National Public Radio on Judi Chamberlin, Mad Pride Activist

MindFreedom International News - http://www.mindfreedom.org
United Independent Activism in Mental Health - please forward


   19 January 2009

   USA National Public Radio (NPR) Covers Death of Judi Chamberlin

   Mad Pride Activist Remembered



NPR aired a remembrance this morning of mad movement activist and
psychiatric survivor Judi Chamberlin, who died on 16 January 2010 at
the age of 65.

BELOW is the text from the NPR web site story, which is a little
longer than the one that aired. At BOTTOM are updates and actions you
can take.

You may listen to and comment on the NPR radio story here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122706192

~~~~~~~~~~~~

National Public Radio

January 19, 2010

Advocate For People With Mental Illnesses Dies

by JOSEPH SHAPIRO

Judi Chamberlin, who died this weekend at age 65, was a civil rights
hero from a civil rights movement you may have never heard of. She
took her inspiration from the heroes of other civil rights movements
to start something she liked to call Mad Pride — a movement for the
rights and dignity of people with mental illness.

It started in 1966, when Chamberlin was 21 years old and seeing her
doctor because she was dealing with a deep depression. "After a while,
he suggested I sign myself into a hospital because I was just not
functioning, I was so depressed. And I just thought, 'Oh a hospital's
a place where you get help.' And you know, I'd been in hospitals for
surgery and things like that, and didn't think of it as having
anything to do with your fundamental rights. So I just said, 'OK, I'll
try it.' "

Chamberlin told her story in a 2006 interview with Will Hall, host of
Madness Radio, a program by people like Chamberlin who call themselves
"psychiatric survivors."

"And very quickly, [I] found out that once you sign papers to go in on
a voluntary basis, but then you can't leave when you want to leave,
which was absolutely shocking to me," she said.
She got out of that state hospital and moved to Vancouver, British
Columbia, where she lived with other people who'd been diagnosed with
mental illness but who'd then gotten government money to develop their
own treatments. She recovered and eventually moved to Boston, where
she started working with other former American patients who wanted to
change the system. They called themselves the Mental Patients
Liberation Front.

"When I arrived at this storefront in Cambridge, Mass., I was a senior
Harvard student, had been locked up five times, so I was referred by
Harvard to volunteer there," recalls David Oaks, who came to the group
in 1976. "And I walked in, and it was a little radical ragtag group,
Mental Patients Liberation Front. And Judi was right in the thick of
folks, just really warm, community organizer."

Oaks now runs his own advocacy group, MindFreedom International.
Chamberlin was a mentor. "One thing she immediately helped teach a lot
of people was basic 101 about mental health liberation: That we're
equal; that we have rights."

Chamberlin put that basic thinking into a book called On Our Own,
which published in 1978. In it, she argued that, as she'd experienced
in Canada, just the ability to have some say in your own treatment was
a key part of making that treatment work.

Chamberlin's book became a manifesto for other patients. But it
influenced lots of people in the mental health establishment, too.
Today, notes Oaks, it's common for people with mental illness to have
a say. "Most U.S. states now have an office of mental health consumer
affairs or something to hear the voice of mental health clients," says
Oaks. "And it certainly is people like Judi that did that."

Robert Whitaker, the author of Mad in America, a history of the
treatment of people with mental illness in America, says Chamberlin
was "a seminal figure in the rise of the consumer movement." She was
able to get across the patient's point of view in a way that was
strong, but also clear. And that appealed to people in the mental
health field who were often the target of her criticism.
"Judi was fierce, incredibly fierce," says Whitaker. "And by that I
mean she knew her mind, she spoke her mind, and she didn't worry if
she offended people who were listening."

Chamberlin, he says, was irreverent, "brilliant" and "a joy to be
around." He also says she was "incredibly brave," because "it
obviously takes a lot of bravery to confront a society that's had a
different belief before."

Chamberlin told people with mental illness that they were, like
everyone else, people with quirks and differences, but with strengths
and abilities, too. She wanted people to reclaim the description "mad"
as something that was OK.

"She changed it from a word that was a pejorative word," says
Whitaker. "That was saying to the world at large: We are worthy
individuals, and our minds our worthy, and they're to be respected."
Chamberlin even used "mad pride" as her e-mail address. "And you can
see the historical echoes with 'black pride' as well," says Whitaker.
"It absolutely followed in the footsteps of the civil rights movement."

Chamberlin traveled the world as an advocate, even in the months
before her death. She worked at Boston University on mental health
issues and started a center with federal funding to support other
psychiatric survivors.

More recently, Chamberlin faced another illness: lung disease. And
last year, when her insurance company told her she'd exhausted her
hospice benefit, she faced going into a nursing home. She started a
blog she called Life as a Hospice Patient about her fight to die at
home.

Late Saturday night, she died as she wished: at home, in her favorite
chair, surrounded by friends and family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

     *** ACTION *** ACTION *** ACTION ***

*** Please forward this NPR news story to interested people on and off
the Internet.

*** You may listen to and comment on this story on the NPR web site
here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122706192

*** Judi's friends and relatives have posted updates on Judi's hospice
blog, where you may also post remembrances and tributes:

http://judi-lifeasahospicepatient.blogspot.com

*** You may listen to the Will Hall interview in 2006 with Judi on
Madness Radio here:

http://bit.ly/madness-judi

*** Statement by MindFreedom's director David Oaks about Judi's death
is here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/about-us/mfi-board/judi-chamberlin

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"LEAD ON" IN THE FIGHT FOR MAD PRIDE!

When Judi was told that her lung illness would probably end her life,
Judi asked to distribute the below statement of support she created
for MindFreedom International:

"Today, it is perfectly okay to lock us up, to drug us and to shock
us against our will just because we have a label.

"That doesn’t happen to anyone else.

"MindFreedom International is critically important because it is one
of the few organizations that is upholding the principle upon which
our movement was founded:

"The need to fight for our rights!

"Many activists who were formerly involved in our movement have moved
into providing direct services. But we have to remember that, as long
as we don’t have the rights that other people have, we have to keep
fighting for them.

"We know that alternatives are important and MindFreedom works for
alternatives as well. But MindFreedom does this work with a focus on
the fact that this is fundamentally a civil rights issue.

"This is a civil rights movement!

"MindFreedom knows that, until we have equality, we cannot rest.
Please join or renew your membership today!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

TRY OUT MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL, FREE!

Not yet a member of MindFreedom International?

Get a FREE info packet with sample copy of the new MindFreedom Journal
#50 plus a "Truth Brochure"!

Just fill out this web form for free, no registration required. This
is a limited time offer.

Your packet will be postal mailed to you free, no obligation (allow 2
to 6 weeks for delivery).

For your free packet click here:

http://my-mfi.org/node/115

~~~~~~~~~~~~

MindFreedom International:

Twenty-four years of unity, independence and activism for real change
in the mental health system.

