Some stuf for psych [View All]

[undergroundpanther]

http://www.mindfreedom.org/

http://www.unknownnews.net/040712a-upits.html


MindFreedom News - 3 November 2004
http://wwww.MindFreedom.org - please forward

NEWS RELEASE

Today's Re-Election of President Bush
May Mean More Psychiatric Coercion,
Advocates Warn

MindFreedom Announces New
MindFreedom Shield Program

"All for One and One for All!"

With today's re-election of President Bush,
advocates for the human rights of people
affected by the mental health system are
preparing for the worst.

Today, MindFreedom International, an
independent non-profit coalition of 100
grassroots groups, is launching the
MindFreedom Shield Program to defend members
from an expected increase in coerced and
forced psychiatric procedures.

President Bush has endorsed a drug company
plan to screen every American for mental
health problems. A Bush appointee to a key
federal committee, psychiatrist Sally Satel,
has openly called for more "coercive,"
"intrusive, highly paternalistic" and
"involuntary care" in mental health.

MindFreedom International has an
established track record of taking
constructive, nonviolent action when a
person is being subjected to coerced or
forced psychiatric procedures. In order
to better utilize its very limited
resources, MindFreedom International
announces the official beginning of the
MindFreedom Shield Program.

MindFreedom Shield is a coordinated
registration system and solidarity
network composed by and for people who
want to have as much protection as
possible from being subjected to
coerced or forced psychiatric
"treatment."

"I hope this program lets people know
that they not only have choice A, B, or
C but that they are free to choose,
'NONE OF THE ABOVE!'" explains
advocate Pat Risser, one of a group of
psychiatric survivors who envisioned
and initiated the concept that has
become the MindFreedom Shield.
"This is a way to 'just say no' to
oppression."

MindFreedom Shield is designed to
support a person's choice to be
free from coerced or forced
psychiatric "treatment" by backing this
personal choice up with the MindFreedom
Solidarity Network -- a network of
people ready to take constructive,
nonviolent action if someone's choice
to be free from coerced or forced
psychiatric "treatment" is not being
respected or upheld.

As the current mental health system
continues to globalize and rely more
and more on coercion and outright
force, many people's rights to have
their previously expressed and even
properly documented wishes carried out
are being ignored. The recent
recommendations of the President's New
Freedom Commission to begin universal
mental health screening, currently
being implemented in several states, is
only one example of the increasing use
of such pressure.

In order to best implement this
program, MindFreedom is collaborating
closely with sponsor group The Law
Project for Psychiatric Rights
(PsychRights.org). "Through this
mechanism people saddled with
psychiatric labels can unite and offer
effective resistance to psychiatric abuses,"
said attorney Jim Gottstein, director
of PsychRights. "The MindFreedom Shield
Program fits PsychRights' mission of
defending people facing the horrors of
forced psychiatric drugging and other
forced psychiatric procedures
administered against their will
perfectly."

All for One and One for All

MindFreedom board member and psychologist
Al Galves, PhD said, "The MindFreedom Shield
is a quick, cost-effective defense against
people being railroaded into using such
methods as medication and electroshock
to alleviate normal responses to life
issues that can more effectively,
economically and safely be addressed
through interpersonal emotional support
and creative action."

"We can't guarantee the results,"
cautions MindFreedom director David
Oaks, "But it has been our experience,
including testing the MindFreedom
Shield Program to help free a member
from a Canadian psychiatric facility,
that public awareness and people
engaging in specific, nonviolent action
can often reduce or even end coerced or
forced psychiatric 'treatment.'"

MindFreedom Shield is not meant to take
the place of legal documents expressing
a person's medical and psychiatric care
preferences, such as an "Advance Directive."
MindFreedom Shield is intended to provide
the people power clout it sometimes takes
to enforce a member's wishes, including
members with Advance Directives. "Our
recommendation is that a member have
both a MindFreedom Shield and an
Advance Directive in place." said Krista
Erickson, chair of the MindFreedom Shield
committee.

Any current member of MindFreedom may
register a MindFreedom Shield for free.
Detailed information about the program,
as well as a registration form, can be
found online at:

http://www.mindfreedom.intenex.net/shield

Any MindFreedom member who does not
have access to the Internet may write
to the MindFreedom office to obtain
information about the program.

MindFreedom Support Coalition
International is a grassroots human
rights non-profit uniting over 100
sponsor groups in 15 countries working
for human rights and alternatives in
mental health. The organization is
the only group of its kind with
Non Governmental Organization
accreditation by the United Nations
(ECOSOC Consultative Roster Status).

Sometimes called the "Amnesty
International of mental health,"
MindFreedom is independent from any
government, mental health provider,
drug company or religion.

To join or renew membership in
MindFreedom go to:

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

Or write to:

MindFreedom
PO Box 11284
Eugene, OR 9744-3484 USA

For more information on the nationwide
screening program approved by President
Bush, along with his appointee psychiatrist
Sally Satel, see:

http://mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/bush_psychiatry.shtml

For information about MindFreedom see:

http://www.MindFreedom.org

- end -

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