why the #BritneySpears case matters. because one day you, yes, you, can have your rights to self-determination taken away if someone decides that you are crazy/incompetent. that someone has to be a doctor, and the enforcer has to be a judge. you and yours will have no say. 1.

in this particular high profile case the family is involved (which makes it all the stickier cuz $$$), but it does not have to be and often isn't. doctors can prescribe psychotropic drugs, ECT, or psych incarceration again the will of individuals and their families. 2.

not infrequently, the prescribing psychiatrist has a private clinic to which the "crazy" and "incompetent" individual is forced to go for regular appointments, for months or years. there is little legal recourse. this is a #disability and #sanism issue. 3.

people with psychiatric diagnoses are most often perfectly capable to make their own smart decisions, but this culture dreads "crazy" people unquestioningly. "crazy" is often neurodivergent (talk to the autistic community) or suffering, and does NOT need protecting FROM. 4.

neurodiversity and/or psychic suffering could really use accommodations and support. respect is paramount. roughing up and restraining neurodiverse or suffering people causes often insurmountable trauma. 5.

we cannot do #abolition without abolishing every, single, tool, of, coercion employed by the psychiatric-industrial complex. FOLLOW THE MONEY. big pharma is never far behind. but fear and prejudice contribute enormously. 6.

the very progressive left is still quite blind to this. "should we let crazy people go around and shoot up schools?" is an ignorant but much used rhetorical tool. the share of killing done by people with some variety of psychiatric diagnosis is MINISCULE. 7.

the real stigma is not "i have a mental illness" but "ppl w a mental illness are dangerous and must be removed" (from schools, workplaces, etc.). don't remove. don't punish. work with. accommodate. provide services *as requested by the individual*, not as determined by others.