26 September 2010

Island of Outcasts

                       


Island of Outcasts (1990) Director: Jane Gabriel

"The Greek mental institution of Leros, housed on the island of the same name, has received significant journalistic attention. In September of 1989, the London Observer printed a front page account of the hospital, describing it as a "concentration camp." Following the British report, a barrage of Greek press about the island and institution was ignited. All accounts have discussed aspects of the hospital and its horrific patient conditions: patient neglect, absence of medical personnel (for some 1150 adults there are only two psychiatrists), patients who are kept naked throughout the year, inadequate diet, etc. The film "Island of Outcasts" represents another British endeavor detailing the hospital's conditions. It shatters common images of Greek islands as romantic tourist hideaways with tranquil beaches, crystalline blue waters and convivial natives. Rather, a grim and haunting portrait of the island and its mental institution is conveyed..."

12 June 2010

Up In the Air - Psychiatric Health Services


The structures most strongly affected by the economic crisis since 2008 are those of mental health care, created under the psychiatric reform program and passed under the authority of the State over the last five years.

The policies of deinstitutionalisation are in danger of being shipwrecked

The future of hundreds of patients who are accommodated in hostels or sheltered apartments, and thousands of other people, who are supported by other mental health programs, seems uncertain. Most services are functioning at below capacity due to insufficient funding. The payment of wages to employees only recently reverted to normality. The EU is threatening to cut its subsidy to Greece if the pact signed last year with the Ministry of Health to address the problems within the mental health services, is not fulfilled. The ministry has not even proceeded to the consultation with the involved parties (service providers, service users and their families etc) that had been announced.

Recently closed were two homes for adolescents, one belonging to SOS Villages and the other belonging to the association APHCA. In March APHCA applied to the Government to suspend operation of a further five units, which have been in operation for the past 17years.Three hostels designed for the deinstitutionalisation of adults (mostly from the Leros mental hospital), one protected apartment and the hostel "Melia", which houses for a few months children of parents with severe mental illness.

Four trade unions representing staff from the mental health associations (SEPSAEKO, PEPSAEE, Perivolaki, and APHCA) describe a "tragic situation" in the field, which compromise "the stability, security, continuity of therapeutic care and respect for people suffering from mental disorder”. The de-institutionalization of patients and their reintegration into society has been achieved after many years work, but this work is likely to be blown sky-high if the sheltered accommodations are closed or if the staff change. One unit leader of those which are threatened with closure explains, "Patients who have roots together in these neighborhoods will be uprooted if they go elsewhere or if they lose people who are reference points for their treatment" he says.

The worst, however, indicate the employees, is that if the existing structures within the mental health service are reduced during the current economic crisis, they will not be replaced by something else. And this will be a great loss for society, who, maybe after the injury to its pocket inflicted by the economic crisis, will perhaps also see the injury to its mental health.

Agg. B.

Article from the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia (translated by: the iron chicken)

21 March 2010

Leros: Freedom is Curative (w/ english subtitles)

                                   








Director: Andreas Loukakos
Dir. of Photography: Stephane Cattan
Editing: Stephane Cattan
Producer: Noredin Mokassabi
2003

18 February 2010

John Henderson obituary







Psychiatrist, reformer and adviser to Greece on mental health







Henderson was an early pioneer of social psychiatry

John Henderson, who has died aged 80, was an influential figure in psychiatry, mental health and human rights around the world. Long after official retirement, he continued his work with startling energy through a vast array of voluntary and non-governmental organisations right across Europe – especially Mental Health Europe, which he helped to found in the late 1990s.

In particular, he supported colleagues and activists working for the reform of the Greek mental health system. The appalling institutions for mentally ill people and those with learning disabilities on the Greek island of Leros, in the south-east Aegean, became more widely known from the early 1980s. When full, the institutions had housed around 3,000 people. During John's tenure at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Europe, and as part of its accession to the European Union, Greece made a request for special assistance to reform and modernise its mental health system away from institutional care.

Controversially, a special programme was agreed in 1984. However, by 1987 nothing had happened to change conditions in Leros, very little money had been spent and there were moves in the European parliament to end the programme. Then an Observer journalist, John Merritt, and an independent film- maker, Jane Gabriel, decided simultaneously to draw the world's attention to Leros with dramatic press coverage swiftly followed by two powerful documentaries broadcast on Channel 4.

