Forced Medication is rape of the soul

Aristotle defined the soul or psyche (ψυχή) as the first actuality of a naturally organized body.
However, the word "psychology" literally means "study of the soul".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul

A person who commits an act of rape is known as the rapist. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape

The act of putting something in anouther persons body agianst there will...drugs and it effects there psych/soul... rape of the soul.

I think all psychiatric survivors feel nothing less than raped by this expirience, not just me.

Copy_Cat wrote:I think all psychiatric survivors feel nothing less than raped by this expirience, not just me.

Very true. Being arrested, detained and forcibly drugged is traumatizing.

However, there are problems with your argument.

(1) Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. No experimental psychology lab is studying souls to my knowledge (I haven't checked them all )
(2) "Valid consent" may not be able to be given by someone severely psychotic who does not understand the benefits of treatment because of a lack of comprehension of reality. (This is the only case in which forced drugging can be argued).
(3) The use of the word "rape" to describe forced drugging is rhetorical. A more linguistically accurate way of describing forced drugging is "forced drugging". The pairing of forced drugging with rape is a weak attempt at making forced drugging seem morally impermissible by analogy.

If you want to do mental health consumer advocacy your going to have to do more than semantics. Arguing why it is morally impermissible to forcibly drug someone involves argumentation. To be specific it's an area of philosophy called ethics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics

When you use rhetoric by saying "forced medication is rape of the soul" you lose any prospective listener. Instead, you could try and argue how the mental health care system could do things better (this requires effort ).

Take care.

-RAPE OF THE SOUL- is a perfect way of describing the way you and a lot of -Clients- feel about the mental health industry that is run by mental health professionals. They rape the souls of clients for money and power and to continue their -Ponzi Scheme-, I speak as a non professional who saw this raping for years as an employee on a daily bases at one of the top mental health rehabilitation facilities in northern NJ, USA. Nobody gives a damn about -You- and the other mental health clients because -You- and your pain and suffering and false hope and -Suicide- are nothing more than a paycheck to these people...

KINDNESSTHERAPY wrote:-RAPE OF THE SOUL- is a perfect way of describing the way you and a lot of -Clients- feel about the mental health industry that is run by mental health professionals. They rape the souls of clients for money and power and to continue their -Ponzi Scheme-, I speak as a non professional who saw this raping for years as an employee on a daily bases at one of the top mental health rehabilitation facilities in northern NJ, USA. Nobody gives a damn about -You- and the other mental health clients because -You- and your pain and suffering and false hope and -Suicide- are nothing more than a paycheck to these people...

What's the solution? Suicide, self injury, psychosis and medication non compliance for persons who need help is a pretty difficult problem?

I think it captures how I felt quite eloquently, and how I continued to feel until taking control of my own treatment.

ladyswan wrote:I think it captures how I felt quite eloquently, and how I continued to feel until taking control of my own treatment.

"Rape of the soul" is conceptually incoherent.You might as well be talking about "cunnilingus of consciousness"

Also, your missing the point. Copy Cat wasn't saying this is how I felt, he's actually putting forward argument and the first premise psychology is the study of souls and the second rape is putting something in someone's body the conclusion which is supposed to follow is that by putting drugs in your body against your wishes your soul is being raped. It's an argument in which the first premise is untrue and the conclusion doesn't necessarily follow.

There are more linguistically accurate ways of describing forced drugging.

I was stating how I felt about the statement.

Infinite_Jester wrote:There are more linguistically accurate ways of describing forced drugging.

Being right and wrong isn't the point.

I appreciate that you're a philosophy student, but not everyone wants a debate. Be careful about coming across as invalidating.

ladyswan wrote:I was stating how I felt about the statement.

I appreciate that you're a philosophy student, but not everyone wants a debate. Be careful about coming across as invalidating.

I appreciate that you have feelings (really awful ones I imagine) but showing up to an argument to tell people how eloquent one person's writing is makes me think that you want to be able to support an argument without the responsibility associated with it.

I think it would be a great idea to make a thread about how you felt about being forced or coerced to take medications. It's just the thread where the OP is an argument for why it's soul rape isn't the best location for a supportive discussion on the topic.

Also, there's a clear difference between invalidating someone's feelings (eg. "your exaggerating", "suck it up","you don't have the right to complain") and pointing out that it's not eloquent at al to say that someone's soul is being raped.

Infinite_Jester wrote:(2) "Valid consent" may not be able to be given by someone severely psychotic who does not understand the benefits of treatment because of a lack of comprehension of reality. (This is the only case in which forced drugging can be argued).

I hate the fact that I seem to be jumping on all of your posts lately and attacking them. I don't mean to. You do have some good points. I can understand your disagreement with the term "rape of the soul". I've had medication forced on me, and I still wouldn't use that term.
However, it does feel like a complete loss of dignity and control to have medication forced on you, and it does feel like some sort of violation, so I can see why people would use the term "rape of the soul" even if it's not technically correct.

Anyway, that's not what I came in here to say. I came to point out that psychosis is not the only condition in which people are forced to take medication. I know that where I live, anybody who is admitted to a psychiatric ward involuntarily, psychotic or not, can have medication forced on them. In my case, it was argued that I was a danger to myself, even without being psychotic, and I can see why medication was forced on me, even if I don't agree with it.
However, I have met people who are not psychotic, and are not a danger to themselves, who have been admitted against their will because their psychiatric illness is affecting their functionality in some way (other than them being a danger to themselves or others). They have had medication forced on them that they don't wish to take (often not because they're in denial about their illness, but because they don't want to experience certain negative side effects). A lot of the time, these people don't even have a problem with medication in general, just one particular medication, but their voice goes unheard because the psychiatrists believe that they always know best.

I'm going to leave now, since I have nothing further to add. Continue with what you were talking about before my arrival to the thread!

If I ever become real danger to myself or others tie me down wrists and ankles... or a padded room whatever till im "back".
Restraints on the outside of of my body is way way way different than inside my body.