Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: 4376-5), $27.99 ebook (978-1-4426-9689-1).F abris expertly weaves a narrative of his own experiences with "men- tal illness" through this timely and thoughtful critique of the mental health system and Community Treatment Orders (CTOs).Community Treatment Orders have been legislated across Canada in one form or another since the mid-1990s and are agreements signed between a mental health patient and a physician that binds the patient to follow a specific treatment plan.This allows the patient to live in a community during the treatment process rather than be confined to a hospital.If the patient is found in violation of the CTO he or she can be apprehended and placed in a hospital or related institution.This is a gross oversimplification of how CTOs work and the conditions they impose, but will suffice for this discussion.A great deal of published work on CTOs deals with their efficacy.These debates often reduce to squabbles over which methods are best for such an assessment (see the debate between Kisely and O'Reilly in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2006) with no clear conclusion.The debates also take for granted the meaning of concepts fundamental to the discussion.For example, proponents of the CTO often refer to it as "a least restrictive alternative" (p.136) to institutionalization.Meanwhile, opponents typically muster around fears that CTOs will be used to force drugs on to individuals against their will, but this is often considered a rhetorical argument and countered by marshalling evidence of legislated protective mechanisms.Fabris questions what it means to be "restrictive," to "institutionalize," to "force," or to "choose," and whether legal mechanisms can in fact "protect" individuals.He addresses these issues in nine chapters which are broken down into subsections that make the discussion more structured and easy to follow. Tranquil Prisons begins on a snowy street in Vancouver whereFabris is told by a baker to stand outside, away from the view of customers.An ambulance arrives.He is transported to an emergency ward and escorted to a private room.He is distracted, excited; he is close to the meaning of
DOI: 10.29173/cjs18166
Author: Gary Robert Shane Barron
Institution: University of Alberta
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1570549751