Massachusetts Advocates Resist Dystopian Involuntary Outpatient Commitment Bill

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From Truthout written by Leah Harris: “On November 18, 2025, Massachusetts advocates gathered for hours at the State House as they have, year after year, to beat back yet another legislative proposal for involuntary outpatient commitment, or IOC. Involuntary outpatient commitment laws create a layer of specialized courts that use the so-called “Black Robe Effect,” which uses a judge’s authority to compel people with diagnoses of “severe mental illness” to accept mental health and/or substance use intervention against their will — in the form of psychotropic medication, drug testing, and invasive and time-consuming requirements.

While the specifics vary state by state, there are consequences for noncompliance. If the person does not follow their court-ordered treatment plan, they could be snatched by the cops, transported to a locked psychiatric facility for evaluation, and subject to ongoing state surveillance. It’s also not entirely clear where the offramp lies, as treatment orders can theoretically be renewed ad infinitum at a judge’s discretion.”

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Unfortunately I don’t think people will be swayed by appeals to human rights. People are too steeped in the fearmongering of the dangerous unpredictable psychotic maniac who just wants to eat faces. Do you ever notice how laypeople use “psychotic” to mean unstable AND violent? They’re not concerned with extending human rights to a boogeyman. They need to be kidnapped and locked in a hospital and drugged against their will before they will ever even think about humanizing the mad.

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  2. Who are going to be the most probable victims of this proposed psychiatric gulag? Who is most likely to be diagnosed with severe mental illness and confined against their will for an indefinite, arbitrarily decided term?
    One doesn’t need a degree in sociology to realize that it will certainly be members of the impoverished underclass, who are already being disproportionately pathologized. Recent articles by certain researchers on the MIA website have illustrated this degrading approach.
    Affluent well-connected sociopaths holding the levers of economic and political power in this inequitable capitalist system will no doubt find ways to avoid deserved accountability for actions that cause far greater harm to society than the supposed mental disorders of people forcibly treated in psychiatric prisons.

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  3. Massachusetts is not a state that respects the human and constitutional rights of anyone. Numerous people have tried to coerce and intimidate me into receiving mental health services instead of helping me find the assistance I actually need. And that’s it. They wouldn’t offer help with anything else. The incompetence and negligence of these people who were supposed to help me has led to my illnesses becoming more severe. Our society and country is in such a pathetic state that it would allow a sick person to be treated this way. I have gone without medical care that I need because of this immoral and unethical behavior. My life became worse because they refused to offer anything else other than a system of abuse, violence, force, threats, violence, and manipulation. What a disgrace of a society this state is. People need to be able to seek medical care without feeling threatened or intimidated. That’s such a basic thing that people need to do in order to feel safe and secure in their lives. Its also a human right to be free from coercion and intimidation and to be allowed to make your own decisions in life. The only reason I can write this to begin with is because this country has gone so far backwards. None of this would actually be an issue if we lived in a decent society. Instead we allow lies, manipulation, intimidation, and violence from cruel people to control us all. This country has taken a thousand steps in the wrong direction and is quickly becoming a dystopian nightmare. If you don’t go along with their system you are cast out to the fringes and expected to survive somehow. We could have had a much better society than this one. The amount of suffering and pain inflicted on millions of people by this system is unfathomable.

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  4. I have been so abused and mistreated by this state that I am moving soon. That’s how terrible this state has treated me. I have lived in the same town for nearly my entire life but I can’t handle living here anymore. Ever since I got sick with Lyme disease my life has been turned upside down. Things weren’t exactly great for me before I was struck with this illness. Because of the threats of violence, force, intimidation, coercion, manipulation, and lies from the mental health system I have gone without the medical care I need for a serious illness. This is unacceptable.

    I refuse to live in a state that is actively hostile towards people with illnesses and which abuses and harms them. This state has made my life a living hell by doing this to me. I have never been offered any real help for the health conditions that I have. I can’t wait to move away from here and get away from these terrible people who have no conscience or soul. I don’t even feel comfortable walking down the street anymore. I’ve had the police sent to my house numerous times because of people in the medical system. I am sick and tired of being abused by other people. I am disgusted that this town which I have spent three decades living in doesn’t care about me at all. My life doesn’t matter to any of these people. They are so quick to try and harm me in various ways or allow others to harm me. They refuse to help me and would rather punish and abuse me instead. This place had made me a sicker and weaker person. It’s a terrible place to live in.

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  5. The state government has violated my human rights by not providing for my health and safety which it is obligated to do under the constitution. I have also been punished for having a serious illness and denied the help I need which violated my right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, my right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, and my freedom of speech and beliefs. I have been denied disability despite the fact that I haven’t been able to work in years. I am expected to survive on nothing and live in a town where people are abusive towards me. Numerous agencies have failed to protect me from harm and abuse and ensure that I received the medical help and other assistance I needed. Eliot Human Services is one of them. They did nothing to help me. The Commission for the protection of disabled people is another one. They did nothing to help me and instead left me to suffer. My illnesses became worse because of their abuse and because I have living for years in chronic pain without actual medical care. I am living in a nightmare everyday because of what these people have done to me. I am stuck in life and my development as a human being has been stunted by all of this abuse and neglect. I didn’t deserve to be left to suffer like this.

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    • Matthew, I am saddened by your terrible experiences with the healthcare system and various government agencies. But I don’t think you should define yourself as a developmentally “stunted” human being. You have a social conscience, sensitivity, and insight–all fine traits that are woefully lacking in the people who mistreated and ignored you for so long. It’s they who are stunted and callous.

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      • I feel so alone where I live. Nobody around me seems to recognize those qualities in me. I can only connect with people online. I can’t relate to or have a serious discussion with anyone around me where I live. My perspective is constantly ignored and dismissed by others. Being treated like a child for years even when I was in my 20s has had a serious impact on me. The illnesses I am suffering from have also damaged me neurologically. I get upset much easier now and have trouble pronouncing words sometimes. Maybe developmentally stunted isn’t the right term but I feel held back in life and like I’m not able to reach my full potential. I appreciate your kind words though. I am so used to avoiding comment sections because there is a lot of judgement that usually goes on in them but this website is different and I am grateful for that.

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        • Yes, this website is different because it brings together psychiatric survivors and critics who reject stigmatizing labels and the false biomedical narrative of the mainstream mental health system.
          Sometimes we can find kindred spirits online, thousands of miles away, while people in our office or living next door share none of our values or convictions. That’s the paradox of modern civilization.

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  6. I had a terrible experience in this state where I was chased out of Winchester hospital because they tried to hold me against my will (they tried to grab me) and spent hours hiding in the woods when it was raining and cold outside. I have been traumatized ever since that happened. I haven’t been the same person since that night. This is a hard time of year for me because it happened near christmas time. Now I am afraid of other people and feel more alone than I ever have. No one ever apologized to me for the trauma they put me through. And because they did that I to me I went without medical care that I needed. Their behavior was beyond unprofessional, it was immoral and unethical and made my health worse. The only thing that they accomplished by doing that to me was making me feel terrified of seeking further help for my illnesses. That’s reprehensible conduct. I didn’t deserve to be treated like that and have my constitutional rights violated

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