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Treating the Poor: A Personal Sojourn Through the Rise and Fall Of Community Mental Health
Book by Dumont, Matthew P.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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January 27, 2008
Interesting account of a psychologist and community mental health advocate over the years working in Chelsea, MA. He has an interesting tongue-in-cheek humor in writing about some absurdities of mental illness, poverty, and society responds to these.
"We like to say that we make decisions in life, that we choose to marry or move or become cowboys or priests. We see ourselves steering our little vehicles into something called "the future," a turnpike with an infinity of cloverleaf decision points. A foolish and deceptive culture trains us to think that as individuals we control our destinies and deserve the credit for "achievement" or the blame for "failure." In fact, things happen to us; our paths in life are well laid down by forces of which we have little perception and less understanding. Social class and race are the big ones, invisible hands that open and close the slices of opportunity with swift, silents movements. Our position in society and the character of the times are the forces that control our lives."
"We like to say that we make decisions in life, that we choose to marry or move or become cowboys or priests. We see ourselves steering our little vehicles into something called "the future," a turnpike with an infinity of cloverleaf decision points. A foolish and deceptive culture trains us to think that as individuals we control our destinies and deserve the credit for "achievement" or the blame for "failure." In fact, things happen to us; our paths in life are well laid down by forces of which we have little perception and less understanding. Social class and race are the big ones, invisible hands that open and close the slices of opportunity with swift, silents movements. Our position in society and the character of the times are the forces that control our lives."
Displaying 1 of 1 review