Elena Demke

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Elena Demke, historian, after two decades of working for the Berlin commissioner of the Stasi files, currently conducting a collaborative interview and exhibition project on “The meaning of things in experiences of mental crisis, madness and of psychiatric intervention” as part of an interdisciplinary research project on the “Changing meanings of things in crises and adversary” (funded by the Federal Ministry of Research and Education, BMBF) at Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg.

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Harriet Cooper

University of East Anglia

Samuel LÉZÉ

École Normale Supérieure de Lyon

Elisabetta Basso

Università degli studi di Pavia

David DUPUIS

Inserm

Simon McCarthy-Jones

Trinity College Dublin

PAULINE BERNARD

Yale University

Caterina Bettin

University of Eastern Finland

Fiona Glen

City, University of London

Jijian Voronka

University of Windsor

Samson Tse

The University of Hong Kong

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Talks by Elena Demke

Lecture Series 2016-17, University Hamburg. 'Nothing about us without us: Mental Health Service User Researchers from Germany and Europe present their contributions to changing knowledge.'

by Ute Maria Kraemer and Elena Demke

Short presentation of the first German lecture series with Mental Health Service User Researchers... more Short presentation of the first German lecture series with Mental Health Service User Researchers from Europe and Germany that took place at the University Hamburg 2016-2017. This lecture series was co-developed and co-organised by Elena Demke M.A., Historian & Psychiatric Survivor, and Ute Maria Kraemer M.A., Cultural Anthropologist & Psychiatric Survivor. (Text in German language.)

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Papers by Elena Demke

2 Contested Memorialization Filling the “Empty Space” of the T4 Murders

University of British Columbia Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2024

Indoktrination als Code in der SED-Diktatur

VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften eBooks, Feb 16, 2008

Die pädagogischen Definitionen des Begriffs Indoktrination divergieren in ihren Schwerpunktsetzun... more Die pädagogischen Definitionen des Begriffs Indoktrination divergieren in ihren Schwerpunktsetzungen auf Absicht, Inhalt, Methode und Wirkung derselben. Trotz dieser Offenheit des Begriffs herrscht im wissenschaftlichen Diskurs Einigkeit darüber, dass nicht nur der gesellschaftswissenschaftliche Unterricht in der DDR, sondern auch das System der politisierten Schule in der SED-Diktatur selbst zutreffend als indoktrinierend beschrieben werden können (siehe etwa Ammer 2003; Cloer 1998; Margedant 1995; Tenorth 2001). Den Rahmen hierfür hatten seit Beginn der DDR verschiedene Umstrukturierungen geschaffen, die das staatliche Erziehungssystem zunehmender Politisierung und Militarisierung nach Maßgabe der SED unterwarfen (Geißler et al. 1996).

The Vulnerability-Stress-Model—Holding Up the Construct of the Faulty Individual in the Light of Challenges to the Medical Model of Mental Distress

Frontiers in Sociology, May 23, 2022

In the late 1970s, the course seemed to be set for a reconciliation of the controversy around the... more In the late 1970s, the course seemed to be set for a reconciliation of the controversy around the somatic vs. the social nature of mental distress. The biopsychosocial model and the vulnerability-stress-model were influential agents in this move, but a medicalized somatic view on mental distress persisted nonetheless. The reasons for this persistence are complex, and naturally include questions of structural power. However, the adherence to a certain fundamental framing of a problem may continue to be transmitted not only out of conviction, but also unwittingly. The vulnerability-stress-model allowed those who used it to effectively stick to the implications of a medicalized somatic view of the faulty individual who falls ill, while also allowing them to believe they integrated the social dimensions of the problem. A close reading and hermeneutical interpretation of the text by Zubin and Spring (1977) and an analysis of its use in psychoeducation serve as a case study in this respect. The vulnerability-stress-model (simply called "vulnerability model" by Zubin and Spring; more often "stress-vulnerability model" by English speaking recipients, and "vulnerability-stress-model" by German authors) seems to have been a success story: since its publication by Zubin and Spring (1977), it has been the point of reference for numerous scholarly and popular ("psychoeducational") adaptations. It was soon extended from the diagnosis of schizophrenia to various psychiatric diagnoses, understanding mental distress as the result of a trait/state-interaction in the shape of "deviant coping patterns" (Zubin and Spring, p. 112). Recipients appraised the integration of environmental and dispositional factors, some of them opposing the supposed originally integrative intention of the VSM to reduced applications of it (Schmidt, 2012). However, it can be argued that this integration is a matter of rhetorics rather than argumentative essence. Their argument which significantly depends on the use of metaphors, as well as their referencing amounts to a confirmation of a medicalized view on mental distress and a dismissal of the role played by societal factors. Applied Demke Constructing the Faulty Individual to psychoeducation, this paradoxical combination reinforced a view of the persons in question as individually vulnerable, rather than socially wounded. The consequences in terms of what appears as remedy are significant and contribute to turning individual difference into disability.

