[DENDRITE] News: Psychiatric Survivors Movement Mourns Loren Mosher

[Guest guest]

> " David Oaks - www.MindFreedom.org "

> <oaks

> Mon, 12 Jul 2004 19:18:45 -0700

 

> [DENDRITE] News: Psychiatric Survivors

> Movement Mourns Loren Mosher

>

>

> MindFreedom International News - 12 July 2004

> http://www.MindFreedom.org

>

> Loren Mosher -- Psychiatrist and

> Human Rights Activist -- Has Died,

> But He's Still Fighting His Profession.

>

> As Loren Died, His Newest Book Goes to

> Press

>

> statement by David Oaks, Director, MindFreedom

>

> Loren Mosher was like a Schindler of

> psychiatry, as in the film " Schindler's List. "

>

> One of our Schindlers has died.

>

> Loren Mosher was a psychiatrist who fought

> his own profession's oppression, who was a

> tremendous

> ally to survivors of psychiatric human rights

> violations. He died this weekend in Berlin after

> struggling with a liver disease.

>

> This is just a brief note to let people who

> care about human rights in the mental health

> system know about this loss of a real hero.

>

> If you did not know about Loren's contribution

> to this area, I've put just a little bit at the

> bottom of this that I encourage you to read,

> such as his famous letter of resignation from

> the American Psychiatric Association.

>

> I'm lucky that Loren was also a personal

> friend of mine, and on the board of MindFreedom.

> He did so many things to support me, our group,

> so many groups, and our entire social change

> movement.

>

> Loren was also superb at encouraging other mental

> health professionals to have the simple courage and

> decency to speak out, such as in his work with

> the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry

> and Psychology.

>

> He knew how to enjoy life, too. Loren knew how to

> overthrow psychiatric oppression and have a nice

> day,

> such as in his world travels.

>

> Loren would be delighted to know that even death is

> not

> stopping him from challenging his psychiatric

> profession!

>

> Loren has worked for many years on a book he

> co-authored

> entitled " Soteria: Through Madness to Deliverance. "

> Final

> details for the book's publishing were being

> prepared at

> about the time Loren died.

>

> A colleague of Loren told me today the book will be

> out by

> September, and perhaps even by the time a memorial

> is planned

> for Loren in August. Soteria tells the story of his

> successful

> fight to create a commonsense alternative that

> worked,

> an alternative to the mental health system that did

> not use

> the bizarre bullying and poisoning with massive

> amounts

> of drugs that has captured the current mental health

> system.

>

> Soteria was just a house, with regular people (not

> mental

> health professionals) trained to take care of people

> not by pouring toxic concoctions of psychiatric

> drugs

> down these clients throats... not by pushing these

> clients around... but instead by building

> relationships.

>

> Soteria clients did better, of course, than those

> who were pushed

> through the strangling ringer of the current mental

> health

> system. But that data threatened the mental health

> system, and

> the profession has done much to try to suppress the

> " evidenced

> based " humane, empowering model that Soteria

> championed.

>

> How many people's lives and minds were saved because

> Loren

> helped them escape psychiatry's systemic abuse, both

> in

> Soteria and in many other ways, internationally?

>

> Well, Loren is still winning. He is winning out with

> his new

> book. And he's winning out with the thousands of

> psychiatric

> survivors and allies his life has touched, who will

> carry

> on his struggle, with, hopefully, the same good

> humor,

> intelligence, and persistence that I always saw in

> Loren.

>

> Psychiatric survivor Peter Lehmann announced the

> news

> that Loren had died in the Anthroposophic Clinic

> Havelhoehe in Berlin, Germany during his last ditch

> effort to fight his liver disease. Loren lived in

> San Diego, California, USA.

>

> There will be more to say about Loren's legacy for

> the

> movement to change psychiatry. I will personally

> speak

> about him this Bastille Day, July 14, which for 24

> years has

> been a day of protest of human rights abuse in the

> mental

> health system (see http://wwww.MindFreedom.org).

>

> Also, I am sure many of us will join me in

> remembering Loren

> at ICSPP's conference http://wwww.icspp.org and at

> Alternatives 2004. Poignantly, we psychiatric

> survivors

> were planning an award for Loren at ICSPP;

> thankfully, he knew

> about our often-too-slow but loving efforts to

> appreciate him.

>

> Below you'll find some biographical information,

> articles,

> and a blurb I submitted about Loren's latest book.

>

> Thank you Loren Mosher, for fighting the good fight

> with

> such style, cunning, wit and care. We mourn you, we

> remember you, and we will redouble our efforts to

> stop the violations you hated, and promote the

> humane

> alternatives you dearly loved.

>

> May Loren's life encourage many more Schindlers

> in the psychiatric profession to have the wisdom

> and bravery and love and decency to speak out about

> the nightmarishly horrible abuse that is inherent

> in the psychiatric system, to confront it, to even

> laugh in its face, and to build loving alternatives

> to it.

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> bio:

>

> http://www.moshersoteria.com/bio.htm

>

> Loren's work:

>

> http://www.moshersoteria.com/

>

> Info about Soteria:

>

> http://www.moshersoteria.com/soteri.htm

>

> Psychology Today article:

>

>

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_5_32/ai_55625499

>

> Letter of resignation from American Psychiatric

> Association

>

> http://adhd-report.com/biopsychiatry/bio_12.html

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> _Soteria: Through Madness to Deliverance_ [blurb by

> David Oaks]

>

> > As a psychiatric survivor, I hope Soteria stories

> will be told and

> > retold, again and again, because together they

> illuminate an

> > exhilarating path toward deliverance from a mental

> health “system”

> > gone mad. In this book, Soteria's stories about

> how people can support

> > and help others experiencing extreme mental and

> emotional crises

> > emerge in loving (and sometimes humorous) detail.

> Here, the authors

> > detail how dissident mental health workers,

> professionals, and

> > researchers heroically championed an historic

> project in the face of a

> > tidal wave of repression from the arrogant,

> tradition-bound

> > psychiatric profession. These stories teach us how

> to survive a

> > confused, drug-addicted, authoritarian, and, at

> times, deadly mental

> > health establishment. For all those who—when

> confronted with

> > psychiatry's crimes—ask, " But what's the

> alternative? " Soteria offers

> > an elegant reply. It tells the inside story of an

> effective, hopeful,

> > commonsense, empowering alternative to mainstream

> mental health

> > practices.

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

>

> David Oaks, Executive Director

> MindFreedom Support Coalition International

> 454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284

> Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

>

> http://www.mindfreedom.org

> email: oaks fax: (541) 345-3737

> phone: (541) 345-9106 toll free in USA:

> 1-877-MAD-PRIDE

>

> MIND YOUR FREEDOM: United Action for Human Rights.

>

> join here: http://www.mindfreedom.org/join.shtml

>

> MindFreedom Support Coalition International is an

> independent non-profit uniting 100 sponsor groups

> to win human rights & alternatives in mental health.

> Accredited by the United Nations as a

> Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with

> Consultative Roster Status.

>

> ~~~~~~~~~