A view from CAMH

CrossCurrents

One hundred years ago, a young man named Clifford Beers decided to recount for public consumption his harrowing experience of both psychiatric illness and psychiatric treatment. His gripping book, A Mind That Found Itself, was published in 1908 and chronicled the descent into madness of a well-educated young man of social advantage. Beers described not only his symptoms and how they overtook his mood, thought and behaviour, but also the experience of hospitalization and treatment. He witnessed both compassion and inhumanity in his care through three institutions.

Beers sent his manuscript to Professor William James of Harvard University, one of the leading psychologists of his era. James wrote Beers a letter, stating, "It is the best written 'case' that I have seen; and you no doubt have put your finger on the weak spots of our treatment of the insane, and suggested the right line of remedy … You were doubtless a pretty intolerable character when the maniacal condition came on and you were bossing the universe … but you were certainly wrongly treated nevertheless … your report is full of instructiveness for doctors and attendants alike."

Beers went on to found the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, dedicated to prevention and early detection of mental disorder, eradication of stigma, sensitization of physicians to the interplay of physical and mental health, and more. The committee's agenda appears as timely today as when the committee was founded in 1909.

There have been many other first-person accounts of illness and treatment before and since, from philosopher John Stuart Mill's description of his painful depression in 1826 to novelist William Styron's recent memoir of depression entitled Darkness Visible. Pat Capponi's Upstairs at the Crazy House and Julia Nunes and Scott Simmie's Beyond Crazy: Journeys through Mental Illness reflect the views of both ordinary and celebrated Canadians who have experienced mental illness. These are important works for us as mental health and addiction professionals to read, even if they are uncomfortable for us at times in their descriptions of the experience of treatment.

Empathy is the foundation of the therapeutic alliance. Understanding the experiences, perspectives and perceptions of those people we try to help is an essential building block of empathy. This issue of CrossCurrents is dedicated to that goal.

Dr. David Goldbloom
Senior medical advisor, Education and Public Affairs
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Professor of Psychiatry
University of Toronto

• Print