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Einladung ins MAD – Museum Anderer Dinge

Psychiatrische Praxis, Oct 1, 2022

EmPeeRie – Empower peers to research

Sozialpsychiatrische Informationen

Brutal Sanity and Mad Compassion: Tracing the Voice of Dorothea Buck

Mental health in historical perspective, 2021

The German sculptor, writer and activist Dorothea Buck (1917–2019) was a psychiatric patient in t... more The German sculptor, writer and activist Dorothea Buck (1917–2019) was a psychiatric patient in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Political systems and medical interventions changed, and predominantly somatic etiology, denying meaning in ‘psychoses’, persisted. Dorothea, forcefully sterilized, had long rejected the ‘brutal sanity’ she encountered and finally embraced madness as meaningful, potentially leading to ‘self-discovery’. She became a key figure of the survivor movement, of collaborative practices such as ‘trialogue’ and of advocacy for the expertise of the mad. Conceptualizing voice as including performative and narrative aspects, and taking power relations into account, this chapter traces the genealogy ofDorothea’s voice, her sense for the paradoxical, her strategies in finding allies and claiming a collective identity of survivors and her struggles against cooptation and the emotional labour entailed.

Einladung ins MAD – Museum Anderer Dinge

Psychiatrische Praxis

Brutal Sanity and Mad Compassion: Tracing the Voice of Dorothea Buck

Qualitative Forschung und Partizipation. Von der Evaluation der Peer-Arbeit zur Peer-Forschung

Qualitative Forschung in der Sozialpsychiatrie

Qualitative Forschung in derr Sozialpsychiatrie: Qualittative Forschung und Partizipation

Psychiatrie Verlag, 2019

Erfahrungen mit der Förderung von Betroffenen-Kontrollierten Forschungsprojekten im Bereich seelischer Gesundheitsforschung (Hamburger Projekt EmPeeRie2)

Die besondere Stärke von Peer-Research ist die Nutzung von Erfahrungsexpertise. Diese prägt nicht... more Die besondere Stärke von Peer-Research ist die Nutzung von Erfahrungsexpertise. Diese prägt nicht nur spezifische Fragestellungen, sondern impliziert auch bestimmte Prioritätensetzungen bei der konkreten Vorgehensweise, etwa hinsichtlich der Wahl von Methoden, ethischer Abwägungen,[zum vollständigen Text gelangen Sie über die oben angegebene URL]

Wege zur Partizipation und Nutzung von Erfahrungswissen: Erfahrungen mit dem Forschungstrialog an der Hamburger Universitätsklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie (Hamburger Projekt EmPeeRie1)

EmPeeRie ist ein Akronym für "Empower Peers to research". Zugleich vermittelt der Titel... more EmPeeRie ist ein Akronym für "Empower Peers to research". Zugleich vermittelt der Titel dieses Hamburger Projekts den Gedanken, dass empirische Forschung das Erfahrungswissen der Betroffenen braucht. EmPeeRie hat drei Aufgaben und Ziele: einen Forschungstrialog im Sinne einer [zum vollständigen Text gelangen Sie über die oben angegebene URL]

Qualitative Forschung und Partizipation

EmPeeRie – Empower Peers to Research - Vorstellung eines Hamburger Projekts zur Förderung von Partizipativer und betroffenenkontrollierter Forschung

The Vulnerability-Stress-Model—Holding Up the Construct of the Faulty Individual in the Light of Challenges to the Medical Model of Mental Distress

Frontiers in Sociology

“Vulnerabilitäts-Stress-Theorie”

, in: M. Galliker/ U. Wolfradt (Hrsg.), Kompendium psychologischer Theorien, 2015

Brutal Sanity and Mad Compassion: Tracing the Voice of Dorothea Buck

R. Ellis et al. (eds.), Voices in the History of Madness, Mental Health in Historical Perspective, 2021

The German sculptor, writer and activist Dorothea Buck (1917–2019) was a psychiatric patient in t... more The German sculptor, writer and activist Dorothea Buck (1917–2019) was a psychiatric patient in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Political systems and medical interventions changed, and predominantly somatic etiology, denying meaning in ‘psychoses’, persisted. Dorothea, forcefully sterilized, had long rejected the ‘brutal sanity’ she encountered and finally embraced madness as meaningful, potentially leading to ‘self-discovery’. She became a key figure of the survivor movement, of collaborative practices such as ‘trialogue’ and of advocacy for the expertise of the mad.
Conceptualizing voice as including performative and narrative aspects, and taking power relations into account, this chapter traces the genealogy ofDorothea’s voice, her sense for the paradoxical, her strategies in finding allies and claiming a collective identity of survivors and her struggles against cooptation and the emotional labour entailed.