To donate now, join, and get your new member packet with MindFreedom
Journal #50 and Truth Brochure by air mail.

To join now click here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

There you can give online securely via PayPal. Or there's info about
how to join via phone, postal mail or fax.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you did NOT receive this public news alert directly from the
mindfreedom-news public e-mail alert system, please add your e-mail
address to this free no-spam service, which does not require membership:

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

I want to add to this Darby Penney's comment on NPR's article and radio story:

"Thank you, NPR, for this tribute to the life and work of Judi Chamberlin, who inspired thousands of people with psychiatric labels worldwide to demand their rights and to demand recognition of their humanity. She was a brilliant advocate and a thoughtful writer and strategist. But Judi would have cringed at your title and your use of the term "people with mental illness." She didn't believe people who experienced extreme mental and meotional states were "mentally ill," and she thought the medical model, and especially forced treatment, was a root cause of our oppression. To her, we were survivors of psychiatry, but never "the mentally ill." Still, thank you for recognizing the importance of Jud's life and work."

"Psykisk sårbar" - "Mentally vulnerable". The new, politically correct term in Denmark

There's a new trend emerging here in Denmark. The politically correct term for people in emotional distress is no longer "mentally ill" (psykisk syg) or "insane" (sindssyg - yup, both the "experts" and the media have a preference for this truly value neutral term, especially when it comes to "the schizophrenics"), it is "mentally vulnerable". Beautiful, huh? Like renaming the house slave as housekeeper, or lobotomy as psycho-surgery... Everybody of course just loooves this new term. It sounds so empathetic, so loving and caring, doesn't it?

One of those who are at the leading edge concerning this linguistic revolution is former Danish prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, who recently launched one more amazing website (check out the vid - and cry; no need to speak Danish btw, his facial expression says it all) for, yeah, "mentally vulnerable" people and their relatives.

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, whose daughter suffered from "depression", and eventually felt so respectfully listened to, also by her father, that she couldn't bear it anymore - certainly because of the "illness" - and ended her life, now wants to compensate for this tragic loss by publicly pleading the "mentally vulnerables' " cause. As we all know, these, uhm, people don't really have a voice of their own (that's probably why Poul Nyrup didn't hear the least, although his daughter screamed and shouted right into his ears), so they need every NAMI-parent available to speak for them.

"Schizophrenia is a persistent and serious mental illness," it reads on Poul Nyrup's brand new website. Among a whole bunch of other lies. It seems, Poul Nyrup is in dire need of a Truth Injection. Maybe I'll take pity on him and e-mail him one, one of these days. Being no more "mentally vulnerable" than anybody else, and thus able to speak for myself. But frankly I fear, Poul Nyrup's condition is rather persistent and serious, with treatment-resistant denial being one of the core symptoms.

Good news about Ray

MindFreedom International News - 6 August 2009
Win Human Rights in Mental Health
http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray - please forward

    Ray Sandford Campaign Victory: New Psychiatrist is Official

Ray Sandford just phoned MindFreedom with some very good news.

As you may know, Ray is a 55-year-old Minnesota resident who has
received more than 40 involuntary electroshocks (also known as
"electroconvulsive therapy" or ECT).

Adding to his horror, Ray received these court-ordered procedures
against his wishes -- and even against his family's wishes -- on an
OUTPATIENT basis. That is, Ray would be woken up early in his group
home, and escorted to a hospital for his forced shock over and over
and over again.

Ray asked for help from MindFreedom, which kicked off a Ray campaign
activating people internationally.

Today, Ray said because of his campaign his new psychiatrist -- who
opposes forced electroshock -- has been officially approved by the
mental health system.

Ray already has a new attorney, who is moving toward changing Ray's
guardianship.

Meanwhile, because of the campaign the Minnesota state legislature has
scheduled a hearing this Monday, 10 August, on the subject of
electroshock of committed Minnesota residents.

For more info about campaign news, see the Ray Gateway at:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

At the start of this Saturday's MindFreedom Mad Pride Free Live Web
Radio show -- which is on the topic of humane alternatives to this
kind of abuse -- you can also hear news updates about the Ray
Campaign, see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/radio

NAMI-pathos - the need to be special

To enjoy some real NAMI-pathos and -defensiveness, go here - to get an idea, what the whole thing is about, check out "Parents Cope With 6-Year-Old With Schizophrenia" at Philip Dawdy's blog - read the post, then read David Oaks' comment, Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - 04:34 PM, 9th comment from the top, and then Michael Schofield's reply to David, Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - 06:11 PM, 11th comment from the top.

Well, and then tell me, that these parents do anything else than feeling sorry - for themselves. Drowning in self-pity. And they actually thrive on their misery. So much, they forget everything about being polite (or just pathetic...), and indeed become rude and defensive, as soon as someone comes around, and mentions, in the most empathetic, friendly way, the possibility, that to be in the mh system might not be the right thing for their daughter, and that they maybe should have a deeper look at the matter: "Don't you dare to question the necessity of our suffering to continue indefinitely!!! We are special! Our misery is more miserable than anyone else's in the whole wide world! And we will fight for it! (Even if that costs Jani her life.)" Narcissists?...

Random thoughts about being disabled - NOT

A couple of thoughts in the wake of Blogging Against Disablism Day, May 1st, 2009.

1. I haven't been round reading tons of entries on the subject, but a few I have read, and Alison Hymes'Psychophobia 201 was definitely the best I've come across.

2. There's a lot of talk about disability and disablism, also in regard to people with emotional problems. Here for example is a YouTuber, Mary Van Pelt, who does some awesome vids against disablism in work places.

Another aspect is the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, whose wording also was fundamentally influenced by user/ex-user/survivor organizations like MindFreedom.

