2009年12月26日 星期六

The labelling of dissent - politics and psychiatry behind the GreatWall

The labelling of dissent - politics and psychiatry behind the GreatWall就是異議份子的標籤化,政治上的異議份子,在長城背後的政治與精神醫學,就是要講統治者在沒有民主自由的社會裏面去定義政治異議份子有病。所以在這樣的情況下精神醫學不再是客觀中立的醫學,他變成統治者的統治意識形態或統治工具的一個打手,這是一個實例,事實上在中國社會裏面,對待異議份子用精神醫學的方式去說明並不是中國才有,前蘇聯對待很多異議份子也是送到集中營與療養院,理由是他們的政治主張與主政者不同,就被定義成精神疾病,並給予精神治療,從監禁、吃藥,到電擊都發生在中國的法輪功事件。
在中國法輪功的統治人數超過中國共產黨黨員,對官方造成莫大威脅,雖然他們平合,採真、善、忍的思想去傳遞理念,但是當它力量龐大程度超過共產黨時,就形成了政治危機。在1999年的靜坐,就被認為是反動份子,挑動國家權威的反叛人士,從此以後法輪功就變成邪教,因此被逮捕的人就被認為怎麼會說這些話,被指涉成有精神疾病。
The practice of forced incarceration of political dissenters in psychiatric institutions in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe undermined the credibility of psychiatric practice in these states and drew forceful condemnation from the international community.
這邊講,透過精神治療的方式把異議份子關起來,進行治療強迫監禁,這種做法在以前的蘇聯跟東歐都有做,而這種做法破壞了精神醫療的可信度,這也引來過際社群的譴責。
Anti-psychiatrists would argue, however, that such forced hospitalisations are consonant with Western psychiatric practice, which conceptualises deviant behaviour in terms of mental illness.Whether or not one accepts that political power is intrinsic to the social role of a psychiatrist (Szasz, 1994), there is little doubt that the potential for exploiting psychiatry to reinforce social norms and even political interests, is enormous.
反精神醫學的陣營說到,這種強迫住院的方式其實跟西方的精神治療要處理的不同,西方醫療會定義會概念化偏差行為,解釋他是精神疾病,其實整個精神醫學不是控制異議份子的工具,而是精神醫學與政治有所共謀。不管你相不相信,精神醫學是有政治力量的介入,無論如何他的腳色就是執行一種政治力量,區分正常與不正常,這是Szasz在1994年所說的。接下來我們看,無疑的使用精神醫學來強化社會規範這件事情,是相當無庸置疑的。
The practice in China of labelling nonconformists as mentally ill has as long a history as the People’s Republic itself, but this abuse of psychiatric practice has hitherto received little comment in the West.
他說其實中國社會對於異議份子貼標籤的做法,跟中華人民共和國成立的時間一樣長久,但這樣濫用精神醫學的作法,西方社會卻很少批評。
The July 1999 crackdown by Chinese authorities against members of the Falun Gong movement has raised fears that political motivations are behind a new wave of involuntary committals of its followers to psychiatric institutions.
在1999年6月中國官方鎮壓法輪功成員,而產生巨大的恐懼,他們認為法輪功成員一定有政治企圖而強制的把他們拘捕,並送進醫療機構。
What is Falun Gong and why the crackdown?
Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a popular movement that advocates channelling energy through mental concentration and exercises. It is a meditative discipline that draws from Buddhism, Taoism and the traditional Chinese doctrine of Qigong, and it has been valued for its mental and physical health benefits.
法輪功是一種強調法輪大法的宗派,法輪大法是一種非常普及的運動,他強調讓我們的能量透過心靈專注去引導這種能量,他是一種修行,一種打坐的冥思實踐。他是一種佛教主義,道教主義,氣功,結合三者形成一套身心功法。
to adhere to the core principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
他的三大原則就是真、善、忍
Initial Chinese government reaction to the increasing popularisation of this spiritual community in the early 1990s was positive.
最早的時候中國對法輪功是正面的。
By July of 1999, the government had announced that Falun Gong was a proscribed organisation and that it should be ‘outlawed and extirpated throughout China’ (Ministry of Public Security, 1999).
到了1999年6月,中國宣稱法輪功是一個違法組織,因該要嚴禁取締,這是公安部門所做的公告。
Amnesty International’s report in December 2000 stated that 77 members had died in custody since July 1999 as a result of ill-treatment, and it condemned the Chinese authorities for failing to investigate such gross violations of human rights (Amnesty International, 2001).
國際特赦組織再2000年12月做了一份報告,認為有77個法輪大法成員死亡,在1999年6月死亡。他們遭到虐待,國際特赦組織譴責這種侵犯人權的行為。
The scale of this abuse is in the context of an estimated 3000 people being sent to mental hospitals for expressing political views in the past two decades (Munro, 2000a). This toll surpasses even the excesses of the Soviet state psychiatric system.
有一種做法,濫用這種統治權威,將近3000人被送進醫院,因為他們表達過政治見解,這個數字遠超過當時的蘇聯對異議份子的監禁。
Approximately 70 million Chinese were practitioners of the exercises, a number which exceeded Communist Party membership at that time.
法輪功的修練者有七千萬人練過,比共產黨員還多
Chinese authorities have frequently asserted that Falun Gong is an ‘evil cult’ and have waged a propaganda campaign to discredit the movement and justify the group’s suppression.
中國將法輪功定義成邪教。Psychiatric abuse濫用精神醫學