$Research paper thumbnail of Zwischen Überfrachtung und Unterschätzung. DDR-Geschichte, widerständiges Verhalten und Bildungsarbeit$

Zwischen Überfrachtung und Unterschätzung. DDR-Geschichte, widerständiges Verhalten und Bildungsarbeit

Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen, 2010

Indoktrination als Code in der SED-Diktatur

Indoktrination und Erziehung, 2007

... Eingaben. Schaufenster. Die DDR und ihre Texte. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. Kudella, Sonja/Paetz... more

Lecture Series 2016-17, University Hamburg. 'Nothing about us without us: Mental Health Service User Researchers from Germany and Europe present their contributions to changing knowledge.'

by Ute Maria Kraemer and Elena Demke

Download

2 Contested Memorialization Filling the “Empty Space” of the T4 Murders

University of British Columbia Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2024

Indoktrination als Code in der SED-Diktatur

VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften eBooks, Feb 16, 2008

The Vulnerability-Stress-Model—Holding Up the Construct of the Faulty Individual in the Light of Challenges to the Medical Model of Mental Distress

Frontiers in Sociology, May 23, 2022

Download

Einladung ins MAD – Museum Anderer Dinge

Psychiatrische Praxis, Oct 1, 2022

EmPeeRie – Empower peers to research

Sozialpsychiatrische Informationen

Brutal Sanity and Mad Compassion: Tracing the Voice of Dorothea Buck

Mental health in historical perspective, 2021

Einladung ins MAD – Museum Anderer Dinge

Psychiatrische Praxis

Brutal Sanity and Mad Compassion: Tracing the Voice of Dorothea Buck

Qualitative Forschung und Partizipation. Von der Evaluation der Peer-Arbeit zur Peer-Forschung

Qualitative Forschung in der Sozialpsychiatrie

Qualitative Forschung in derr Sozialpsychiatrie: Qualittative Forschung und Partizipation

Psychiatrie Verlag, 2019

Erfahrungen mit der Förderung von Betroffenen-Kontrollierten Forschungsprojekten im Bereich seelischer Gesundheitsforschung (Hamburger Projekt EmPeeRie2)

Wege zur Partizipation und Nutzung von Erfahrungswissen: Erfahrungen mit dem Forschungstrialog an der Hamburger Universitätsklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie (Hamburger Projekt EmPeeRie1)

Qualitative Forschung und Partizipation

EmPeeRie – Empower Peers to Research - Vorstellung eines Hamburger Projekts zur Förderung von Partizipativer und betroffenenkontrollierter Forschung

The Vulnerability-Stress-Model—Holding Up the Construct of the Faulty Individual in the Light of Challenges to the Medical Model of Mental Distress

Frontiers in Sociology

“Vulnerabilitäts-Stress-Theorie”

, in: M. Galliker/ U. Wolfradt (Hrsg.), Kompendium psychologischer Theorien, 2015

Brutal Sanity and Mad Compassion: Tracing the Voice of Dorothea Buck

R. Ellis et al. (eds.), Voices in the History of Madness, Mental Health in Historical Perspective, 2021

The German sculptor, writer and activist Dorothea Buck (1917–2019) was a psychiatric patient in t... more The German sculptor, writer and activist Dorothea Buck (1917–2019) was a psychiatric patient in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Political systems and medical interventions changed, and predominantly somatic etiology, denying meaning in ‘psychoses’, persisted. Dorothea, forcefully sterilized, had long rejected the ‘brutal sanity’ she encountered and finally embraced madness as meaningful, potentially leading to ‘self-discovery’. She became a key figure of the survivor movement, of collaborative practices such as ‘trialogue’ and of advocacy for the expertise of the mad.
Conceptualizing voice as including performative and narrative aspects, and taking power relations into account, this chapter traces the genealogy ofDorothea’s voice, her sense for the paradoxical, her strategies in finding allies and claiming a collective identity of survivors and her struggles against cooptation and the emotional labour entailed.

$Research paper thumbnail of Zwischen Überfrachtung und Unterschätzung. DDR-Geschichte, widerständiges Verhalten und Bildungsarbeit$

Zwischen Überfrachtung und Unterschätzung. DDR-Geschichte, widerständiges Verhalten und Bildungsarbeit

Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen, 2010

Indoktrination als Code in der SED-Diktatur

Indoktrination und Erziehung, 2007

... Eingaben. Schaufenster. Die DDR und ihre Texte. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. Kudella, Sonja/Paetz... more

Elena Demke

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