I very much appreciate the effort both individual persons like Alison Hymes and Mary Van Pelt, and organizations like MindFreedom put into raising awareness about discrimination against and the rights of people in emotional distress. Nevertheless, I have a problem with the overall concept, the overall idea, that people in emotional distress are described as "disabled". Which is that I don't regard emotional distress a disability. Consequently, I myself do not identify as disabled.



While it is true, that I probably would have an extremely hard time coping, get stressed out in no time, and experience emotional trouble, if I had to work under 9 to 5-ordinary job circumstances, I know quite a few "normal" people, who would have just as hard a time, who certainly wouldn't be happy, if they had to make a living under the same circumstances I make mine: working early mornings and late evenings, working weekends and holidays, working outside, regardless the weather, being on "stand-by" 24/7, and handling horses. Does that make these people disabled? If someone ended up with some kind of emotional distress doing the job I do, let's say because they're afraid of or simply don't like horses, is that a disability then?

People often ask me, if my job isn't very hard work, and how I manage doing it without getting run down. Yes, it is hard work. It is physically demanding. On the other hand, it isn't more demanding than being a hunter-gatherer or a pastoral nomad, which is, what human beings are by their very nature. Indeed, I'd say, my job is a lot closer to (human) nature, and a lot less alienating than most of the work situations, modern western civilization expects human beings to cope with. Does it make me disabled, that my human nature rebels against a maybe "normal" but nevertheless unnatural way of living?

Well, of course it makes me disabled in the eyes of an alienated and alienating, and in fact disabled and disabling, culture. While I myself regard it an ability of mine, that my nature is capable of reacting - rebellious - to unnatural demands and situations. And I'd definitely prefer not having to resort to the CRPD, but simply to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in order to have my human rights respected in any given situation. In my opinion it is a human rights violation in itself, that the latter doesn't protect my human rights in these given situations.

Last but not least, let's face it: which actually does disable the vast majority of people with "psychiatric disabilities" isn't the emotional distress itself. It is the "treatment", the punishment, they receive for rebelling against unnatural, disabling life situations. So, "psychiatric disability" isn't that misleading a term anyway: disabled by psychiatry.

Guarded victory for Ray and MindFreedom

MindFreedom News - 15 April 2009
Nonviolent Revolution in Mental Health
http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray - please forward

   Ray Sandford Declares "Guarded Victory" for MindFreedom Ray Campaign

   Because of Public Pressure, Ray's Psychiatrist May Quit Case

The bad news is that this morning, 15 April 2009, Ray Sandford of
Minnesota had another involuntary, outpatient electroshock, also
known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.

The good news is today's forced electroshock could be Ray's last.

Maybe.

Ray Sandford called the MindFreedom office this afternoon to say that
because of growing public pressure, Ray's main psychiatrist Dean K.
Knudson plans to quit as Ray's psychiatrist. Dr. Knudson has been
ordering the forced electroshocks.

If Ray is quickly assigned a new psychiatrist more sensitive to Ray's
human rights and need for humane alternatives, then Ray could be free
of his ongoing forced electroshocks. Ray has had more than 40.

Dr. Knudson had scheduled Ray's next forced shock for 30 days from
today. The court order allowing Ray's forced electroshock does not
mandate the psychiatrist to prescribe it.

Ray said that his general guardian, Tonya Wilhelm of Lutheran Social
Service, told Ray in a phone call today that she had talked to Dr.
Knudson personally. According to her, Dr. Knudson's insurance company
expressed concern to him about the enormous grassroots campaign that
MindFreedom is building to stop Ray's forced electroshocks.

RAY CAMPAIGN TO CONTINUE

"Tonya told me that because of all the controversy, Dr. Knudson's
insurance company may force him to stop being my psychiatrist," said
Ray. "Absolutely this is a guarded victory. I want to be sure to
thank people for their diligence, and for everything they're doing to
support me."

David W. Oaks, Director of MindFreedom International commented,
"Today is USA Tax Day. If Ray's supporters keep it up, it looks like
taxpayers may get a break, and not waste their money torturing Ray
any more."

The Ray Campaign will continue, said Oaks. "We need to stay vigilant
about Ray's rights, make sure Dr. Knudson quits, and help Ray find a
better lead mental health professional pronto."

The Ray Campaign also raises a question: How many other Ray's are there?

Said Oaks, "It is proven beyond a doubt that there are others
throughout the USA and internationally who are getting electroshock
over their clearly expressed wishes. Every USA state and every nation
needs a 'Ray Law' to stop this nightmare forever."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   ACTION ACTION ACTION

*** PLEASE SHARE THE GOOD NEWS OF THE RAY CAMPAIGN'S "GUARDED VICTORY"!

Forward this alert to appropriate places on and off Internet!

*** LEARN ABOUT THE RAY CAMPAIGN!

For background including Ray Frequently Asked Questions, Ray's Web of
Links, YouTube video of Ray and his mom, National Public Radio
coverage, how to participate in campaign, and more, see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

*** UNITY WORKS!

MindFreedom International unites to take action for a nonviolent
revolution in the mental health system.

Join/donate to MindFreedom International today:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Video: Ray Sandford on his forced ect

I don't know if this is just me, but writing about stuff like what happened to Torben Martin Bødker just knocks me out, more or less completely. And reading headlines like "School shooter discontinued psychiatric treatment", i.e. "the dangerous mentally ill who go off their meds", without any mention of the fact, that it is far more likely, that these very same "meds", or withdrawal from them, caused Tim Kretschmer to experience akathisia, resulting in him going on a shooting spree, doesn't exactly make me feel better. Well, at least I had an interesting conversation on the phone, and comment exchange on my Danish blog with one of the article's authors. Who's just another victim of mainstream ideology, you might say, and certainly wasn't deliberately out to hurt anyone.

Nevertheless, I felt hurt, insulted, assaulted, discriminated against - apropos of ego-identification... - and at the same time as I feel, I have to speak out against this discrimination, there's the little voice in my head, trying to tell me, that it's me who's wrong, and who hasn't got a right to say anything at all. Exhausting.

Whatever, here, eventually, the video of Ray Sandford and his mom, giving their side of the story about Ray's forced electroshock "treatment". And since I can't think straight enough anymore tonight to write anything just halfway intelligent about it myself, or create more than two links: Jayme at Rayne's World has a great piece on it, and Stephany at Soulful Sepulcher has all the information about how you can help Ray.

