The Art of the Weak: Bad Habits of Psychiatric Patients as Tactics of Everyday Resistance (Part 1)

This paper analyzes the harmful habits of patients in psychiatric institutions (smoking, coffee, and alcohol consumption) as tactics of everyday resistance to institutional control. Participant observation at a St. Petersburg mental health clinic (MNC) over a six-month period was used as the research method. The study revealed that the practices of tobacco, coffee, and alcohol consumption are not limited to rule-breaking or symptomatic illness: they act as rituals of self-preservation – ways of carving out “one’s time” and “one’s place” in conditions of total surveillance, as a means of resisting contamination of the self. Strategies for countering the harmful habits of patients with mental health conditions are identified, and a classification of these strategies is provided. The obtained results can serve as a guide for adjusting rehabilitation programs for patients with mental health conditions within the psychiatric care system. Practical findings point to the need to move away from purely repressive measures towards flexible, patient-oriented approaches (identifying acceptable “enclaves of autonomy”, working with relatives and staff), which can improve the effectiveness of rehabilitation and reduce conflict.