Special Hearings — Mental Health Workshop — 1997-11-20

UNKNOWN: I think that that one is a much more difficult one to address, because you see, there is an epistemological base in the society which is very clearly Euro-American in foundation.
 And to integrate cultural experiences, whether immediate or handed down over generations, into that ethic begins to be almost some form of atavism that you actually are going to wear a (indistinct) and so on and here we are a society wearing society you know suits and ties and dressed in a particular mode.
 I think it is incumbent on intellectuals to put forward their beliefs and I am saying without fear or favour, is actually missing the point, because you know that we are informed, essentially by a media that is ensconced in the western ethic, so that if you come with anything that begins to threaten that comfort zone, people are going to trash it.
 That has been a position more recently with the call for an African renaissance and previously with Africanism and Black Consciousness and searching for different ways on intervening.
 So I think it is up to the intellectuals within those fields, to come up with viable modalities, other wise you see, the advantage of the western system is it has been tried, it has been tested, it does work within particular contexts.
 Transposing them hocus bolus to ours, is an issue, but if we transpose them understanding the cultural issues in our society, and without just throwing the baby in the bath water off western intervention out, but saying X works, whereas W and Z won't, would be a way in the interim.
 But I think it challenges leaders in the field to be more forthright about their belief systems.  I don't think you can legislate for that.  You can actually hint at being more culturally sensitive and being more historic in approach, rather than being totally ahistoric as we are in the society and transpose a Euro-Western modality or set of modalities of intervention.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Dr Cooper.  Can I maybe, I have just been handed a note -  okay, Hlengiwe Mkhize would like to ask you another question.

UNKNOWN: Thank you very much Sats for an exposition that you have given us.  I just want to get your thoughts in this because for us, really it is important to make sure that we make recommendations which will be helpful in the process hopefully.
 Regarding you know, especially around the review of Mental Health Act and the issues around the Professional Board of Psychology that is very, very important because how the needs of people that you were referring to, are addressed, will be to a large extent, its success, will be determined by where the body which will address these is located.
 I mean, my limited experiences in the ministry of health was that what we were doing, really were working on reforms because by virtue of being located in that department for instance, psychiatry as a profession is well established and as much as there was a general move towards saying look, let's move towards community Mental Health care, clearly you could see that in reality the traditional way of handling mental health will dominate for many years to come, because people who are strong is there are people who are strong in terms of psychiatric care and those are the people who are in control and moving towards community Mental Health, was often seen as a chaos which one cannot manage.
 So, I am still really not sure in my own mind, I mean, when before you came in I reviewed what the submission we have got from Victor Nel where he is talking of a, where he is proposing a human service.  I have forgotten how we phrased it.  I mean people who have read his work, they know what he has been calling for for a long period of time.
 But it is like a human service department, which can accommodate more and more the expertise.   You spoke about race related issues, which we know they are an issue in Mental Health if you look at Paul Saunderguard's work, it raises that a lot and many other people.
 But I don't think within a Ministry of Health, it can be accommodated as a serious text.  I just wanted your comment, I know you have spoken to it, but still there are gaps as to what are we saying.