The Politics of Mental Illness and Involvement—A Discourse Analysis of Danish Anti-Stigma and Social Inclusion Campaigns
Affiliation(s)
1 Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. 2 User Perspectives, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. 3 Psychiatric Department Kolding-Vejle, Region of Southern Denmark, Denmark. 4 Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
1 Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. 2 User Perspectives, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. 3 Psychiatric Department Kolding-Vejle, Region of Southern Denmark, Denmark. 4 Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
ABSTRACT
The present study is a part of a broader multisited field study on involvement of relatives in Danish psychiatry. The article aims to elucidate which political classifications of normality and mental illness that are displayed in two health political campaigns regarding anti-stigmatization and social inclusion and how such classifications co-constitute the subjectivity of individuals suffering from mental illness and their relatives. Drawing on a discourse theoretical perspective laid out by political theorists Laclau and Mouffe, we analyze how the campaigns bring into effect a weak and ineffective subject of deviance and how it is constituted by a subject of normality characterized by opposing traits. The article takes up the discussion of how the campaigns’ articulations of the subjects of normality and deviance are imbedded in a hegemonic discourse of neoliberalism and individualism that asserts involvement as an expanded division of responsibility for the identification, classification and regulation of mentally ill subjects between public and private spheres of the Danish welfare state.
The present study is a part of a broader multisited field study on involvement of relatives in Danish psychiatry. The article aims to elucidate which political classifications of normality and mental illness that are displayed in two health political campaigns regarding anti-stigmatization and social inclusion and how such classifications co-constitute the subjectivity of individuals suffering from mental illness and their relatives. Drawing on a discourse theoretical perspective laid out by political theorists Laclau and Mouffe, we analyze how the campaigns bring into effect a weak and ineffective subject of deviance and how it is constituted by a subject of normality characterized by opposing traits. The article takes up the discussion of how the campaigns’ articulations of the subjects of normality and deviance are imbedded in a hegemonic discourse of neoliberalism and individualism that asserts involvement as an expanded division of responsibility for the identification, classification and regulation of mentally ill subjects between public and private spheres of the Danish welfare state.
Cite this paper
Oute, J. , Huniche, L. , Nielsen, C. and Petersen, A. (2015) The Politics of Mental Illness and Involvement—A Discourse Analysis of Danish Anti-Stigma and Social Inclusion Campaigns. Advances in Applied Sociology, 5, 273-285. doi: 10.4236/aasoci.2015.511026.
Oute, J. , Huniche, L. , Nielsen, C. and Petersen, A. (2015) The Politics of Mental Illness and Involvement—A Discourse Analysis of Danish Anti-Stigma and Social Inclusion Campaigns. Advances in Applied Sociology, 5, 273-285. doi: 10.4236/aasoci.2015.511026.
References
[1] Barry, A. (1996). Foucault and Political Reason: Liberalism, Neoliberalism and Rationalities of Government. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [2] Bredahl Jacobsen, C. (2006). Paradoksal psykiatri: Etnografiske analyser af samspillet mellem plejepersonale og patienter i dansk restpsykiatri. Copenhagen: Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. [3] Browning, T. (1931). Freaks. 117. Ref Type: Motion Picture. [4] Busfield, J. (2000). Introduction: Rethinking the Sociology of Mental Health. Sociology of Health & Illness, 22, 543-558.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.00219 [5] Carney, T. (2008). The Mental Health Service Crisis of Neoliberalism—An Antipodean Perspective. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31, 101-115.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2008.02.001 [6] Danske Regioner [Danish Regions] (2009). En psykiatri i verdensklasse: Regionernes visioner for fremtidens psykiatri. Kobenhavn: Danske Regioner. [7] Division of Clinical Psychology (2014). Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia—Why People Sometimes Hear Voices, Believe Things That Others Find Strange or Appear out of Touch with Reality, and What Can Help. [8] Dræby Sorensen, A. (2002). Den biologiske psykiatris renæssance og det antidepressive menneske. Slagmark, 159-183. [9] Ehrenberg, A. (2010). The Weariness of the Self: Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age. 345. [10] Fullagar, S., & O’Brien, W. (2013). Problematizing the Neurochemical Subject of Anti-Depressant Treatment: The Limits of Biomedical Responses to Women’s Emotional Distress. Health (London), 17, 57-74.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363459312447255 [11] Fullagar, S. (2009). Negotiating the Neurochemical Self: Anti-Depressant Consumption in Women’s Recovery from Depression. Health, 13, 389-406.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363459308101809 [12] Hansen, J. O., & Buus, N. (2013). Living with a Depressed Person in Denmark: A Qualitative Study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 59, 401-406.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0020764012438478 [13] Harper, D., & Speed, E. (2014). Uncovering Recovery: The Resistible Rise of Recovery and Resilience. In E. Speed, J. Moncrieff, & M. Rapley (Eds.), De-Medicalizing Misery II (pp. 40-57). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137304667.0008 [14] Kleinman, A. (1995). Writing at the Margin: Discourse between Anthropology and Medicine. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [15] Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (2nd ed.). London: Verso. [16] Marcus, G. E. (1998). Ethnography through Thick and Thin. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [17] Moncrieff, J., Rapley, M., & Dillon, J. (2011). De-Medicalizing Misery: Psychiatry, Psychology and the Human Condition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [18] Oeye, C., Bjelland, A. K., & Skorpen, A. (2007). Doing Participant Observation in a Psychiatric Hospital—Research Ethics Resumed. Social Science & Medicine, 65, 2296-2306.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.07.016 [19] Oeye, C., Bjelland, A. K., Skorpen, A., & Anderssen, N. (2009). Raising Adults as Children? A Report on Milieu Therapy in a Psychiatric Ward in Norway. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 30, 151-158.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01612840802557246 [20] One of Us (2014). En af os [One of Us].
