Focuses on sexual problems experienced by mentally ill persons,
highlighting programs launched by Vijverdal Psycho-Medical Center,
Masstricht, Netherlands to alleviate some of the problems experienced.
Effects of mental status on sexual performance; Reference to the response
rendered to the programs.
By
Rachael Levy, published on July 01, 1998
LIFE
Amsterdam--Lots of lip service is given to the principle that the
mentally ill are human beings, with needs that must be respected. But now
a Dutch hospital has decided to put its mania where its mouth is.
The Vijverdal Regional Psycho-Medical Center, located in Maastricht
in the Netherlands, has arranged for its patients to visit a brothel.
"When you have a psychiatric illness, it usually means you'll never get
laid again," says Martin de Vries, M.D., president of the World
Federation for Mental Health. "We take patients into our charge and then
have no way of returning their lives to them." The decision has touched
off a furor among mental health professionals and the general public.
Many of the initial negative reactions to the brothel arrangement came
from the hospital's own doctors. Some patients and their families worried
that the patients would be stigmatized for patronizing
prostitutes.
But much of the response to the plan was positive. Supporters of
the arrangement say they're pleased that mental health officials are no
longer avoiding the hot-button issue of sex within institutional walls.
Says hospital spokeswoman Cecile aan de Stegg: "We tend to think of these
people as asexual or perverted, but these are normal people who want love
and intimacy."
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