MFI Ray Update: "Miracle": Today's Forced Shock Postponed 1/28/09

Latest news on Ray's forced electroshock from MindFreedom:

"In the past, Ray has complained about various physical ailments that
he felt should cancel his electroshock. "They would just bring me
into Dr. Coelho's office, and he would say I could have the
electroshock anyway."

This time Ray brought up the fact that about two weeks ago he had
been brought to Regency Hospital by ambulance because of physical
complaints. Lab tests said his ammonia levels were too high, and he
brought this up today.

This time, Ray's electroshock was called off."

Well, he probably will be rescheduled for another shock on February 4th or 11th. So, protest!

MFI Ray Alert: Another Forced Shock 1/28/09 - Protest

MindFreedom International - 27 January 2009
Win Human Rights in Mental Health - Please Forward
http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

   Another involuntary outpatient "maintenance"
   electroshock for Ray Sandford is scheduled
   for tomorrow, 28 January 2009.

   How you may easily and peacefully protest
   from wherever you are.

Unless there is a miracle, it is confirmed that Ray Sandford is
having another involuntary electroshock tomorrow, Wednesday, 28
January 2009, just north of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, all funded
by taxpayer dollars.

After more than three dozen forced electroshocks, Ray knows the drill.

Tonight, staff will prepare by removing all of Ray's food from his
mini-fridge in his basement room in a small assisted living home
called "Victory House" in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. This is
because Ray is not supposed to eat for a number of hours before
anesthesia is administered.

Early tomorrow morning Ray will be woken up extra early, and an
escort will bring Ray the 15 miles north on streets near the
Mississippi River to Mercy Hospital, in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.

Ray's mental health workers always manages to find an escort for
Ray's forced electroshocks or psychiatrist visits.

On the other hand, a few days ago Ray said he had to miss a dental
appointment that was supposed to help with his severe teeth problems,
because no attendant could be found that day.

Since Ray's campaign started, an attendant is required to accompany
Ray any time he leaves his home. MindFreedom volunteers have been
banned from visiting. One such visitor, a disability advocate, even
had her employment threatened after Ray's "helpers" filed a complaint
with her employer for bringing Ray to a Minnesota center for
independent living for people with disabilities.

Ray says the waiting room of his electroshock doctor, Bernard M.
Coelho, MD, at Mercy Hospital is often full with about 10 patients
who Ray believes are also scheduled for electroshock. Giving multiple
electroshocks on the same morning is a common practice, sometimes
called a "Shock Mill," and can be very lucrative. Mercy Hospital is
owned by Allina Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota.

Ray will lay in a bed and feel an injection as anesthesia and a
muscle paralyzer are administered to suppress muscle writhing. Ray
says Dr. Coelho will then run electricity through Ray's brain,
inducing a convulsion.

Ray calls the MindFreedom office almost every day, including just
before and just after his forced electroshocks. He says forced shock
is always scary, that it's harming his memory and ability to
concentrate more and more.

Ray is asking us all to peacefully protest his forced electroshock.

The nightmare of involuntary electroshock over the expressed wishes
of the subject has happened regularly since the very first
electroshock in Italy in 1937. But now the atrocity of forced
electroshock has climbed over the institutional walls, and is out in
our towns and cities, in our neighborhoods and homes.

Do not let this become "normal."

Do not wait to see your neighbor escorted out into some early winter
morning for this.

Do not wait for that to be you.

MindFreedom reminds everyone that Ray's campaign is nonviolent. Ray
values his religious principles, and MindFreedom has strict
nonviolence guidelines.

If you communicate with any potential opponent, please be strong but
civil. Anything else can be used against Ray.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are a few easy ways you may protest Ray's electroshock from
wherever you are:

Please forward this alert far and wide.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


   *** ACTION *** ACTION *** ACTION ***

1) Protest to Richard Pettingill, Chief executive officer (CEO) of
Allina Hospital and Clinics:

Ask that your civil verbal protest be placed in Ray Sandford's
medical record using their online web form:

http://www.allina.com/ahs/help.nsf/page/contact

Sample message (your own words are best):

"Dear Mr. Richard Pettingill:

"I request that my message be placed in the permanent medical record
of your patient Ray Sandford, who states that he is receiving ongoing
involuntary electroshock at Mercy Hospital administered by Allina
psychiatrist Bernard M Coelho, MD.

"While you cannot violate the privacy of a patient, I ask that you
respond in general about your policy of allowing involuntary
electroshock over the expressed wishes of the subject.

"Whether or not you feel this is legal, it is unethical, immoral and
traumatic to everyone in mental health care.

"The reason(s) I protest this forced electroshock are:

"My name and contact information: _______"

You may also try to phone Mr. Richard Pettingill's office at
612-262-0601 or 612-262-5000.

You may try to leave a phone message for Dr. Coelho at the above
numbers, or at Mercy at 763-236-6000, but the phone number listed for
him on the Allina web site is now disconnected, even though he still
works there. If you are disconnected, call back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2) Bishop Mark Hanson of the Lutheran Church

While the Lutheran Church is not directly in charge of Ray's
electroshock, they are supposed to help "guard" Ray, they are
supposed to care deeply about social justice, yet they are not
supporting Ray's campaign to end his forced electroshock.

The six Minnesota Synods of the "Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America" [ELCA] -- which is the largest Lutheran denomination in the
USA -- own Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota [LSSMN], which is
Ray's court-appointed general guardian.

ELCA and LSSMN have refused to speak out for Ray.

MindFreedom has been in touch with the office of Bishop Mark Hanson,
who leads ELCA. Bishop Hanson asked Ruth Reko, ELCA's Director of
Social Ministry Department, to respond to MFI. Today, Ms. Reko told
MindFreedom, "Supervision is not a concept we enter into with
affiliates like LSSMN or our 299 other social service agency
affiliates."

Please ask Bishop Mark Hanson, to encourage ELCA, its Synods and its
agencies to engage in productive dialogue on human rights and mental
health, especially involuntary electroshock.

Please e-mail to Bishop Mark Hanson here:

bishop@elca.org

Sample message (your own words are best):

"Dear Bishop Hanson:

"Please engage in dialogue about human rights and mental health. I am
not saying ELCA is directly in charge of anyone's forced
electroshock, but ELCA could take a stand against it. In the name of
social justice, ELCA ought to have more oversight over its affiliated
social service agencies that receive taxpayer funds to guard clients.

