Coercion

The Right to Mental Health?

JUNE 2021 Chuck Ruby, Ph.D., Psychologist

psychintegrity.org/the-right-to-mental-health

This excellent article is about our human rights when we are seeking therapy or other mental health assistance. He separates mental health from physical health to point out the lack of coercion or forced treatment in relation to physical illnesses.

I was thinking about how this applies regarding medical assistance/treatment and human rights.

Ruby wrote:

>>>>>The solution to stigma and discrimination, and the subsequent threats to human rights for those seeking mental health assistance, is to realize that the essence of mental health care is not literally about health and illness. It definitely isn't about using chemical, mechanical, and biological knowledge and skills to correct dysfunctional physiology.

Instead, the term "mental health" is a figurative description of social challenges, personal meaning, emotional distress, and one's responses to these things. Therefore, it is in a domain completely separate from the study of medicine and the literal idea of health and illness, not a different type to merge with the physical type.<<<<<<

I like this idea of mental health as a combo of “social challenges, personal meaning, emotional distress, and one's responses to these things.” That sounds like a new, better version of the DSM!

and then he goes into this comparison…

>>>>>The resulting irony is that while we frequently see such coercion within the mental health system, we rarely see it with physical health. People who are diagnosed with physical health problems, such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease are rarely treated involuntarily, against their will (unless, of course, they are judged mentally ill and, thus, not able to make "wise" choices).<<<<<

But when it’s a “virus”, that’s a whole other story. There’s a huge amount of “coercion” and related tactics leveled at those who would remain unvaxxd now. Part of that is the accusation that we must be “mentally ill” or “ignorant” for refusing The Vaxx which leads to the “mandates” because we “don’t know what’s best for us and others.”

(Continued in Part 2...)#Coercion #Human rights #Stigma

It’s hard to explain the circumstances under which I lost my virginity.

It happened when I was 24 when I was in an abusive relationship. My boyfriend was quite a bit older than me. He knew I was a virgin and wanted to wait. I knew he wanted sex though. He made that perfectly clear. We had already fooled around a bit. He pushed the boundaries as far as I let him, but he was always pressuring me for more and he’d get mad every time I made him stop. It’s not that I didn’t want to fool around at all. I was just scared because I had never done anything before. I didn’t know yet how much I was comfortable with or how far was too far. I definitely wanted him to slow down and not push it so much, and I told him that, but he still kept pushing it. I was worried about doing anything sexual because I knew that once we started messing around, he’d want to keep going, but I wasn’t ready to go all the way. I just wanted to take it slow.

It finally happened when we’d been together about two months. As usual, everything happened so fast. Once it started, I couldn’t get him to slow down. I was nervous and I definitely said wait, but he kept telling me to relax. I didn’t want to make him mad by refusing to go further again. I knew it was coming, and I just decided to get it over with. I let him do what he wanted. When it was happening, I remember feeling numb emotionally. I wasn’t comfortable with it, but I let it happen. I remember it hurt, but I didn’t tell him to stop. I just sort of held my breath and knew it would be over soon. When he was finished, I didn’t say anything. I just laid there next to him feeling dirty and numb.

It wasn’t sexual assault. I don’t even think it could be considered non-consensual because I never said no when it happened. I don’t know. At the very least, it crossed over a boundary I wasn’t ready to cross yet. We had sex many times after that, and it still took a while before I was comfortable with it. I knew to expect it and I allowed him to do what he wanted, but it was another couple of months before I wanted it. At some point, he could tell I was finally into it too. He actually said he was glad I didn’t seem scared anymore when we had sex. Looking back, the fact that he said that really bothers me. I wish I would have asked him why he continued to have sex with me if he knew I was scared.

Our relationship only lasted six months. He was abusive in so many ways. When it ended, I actually had to petition for a restraining order against him so it would finally be over. Now that I’ve had a couple of months to gain perspective on everything that happened between us, I still don’t know how to wrap my head around our sexual relationship. I honestly try not to think about how it started because it makes me feel very uneasy. It’s just complicated and I don’t know how to feel about it or process the way it happened. It feels more like coercion rather than consensual. #Sex #Coercion #Consent #AbusiveRelationship #EmotionalAbuse #RedFlags #CheckInWithMe