UN DÉFI A L'HABITUS COMMUN

A paper delivered to the conference "Norbert Elias and Social Anthropology" that was organized by FRENCH SOCIETY OF ETHNOLOGY AND UNIVERSITY OF METZ (FRANCE) in Metz, 21-22 SEPTEMBER 2000.

Original title of the paper "A challenge to the mainstream habitus: Recent development of charismatic communities in Latvia".

Translated into French by Dr Sophie Chevalier.

Review of the volume by Chamberlayne, P., J. Bornat & U. Apitzsch (eds) Biographical methods and professional practice. An international perspective The Policy Press, Bristol

A review commissioned by Sociology, a journal of the British Sociological Association.

Transforming experience into policy

published in Zelda Newsletter (Latvia), Vol. 3 (2009), pp. 5-9; reprinted on the webpage of European Network of (ex-)Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP).

Review of the book Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry by Stastny, P., and P. Lehmann (Eds). 2007. Berlin: Peter Lehmann Publishing, 431 pages.

(with Lelde Kāpiņa) “Intimacy and Control, Reciprocity and Paternalism: Madness and the ambivalence of Caring Relationships in a Post-Soviet Country” in Duncan, Taine (ed.). Madness: Probing the Boundaries. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press 2009. ISBN 978-1-904710-79-0.

A characteristic feature of Soviet psychiatric care was paternalism. Neither the role of lay care nor patients’ mutual care was articulated in Soviet mental health care discourses. Presence or lack of loving, intimate, and/or confiding relationships was viewed as having a marginal importance for persons diagnosed as ‘mentally ill’. Notwithstanding the general paternalistic model of care, in Soviet Latvia one could often observe a degree of solidarity and reciprocity in doctor-patient relationships, especially for such widespread forms of mental distress as neurasthenia and vegetative dystonia (Skultans 1995). The post-Soviet reforms in psychiatry brought with them novel ideologies of care (cf. Read 2007, Read & Thelen 2007) and have lead to prioritising cure over care (Dunlop 1994) thus widening the status difference between doctors and most patients. In Latvia, also the emotional distance between them has grown (Skultans 2003, 2005). At the same time, the new mental health discourses have facilitated somewhat greater attention to the patients’ emotional needs, both in professional and voluntary sectors of care. The question as to what degree mental health service users need, desire or are capable of intimate and loving relationships nonetheless still elicits ambivalent reactions in today’s Latvia. This paper examines various ways in which psychiatric patients and their carers in Latvia address such dilemmas as care and reciprocity, treatment and control, intimacy and vulnerability. The presenters will base their discussion on the data that stem from interviews with psychiatric service providers, users and their relatives conducted in 2007 and participant observation/ listening in two Latvian service users’ organisations in 2007-2008.

co-authored with Daiga Kamerade (Manchester University) “Redrawing the Boundaries of Psychiatry and Mental Illness in the Post-Soviet Period: the Case of Latvia” in Duncan, Taine (ed.). Madness: Probing the Boundaries. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press 2009. ISBN 978-1-904710-79-0.

This study questions the assumption that the considerable difficulties that ex-Soviet countries encounter in transition from an institutionalised mental health care system to a community based one are mainly due to their experience of socialist regimes that distinguishes them from the Western Europe. To challenge this assumption, this study employs the review of some Soviet- times’ sources and draws on three studies conducted in Latvia in 2004 and 2008. The main conclusion of the study is that the conceptual boundaries of both mental illness and psychiatry in Latvia (and presumably in other ex-Soviet countries) since the 1980s have expanded and that a corollary has been an increasing discrepancy between lay and professional understanding of them. In general, while mental health professionals have broadened the boundaries of psychiatry by inclusion of less severe mental problems, the general public is hesitant to translate issues of personal unhappiness into forms of mental abnormality. In this respect Latvia (and presumably other ex-Soviet countries) might not be as different from Western European countries as is usually assumed.

‘I am an important and needed person.’ A study of a support group movement in post-Soviet Latvia

published in satori 1/4

Abstract in Latvian (the paper is written in English):
Saplūstot interesei par pilsonisko sabiedrību, neoliberālajai ideoloģijai un t. s. psi disciplīnām, Latvijā pirmajā pēcpadomju desmitgadē iesakņojušās jaunas patības tehnoloģijas. Autore balstās uz M. Fuko un N. Rouza spriedumiem par liberālās „pārvaldības mentalitātēm”: cilvēkiem tiek uzticēts pārvaldīt pašiem sevi, bet par padomdevējiem kļūst t. s. psi disciplīnu pārstāvji. Lai parādītu, kā psi disciplīnas mainījušas priekšstatus par patību, dzimti un varu Latvijā, autore analizē PBLA sponsorētā Ģimenes atbalsta koordinācijas centra (ĢAKC) astoņus gadus ilgo darbību un tā veidoto grupu dalībnieku stāstījumus, īpaši pārmaiņas tajos ĢAKC grupu pieredzes rezultātā.  ĢAKC iecere izvērst pašpalīdzības grupu kustību nav piepildījusies, toties grupu dalībnieki apguvuši psi diskursus, saskaņā ar kuriem priekšroka dodama individuāliem, nevis kolektīviem risinājumiem. Šādu iznākumu autore skaidro ar pretrunu starp pilsoniskās sabiedrības uzdevumiem un neoliberālisma kultūru: cilvēka identitāte arvien vairāk saistās ar patērēšanu globālajā tirgū un arvien mazāk ― ar produktīvu darbību konkrētā kopienā

(with Christopher McKevitt and Charles Wolf) “The Unfortunate Generation: stroke survivors in Riga, Latvia”

Published in 2003 in:Social Science and Medicine, 56 (10), 2097-2108.

The poor health status of citizens in post-Soviet states has been reported but few studies have investigated the illness experiences of people in those countries. This paper reports findings from an interview study conducted with stroke patients in Riga, Latvia, who were part of a cohort recruited over 1 year for a European study comparing the provision of care, outcomes and resource use.