The University of Toronto recently established a scholarship to promote “anti-psychiatry,” which has many people raising questions around academic freedom at university campuses.
Bonnie Burstow, the professor who the scholarship is named after, has said there is no evidence mental illness exists, according to multiple news outlets. She has also said there is plenty of evidence of the harms caused by mental illness treatments.
Her commitment to her ideas about mental health and the lack of existing funding for studies in anti-psychiatry is what pushed her to donate $50,000 of her own money for the controversial new scholarship, according to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), the organization that established the scholarship.
Charles Pascal, an adviser at OISE, said when it comes to dealing with healthy human development, scholars continue to evolve in dealing with and debating what constitutes best practice.
Pascal said it’s important to defend the right to pursue questions of controversy and interest.
“I do not always agree with [Burstow]. But I would defend her right to continue and promote her research,” Pascal said. “It’s important that we all listen to each other and evaluate things from a place of learning.”
Pascal said while U of T defends the right of Burstow to sponsor a scholarship designed to contribute to both research and debate, it is important to note that organizationally, U of T does not take an anti-psychiatry position.
Carleton University neuroscience student Michelle Lee said she is disappointed that U of T would support this kind of scholarship.
“I think this scholarship is demeaning and offensive to anyone studying and researching in the field of psychiatry,” Lee said.
She said backing a scholarship for anti-psychiatry is “anti-scientific.”
“There is too much evidence for the psychological conditions [Burstow] denies, not to mention the evidence that treatment does work. Why back a scholarship in the name of false research?” Lee said.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), 20 per cent of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime. CMHA stated that mental illness can be caused by genetic, biological, personal, or environmental factors.
Iryna Ivanova, a clinical psychologist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, said the scholarship should be looked at as research on different approaches to treatment and concerns with medication.
“The fact is, anti-psychotic drugs are often overused and over-prescribed, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with exploring alternate treatment methods and the issues behind treatment. However, I do know her stance on mental illness altogether is problematic for many of my colleagues,” Ivanova said.
– Photo by Angela Tilley
