Thread by @IndigoDaya

I got sucked into trying to convince a defensive psychiatrist to change their thinking.

I forgot I'm not interested in that anymore.

My activist tweets are not written for psychiatry. They are for my own hurt spirit & for other victims and survivors of carceral psychiatry.

I used to care about changing the system. I spent 9y as a survivor advocate inside the mental health system, in govt policy, peak bodies, services.

I learned that psychiatrists don't want to listen to those they have oppressed, abused and injured. They don't want to change.

I argued that #NotAllPsychiatrists was a bullshit position, which is true. There are so many parallels between my rapes and how psychiatry treated me.

But I was drawn to thinking about how the catholic church has silenced survivors. Different, and yet... too many ugly parallels.

So much more I wanted to say... but I noticed fear choking me as that psychiatrist came back over & over.

Could she hurt me? Was I fearful of retribution? Am I paranoid? Was I scared, or just remembering old fears of them coming to my door and taking me away again?

I had to close twitter for the night. Remind myself that I don't want fight a shitty old abusive institution anymore.

It doesn't work.

And worse, it's an aching reminder of the futility of trying to fight back against abuse in my childhood.

They always have more power.

I want the institutional abuses of psychiatry seen by society.

I want psychiatrists to feel embarrassed to say what they do at dinner parties.

I want a world where no-one would incarcerate someone they love in this godawful system.

I want people to give a shit about us.

I want abolition. I want to make psychiatry irrelevant by growing better alternatives.

I want places where obscene power imbalances & violent practice are unthinkable.

I want places that prioritise justice, listening, creativity, equality and love.