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This site is for special people - They will know who they are.
Each society, as it advances, considers itself to be more 'civilised' (in some form), when comparing with previous times. The self congratulation is often justified, at least in part. Even so, there are Individuals, Cultures and even Professions, that perpetuate practices that are abusive in their character.
There are still substantial failures to understand the disabling nature of some behaviours, traditions and established professional practices. These are failures to understand, or refusals to accept, the fundamental legal requirement to apply the 'International Convention of Human Rights', further suppoted by the 'European Convention on Human Rights'. These Rights also place obligations on all professionals to do all possible to protect these fundamental Rights, when they come to their notice.
Local (National) Laws are sometimes introduced to take account of special circumstances which may reasonably override normal rights and freedoms. The obvious case is in Criminal Behaviour and in Civil Actions. Less well known are those in place to protect the individual against themselves, or protect others against individual's who present a threat, by virtue of their 'lack of capacity' to understand the Consequences of their Actions.
These exceptions are often badly understood and poorly applied, usually to the disadvantage of the individual. The principle of 'Least Restrictive Practice' is rarely appreciated. The usual excuse is that there are not enough resources and alternative arrangements are impractical. The truth is, vast amounts of money are spent in training professionals and in setting up 'less restrictive' operations. These so often fail, because of inherent ignorance and the constraining, inept Policy of the professional Institutions.
Some human beings do seem to have the ability to advance their thinking, liberate social order, invigorate institutions and promote understanding of 'the Human Condition'. Others seek to keep things as they are - Why? The fact is, most people bring their prejudices with them. These can be deep rooted and often resistant to change. People become 'dependent' upon their irrational fears, unless they actively seek to dig them up, or have them exposed, there is little hope of improvement.
Unfortunately, along with this modern, human, 'social' characteristics, there is a darker, animal side. This is understood in various religions as Good versus Evil and this is as good a model as any, to explain the battle between our more constructive 'social' nature and the more destructive, 'selfish' nature. We may disagree about the source of Good & Evil, but most recognise their existence.
Science however, particularly in the form of Genetics, Evolutional Theory, Psychology, Anthropology and Sociology, now have a very good grasp of how these Good and Evil features can evolve and present themselves in any individual, sometimes against our natural inclinations. For every advance in human nature there are those (and there is a little in each of us) that would drag us back to more
primitive, mindless immediacy of our self gratifying nature.
Evidence of these Scientific Theories and explanations and accounts of the more 'spiritual', holistic, perspectives, are dealt with in some depth on the sister site:
www.visitweb.org . Here we will use the knowledge gained for these various insights to help people, understand how they may be being abused, came to be abused, how to challenge and stop the abuse and how to recover from abuse, in ways that make them stronger and wiser than the abusers.
On this site we will be concentrating upon the impact of all forms of abuse on the individual, family and culture. These forms of abuse, culpable neglect and prejudice, affect people of all ages, both sexes, all sexual inclinations and of every culture. There are no boundaries. Just as in the recently (more widely) recognised instances of Institutional Prejudice, so there are Institutionalised forms of abuse, with the same characteristics as the now better understood 'personal' abuses.
Abuse, prejudices and neglect can have profound (but recoverable) effects; from the ill-informed, neglectful and abusive actions of Parents, Partners & Spouses, Work Colleagues, Managers, Bosses, GP's, Nurses, Teachers, Social Workers, Housing Officers, Police, etc. Any Institutional figure, professional, or expert authority, can tend to play a inappropriate 'parenting' style' of dealing with people. The effect of this disproportional use of power can ddevistate lives
This is no surprise, as these are the same people who are often inappropriately caring for their children, or have had 'abusive' styles of upbrining, affecting their relationship formations.
The term 'Abuse' is a bit overused these days. Professionals have tended to look for it and sometimes mistakingly identify the 'perpetrators' of abuse. Of course we must always be aware how the abusive behaviour, or lack of action, of a respsponsible person, can be 'damaging' to another. We are all products of what I describe as (without apology) an abusive society. We are often misinformed and poorly trained to understand what are characteristics and the causes of 'neglect', 'prejudice' and 'abuse'. We usually take our lead from established cultural prejudices.
Professionals will often say that their interest is in the protecting the abused person (in their best interest), therefore, the percieved 'perpetrator' is effectively assigned secondary entitlements, in terms of 'human rights' (and legal) considerations. This is very dangerous and sometimes incompetent thinking. Whatever the the rights or wrongs', the truth, or of faulshood of accusations and the 'apparent' evidence, all is rarely simply how it appears. This is a challenge that professionals need to learn to face more cometently, having being better informed.
Decisions made and precipitous actions taken, even in cases of clearly evidenced and uncontested instances, have prejudicial, neglectful and abusive consequences themselvers. The more imediate and the longer term, consequences of neglect and abuse (actual and projected risks) have to be assessed carefully, openly and fairly. The character and urgency of the neglect &/or abuse, needs to be ballanced against the abusive, prejudicial and neglectful consequences of the professioal's chosen actions (and institutions they engage to inervene).
If you have experienced bouts of depressions, anxiety, have a senses of poor self worth, shyness, eating disorder, lack of confidence, feel paranoid, have been told you have psychosis (or schizophrenia), or have become obsessional; These, and many other symptoms and diagnosed conditions, are usully the direct result, made more problematic, or are an indirect consequence, of our learning, other socil experiences and life traumas.
When there is an 'organic', 'genetic', or assumed 'physical' cause for our problems we, and the professionals who advise and treat us, are often too quick to assume the primary 'problem' is physical in character. The physical conditions may be the most urgent, but it is the learned responses, attitudes and expectations that most affect our recovery from any 'mental distress'. We are too fond of the 'quick fix', the 'clinical answer' and theill infromed 'expert opinion'.