the internecine interpersonal struggles, indignities and humiliations that that entails. This is of course one of the reasons why man is a social animal. Life is full of conflicts and struggles, and sometimes we need the support and admiration of others to help us through these conflicts, which we can imbibe like a hearty draught which strengthens us in the face of adversity. Hardly surprising then that man seeks sanctuary by losing himself in crowds, what with the security, strength, courage and power that brings. Likewise, it is hardly surprising that the kind of exclusion discussed here is such a fearful thing for men, the avoidance of which is so important that men renounce their freedom (be it of thought or action) and become mere sheeple. Yet such complexity of analysis is missing from Frances' comments, who nevertheless arrogates to himself authority on this issue.

This isn't even beginning to exhaust the ways in which life is made a hell for the heretical patient, but it should suffice to show that there is a good reason why patients become "grateful".

Some might say that I am disregarding the testimony of patients in a similar way to the oppressors, which is true, just like I disregard the testimony of slaves who are "grateful" for being enslaved and victims of domestic abuse who support their abusers and blame themselves.

On top of that, practically all of this is based on the anecdotes of psychiatrists. Even the most bitterly opposed to forced psychiatry are not going to hold forth on the issue in front of their much more powerful oppressors, and will say whatever they are supposed to say to appease those who can, on a whim, deprive you of liberty without judicial oversight and torture and abuse you.