What is it about?
Our paper takes key themes from Orwell's 1984 and applies them to mental health inpatient settings considering how restrictive practices in these environments can sometimes be prioritised over relational approaches, especially for those with a diagnosis of personality disorder. We make the claim that restrictive practices can arise from the 'othering' of service users and worries that the individual delivering care will be criticised, blamed and potentially even sued when things go wrong. This makes people more risk-averse.
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Why is it important?
We make an argument for the adequate education of the mental health nurse to work in these environments, and for authentic, collaborative, user-involved care. Our hope is that this paper will gently prompt those who are providing treatment in these settings to critically reflect upon their own practice and consider where this might be doing more harm than good.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Damaging dichotomies and confounding contradictions in mental health inpatient nursing: lessons learned from Orwell’s 1984, Mental Health Review Journal, August 2024, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/mhrj-11-2023-0065.
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