It took till the end of the Second World War before public attention once again turned to reform, but on many fronts things have gotten worse. These days, more individuals are in jail and prison than in mental hospitals, vast numbers are homeless, while others are consigned to debilitating no-lives in derelict board and cares.
Why can’t we return to 1844? Or better yet, 1844 combined with modern treatments coupled with the institutional resolve to get things done. Based on what we now know, might not recovery shoot up from 25 percent to, say, 75 percent?
Dr Liberman is one of the leading proponents of the “stress-diathesis” model, namely that certain individuals are more genetically disposed than others to break down under stress. The theory has been around since the seventies, and these days brain science is establishing it as fact. Dr Liberman works in educating the seriously mental ill in how to cope with their illness and treatments and in negotiating a frequently perplexing and hostile world. Giving patients the skills to manage potentially stressful situations is a major focus of his work.
Dr Liberman is recognized as one of the leading psychiatrists in the world, but one sensed in his talk his indebtedness to much earlier and bygone era. Will we ever be able to return to 1844? Perhaps in a more enlightened age. Maybe our clinicians can afford to wait. But knowing what stress can do to us, obviously we can’t.