"Your name and contact info: ___________"

You may also try phoning Bishop Hanson or Ms. Ruth Reko by calling
(773) 380-2700, wait for an attendant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3) Engage your local religious organizations in dialogue on human
rights and mental health

Ray has given us all an opportunity to encourage our local faith-
based communities to address the justice issues involved in mental
health care today.

Ask that your local church, synagogue, mosque, etc. find a way to
raise issues about human rights and mental health.

Those in the USA may also seek to engage in dialogue with
participants and leaders in your local ELCA church, which you may
easily locate here:

http://www.elca.org/ELCA/Search/Find-a-Congregation.aspx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please act today!

Ray's scheduled electroshocks for this Winter and Spring are below.

Unless there's a miracle.

And maybe you -- and all of us -- are Ray's miracle.

* 18 February 2009

* 4 March 2009

* 25 March 2009

* 8 April 2009

* 29 April 2009

* 13 May 2009

* 3 June 2009

* 17 June 2009

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Minnesota Nonviolent Protests for Ray

Several individuals and groups in Minnesota have told MindFreedom
they would like to help support and attend peaceful protests on
behalf of Ray in Minnesota.

Several MindFreedom members have even said they are willing to travel
from out of state and from out of the country to participate in
protests.

MindFreedom will broadcast more information as it is received.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   How to do and learn more on the Ray Campaign

For links to latest news, Ray Campaign blog, to hear the NPR radio
story on Ray, and read Frequently Asked Questions about the "No More
Shock For Ray Campaign" go here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

Ray Alert #9

MindFreedom International - please forward
http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray
Human Rights in Mental Health - Ray Alert #8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Christmas Eve 2008

   What Would Jesus Do About Forced Electroshock?

   An Open Letter to the Lutheran Church [ELCA] from MindFreedom
International [MFI]

   by David W. Oaks, Executive Director, MFI

As we send you this, we understand Ray Sandford of Minnesota is
receiving another involuntary electroshock this Christmas Eve
morning, 24 December 2008.

As you know, your agency Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota
(LSSMN) is charged with being General Guardian for Ray. This is a
reply to your recent misleading public statement about the
MindFreedom Campaign to End Ray Sandford's Forced Electroshock
(copied at bottom).

Regularly for months -- presently every other week -- attendants wake
Ray up early in his group home, Victory House. He is escorted the few
miles to a hospital. Under court order and against his repeated and
clear objections, Ray is put under anesthesia, electricity is run
through brain head, and he is given another electroshock, also known
as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.

Ray has received about 35 so far.

Ray calls our office most days, and it's always good to hear from
him. He told me yesterday, "It's a painful, awful experience. Every
time. It takes away memory viciously. It is scary as hell every time
I go."

Ray says he always objects. "I say, 'I don't want to do this. I don't
want to do this,' which I've known since the first time. Everyone
figures I'm totally nuts."

One day Ray asked his local library about groups working on human
rights in mental health, and Ray contacted MindFreedom International.
Ray asked us to start a public campaign to support his right to say
"no" to electroshock.

I had hoped your church would be an ally in Ray's campaign. Instead,
I have found you to stand by silently with arms folded, or even worse
your spokespeople appear to at times oppose Ray's campaign.

In my 32 years of human rights activism, Ray is one of the most
focused individuals I've ever encountered in his persistent and
reasonable requests to end his forced electroshock. The fact that his
forced shock is outpatient and ongoing is especially outrageous.

Ray's heroism has moved me and many others. Countless people have
responded to support the Ray Campaign, and Ray reached millions of
people on National Public Radio.

On 16 December 2008, the "Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America" [ELCA] issued a reply to a number of people who have
expressed concern about Ray as a result of MindFreedom's human rights
alerts. (See below.)

It is significant for ELCA to issue a public statement about a
MindFreedom International campaign. With more more than four million
baptized members, ELCA is the largest Lutheran denomination and one
of the largest Christian denominations in the USA. We at MindFreedom
are eager for dialogue with ELCA.

Unfortunately, Miriam L. Woolbert of ELCA's Communication Services
replied to those contacting ELCA that groups like MindFreedom are
"misdirecting you and many other people."

Ms. Woolbert did not provide any example or quote of such
"misdirecting." Her main points appear to be that ELCA is not a
"participant" in any involuntary electroshock, and that ELCA cannot
speak about Ray because of confidentiality.

MindFreedom's alerts never claimed that ELCA is in charge of the
involuntary electroshock of Ray. MindFreedom International encourages
people to contact ELCA to ask you "to stand with Ray."

Even if ELCA representatives feel you cannot speak specifically about
Ray, we ask ELCA to stand shoulder to shoulder with all their agency
clients, like Ray, who are receiving involuntary electroshock. ELCA
could at least begin by expressing concern or joining in dialogue.

We continue to encourage all people who care to contact ELCA, and
ELCA's local congregations, with strong but civil messages.

Because of ELCA's misleading statement about the Ray Campaign this
action is especially urgent, including for those who have already
contacted you.

Most importantly, Ray is asking us all to take this action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 * ACTION * ACTION * ACTION *

People may e-mail ELCA headquarters at info@elca.org. Or use their web
form by clicking on "e-mail" on this web page:

http://archive.elca.org/contactus.html


We also encourage all concerned people in the USA to contact local
ELCA congregations, which they can find by entering their postal code
here:

