What the doctor did to you was wrong. It is wrong for a psychiatrist to have sex with ANY patient of ANY age. And it is wrong for an adult to ask a young child to have sex. It sounds like you know this, but I wanted to make sure you also heard it.

I don’t know Canada laws. But in the United States, psychiatrists and other therapists can lose their license if they have sex with a client. (That means they would be forced to stop doing therapy.) I assume it is the same in Canada.

I’m sorry your parents didn’t believe you.

Are you able to find another adult you trust? Could you try talking with a teacher, or the parent of a friend?

I’am a victim of psychiatric abuse its a crime, and in hospital I have witnessed the twisted mentality of mental health professionals such as abuse like punishing me with force drugging of antipsychotics , chemical restraints ,isolation for days at a time with in appropriate meals, and nursing staff threating me with anything they thought of and it just depends on how mad you got the staff that day. I never did anything out of control or did I get violent,yet I was just standing up for patients rights and making my argued opinions in result I would get tortured with over dosing of forced antipsychotic drugs. I have even witnessed nursing staff murder a co-patient and it was sickening,frustrating and very sad part of my life. I also have a young friend who got an E.C.T done and it has completly fried his memory. after the reinforcement of drugs I have had tremors symtoms of N.M.S head pains, heart cardiac pains,weight gain ,dizzyness and sleepiness all caused by side affects of antipsychotic drugs. I suffer each day with the symptoms and I don’t think I will live that long on psychiatric medication its deadly look at the statistics if anyone can help me with this prosectution I would appreciate all the help I can get please I can name a few people who were responsible for the murders of some people:
Dr. David Cochrane (psychiatrist)
R.N: Mark Samuel ,R.P.N: Sandy ,Robb

All this took place at the Northeast Mental Health Center abbreviated N.E.M.H.C use to be called the north bay psychiatric hospital
P.O. Box 3010 4700
Highway 11 N
North Bay, ON,CA

“And Clay — this: “I don’t care if staying with her caused me mental health problems! She is my child, a gift from God, and an enormous responsibility that I would never dare shove off on others.”

My my, that’s right noble of you.”

There nothing noble about it. I am just an ordinary Dad who loves and wants the best for his child. Nothing more.

I’m with you on your points. Regarding professionals being able to fool some parents, I am sure. I’m just lucky enough to be reticient to jump every time the doctor says how I? I’ve been doing some of my own research on autism and I am well aware that institutionalization for my daughter is not warranted. If I should hear that recommendation from a therapist in the future you can bet they will not be successful.

Evonne, I agree with you, I’m not oppossed to your position. As I’ve said, there is a time to question. And, I obviously don’t side with doctors or therapists as a knee jerk response. I just misundersood the “tone” of your comments. I applaud you sticking up for your friend. Sounds like he/she is very lucky to have you for a friend.

As for Amanda’s motives for posting things, I’m not sure if you are aiming that at me, if you are, then it is unfounded. I’m not passing out flattery just to be cordial. That is shallow and is not really very helpful. I am here “learning”.

In response to Clay’s comment re: it becoming faddish to question everything, on that I’ll agree – save the “everything”. It still hasn’t become mainstream to question the idea of disability as pathological and pitiful. So yeah, when I see that idea coming, I’ll challenge it in whatever capacity I can muster.

As for the word play involved in “the rapist”, I’m not married to it; I just found it an interesting slip of the fingers. (A bit silly to zero in on that alone and miss the point of the rest of the text; it was a parenthetical, for God’s sake!) And of course it’s been used before, quite powerfully. I gladly admit to over-the-toppishness as the resident “word person”, but I stand by the contention that relationships that create hierarchy are often ripe environments for abuse. And there are kinds of abuse that are perhaps even more harmful than those that come to mind at the mention of the word “rapist”. Getting all hyped up about sex implications is faddish as well.

Also, for anyone tempted to miss the point on exploitation or paternalism: Fish around this blog for a bit and you’ll notice that when Amanda (or any conscientious poster) writes about exploitation and injustices done to her personally or peripherally, she’s not doing it simply so someone will say, “Oh, dear, that must be awful for you”; and when she writes a piece that involves profound intellectual thought, she’s not doing it so someone will say, “Wow, you’re a smart cookie”. While expressions of sympathy and affirmation of positive introspection are appreciated, she doesn’t respond to flattery in the manner that flatterers hope for. This blog is a crucial forum that really is eliciting social change. William Blake said, “When I tell any truth it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those who do.”

When I was getting out of the system myself, I was very fortunate to meet a few people who treated me with a combination of respect for my autonomy (and my right to disagree with them) and political understanding of the situation I was in. I imagine (and know, from having friends still in the system) it’s a difficult balance, but it was really worth it to me in the long run to be exposed to these ideas and at the same time not have them crammed down my throat.

This is part of how the abuses happen. Well-intentioned friends and relatives give the full benefit of the doubt to the therapists and other medical professionals. If you start with the assumption that the therapist is right except when he’s obviously wrong, then you can miss or excuse a lot. The signs of mistreatment aren’t always obvious to an outsider, especially if the person being abused isn’t likely to be understood or believed. Changes like not wanting to go to treatment, being much quieter than usual, being more upset than usual, and even increased obedience or apparently good behavior can result from abuse. They may not; they may be caused by any number of other factors. But therapists, as people with power over others don’t get a free pass out of scrutiny.

You said you’ve seen a number of nursing homes, and would never institutionalize your child. A lot of parents don’t know what they’re getting into, and what they have to go by is a medical professional saying, “This is the best thing for your child. It’s the only way to help him. If you do this, he’ll get better. If you don’t he’ll get worse and worse and eventually run out into traffic, or swallow something dangerous, and die.” If they think the choice is between no help, and what the doctor says, they’ll obey. Because they see the choice as either going along with the doctor, or getting no help at all.

I’m not against medical treatments or therapies in general. A good point I read somewhere is that some of the best “therapies” for autistics could more accurately be called teaching. But medical treatments have their place, and some very real benifits. What they don’t have is an exemption from criticism.

A therapist who leaves the patient feeling stressed-out and insecure about their ability to make decisions deserves to have his actions questioned. If he’s really doing what’s best for the patient under the circumstances, and helping them see the negative consequences of their own bad judgement, then questioning will reveal that. If not, for instance if he’s a speech therapist who’s so enamored with his own influence over patients that he’s taken to pushing his personal view on others, and cutting them down emotionally when they disagree with him, then the best thing you could do for his patients is enourage them to get away.

I’m sorry to hear what your parents and mostly you have had to go through. As for therapists, your point is well taken. I agree that there are certainly a variety of them who abuse their power, and I have never felt particulrily comfortable with with psychology as a science, since it almost tends to categorize human beings into cookie cutter type images. It’s just that “the therapist = the rapist” sounded a bit over the top. I’m all for healthy skepiticsm, it’s just these days it almost becomes a fad to question everything just for the sake of questioning. Other than that I agree with your assessment.