www.enafos.dk [21] Oute, J., & Randwijk, C. V. (2015). “We Will Be Taking Over Now”—A Discourse Analysis of Subject Positions in Danish Psychiatry. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Accepted for Publication. [22] Ovre Sorensen, N. (2006). I virkeligheden udenfor: Et dobbelt perspektiv pa sygeplejerskers arbejde i en psykiatrisk institution. En analyse af magt, styringsog selvstyrings teknikker. Roskilde: Institut for uddannelsesforskning, Forskerskolen i Livslang Læring, Roskilde Universitetscenter. [23] Psykiatrien i Region Syddanmark [trans. Psychiatry in the Region of Southern Denmark] (2014). Psykiatrien i Region Syddanmark.
www.psykiatrieniregionsyddanmark.dk [24] Ramon, S. (2008). Neoliberalism and Its Implications for Mental Health in the UK. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31, 116-125.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2008.02.006 [25] Rose, N. (1999). Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self (2nd ed.) London: Free Association Books. [26] Rose, N. (2007). The Politics of Life Itself: Biomedicine, Power and Subjectivity in the Twenty-First Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781400827503 [27] Shore, C., Wright, S., & Però, D. (2011). Policy Worlds: Anthropology and the Analysis of Contemporary Power. New York: Berghahn Books. [28] Teghtsoonian, K. (2009). Depression and Mental Health in Neoliberal Times: A Critical Analysis of Policy and Discourse. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 28-35.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.03.037 [29] The Social Network (2014). Psykisk saarbar [Mentally Vulnerable].
www.Psykisksaarbar.dk [30] Torfing, J. (1999). New Theories of Discourse: Laclau, Mouffe, and Zizek. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. [31] Udvalget, O. P. [The Governmental Committee on the Future Organization of Danish Psychiatry (GCP)] (2013). Enmoderne, Aaben og inkluderende indsats for mennesker med psykiske lidelser: Rapport fra Regeringens Udvalg om Psykiatri [A Modern, Open and Inclusive Effort for People with Mental Illnesses: A Rapport from the Danish Governmental Psychiatry Committee]. Regeringens Udvalg om Psykiatri. [32] Yang, L. H., Kleinman, A., Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C., Lee, S., & Good, B. (2007). Culture and Stigma: Adding Moral Experience to Stigma Theory. Social Science & Medicine, 64, 1524-1535.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.11.013
[1] Barry, A. (1996). Foucault and Political Reason: Liberalism, Neoliberalism and Rationalities of Government. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [2] Bredahl Jacobsen, C. (2006). Paradoksal psykiatri: Etnografiske analyser af samspillet mellem plejepersonale og patienter i dansk restpsykiatri. Copenhagen: Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. [3] Browning, T. (1931). Freaks. 117. Ref Type: Motion Picture. [4] Busfield, J. (2000). Introduction: Rethinking the Sociology of Mental Health. Sociology of Health & Illness, 22, 543-558.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.00219 [5] Carney, T. (2008). The Mental Health Service Crisis of Neoliberalism—An Antipodean Perspective. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31, 101-115.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2008.02.001 [6] Danske Regioner [Danish Regions] (2009). En psykiatri i verdensklasse: Regionernes visioner for fremtidens psykiatri. Kobenhavn: Danske Regioner. [7] Division of Clinical Psychology (2014). Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia—Why People Sometimes Hear Voices, Believe Things That Others Find Strange or Appear out of Touch with Reality, and What Can Help. [8] Dræby Sorensen, A. (2002). Den biologiske psykiatris renæssance og det antidepressive menneske. Slagmark, 159-183. [9] Ehrenberg, A. (2010). The Weariness of the Self: Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age. 345. [10] Fullagar, S., & O’Brien, W. (2013). Problematizing the Neurochemical Subject of Anti-Depressant Treatment: The Limits of Biomedical Responses to Women’s Emotional Distress. Health (London), 17, 57-74.