Abstract
Using Rambo Ronai’s [5] layered account, a form of autoethnography, this work explores the communicative performances involved in patient-release from mental health institutions. Utilizing narratives regarding involuntary hospitalization, this work explores the ways in which impression management [3] plays a vital role in a patient’s release. The work also examines doctor–patient ethical and communicative practices, but ultimately seeks to shed light upon the often-stigmatized individuals with mental health issues.
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Notes
Rosenhan (1973) conducted a study in which he put pseudopatients (that is—individuals who were research subjects and had not markedly been diagnosed with a mental illness) into mental institutions by having them admit themselves. The purpose of the study was to try to examine how the research subjects interacted with actual patients, and also to try to find how long it would take the subjects to leave the mental institution.
Over the course of my time in the hospital Laurie and I developed a friendship, but I watched her recovery take more from her physically and mentally, as she was increasingly administered more medication.
It should be made clear here that I was going through cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder. My therapist’s receptionist called to schedule my next appointment. I thought it was my doctor calling and I answered because I was working through a panic attack and hoping she could help. The receptionist was alarmed by the panic and asked if I needed help. Thinking she would call my doctor, I said yes. She told me to wait for a phone call, which I received letting me know that the police had been dispatched. The receptionist at the clinic was the one to call in the Baker Act and my therapist was not alerted until after I had already been admitted to the hospital.
References
Rosenhan, DL. (1973). On being sane in insane places. Science 179:250–258
Solomon, A. (1998). Anatomy of melancholy. New Yorker: (46–61)
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. 2nd edn. Anchor Books: Garden City
Frank, A. (1997). The wounded storyteller: body, illness, and ethics. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Rambo Ronai, C. (1995). Multiple reflections of child sex abuse: an argument for a layered account. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 23: (395–426)
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Whalen, J. Communicating to escape: A look at involuntary hospitalization. J Med Pers 12, 55–59 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12682-014-0175-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12682-014-0175-4