Ministry of Love? CONTESTING radicalism and mental health care
Fri, Nov 29 2013 04:46
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Ministry of Love? CONTESTING radicalism and mental health care
7.15pm, Thursday 13th February 2014, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham B1 1BN.
The war against terrorism has moved away from its exclusive focus on the pursuit and arrest of suspected terrorists. CONTEST, the latest counter-terrorism strategy, advocates nationwide advice and support to ‘prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. The Home Office recommends the deployment of special panels of care professionals offering packages of support to vulnerable individuals ‘at risk from radicalisation’ arising from feelings of injustice or the desire for political change. It points to individuals like Nick Reilly, who was diagnosed with an autistic spectrum condition and tried to bomb a Giraffe restaurant in 2008.
Some see this multi-agency care approach as an Orwellian mental health route to social conformity; it is an uncomfortable reminder of the novel 1984, in which the Ministry of Love brainwashed Winston Smith into submission. Treatments under the COUNTER programme can extend to long-acting injectable anti-psychotic medication and hospital detentions. The strategy has led to 2,500 referrals since its introduction in 2007.
Can mental health interventions prevent mass killings by extremists and help individuals lead better lives? Or is the NHS sleepwalking into Soviet-style 'medicalisation' of political dissidents?
Speakers
Raj Persaud, Consultant Psychiatrist, recently elected Fellow of University College London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The Times newspaper recently placed him as one of the Top Twenty Mental Health Gurus in the world.
Tara McCormack, lecturer in International Politics, University of Leicester
The debate is produced and chaired by Dr Jo Hurlow.
Recommended resources
BBC News reports on the deradicalisation of 500 terror suspects, 2013
Dr Raj Persaud discusses Anders Breivnik’s mental state with Dr Jeremy Coid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavrvnacGfg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavrvnacGfg
Dr Raj Persaud has written the following Huffington Post articles on this subject:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-raj-persaud/ed-miliband-ralph-miliband-daily-mail-_b_4030729.html
The final 2011 Reith Lecture. Baroness Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, former Director General of MI5, argues that 'not all terrorists are evil although their acts are. Nor are they all pathologically violent.
A few are but many are not and have their own rationale'.
Home Office guidance, 2012.
Comments
Sun, Sep 15 2013 02:29
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Whose Womb is it Anyway?
A Battle of Ideas Satellite Event
7.00 pm, Wednesday 6th November 2013, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham, B1 1BN
Speakers:
Dr Pam Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston University
Vicki Fitzgerald, Chief Executive, Gateway Family Services
Chair:
Dr Helene Guldberg
Public health advice to women who plan to become, or who are, pregnant increasingly emphasises the effects of their choices about their lives, or their circumstances, on long term outcomes for the child, with everything from coffee consumption to language skills examined for negative effects. Policy documents suggest that how the mother lives and behaves from conception onwards can affect how her child learns, earns, and becomes part of society and at the same time there is increased emphasis on the need for intervention and support services. By implication, a huge responsibility for the problems of society is now focussed on the pregnant woman. Is it right that she be expected to bear this burden, either alone, or with expert help and advice? Or is it reasonable for society to demand certain responsibilities for the unborn? Are we becoming too focussed on the developing foetus at the expense of the mother’s autonomy?
We ask for a £5 donation to cover our costs. This can either be made on the door or via the EventBrite link.
Pregnant women aren't incubators so why does medical advice treat them as though they are? - Jennie Bristow, The Independent, June 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/pregnant-women-arent-incubators--so-why-does-medical-advice-treat-them-as-though-they-are-8646309.html
Evaluation of Lay Support in pregnant women with Social Risk (ELSIPS): a randomised controlled study - S Kenyon, K Jolly, and others, BMC Pregnancy Childbirth Vol 12, February 2012
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3349581/
How much of pregnancy health advice is plain old prejudice and fear? - Glosswitch, The New Statesman, August 2013
http://www.newstatesman.com/health/2013/08/how-much-pregnancy-health-advice-plain-old-prejudice-and-fear
Advocating alcohol abstinence to pregnant women: Some observations about British policy - Dr Pam Lowe and Dr Ellie Lee, Health Risk and Society Vol 12 Issue 4, July 2010