http://www.elca.org/ELCA/Search/Find-a-Congregation.aspx

~~~~~~~~~~~~

MindFreedom Suggested Message to ELCA and Local Congregations [your
own words from the heart are best]:

I am not being misdirected by MindFreedom International or anyone else.

I am not saying you are in charge of anyone's forced electroshock.

I am not asking you to break confidentiality of any client.

I am simply asking:

Will you stand now with Ray Sandford, and all those who are oppressed
by extreme psychiatric abuse?

What is ELCA's position on the forced, outpatient, maintenance
electroshock of clients you and your agencies are charged to guard?

Why isn't ELCA expressing concern about these human rights
violations, which amount to torture?

How can ELCA use this opportunity to seek dialogue on human right and
alternatives in the mental health system?

[your name & contact]

[Please copy your e-mail to news@mindfreedom.org; selected e-mails
will be published on the web and/or mailed to Ray.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more info the Ray Campaign see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

The MindFreedom Board of Directors includes several individuals who
have personally experienced the unimaginable horror of an involuntary
electroshock.

The board endorses this public statement to ELCA, and asked me to
quote from the famous letter written by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
in the Birmingham Jail on 16 April 1963.

Forty-five years ago, Rev. King was responding to church leaders who
discouraged his own activist campaign:

"...I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the
white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our
strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents,
refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its
leaders; and too many others have been more cautious than courageous
and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-
glass windows...

"So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with
an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo.
Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power
structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent
and often even vocal sanction of things as they are."

[More excerpts below.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~

For those who would like more detail about this exchange between
MindFreedom and ELCA about the Ray Campaign:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS about Lutheran Church [ELCA] and Forced
Electroshock of Ray Sandford

*** How does Ray Sandford's feel about Lutheran Social Services of
Minnesota (LSSMN)?

Ray has approved this alert, and asks everyone to contact the
Lutheran Church [ELCA]. Ray knows that their agency LSSMN is not
directly in charge of his forced shock. Ray said, "In some ways
Lutheran Social Services is compassionate and helpful. They've
visited me and are a support system. They manage my finances my
fairly. But Lutheran Social Services does not listen to me. They
don't see you. They asked me to not do this campaign. They should
support the person who doesn't want electroshock. Tell them I don't
want shock!"

*** Does ELCA oversee Ray's forced electroshock?

To repeat, ELCA is not directly in charge of Ray's forced
electroshock. We can understand ELCA being sensitive to this
question. Media are starting to pay attention, and National Public
Radio covered Ray's story.

The legal jargon can get complicated. On 16 December, television
station WCCO-TV in Minnesota mis-reported that Ray's "guardian ad
litem" Terri Bradley, who is the court-appointed person specifically
and narrowly in charge of overseeing Ray's forced electroshock, and
who testified in court for Ray's forced shock, works for LSSMN. WCCO-
TV has since issued a public retraction.

Legally speaking, LSSMN is "general guardian" for Ray, but not
"guardian ad litem" specifically on the electroshock.

*** What has ELCA said about forced electroshock?

Representatives of Luthern Social Services of Minnesota (LSSMN), an
agency that is sponsored by ELCA, have refused to speak out about the
abuse of their clients like Ray by repeated, "maintenance" forced
oupatient electroshock.

On the contrary, LSSMN representatives, including their employee
Tonya Wilhelm, have sought to discourage Ray and advocates such as
myself from speaking out publicly about Ray's abuse. My first contact
with Ms. Wilhelm ended with her laughing loudly, saying this would be
between our lawyers, and hanging up.

Helpful MindFreedom voluteers in Minnesota are now prohibited from
even visiting Ray. Ray is kept from a follow-up visit to the
Minnesota Center for Independent Living. Ray is not being offered
humane alternatives to electroshock. Mail sent to Ray is re-directed
to LSSMN for screening. LSSMN attorney George Borer wrote MFI on 1
December "emphasizing" that they do not consent to MFI disseminating
info that Ray provided for the campaign that they consider "private."

In a newspaper report on 18 November, Eric Jonstaard, director of
LSSMN, did speak out about Ray to a reporter. Unfortunately, Mr.
Jonstaard took the opportunity to chastise MindFreedom for using
Ray's full name in the Ray Campaign, as Ray has specifically and
repeatedly authorized MindFreedom and NPR to do.

For more info on the Ray Campaign see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

*** What is ELCA's link to LSSMN?

Through his bravery, Ray has offered us all an opportunity to create
dialogue. Instead, Mr. Jonstaard seeks to distance ELCA from the
situation by saying that ELCA is "not related to the situation"
except for a "loose" sponsorship of LSSMN.

Not related?

Loose?

ELCA's sponsorship of LSSMN is official, financial, legal, direct,
public and documented.

LSSMN's web site states that LSSMN is "owned" by six Minnesota synods
of ELCA, and credits ELCA as one of its "primary" funding sources for
their 2009 budget of $90 million.

Owned? A primary funding source?

How is that "loose"? Perhaps a lack of close oversight is part of the
problem.

This dialogue should not be about technical quibbling. ELCA has a
deep moral obligation to address oppression of any of their clients,
or any human being for that matter. ELCA's agencies receive millions
of dollars in scarce taxpayer funding to guard these clients.

In Minnesota alone, Mr. Jonstaard says that LSSMN is responsible for
800 "vulnerable adults." How many have experienced involuntary
psychiatric drugging and electroshock? LSSMN's Tonya Wilhelm told
MindFreedom's David Oaks that involuntary electroshock of LSSMN
clients like Ray in Minnesota is "not uncommon."

The moral failure of involuntary electroshock over the expressed
wishes of the individual is not only committed by the individual
flipping the switch, but by all those aware of the torture but who
remain silent.

*** What about Ray's confidentiality?

First and foremost, Ray has repeatedly, consistently, and
passionately spoken out, as he puts it so clearly, for "No more shock
for Ray." He has signed a release of information form. He approved
MFI and National Public Radio using his full name in a broadcast that
reached an estimated two million people. LSSMN's attorney admits the
First Amendment protects the rights of this campaign.

The ELCA statement claims that "confidentiality" keeps them from
addressing Ray specifically. In MindFreedom's opinion, agencies such
as LSSMN have the legal discretion and moral obligation to speak out
about abuse of their clients to legislators, media, and the public if
they choose. Ray has asked for LSSMN to do this.

At what point does confidentiality become cover-up?

However anyone interprets privacy laws, everyone admits it is
completely legal for ELCA and LSSMN to speak out in general to the
media and legislators about the policy of involuntary electroshock
itself, which can impact a number of their agency's clients.

ELCA has addressed other tough issues over the years. For instance,
one of ELCA's predecessor churches ordained female pastors as early
as 1970. ELCA publicly wrestles with other controversial topics
including abortion and homosexual pastors.

So what about joining a discussion about issues impacting people
diagnosed with psychiatric disabilities? Isn't it time? Isn't it past
time?

*** Isn't ELCA right that this is a matter entirely up to the courts?

According to eye witnesses, and Ray himself, his most recent court
hearing on 16 December, held in a hospital basement, was a mockery of
justice. Ray was not able to secure a better attorney. His court-
appointed attorney, Jon Duckstad, who Ray says has barely
communicated with him, did not call one independent expert witness to
