Psychiatry, Mental Institutions, and the Mad in Apartheid South Africa by Tiffany Fawn Jones

Author:Tiffany Fawn Jones [Jones, Tiffany Fawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780415754484
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2014-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 5.1 1 Military Hospital, Voortrekkerhoogte, Pretoria. Photograph courtesy of Ron Knowles.

The SADF’s overarching view about homosexuality was that it was a discipline failure and made individuals more susceptible to extortion and security risks.56 The 1970s was a period of increasing militancy in the black resistance movement, and aggressive tactics were being encouraged by the South African government as a means to restore law and order in the country along its borders and in frontline states. In the context of decolonization and the Cold War, the South African government saw threats emanating from the bordering countries of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, and Angola. The militarization of South Africa increased dramatically in the 1970s, and the SADF was called on more frequently by the National Party leaders to partake in missions.

The South African Medical Services, which oversaw all medical treatment in the SADF was under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defence, but most practitioners were also registered with South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC). The SAMDC mostly ignored the medical practices in the military and those working within the structures of the SADF rarely abided by medical ethics. As Allison D. Newton points out, those practitioners working as military psychiatrists or psychologists were first and foremost allegiant to the military, rather than the wellbeing of the patient. Their goal was to “effectively and quickly” treat the patient and “to return him to his unit as a fully functioning member.”57 Thus, quick treatments were often deemed the most valuable.

Levin was an obvious choice for overseeing the military’s psychiatric rehabilitation program unit. He had been a Chairman of the Point Branch of the National Party, and Vice-Chairman of the Houghton divisional committee of the National Party of Transvaal, educated at the University of Pretoria and the University of Witwatersrand and registered as a medical practitioner in 1964 and a specialist psychiatrist with the South African Medical and Dental Council since 1969.58 In a submission to the 1968 select committee, Levin had made it known that he had had some success in treating homosexuals using aversion therapy. He wrote: “I have in the course of my work both in General Practice and in the Psychiatric Department of the General Hospital Johannesburg, as well as Sterkfontein Hospital, treated many Homosexuals and Lesbians, and enjoyed some measure of success in therapy.”59 He joined 1 Military Hospital of the SADF in 1969.

Levin’s research mostly focused on drug dependency and rehabilitation, which was a main concern to the military. He oversaw the Drug Rehabilitation Program from 1971–1974. Those found or admitting to using drugs were often sent to Greefswald, the drug and rehabilitation center located in a remote, dry area of present-day Limpopo Province that was renowned as a brutal labor and punishment center.60 For Levin, the common connection between drug abuse and homosexuality was evident in that both were “deviant” conditions that could be cured. For homosexuals, however, his therapy took the form of aversion tactics. One interviewee of the “Aversion Project” explained the process

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.