A distinctive aspect of the Chinese government’s campaign against Falun Gong has been the forced incarceration of large numbers of its followers in psychiatric hospitals, despite evidence from families refuting the presence of mental illness in most cases.
強迫法輪功成員進入精神醫院,雖然有非常多的證據說明,這些家屬是拒絕接受精神疾病的診斷。
Since the crackdown began, it is estimated that at least 600 practitioners (Munro, 2000b) have been forcibly assigned psychiatric treatment, in an effort to compel them to renounce their beliefs.
自從鎮壓之後,超過600個信徒要接受精神治療,要你相信法輪功是邪教。
As government reports have acknowledged that increasing numbers of practitioners account for a growing proportion of admissions to institutions like the Beijing University of Medical Science.
官方報告指出有越來越多的法輪功信徒被送入北京醫科大學。
Accounts of treatment meted out in these hospitals make frequent reference to forced administration of antipsychotic drugs and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), deep insertion of acupuncture needles, and physical and psychological deprivations such as the use of seclusion and physical restraints.
他們就是通過開藥,或者使用電療,或用針灸的方式,或是心理身理的虐待,把你監禁起來。
The socalled ‘concentrated reformation process’ involves forcing detained practitioners to write confessional statements renouncing their belief in Falun Gong, with this often being a precondition of their release.
所謂的治療就是不斷的改造,強迫監禁,並要放棄法輪功信仰。
The interweaving of the practice of forensic psychiatry and the workings of the judicial system in China has created a ripe climate for the simultaneous criminalisation and medicalisation of dissenting activity.
一個牽涉到法律,一個牽涉到醫學,在中國社會法律跟醫學共謀在一起定義一個異議份子,法律上讓你成為罪犯定義你成為罪犯,同時成為一個病人,精神醫學跟司法系統,一起結合成為統治者的工具,將意見不同的人定義成精神疾病。在現代法律當中如果你被判精神疾病,你就回沒有罪,主要接受治療,但中國則是予以控告有罪且有病。
Being heavily influenced by Soviet interpretation of mental pathology (Munro, 2000a), Chinese forensic psychiatrists have been all too ready to embrace a similarly wide concept of mental illness in general and schizophrenia in particular.
中國官方受到蘇聯的精神病理學的影響,他們使用精神醫學來廣泛定義精神疾病,甚至用精神分裂來對待異議份子。
This is redolent of the ‘reformist delusions’ said to have emanated from ideological dissenters whom Soviet psychiatrists branded as suffering from ‘paranoid psychosis’ (Wing, 1974).
這些異議份子被認為有一種改革的錯覺與幻想,蘇聯的精神醫學會天上標籤說你有偏執的精神官能症,這是1974的說法。
A forensic-psychiatric appraisal of those whose public behaviour attracted the attention of the authorities was made mandatory, under recent changes to Chinese criminal law.
中國的刑法,去注意到某些人的行為不符合官方期待,之後就用精神醫學來定義,來強制執行這種精神醫學判定。
Such detentions in psychiatric hospitals of people who have never been mentally ill by international standards are a clear abuse of the psychiatric process.
這樣的強制拘禁,在精神病院的治療,根本就沒有精神疾病,如果用國際公定標準根本就沒有,那中國精神醫學的倫理在哪。
Principles underpinning an ethical framework for the practice of psychiatry have been articulated in documents such as ‘Principles for the protection of persons with mental illness and for the improvement of mental health care’, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1991 (United Nations, 1991).
聯合國在1991年決議,精神醫學的實踐因該有一倫理上的原則,就是要保障精神患者的利益,改善他們的精神衛生的照顧,除此之外都是不正當的使用。
Principle 4 states that ‘A determination of mental illness shall never be made on the basis of political, economic or social status, or membership in a cultural, racial or religious group, or for any other reason not directly relevant to mental health status’.
聯合國大會的第四原則,判定是否為精神疾病不因該從你的政治、經濟,或是社會地位去判定,精神疾病不能用這些理由去判定,或是任何跟精神健康不相干的理由都不因該使用。所以中國的使用是不正當的。
That ‘non-conformity with moral, social, cultural or political values or religious beliefs prevailing in a person’s community, shall never be a determining factor in the diagnosis of mental illness’.
當有些人跟某些人的社會、文化、宗教信仰跟主流不一樣的時候,你不能當作決定性因素說你有精神病。
What can and should be done?
我們該怎麼做。
The term‘psychiatric abuse’, such as we usually associated with the practice of forced hospitalisation of dissenters in the former Soviet Union, was rightly regarded as a horrifying distortion of this medical speciality.
所以濫用精神醫學這個在蘇聯時期,強制異議份子住院的作法是一種醫療專業的恐怖扭曲。
As individuals, we must condemn the use of psychiatry as part of any apparatus of political repression and call on theWPA to investigate claims of abuse.
每一個人都因該譴責濫用精神醫學成為政治壓迫的工具,而這樣的做法是我們因該告訴世界精神協會來調查。
這是一個對待異議份子的例子。統治者也常常使用精神醫學,並聯合法律來處理異議份子,所以精神醫學是不是來規定正常與不正常的工具。

1 則留言:

  1. 這樣看,一般細胞是正常份子,腫瘤細胞是異議份子
    想像你臉上長了1個良性脂肪瘤,不妨礙健康,只不過越長越大。
    你會怎麼做?

    假如那是長在別人身上,你的想法會不一樣嗎?

    回覆刪除