(Re)Integration of mental patients - mixed media messages

It can be said that (re)integration of mental patients is the basic goal of psychiatry as a medical discipline. Throughout the history of psychiatry different approaches to treatment and rehabilitation of mental patients and their social (re)integration have been identified and monitored. There have always existed different impediments to the (re)integration of mental patients, as a manifestation of the times when treatment and rehabilitation took place. In the beginning of psychiatric development, the principal goal, in line with the social development and social awareness of human rights, was to isolate the patient away from his/her social environment and place him/her into a psychiatric hospital, preferably for life. Lately, as fighting for human rights grew into a matter of fashion and prestige rather than an ethical and legal issue, the media have often spoken about the human rights of mental patients and, explicitly or implicitly, advocated their social (re)integration. This cry for human rights of mental patients has virtually rooted out the advocates for permanent social isolation, even in this region. However, the Croatian media often give out the so called mixed messages when it comes to treating mental patients. This article analyzes such contradictory communication and attempts to offer certain solutions.