Utne spotlights MindFreedom International, human rights & psychiatry

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Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:32:34 -0700

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Utne spotlights MindFreedom International, human rights &

psychiatry

 

 

 

 

The new issue of _Utne_ magazine May/June 2006 has a full page about

MindFreedom International's work for human rights in psychiatry

[bELOW]. The news article is part of a cover story theme called " Mind

Games: When Brain Scientists Play with Our Heads. "

 

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http://www.utne.com/pub/2006_135/promo/12090-1.html

 

" Freeing Your Mind "

 

May / June 2006

 

By Keith Goetzman, Senior Editor

 

Utne_ magazine

 

 

Rights advocacy groups have helped minorities beat back discrimination,

women gain the right to vote, and the handicapped win access to public

spaces. Now a group called MindFreedom International is working to

preserve perhaps one of the most fundamental human rights: the right to

think for oneself.

 

A coalition of more than 100 groups in 14 countries, MindFreedom was

formed in 1988 to speak out against human rights violations in the

mental health system, such as restraints, involuntary electroshock

therapy, and forced medication. Many of its founders and members call

themselves survivors of the system, and their experiences show that,

for some, " treatment " isn't a road to recovery but a highway to hell.

At one rally in Washington, D.C., a supporter toted a banner that read,

" Bet your ass we're paranoid. "

 

Now, as scientists refine ways to alter the human brain -- and,

concomitantly, thoughts and behavior -- MindFreedom is poised to enter

a new skirmish in the struggle to uphold personal freedom.

 

Lately, the group has been campaigning against drug implants that are

surgically inserted under the skin to release antipsychotic medicine

slowly, over weeks or months. It's still good old drug therapy, not an

electronic implant, but the method takes control away from the patient

and gives it to the doctors. In this way, MindFreedom contends, it's

another step toward curtailing the rights of some of society's most

marginal members, the mentally ill. And as far as MindFreedom director

David Oaks is concerned, it will also result in more invasive and

heavy-handed methods such as electronic implants controlled by doctors.

 

" We're opposed to all these techniques because they're inherently

intrusive and irreversible, and they give doctors a lot of control, "

says Oaks. " It's like throwing gas on a fire. "

 

Apart from the rights implications of the new brain science, Oaks

contends that many of the most touted treatment methods are based on

what is still a crude understanding of the brain.

 

" The most complex thing on earth is the human mind, and we're using

monkey wrenches and throwing switches to see what happens, " he says.

" All of these newer techniques, which are really extensions of the old

psychosurgery, are based on an inaccurate view of the mind, a

mechanistic, reductionist paradigm. They reduce the brain to a machine

-- and that ain't how it works. "

 

Oaks, who was diagnosed as psychotic and forced to take medication in

the 1970s, contends that a more holistic model encompassing mind, body,

spirit, and environment can lead to better treatment results and even

full recovery for psychiatric patients. " Major change is often what's

needed, and you can't buy and sell that stuff, " he says.

 

In the United States, discussion of the ethical aspects of brain

science has largely been relegated to groups like MindFreedom and the

occasional academic or professional conference. But Europe is having a

broader dialogue. Last year 126 citizens from nine countries were

tapped to participate in a series of conversations, dubbed " Meeting of

the Minds, " that studied the issue with the help of researchers,

ethicists, stakeholders, and policy makers. It was considered to be the

largest public consultation on science, and the first such Europe-wide

effort.

 

The panel, which was coordinated by the Belgium-based King Baudouin

Foundation, presented its recommendations to the European parliament in

January. Many of them focused on the potential misuses of brain science

innovations and encouraged safeguards against rights abuses.

 

Oaks hopes the United States has a similarly wide-ranging public

discussion, and that it includes those who have been harmed by the

mental health system. " That's whose voice is often not at the table,

and we need to get it out there, " he says.

 

- end -

 

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* ACTION * ACTION * ACTION *

 

Please forward this news to all appropriate places on and off the

Internet. Thank you!

 

Link to MindFreedom International web site http://www.MindFreedom.org

 

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Free Your Mind!

 

JOIN MindFreedom International today!

 

MindFreedom is a non-profit human rights group:

 

* Win human rights campaigns in mental health.

* End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry.

* Support the self-determination of psychiatric survivors.

* Promote safe and humane options in mental health.

 

MindFreedom International unites 100 sponsor

and affiliate groups with individual members,

and is accredited by the United Nations as

a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with

Consultative Roster Status.

 

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally

independent groups in the mental health

field with no funding from governments,

drug companies, religions, corporations,

or the mental health system.

 

JOIN, DONATE, or give GIFT MEMBERSHIPS

to MindFreedom International today:

 

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

 

For a MAD MARKET of books and other

products to support human rights campaigns

in mental health: http://www.madmarket.org

 

MindFreedom International

454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284

Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

 

web site: http://www.mindfreedom.org

e-mail: office

office phone: (541) 345-9106

toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDE or 1-877-623-7743

fax: (541) 345-3737

 

Please forward.

 

 

 

_____________

 

If you are not on the MindFreedom-News alert list already, sign up for

this free non-profit public service here:

http://www.intenex.net/lists/listinfo/mindfreedom-news

 

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