defend Ray, and has refused offers of free help from other attorneys.

Social justice requires not just courts, but a sense of individual
and group moral responsibility.

Washing ones hands as Ray is escorted to a forced shock on Christmas
Eve is not acceptable.

*** Where else can people raise concerns with the ELCA community?

You may choose to bring this matter up with your own faith community,
and ask them to begin to address these topics themselves and contact
local ELCA congregations.

Also, by coincidence, the next ELCA Churchwide Assembly will take
place 17 to 23 August 2009 in Minneapolis, the very region where Ray
is receiving his regular, outpatient, forced electroshock.

It is time for all religious organizations to dialogue about the
human rights and dignity of some of society's most oppressed
citizens, people who experience psychiatric atrocities.

One would expect many of ELCA's participants would want to lead the
faith community on the neglected social justice issue of human rights
in mental health, rather than silence public discussion.

To quote ELCA's web site about their church:

"It's a story of a powerful and patient God who has boundless love
for all people of the world, who brings justice for the oppressed."

*** Why do you quote a civil rights leader such as Martin Luther
King, Jr. about psychiatric oppression?

The civil rights movement was the inspiration for many social change
movements, including the movement led by survivors of psychiatric
abuse that began in the USA in 1970.

Other relevant quotes by MLK from his letter from a Birminham Jail
include the following:

MLK:

"I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and
states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about
what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly,
affects all indirectly....

"An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and
natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law
that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statues
are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the
personality...

"You may well ask, 'Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so
forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?' You are quite right in
calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct
action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and
foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused
to negotiate is forced to confront the issue...

"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's
great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White
Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate,
who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a
negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace
which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with
you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of
direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the
timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept
of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more
convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is
more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill
will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright
rejection."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the reply ELCA has been sending to many people who have
expressed concern about Ray:

Statement from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA] About
Campaign Against Forced Electroshock of Ray Sandford

~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Info@elca.org

Date: December 16, 2008 7:36:03 AM PST

Thank you for writing concerning a story you have heard or seen in
the public media. The ELCA is not related to the situation, except as
a sponsor of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, one of 280 such
organizations in the Lutheran Services in America network.
Sponsorship is a fairly loose term from a churchwide perspective, and
usually means that people in the area of the affiliated agency
represent the church on the agency's board, and individuals and
congregations may also contribute some funding to the agency.

Here is a response from Lutheran Services in America which explains
the situation about which you are concerned:

To respond to your inquiry and comments regarding a recent story
about the medical situation of a vulnerable adult under a civil
commitment proceeding, who also has a court appointed guardian:

As a guardian, Lutheran Social Service has both a legal and ethical
duty to keep the specific details of clients' care and treatment
confidential. While we can't discuss the client specifically, we can
speak in general about how we carry out our work.

Lutheran Social Service is appointed by the court to serve as a
guardian or conservator to over 800 vulnerable adults in Minnesota.
We are court-appointed to take on this role when individuals lack the
capacity to make decisions about their affairs and there are no
family members who are either able or willing to take on that
responsibility.

A civil commitment is a separate proceeding in the State of
Minnesota. When a person is civilly committed, a decision to impose
electroconvulsive therapy ("ECT") is a decision made by a commitment
court and not the court appointed Guardian. In the commitment process
someone, normally a health care professional, brings a petition for
ECT treatment for the individual. The individual is assigned an
attorney and a guardian ad litem (not Lutheran Social Service) who
act as advocates either to oppose or to consent to the petition. The
commitment court hears evidence from medical professionals and then
makes a decision on whether to impose the ECT treatment. The court
decision is then appealable by the client and the client's attorney.
Under Minnesota Statute §524.5-313, a general guardian such as
Lutheran Social Service has no authority to impose ECT treatment
against the known conscientious, religious or moral beliefs of the
individual. The general guardian is not a participant in the civil
commitment process regarding the forced imposition of ECT treatment.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota has a long tradition of serving
vulnerable children and adults, and careful systems are in place to
ensure that decisions are made with the person's best interest in mind.

Sincerely,
Eric Jonsgaard, Senior Director
LSS Guardianship Options

I hope this helps you understand the situation, and that you will
tell whoever suggested that writing to the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America might help make a difference that they are
misdirecting you and many other people.

Miriam L. Woolbert
ELCA Communication Services

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above was sent by ELCA to a number of people in response to Ray
Alert #7 about National Public Radio coverage of Ray's campaign,
which you can hear or read here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray/alert-7-sandford

For more information on the Ray Campaign see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/ray

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLEASE FORWARD THIS NEWS!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For information about joining MindFreedom today, click here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Business as usual

Back in the 1980ies I was a member of A.I.D.A. (Association Internationale de Défense des Artistes), an Amnesty affiliate, whose purpose it was to support artists who were kept political prisoners. People like Orhan Taylan, Karl Gaspar and Wei Jingsheng.

In 1986 I translated several texts about and by Wei Jingsheng (from English into German) for the production of Ariane Mnouchkine's The Trial against Wei Jingsheng at Munich. With a short repreive in 1993, Wei spent almost 19 years in prison, from March 1979 to November 1997, five of them in solitary confinement, isolation.

Solitary confinement was his situation in 1986 when I did the translations. I read about a small cell with a window, high above, that allowed Wei to see a square of the sky. There was serious concern, that he would "go mad" under these circumstances.

If anything is "abnormal" about me, it is my ability to identify. With the victims of injustice, assault, betrayal, abuse... you name it. And, by the way, it doesn't make a difference if the victim in question is a human being, an animal, a plant, a thing, whatever. I identify. I become the victim. I suffer. Why? Because I have been the victim myself. I didn't know then. It took many years and several crises to figure out. Crises: fights for freedom, for independence, for justice. Revolutions. Political, yes. Crisis is also always political. What is the difference between a dissident and a mad person? The dissident is conscious about what s/he is opposing.