Such was the public outrage that a compromise was agreed by the European commission for the assistance programme to be renewed and extended for five years from 1990. John was asked, as part of this deal, to lead an independent team of experts working for the European commission to monitor and evaluate the progress of the reforms. For five years the European Commission Independent Team of Experts (ECITE) spent six to eight weeks a year in Greece reviewing progress in Leros and – just as importantly – reviewing the changes to the mental health system that would make the institutions on Leros and elsewhere in Greece redundant. It was a challenging assignment.

The outside experts were not always welcome or popular, and it required all of John's diplomatic skills and firmness to win the trust and co-operation of politicians, bureaucrats, officials, the medical profession, the staff and the patients of the institutions. The work that led to the eventual closure of the worst parts of the institutions in Leros and at other sites involved many people from Greece and elsewhere who came to change the terrible conditions. The contribution of ECITE under John's leadership was to keep the show on the road when it seemed that the political and administrative blockages would bring the reforms grinding to a halt.

The work of ECITE ended in 1995, with the worst abuses, at least, on the way to being dealt with. However, John and other team members were regularly invited back by the Greek government and by the organisations running the new services to monitor progress – especially when momentum was in danger of being lost. As recently as last June, John spoke at a memorable meeting in Brussels in front of EC commissioners, MEPs and officials as, once again, the reform programme was brought back from the brink of collapse.

Gabriel summed up John's contribution in Greece and more generally: "I remember some remarkable times with him and how he managed to maintain a cheerful equilibrium when all around was either as grim as it gets – or worse.

"He was a man who inspired a quiet optimism, and more than once kept me going in the Leros days, by insisting that improvement would come, and in that case, of course, he was right."

Born in the town of Galashiels, Borders, John attended Central secondary school in Aberdeen and Melville College, Edinburgh. He studied medicine at Aberdeen University, graduating in 1954, and undertook national service with the Royal Army Medical Corps, in Kenya (1955-57). He then trained as a psychiatrist at Kingseat and Cornhill hospitals in Aberdeen.

After becoming a consultant in 1963, John took up the post of physician superintendent, first at Bilbohall hospital, in Elgin, and then at Bangour, in West Lothian. In 1976, after two years at the Scottish Office, he took up his first international posting as a regional adviser in mental health for WHO in south-east Asia, and then moved to the European regional office in 1980.

The thread that ran through John's life's work was his belief that psychiatry should be about helping people with mental heath problems to have the possibility of a better life. That meant caring about the whole person and the circumstances in which they lived. He was one of the early pioneers of social psychiatry, a firm believer in the abilities and capacities of people living with and recovering from mental illness, and always a fierce critic of the discrimination and human rights abuses that were – and unfortunately still are – rife across many parts of Europe and the rest of the world.

John was kind, supportive and encouraging to those who were trying to do the right thing in challenging circumstances. It was this combination of stern authority, compassion and an in-depth knowledge of psychiatry and mental health as practised throughout the world that made him such a potent force for change.

He is survived by Toshie, his wife of 52 years, four sons – two of whom work in mental health – and 10 grandchildren.

Two weeks before his death John finally agreed to the wishes of his sons and colleagues to establish a foundation in his name to help continue the mental health work he so passionately believed in across Europe.

• John Henderson, psychiatrist and reformer, born 29 November 1929; died 4 January 2010


29 January 2010

Mental Health Europe’s Message

Mental Health Europe’s Message for the European Year 2010 for
Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion 

Research has shown clear bidirectional links between mental health and poverty. People experiencing poverty are particularly vulnerable towards developing mental health problems. Conversely people with existing mental health problems are more likely to experience poverty. Uncertainties about the future dominate their daily lives.In the context of the European Year 2010 for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, Mental Health Europe therefore calls on policy-makers and other stakeholders to:

1. Implement the European Pact for Mental Health and Wellbeing, which was launched in 2008, into all policy areas (health, social policies, housing, employment, training, justice, fundamental rights etc.).
2. Foster measures for mental health promotion and prevention of mental health problems through adequate social protection and inclusion policies.
3. Reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental health problems, also with the support of the media.
4. Ensure a minimum level of income which allows all people to live a life in dignity.
5. Make labour markets truly inclusive, support flexible working schemes and ensure decent pay. Keeping people in their jobs is the best way to prevent poverty and social exclusion.
6. Ensure access to quality health care and social services.
7. Invest in human resources and skills development in order to apply an effective lifelong learning strategy.
8. Place the fight against mental health problems and homelessness high on the political agenda.
9. Protect the most vulnerable members of society by promoting social justice as well as the mental health and wellbeing of the population – a decisive factor for social cohesion in Europe!