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Morality and Mental Illness
ARCHIVES OF
PSYCHIATRIC NURSING Vol. 21, No. 3
June 2007
EDITORIAL
Morality and Mental Illness
I
was recently shocked upon reading the headline of the Sunday edition of our local newspaper: bNurse helps lost soulsQ (Connors, 2007). When I read on, I was surprised but pleased that this was an article about a dedicated nurse who cared for chronically mentally ill persons in their homes. The nurse’s stories as well as those of the people with mental illness were vivid, real, and poignant. However, the headline was annoying. Why, in this day and age, do we still refer to those who have mental illness as blost soulsQ? What is it about their illness and life experience that warrants some of us to call them as such? Some of us may have read the classic work by Szasz (1960) who argued that mental illness was a name for problems in living. According to Szasz, judgments about mental illness were believed to be ethical and moral judgments that society passes on its deviant members. As I read the story of these persons with mental illness, I wondered what judgments were being made by other readers, particularly those who have not studied mental health and illness. What message was being presented and what images were being formed by labeling such persons as lost souls? Did this label of lost souls imply that they were waiting to be found or that the search was futile? Hence, I asked lay people what the headline meant to them. What might they think of when they were told someone was a blost soulQ? What I heard confirmed my unease. Lost souls to them meant poor people, and yes, the chronically mentally ill people in the story were poor. Lost souls meant those who were condemned to hell, and yes, living with chronic mental illness in our society can be understood as hell. These lost souls are the very
people who we need to save—this could be the most positive interpretation of the media description of the chronically mentally ill in the community, one that called upon society to do something. Perhaps my unease was that while the article chronicled the plight of the patients and the commitment of this one nurse, it did not go beyond the story. There was no next stage, no call to action, no information about what could be done to make the world a better place for the mentally ill. There is a vast literature critiquing our treatment of mental illness from a cultural and social perspective. Many scholars have raised issues about mental health diagnosis and treatment as social control, as well as the ethical issues inherent in our social constructs of mental health and illness. But the most critical issues, in my mind, are not the philosophical debates but rather the societal responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable, toward the common good. Raising awareness of the issue of mental illness may well be considered the first step toward achieving this, but we should have the initiative to take the next several steps, for awareness is not enough. Joyce J. Fitzpatrick Editor REFERENCES Connors, J. (2007, Sunday, February 4). Nurse helps lost souls. The Plain Dealer. Szasz, T. (1960). The myth of mental illness. American Psychologist, 15, 113 – 118.
B 2007 Published by Elsevier Inc. 0883-9417/1801-0005$30.00/0 doi:10.1016/j.apnu.2007.02.001
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, Vol. 21, No. 3 (June), 2007: p 125
125
PSYCHIATRIC NURSING Vol. 21, No. 3
June 2007
EDITORIAL
Morality and Mental Illness
I
was recently shocked upon reading the headline of the Sunday edition of our local newspaper: bNurse helps lost soulsQ (Connors, 2007). When I read on, I was surprised but pleased that this was an article about a dedicated nurse who cared for chronically mentally ill persons in their homes. The nurse’s stories as well as those of the people with mental illness were vivid, real, and poignant. However, the headline was annoying. Why, in this day and age, do we still refer to those who have mental illness as blost soulsQ? What is it about their illness and life experience that warrants some of us to call them as such? Some of us may have read the classic work by Szasz (1960) who argued that mental illness was a name for problems in living. According to Szasz, judgments about mental illness were believed to be ethical and moral judgments that society passes on its deviant members. As I read the story of these persons with mental illness, I wondered what judgments were being made by other readers, particularly those who have not studied mental health and illness. What message was being presented and what images were being formed by labeling such persons as lost souls? Did this label of lost souls imply that they were waiting to be found or that the search was futile? Hence, I asked lay people what the headline meant to them. What might they think of when they were told someone was a blost soulQ? What I heard confirmed my unease. Lost souls to them meant poor people, and yes, the chronically mentally ill people in the story were poor. Lost souls meant those who were condemned to hell, and yes, living with chronic mental illness in our society can be understood as hell. These lost souls are the very
people who we need to save—this could be the most positive interpretation of the media description of the chronically mentally ill in the community, one that called upon society to do something. Perhaps my unease was that while the article chronicled the plight of the patients and the commitment of this one nurse, it did not go beyond the story. There was no next stage, no call to action, no information about what could be done to make the world a better place for the mentally ill. There is a vast literature critiquing our treatment of mental illness from a cultural and social perspective. Many scholars have raised issues about mental health diagnosis and treatment as social control, as well as the ethical issues inherent in our social constructs of mental health and illness. But the most critical issues, in my mind, are not the philosophical debates but rather the societal responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable, toward the common good. Raising awareness of the issue of mental illness may well be considered the first step toward achieving this, but we should have the initiative to take the next several steps, for awareness is not enough. Joyce J. Fitzpatrick Editor REFERENCES Connors, J. (2007, Sunday, February 4). Nurse helps lost souls. The Plain Dealer. Szasz, T. (1960). The myth of mental illness. American Psychologist, 15, 113 – 118.
B 2007 Published by Elsevier Inc. 0883-9417/1801-0005$30.00/0 doi:10.1016/j.apnu.2007.02.001
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, Vol. 21, No. 3 (June), 2007: p 125
125