Tag: Human Rights
What New Zealand’s “Unfortunate Experiment” Can Teach Us
From the Boston Review: In his new book Doctors in Denial: The Forgotten Women in the "Unfortunate Experiment," Ronald W. Jones chronicles the history of New...
World Mental Health Day
In this piece written in honor of World Mental Health Day, Peter Kinderman emphasizes the importance of challenging the biomedical model of mental health and paying...
Conversion Therapy Ban Will Get a Vote in Palm Beach County
From the Sun Sentinel: Palm Beach County is drafting regulations prohibiting therapists from practicing conversion therapy to try to change a child's sexual orientation. Palm Beach...
A Story of Forced Hospitalization From a Legal Perspective
If I had any legal rights, I knew nothing about them. And the hospital cared even less about them. As a law student, I would like to share the legal rights I did have in the state of California and how they were violated from the very start.
Whistleblowers at Research Institutions Fear Retaliation
From The Washington Post: A new investigative report on deterrents in reporting problems with human research found evidence of fear of retaliation among whistleblowers in...
Bonnie Burstow and Nick Walker: An Introduction to Cognitive Liberty
This week on the Mad in America Podcast we launch our series on forced treatment, interviewing antipsychiatry scholar Bonnie Burstow and neurodiversity scholar Nick Walker. Central to both Nick and Bonnieâs work is the concept of cognitive liberty, or freedom and integrity of the mind.
Michael OâLoughlin: Exploring Narrative Approaches to Psychological Distress
Professor Michael O'Loughlin of Adelphi University talks about his childhood experiences and how they influenced his narrative and conversational approaches to supporting those suffering with psychological distress.
We Should Not Forcibly Commit the Homeless During Hurricanes
From Pacific Standard: In an effort to protect homeless individuals from the effects of Hurricane Irma, officials from the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust used the...
9 Arrested so far in Patient-Abuse Scandal at Whiting Forensic
From the Hartford Courant: Nine state mental health workers at Whiting Forensic have been arrested and charged with cruelty to persons in the largest patient-abuse...
Forced Psychiatry – A Legal Perspective
In this two-part video series for AdvancingMentalHealth.org, attorney Gary Brown questions the constitutionality of psychiatric confinement and discusses forced treatment from a legal perspective.
Part I âÂ
Part II âÂ
Chinese Psychiatric Patient Wins Long Battle for Freedom
From South China Morning Post: A middle-aged Chinese man diagnosed with mild schizophrenia has won a four-year, high-profile legal battle to be released from a...
Shocking Rise of NHS Abuse of Mental Health Patients
From The Sun: Reports of abuse against NHS mental health patients hit a record high last year. In 2016, almost 200 cases related to the...
Mental Health Patients Wait Over Three Years to be Discharged
From The Telegraph: Mental health patients across the UK are waiting for years to be discharged from psychiatric units. At least 91 patients have waited...
CIA Torture Psychologists Compared to Poison Gas Manufacturers
From American Civil Liberties Union: Last week, the defense attorneys of the psychologists behind the CIA's torture program, James Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen, compared their...
Mental Health, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews: In his new book Mental Health, Inc., Art Levine reports on the dire state of the U.S. mental health system.
"The author delivers the...
Death of Psychiatric Patient at Florida Facility Leads to Lawsuit
From the Hartford Courant: In 2011, Melinda Jakobowski, a psychiatric patient at the Florida Institute of Neurologic Rehabilitation, died from a sudden heart failure after...
The FBI and Defense Department are Investigating UHS Hospitals
From BuzzFeed News: America's largest chain of psychiatric hospitals, United Health Services, is currently under investigation by at least three federal agencies including the FBI...
Psychiatrist Arrested for Death of Patient
From The Times of India: A psychiatrist from the Uma Nalini Mary Clinic and Research Institute was recently arrested on charges of homicide of a middle-aged patient....
Use of Electroconvulsive Therapy Without Patient’s Consent Rises
From The Irish News: Although the use of ECT has been steadily decreasing internationally, the use of ECT in Northern Ireland has significantly increased over...
Reform of Mental Health Law Should Focus on Patient’s Voice
From The Irish Times: The Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2017, which is currently making its way through the Irish legislature, would enact key policies and...
Do Voice Hearers Have the Right to Refuse Psychiatric Drugs?
In this piece for STAT, Shirley S. Wang discusses the Hearing Voices Network and its non-pathologizing, rights-affirming approach to hearing voices and alternative realities.
"Many recovered...
In Yemen’s Secret Prisons, UAE Tortures and US Interrogates
From The Associated Press: The United Arab Emirates and Yemeni forces run a secret network of prisons where terrorism suspects are brutally tortured. Several U.S....
Jim Gottstein: Patient Rights in Mental Healthcare
Jim Gottstein, president and founder of the organisation Law Project for Psychiatric Rights, talks about his own experiences with the psychiatric system, patient rights in mental healthcare and the recent trial between Wendy Dolin and the UK Pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.
Psychologists Open a Window on Brutal C.I.A. Interrogations
From The New York Times: Two psychologists, Drs. John Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell, who played a role in developing C.I.A. interrogation techniques widely viewed as...
Robert Whitaker: The Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
We discuss Robert's 2010 book, Anatomy of an Epidemic, which is arguably the definitive account of the realities of psychiatric drugs and completely lays bare the astonishing rise in mental ill health despite the availability of psychiatric drugs.
