From Hero of the Counterculture to Risk Assessment
A Consideration of Two Portrayals of the “Psychiatric Patient
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6192145 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ian Cummins (0000-0001-7814-3835, Salford University, Salford, UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 111-123 |
| Publication date | 2018-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Illness Crisis & Loss (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1054-1373 • E-ISSN: 1552-6968 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1054137316649734 |
| OpenAlex | W2406731865 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
This article is based on a comparative thematic analysis of two novels that explore the experiences of institutional psychiatric care. Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a classic of modern U.S. literature. It is argued here that Kesey’s representation of the “psychiatric patient” as rebel was not only a reflection of some the changing societal attitudes in postwar America, but it also helped to shape them. The challenge to the asylum system was thus cast in terms of questions of the civil rights of a marginalized group. The main themes of the novel reflect those of protesters against the abuses of the asylum system—the poor physical conditions, the social isolation of the patients, poor physical care and abuse, and the use of ECT and psychosurgery. The rebellious spirit of Kesey’s work is contrasted with a recent novel—Nathan Filer’s 2012 award-winning The Shock of the Fall. In Filer’s work, the optimism and challenge to authority has dissipated to be replaced by a resigned fatalism reflecting the current crisis in mental health services
Counterculture · Criminology · Fatalism · HERO · Hollywood · Mental health · Political science · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Psychology
Social Order/Mental Disorder
Media frames of mental illnesses
On Being Sane in Insane Places
Folk Devils and Moral Panics
The Conquest of Cool
Risk and protection
Distant voices, still lives
Building the counterculture, creating right livelihoods
Fixing Men
Using Simon's Governing through crime to explore the development of mental health policy in England and Wales since 1983
AHR Forum The Rise and Fall of an International Counterculture, 1960–1975
Asylums
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |