Violence, research, and non-identity in the psychiatric clinic

Abstract

Violence in psychiatric clinics has been a consistent problem since the birth of modern psychiatry. In this paper, I examine current efforts to understand and reduce both violence and coercive responses to violence in psychiatry, arguing that these efforts are destined to fall short. By and large, scholarship on psychiatric violence reduction has focused on identifying discrete factors that are statistically associated with violence, such as patient demographics and clinical qualities, in an effort to quantify risk and predict violent acts before they happen. Using the work of Horkheimer and Adorno, I characterize the theoretical orientation of such efforts as identity thinking. I then argue that these approaches lead to epistemic imperceptiveness and a subtle form of conceptual restraint on patients. I suggest a reorientation in psychiatric research, away from identity thinking and toward a more productive and just approach to the problem of violence in psychiatric clinics.

Hygienic Aspects of Architectural and Planning Solutions for the Construction of Mental Health Facilities

“…), multidisciplinary groups should be involvedarchitectural and planning, urban planning units, the public, medical representatives of medical institutions, relatives, patients, to take into account all the necessary in-hospital factors (Rosen, 2022, Merner, 2023, Chorna, 2022. All these issues should take into account ensuring the effective work of medical staff, which would motivate and satisfy their professional needs, namely: reduce emotional exhaustion; create appropriate conditions for visual supervision of patients during exacerbation of their behavior and to protect them from their aggressive actions; level the manifestations of stigmatization; create comfortable conditions for patients with mental disorders of the "healing architectural environment", that is, safe, private, home stay of patients until their full recovery and return to the (McDerott, 2014, Bach, 2018.…”