Violence: Psycho-patriarchal Oppression Across the Lifecourse

This chapter explores the intersections of psychiatric harm and patriarchal violence. It draws upon in-depth interviews with women survivors of unwanted psychiatric treatment, demonstrating the need for a gendered analysis of mental health service provision. This enables an analysis of the specific and heightened ways in which women experience oppression within mental health systems. Six themes emerge from the analysis, including: involuntary mental health treatment sustains patriarchal power; carceral environments and practices foster alienation and despair; mental health systems disrespect emotional knowledges; coercion and abandonment intersect to foster enduring forms of exclusion; psy-knowledges exert control over women in multiple systems across the lifecourse; and mental health systems engage in reforms that allow institutional violence to continue. The discussion provides the context for the following chapter, which explores women’s strategic resistances to diagnostic and institutional harms in mental health.