People’s with mental disabilities perceptions of their rights as a guide for developing and implementing mental health policies
The rights of people with mental disorders constitute a framework of values and at the same time an operational guide for articulating and pursuing a mental health policy. Public discourse related to human rights emerged in Greece in the 1980s, due to the gradual eclipse of the attractiveness of traditional political discourse and due to the osmosis of Greek politics with policies promoting rights at the European Union level. Key points for the penetration of rights into the political agenda were Regulation 815/84, the Leros scandal, the visits / evaluations of the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the implementation of successive European Union- funded programs for mental health reform policies and the establishment / operation of national bodies for the promotion and protection of rights. Despite the progress made in the national mental health policy, the supremacy of the psychiatric discourse is still evident. Minor interventions to promote rights are fragmented and dictated by national and international rights assessment and protection bodies.
The aim of the thesis is to examine the degree of integration of policies on the promotion of rights of people with mental disabilities, in the formulation of mental health policy and to articulate a human rights-based policy framework derived from the needs and hierarchies of mental health policy recipients.
The present thesis include a qualitative research with focus groups and semi-structured interviews in a sample that will include people with mental disabilities and their collectives, as well as people who have been mental health policy makers or evaluators. The research questions concern the perceptions of research subjects on social rights and the detection of the prioritization of rights as it arises from their own hierarchies and experiences and the relevant national mental health policies.
