Negotiating body and power in forensic mental health care

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the reduction of coercive methods has been a tendency in psychiatric care in Finland. Combined with the transforming ideas of healing, the reduction has changed practices in the institutions of forensic mental health care, by encouraging efforts to increase self-determination and individual responsibility. This article addresses the coexistence of the previous and current bodily regimes, and the resulting complex and contested spatial and bodily arrangements. We combine the discussions on biopower and bodily regimes in our analysis of the practices and negotiations related to the alternative methods to coercion (special observation and restricting garments), mundane practices (eating and exercising), and negotiations related to touch and sexuality. As our study shows, bodily regimes and care practices are constantly under negotiation, during which there may be inconsistences in what is or is not allowed. Moreover, what seems to be a positive tendency towards increased self-determination has led to new forms of pressure, resulting from the increased possibility to protest by using one’s own body (e.g. by ignoring hygiene), or from the diminishing self-determination of the nurses (e.g. during special observation).