Psychotherapy, neutrality, and the role of activism

Was the sixties activist merely acting out unresolved Oedipal conflicts? Is the analyst who interprets the activist's neurotic conflicts actually "neutral"? Issues from the sixties debate are relevant to today's discussion of activism in public mental health. For instance, why, at a time of shrinking public service budgets and unprecedented suffering on the part of mental patients, have the providers and consumers of public mental health services not become more active in struggles to reorder our unfortunate social priorities? The discussion proceeds to an exploration of the therapeutic effect of activism.