This article sets out to deal with the serious problem of psychiatric assistance, from an unususal and one could say “unforeseen” point of view, in the sense that it hasn’t been thought out or examined. One runs the risk, otherwise, of taking for granted what a closer look reveals – a basic assumption, developed in a historical period in which deeper and more relaxed reflection was not possible; intellects were aflame, the ideology was imminent, the need to move on pressing. What am I alluding to in this preamble? How to deal with two thorny and unresolved subjects regarding overall care for psychiatric patients. We are talking about seriously ill patients, who do not know they are ill, who present serious behavioural changes and do not wish to be cured; we are talking about sick people whose illness, in spite of all the correctly administered treatments, becomes chronic over time. Notwithstanding the up-to-date Italian psychiatric legislation and the validity of today’s theoretical approach, for most of the psychological-psychiatric difficulties – apart from the limitations of concrete implementation due to lack of facilities and funds – the solutions to these two problems remain insufficient and inadequate. This article will try to highlight this problem with two “real” clinical cases, taken from “real” clinical practise, in a mental health clinic. Not to make the usual sterile criticism, which ends up without proposing anything concrete, some modifications are proposed. Some are taken from a reform bill currently being debated in the Chamber of Deputies, others are personal contributions. The new proposed point of view is established in order to return to what is “no longer thought about”, with wider, and hopefully, more constructive consideration.
Category: No 1 - March - 2011
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