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363459312447255 [11] Fullagar, S. (2009). Negotiating the Neurochemical Self: Anti-Depressant Consumption in Women’s Recovery from Depression. Health, 13, 389-406.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363459308101809 [12] Hansen, J. O., & Buus, N. (2013). Living with a Depressed Person in Denmark: A Qualitative Study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 59, 401-406.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0020764012438478 [13] Harper, D., & Speed, E. (2014). Uncovering Recovery: The Resistible Rise of Recovery and Resilience. In E. Speed, J. Moncrieff, & M. Rapley (Eds.), De-Medicalizing Misery II (pp. 40-57). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137304667.0008 [14] Kleinman, A. (1995). Writing at the Margin: Discourse between Anthropology and Medicine. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [15] Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (2nd ed.). London: Verso. [16] Marcus, G. E. (1998). Ethnography through Thick and Thin. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [17] Moncrieff, J., Rapley, M., & Dillon, J. (2011). De-Medicalizing Misery: Psychiatry, Psychology and the Human Condition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [18] Oeye, C., Bjelland, A. K., & Skorpen, A. (2007). Doing Participant Observation in a Psychiatric Hospital—Research Ethics Resumed. Social Science & Medicine, 65, 2296-2306.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.07.016 [19] Oeye, C., Bjelland, A. K., Skorpen, A., & Anderssen, N. (2009). Raising Adults as Children? A Report on Milieu Therapy in a Psychiatric Ward in Norway. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 30, 151-158.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01612840802557246 [20] One of Us (2014). En af os [One of Us].
www.enafos.dk [21] Oute, J., & Randwijk, C. V. (2015). “We Will Be Taking Over Now”—A Discourse Analysis of Subject Positions in Danish Psychiatry. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Accepted for Publication. [22] Ovre Sorensen, N. (2006). I virkeligheden udenfor: Et dobbelt perspektiv pa sygeplejerskers arbejde i en psykiatrisk institution. En analyse af magt, styringsog selvstyrings teknikker. Roskilde: Institut for uddannelsesforskning, Forskerskolen i Livslang Læring, Roskilde Universitetscenter. [23] Psykiatrien i Region Syddanmark [trans. Psychiatry in the Region of Southern Denmark] (2014). Psykiatrien i Region Syddanmark.
www.psykiatrieniregionsyddanmark.dk [24] Ramon, S. (2008). Neoliberalism and Its Implications for Mental Health in the UK. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31, 116-125.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2008.02.006 [25] Rose, N. (1999). Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self (2nd ed.) London: Free Association Books. [26] Rose, N. (2007). The Politics of Life Itself: Biomedicine, Power and Subjectivity in the Twenty-First Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781400827503 [27] Shore, C., Wright, S., & Però, D. (2011). Policy Worlds: Anthropology and the Analysis of Contemporary Power. New York: Berghahn Books. [28] Teghtsoonian, K. (2009). Depression and Mental Health in Neoliberal Times: A Critical Analysis of Policy and Discourse. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 28-35.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.03.037 [29] The Social Network (2014). Psykisk saarbar [Mentally Vulnerable].
www.Psykisksaarbar.dk [30] Torfing, J. (1999). New Theories of Discourse: Laclau, Mouffe, and Zizek. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. [31] Udvalget, O. P. [The Governmental Committee on the Future Organization of Danish Psychiatry (GCP)] (2013). Enmoderne, Aaben og inkluderende indsats for mennesker med psykiske lidelser: Rapport fra Regeringens Udvalg om Psykiatri [A Modern, Open and Inclusive Effort for People with Mental Illnesses: A Rapport from the Danish Governmental Psychiatry Committee]. Regeringens Udvalg om Psykiatri. [32] Yang, L. H., Kleinman, A., Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C., Lee, S., & Good, B. (2007). Culture and Stigma: Adding Moral Experience to Stigma Theory. Social Science & Medicine, 64, 1524-1535.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.11.013