In the NPR podcast “The Problem with the Solution” the story of Jackie Goldstein’s journey to Geel and what she discovered there is depicted. This podcast points out how the stigma of mental illness is part of the problem. The speakers use the example of Geel to provide evidence that the best treatment for mental illness may be to treat the patients as though they are not mentally ill. In Geel, the mentally ill are treated like normal people, they are given to volunteers who don’t know their mental illness and don’t care. They find through observation that this treatment is far better than common treatment modalities in the United States, where patients are dehumanized and treated pharmacologically and with little human interaction. This raises the question: Do humans construct false ideas of what is normal? Since possible solution to the treatment of mental illness, is to treat the “mentally ill” as though they are perfectly normal, it leads us to believe that they may not actually have a problem to begin with, only that they deviate from human perception of normalcy.
This question is important because of many conflicting and polarizing issues. It is very clear historically, that humans find problems with others for self promotion or benefit. These issues are often believed blindly as they are integrated into our culture. One example of this is: Whether homosexuality is a mere deviation from the norm or whether it is caused by some developmental problem. Another type of ‘false idea” is based on an illogical conclusion. For example, the reason why African –American males represent the largest racial group in American prisons, is because they did not have a “normal” upbringing. Although quite different, both these examples have one factor in common, they are perpetuated by the need of a large segment of the American population to justify core beliefs. These “core beliefs” have a primary benefit of excluding those who do not fit a perceived norm from financial, educational or societal benefits. For instance in States which do not recognize gay marriage, gay couples cannot claim tax relief. African American families are often shunned and made to feel uncomfortable in many neighborhoods because of the belief that members of broken black families are criminals destined for prison. The list could go on, but it is obvious that many issues in America and around the world, derive from a false belief in what is normal and how people should be treated based on that belief.
Work Cited:
Hanna Rosen, Aliz Spiegel. “The Problem with the Solution.” NPR Invisibilia, 2016