De Lille says ‘schizophrenic, mad’ Ehrenreich has lost the political plot”. Cape Times 17 April refers

(Another unpublished letter to the Cape Times)

Dear Ed

De Lille says ‘schizophrenic, mad’ Ehrenreich has lost the political plot”. Cape Times 17 April refers

The medical dismissal of Tony Ehrenreich by mayor Patricia de Lille has overtones of Nazism. The Nazi regime relegated all those it disagreed with to the ranks of the unfit and unwell. Both the Soviet Union and the Apartheid regime deployed madness and psychiatry in the defense of political policies. During the Brezhnev period psychiatry was used as a tool to eliminate political opponents — all those who openly expressed views that contradicted officially declared dogma.

Under Apartheid hundreds of South Africans were sent to mental asylums by doctors because of their opposition to apartheid where they often underwent forced medical procedures. Dr Aubrey Levin, aka “Dr Shock” used electric shock therapy to “cure” gay conscripts during the apartheid era and is a tragic case in point.

The use of a medical label such as schizophrenia by the mayor is thus extreme cause for concern. She may wish to research her subject a little more, since there is considerable opposition to the use of the term within medical circles.