North Country Forum
Dr. Carney’s most recent posts are to be found here. He is in the process of compiling a complete archive of all articles he has written since his retirement from professional social work practice in 2010. All his blogs have as their focus issues pertaining to social justice; are generally placed in their historical context; and, ultimately, are subjected to in-depth analyses whose aim is to promote a full understanding of the issues being addressed.
Mental Health: Misnomer & Metaphor
Societies need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil, and attaches blame to its victims. — Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor, 1978 (Editor’s note: This blog is an excerpt from Jack Carney’s book Nation of Killers: Guns, Violence, White Supremacy and the American Dream Become Delusion Publication in late September, 2015) I – Corporatization: “Mental health” — a misnomer? If you don’t subscribe to the notion of “mental illness,” why “mental health”? Why not the straightforward acceptance that individuals will act in a manner peculiar to each? In short, why not an existential or phenomenological understanding of human...