Vol. 4 No.1 - Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto

N.Y., U.S.A. 10019, (212) 663-1595. Astatement in the initial newsletter indicatesthe group's commitments andsome avenues they intend to pursue:"There isJittle doubt in our viewthat no other profession-to-clientrelationship has the potential foremotional damage to the client thattherapy does. Yet there is almost norecourse for the victim of psychotherapyabuse. At present the consumeris allowed only a token rolein redress and standards systems. Itis because of this imbalance of powerand the extent of harm done that weare dedicated to protecting, helping,and educating the therapy consumerand reforming the profession.... Self-policing has proved afailure, and it is a mark of shame onthe psychology profession. In ahelping profession where openness,honesty and ethics are suchimportant words in conducting business,the lack of these qualities in theprofession's self-criticism stands out.The unusual position of trust andvulnerability in which the psychotherapyclient is placed requires anexceptionally strong system of accountabilityand protection. 'Snitch'laws, as prescribed in the state ofFlorida, would be helpful. Anotheruseful step would be immunity inthird-person complaints- introducedin California with respect toPhoenix Rising 41child abuse cases (therapists themselvesstress the parallel of theparent-to-child relation in therapy).Also needed is a change in the absurdlyweak rules on professionalmisconduct so that abuse would becomea felony. Perhaps most important,however, is a means for increasedmeaningful participation byinformed, responsible consumers."The groups together hosted the Firstnational Conference on PsychotherapyAbuse and Consumer Protection inNew York on November 15, 1982.Sylvia Diamond of the Texas-basedgroup (APAP) was instrumental infounding the national network, TheNational Federation of Therapy Abuse.SchizophrenicOperaThe almost full house attendance forthe Schizophrenic Opera let our smallgroup celebrate a bold attempt atentering the cultural world. Thanks toA Space and John Crawford at theJoseph Workman Auditorium inparticular, we were able to handle avery difficult production. The time wehad to actually produce the entireOpera was less than six weeks, so thatthe workload was enormous. Withoutthe assistance of Jame.s McLeod andCosta Ferreo from the Toronto ArtCommunity we could have not madeeverything work on time. Theproduction crew of Slivio Cerusi andWild Bill plus the help of Penny Gillierand Kathy Czuma all made the Opera asuccess. The major contributions ofArtists Lily Eng and Susan McKay werealso major factors in achieving our ambitiousproject. The cast in the productionwere all basically newcomers(except for Ron Gillespie and WarrenMoore) so we had to have a team effortby all concerned; people like MartinGreenspan, Sid Williams, Dan Antenand Anna Gruda were invaluable. Thewitty pronouncements of TonyFerguson from the start helped ourhumour tremendously - with Tony'sgreat humour we were always laughingat our inexperience, and playing like wewere on top of the world.The script evolved from over 1000pages of my writings from 1978 to1983: satire, diaries, notes, poems andessays had to be rigourously edited.Tony Ferguson, Warren Moore andmyself spent long hours trying tounderstand my mind - and to cut outthe obscurities in the work whichwouldn't make sense to a wideraudience.We decided the best tactic would beto emphasize the hu,mour and colour inthe writings ratht;I'than the entraneousphilosophical writings that are far toodifficult to put into an Opera. Once thewritings were edited down we produceda fairly rough text of sayings thatoffered different meanings to all levelsof social contact. Some of the text, forexample, refers to "voices" and'othertext real street material picked· up livinghand-to-mouth after serious illness. Thescript became rather bizarre, but ourintention was not to be explicit. Rather,we intended to keep a safe distancefrom easy interpretation. We did notwant people to think "Schizophrenia"was a simple act anyone could understand.So we thus purposely kept ourdistance and instead we made p'eoplethink a bit. We hope in so doing weopened a few eyes to the special'curvesand road switches a "schizo" mind cantake very swiftly indeed.Once the script was pulled togetherwe invented acts that were familiar tous all: especially volleyball andcigarettes which we all had in common.We also chose acts with a lot of ourown humour and thus tried to stayclose to what we knew so that we couldunderstand our actions better. As wearranged a Performance, tried tokeep our natural skills strong and preconditions'theatre' .at a minimum: meaningWith the great help of Joane Deane indance and movement we carefullyworked on simple selections that we allcould follow. So we once again workedmore on natural experience rather thanpre-formed ideas about movement.The entire production was rehearsedduring the final day and everyone madea great effort to put the Opera intoreasonable shape for the evening.Despite many last minute problems, wefinally went on stage as scheduled, andall of us came through with wonderfulease. Special assistance came fromVideocast of Toronto who providedexpert communication help. Of coursethe audience's encouragement made theentire event a really positive act that wewill all remember. Lastly we did ourbest on all levels and, we hope, put ona Production Performance that willsome day show other Ex-Psych patientswhat can be done with determination.We must thank Dr. O'Farrell fromLondon, Ted Weir from Toronto andall the supporters who came to see theOpha. Graphic Alliance and DonSibley did the posters and all of theTRY organization took part in makingour's a Professional Production.As TRY is awaiting CharitableStatus, we are still living on welfare.But our hopes are high and we areplanning a new production for eitherthe Fall or early Winter. If anyone sawthe Opera and would like to·help ournext production - please call us at 531­3498 during the Summer months.Ron GillespielDirector, TRY,TorontoP.S. Funding came from C.M.H.A.,A Space, Ted Weir, Dr. O'Farrell,(Cultural Initiative, New York) andfriends of TRY as well as from ticketsales.P.P.S. The piece by Bridgette Eng wasworked in during the last few minutesbefore going on stage: her performancewas truly outstanding for her first timeon stage.Cast: Bridgette Eng, Lily Eng, AnnaGruda, Kathy Czuma, Susan McKay,Joane Deane, Warren Moore, TonyFerguson, Martin Greenspan, DanAnten, Ron Gillespie, Sid Williams.Crew: Sivio Cerusi, Wild Bill, DonSibley, Penny Gillier, James McLeod,Costa Ferreo, Videocast.Music provided by Gordon W., RonGi1lespie.Special thanks to NOW magazine, JuneLa Rochelle, Don Sibley, C.B.C., JohnCrawford, Barbara Fulghum,andSertia Bopana.