Book Saar Roelofs: DO NOT DISTURB - Critical discussion of the Dutch mental health care

Do Not Disturb is a critical reflection on the Dutch outpatient mental health centres, based on the critical professional literature as well as own observations of the author in those centers.

The author discusses the bureaucracy and issues concerning the patient-therapist relationship such as careless psychiatric diagnoses and the therapists inclination to use his own preferred treatment methods at the expense of the patients needs. She critizises the extensive use of the the psychiatric handbook Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) because it is not suitable to diagnose patients in a mental health setting. She also points out how the daily routine could change for the better.

Do not disturb ends with a description of the developments in the mental health care after the Bijlmer Disaster (see also Racial discrim ination in the mental health care after the Bijlmer Airplane Crash ).

The book is interlaced with cartoons and passages from the world literature.

The eighty cartoons were created by the author on the request of a management consultant as an intervention to bring about organizational changes.

With this book the author dropped a bombshell in the Dutch mental health care. Do not disturb was well received by the public and the public press (see below).

In 2008 Saar Roelofs' book Who is crazy, actually? was published. The main theme in this book is the relationship between patient and therapist.

SELECTION OF REVIEWS

Saar Roelofs describes the mental health care on the basis of examples from the daily practice in a playful and humorous way.” (Dutch national tv, current affairs programme: Een Vandaag,)

“A lively description of the routine in the out patient mental health care.” (Womans Magazine: Opzij)

"Criticism applying to all kinds of professional health care organizations. The book discusses in fact the arrogance and opportunism of therapists and organizations.'
(Journal of Psychiatry)

“An eye opener for anybody who works in the (mental) health care.” (Modern Medicine)

“A beautiful book, the eighty cartoons are a joy to watch.”(Social Psychiatry)

"Very recognizable. Useful for people who want to know what to expect in the mental health care.” (Journal: Bulletin for Clients in the Mental Health Care)

“A constructive book, required reading by anyone who is involved in the mental health care including financers and inspectors.” (The Amsterdam Patient Journal)