Bedlam exhibition and Nijinsky's Mask, 1919

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group-population

It is still surprising how often you are led to wonder: 'Will the real Mr - Ms X, Y please stand up?' So many people are still reliant, dependent upon psychotropic medication to the extent that they too acknowledge that to a lesser or greater degree they do not know themselves. Ordinarily, we take for granted the various roles and personas, yes: the masks that we adopt unconsciously in the course of the day. Reducing this medication, assisting in the removal of the mask can be a great challenge especially in a community setting. When the combined services of primary care, community mental health team work with patients and carers this brings its own rewards. From behind the mask a new voice emerges: independence, understanding, motivation, spontaneity, tangible happiness - contentedness. ... Before that though we still need to maintain and teach the skills to really attend and listen, to see the person behind the mask...

Bedlam: the asylum and beyond

Image source: In the Frame for December 2013 Vaslav Nijinsky's 'The Mask'

My source: Wesseley, S. (2016). Inside Bedlam, England's first mental institution, The Times, Arts. 14 September, 8-9.