Unpersons: Can We Love Them into Existence?

Unperson: Noun, meaning a person regarded as nonexistent

As a lifetime lover of words, I enjoy receiving a free daily message from A.Word.A.Day in my email. If you are not familiar with this service, it is a great way to expand your knowledge of words and their usage. A couple of days ago, I was disturbed to see the word “unperson,” as defined above. Apparently it has been used since 1646 as a verb, meaning to depersonalize or deprive of personhood. More recently, it was used as a noun in George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 (published in 1949).

We know from the literature on wars and terrorism that one way in which soldiers learn how to kill is by depersonalizing the human beings who lie in their warpath. The word “unperson” prompted me to reflect about other persons, beyond war victims, who are currently being regarded as “nonexistent” or unworthy of full rights of personhood. I began making a list of persons whom I care deeply about, who apparently are not regarded as persons by large swaths of contemporary society. I acknowledge that my perspective is very American, influenced by the alarming rise here in bigotry and hate crimes in recent years (see documentation in sources such as Intelligence Report, Fall 2018, published by the Southern Poverty Law Center). But media reports across the globe indicate that “un-personing” is happening far too often elsewhere too. Here is my list, not arranged in any particular order:

• Immigrants

• Refugees

• Mentally ill

• Homeless

• Incarcerated

• Black- or Brown-skinned

• Disabled

• Disfigured

• Uneducated

• Poor and/or rural

• Non-Heterosexual

• Women and children

• Elderly, especially if cognitively impaired

Because this journal is focused on persons who have mental health disorders, herein I will not address other persons on the list who may be ignored, disrespected, invalidated, stigmatized, institutionalized, abused, or even murdered because of how they look or act. Nor will I delve here into the realms of theology, philosophy, ethics, and law where perspectives on personhood have been thoughtfully articulated (reviewed by Speraw, 2009). I will confine my remarks to the “unpersons” for whom we have a clear responsibility, as persons who have chosen the specialty of psychiatric-mental health nursing.

Today I want us to think together about how we as psychiatric-mental health nurses can help the larger society see the need for humane care for the forgotten individuals who are filling our prisons or sleeping under our bridges because they have untreated mental illnesses. They are somehow out of society’s sight, out of mind, and unworthy of resource allocation. They are “unpersons.” How can we advocate for them, so that society can love them into existence–and believe them capable of recovery?

One of my heroines is Hildegard Peplau, who began loving mentally ill persons into existence during the dark time when they were warehoused for years in huge hospitals, perceived as incapable of recovery. Peplau had the radical idea that psychiatric patients could make progress “through intense person-to-person work with a nurse” (italics added) (Callaway, 2002, p. 239). Her groundbreaking book, Interpersonal Relations in Nursing, was published in 1952 (only after a physician reviewer had assured the publishing house that a book solely authored by a nurse was worthy of being published). In this book, Peplau (1952/1991) proposed that “when the nurse and patient can come to know and to respect each other, as persons who are alike, and yet, different, as persons who share in the solution of problems,” then it is likely that nursing will be a “therapeutic, educative instrument” (pp. 9–10).

Another source of inspiration for me is the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1945/1962), which emphasizes the importance of connections with other people so that humans can transcend their existential aloneness. In his view, humans are all fellow travelers in life’s journey, who receive recognition and affirmation through dialog (Thomas, 2005). Through dialog, “there is constituted between the other person and myself a common ground” (Merleau-Ponty, 1945/1962, p. 354). His philosophy conveys hope, by asserting that “as long as we are alive, our situation is open” (Merleau-Ponty, 1945/1962, p. 442). I believe that his hopeful philosophy is particularly pertinent to the recovery movement that seeks to dispel therapeutic nihilism regarding conditions such as schizophrenia, borderline personality disorders, and substance use disorders (Thomas, 2018).

I suppose this editorial could be perceived as the proverbial “preaching to the choir.” You, my readers, became psychiatric-mental health nurses because you understood that you could make a profound difference in the lives of “fellow travelers” who were frightened, confused, vulnerable, and/or hopeless. You did not mind if you were stigmatized by association simply because you cared for persons with mental disorders. What else can you do now? You can serve as a role model for others in our world. I like these words from Koloroutis and Trout (2012, p. 15):

Authentic human connection must be demonstrated continually and courageously by those to whom it comes easily, and it must be actively, compassionately cultivated in those to whom it does not.