The following articles are related to ‘Politics’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life.
There are always people worse off and better off than ourselves and as I see it, we are all interconnected and we can only start with ourselves, both for our own good and the good of the world. Of course I genuinely believe this. But once every few months I get a bulletin from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, and it shakes me from head to toe.
A new Mind report relates a shocking catalogue of harassment, assault, victimisation and discrimination against those who suffer from mental health problems in England and Wales. This leads me to wonder about therapeutic treatment for people who are so discriminated against — when someone is factually being persecuted in their own home, where does paranoia begin?
First it was a problem supposedly only for gay men, drug users, and the promiscuous, then for Eastern Europeans and Africans, and now it is women who are said to bear the brunt of the virus and be the ones who should empower themselves and stop the virus in its tracks. Women taking responsibility for men’s behaviour. Sound familiar?
Cognitive enhancements are on the scientific horizon — ways of making our brains function better. But they will only be available to those who are able to pay for them?
“Reclaim the night” is a women-only march in London, demanding justice for rape victims in a country in which, according to the British Crime Survey (2001) there are an estimated 47,000 rapes every year, around 40,000 attempted rapes and over 300,000 sexual assaults — with a paltry conviction rate of 5.3%.
How does it happen that intelligent people stay with abusive therapists or self development leaders or healers for so long, becoming more and more dependent, and giving them more and more money?
I don’t conceive of counselling as a navel gazing activity, nor as one which encourages the individual to take either the blame or the responsibility for their circumstances. It is not my intention to imply this when I state that although we did not create this structural, institutional power imbalance under which we live, the only way we can change it is by empowering ourselves to take action.
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