I walked about, locked up in a small cell, with only a square of the sky to see. I was about to "go mad". I "went mad ", to a certain extent. To the rest of the extent, I was able to channel my revolution into activism.

One thought kept on milling around in my mind: I would have to go to China and free Wei. Now! Free Wei. Free me.

A similar thought crossed my mind tonight, when I got the news about Ray. Sometimes it's not so easy to turn identification into acceptance and compassion.

I wonder, when it will dawn on people in general, that what is called "help" for "the mentally ill" is nothing but additional, and often the ultimate, oppression of people who have been victimized and deprived of a constructive language of their own.

What I've heard about Ray's hearing, reminds me horrifyingly of Wei's trial: A complete farce. The outcome decided in advance. But while the self-appointed "democracies" in this world loudly protest human rights violations in countries like China, they are blind to the human rights violations that take place right in the middle of them, among their own people. Business as usual.

This is for all the dissidents who have been denied a voice of their own, and who are kept political prisoners under the guise of "help":

Peter Gabriel Biko Live 1986



"You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire"

National Public Radio on Forced Electroshock of Ray Sandford

15 December 2008

Today, National Public Radio's show "Day to Day" aired a segment
about the involuntary electroshock of Ray Sandford.

You may listen to the nearly nine-minute segment online for free here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98273451

or use this web link:

http://tinyurl.com/npr-sandford

The NPR show interviews Ray Sandford along with David W. Oaks,
director of MindFreedom and many others, including Ray's mom, about
the ethical debate over forced electroshock.

Ray Sandford is a Minnesota resident who is court ordered to have
electroshock over his expressed wishes on an outpatient basis. Ray
contacted MindFreedom International to launch a campaign that has
reached millions of people about Ray's right to say "no" to his
electroshock.

Every other Wednesday Ray is escorted from his group home residence
to receive another electroshock against his wishes. Ray's most recent
electroshock was on 10 December 2008, which was also United Nations
International Human Rights day.

   RAY HAS A HEARING TOMORROW - PLEASE ATTEND!

Because of MindFreedom's campaign, Ray has at least been given a new
court hearing, scheduled for *tomorrow*, Tuesday, 16 December 2008 at
8:30 am. If you live in St. Paul/Minneapolis area, please try to
attend. Ray said the hearing is at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. For
address and directions click here:

http://www.regionshospital.com

If Ray loses, his next forced electroshock is scheduled for Christmas
Eve, 24 December 2008. It would be approximately his 36th electroshock.

For more information on MindFreedom's campaign to stop the forced
electroshock of Ray Sandford, including a photo of Ray, frequently
asked questions and how to help out, click here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray

     ** ACTION ** ACTION ** ACTION **

If you politely insist when you call the office of the Governor of
Minnesota, you are finally able to talk to a staff person about the
topic of involuntary electroshock.

If you just get diverted to voice mail, call back later and ask to
speak to a staff person.

Unfortunately, the staff person is simply saying that Governor
Pawlenty believes he can do nothing.

Please help Governor Pawlenty realize that he has self-determination
and empowerment! The Governor could at least help Ray get better
legal representation.

Call the Governor's office from anywhere in the world phone (651)
296-3391.

 From inside Minnesota phone toll free (800) 657-3717.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLEASE FORWARD THIS NEWS!

Please spread the word! Circulate this news about the NPR show to all
those who may be interested.

LET THE MEDIA KNOW about the NPR coverage of the Ray Sandford campaign!

Many mainstream media did not believe forced electroshock of an
individual living out in the community could be happening in the USA.
Tell media to listen to the NPR show here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98273451

or use this web link:

http://tinyurl.com/npr-sandford

Note that after registering on that NPR web site you may also leave a
*comment* about the show about Ray. Estimated number of listeners of
Day to Day is two million on 200 radio stations. Because of cutbacks,
NPR recently announced the show would be cancelled in March 2009.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Encourage Everyone to Join MindFreedom International During the Fall
2008 Support Drive

Build the people power it will take to stop the kind of torture that
Ray is experiencing!

For information about how you can join MindFreedom today, click here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Ray Alert 5: Next Forced Shock International Human Rights Day 10 Dec!

MindFreedom International - Ray Alert #5
Win Human Rights in Mental Health - Please Forward!
http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray/alert-5-sandford

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Ray's Next Scheduled Involuntary Outpatient Electroshock is:
   10 December -- International Human Rights Day!

by David W. Oaks, Executive Director, MindFreedom International

This Wednesday, 10 December 2008, human rights activists all over the
world will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the signing of the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

10 December is the UN's official International Human Rights Day.

10 December is also the day that Ray Sandford is scheduled to receive
his 35th involuntary outpatient electroshock.

NEW ON WEB: Learn Ray's story -- Frequently Asked Questions About Ray
Sandford Campaign, click here:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray/sandford-faq

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Latest News on Ray Campaign

Unless action is taken swiftly, then this Wednesday morning, as he
has been for most mornings in the last few months, Ray will be
awakened early by staff in his room at the group residence Victory
House near Minneapolis.

Once more an escort will bring him against his will the 15 miles to
Mercy Hospital, where once more -- under court order -- doctors will
place electrodes on his head for another electroconvulsive therapy
(ECT), or electroshock, that can and has wiped out precious memories
and cognitive abilities from Ray.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   The Good News About Ray Campaign:

Because of MindFreedom's campaign to support Ray Sandford:

* The Minnesota Governor's office reports receiving "hundreds" of
complaints. Thank you everyone!

* Three agencies are now working to replace Ray's non-responsive
court-appointed attorney with a new attorney.

* National media has finally interviewed Ray for an upcoming broadcast.

   The Bad News: It is Not Enough! Speak Out Now!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ** ACTION ** ACTION ** ACTION **

It is time to take the Ray Campaign up a notch, peacefully but strongly!

Let this become a top issue in the Governor's office.

Telephone Governor Pawlenty's office *NOW*:

Call any day, but especially call *before* Ray's scheduled
electroshock next Wednesday, 10 December 2008.

Call from anywhere in the world phone (651) 296-3391.

 From inside Minnesota phone toll free (800) 657-3717.

You have the best chance of reaching staff from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Central Time weekdays.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   WHY WON'T GOVERNOR PAWLENTY REPLY? Find out! Ask!

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has completely stone-walled!

* His office refuses to issue any statement on the policy of forced
electroshock.

* He claims he can do nothing, that the courts are in charge, when he
could at least make sure Ray gets better legal representation for a
stay or appeal.

* His office operators have been instructed to immediately redirect
calls about Ray into a voice mail. No one we know of has ever heard
back. Some operators have hung up on callers.

* Meanwhile, the Governor is sponsoring a $200-a-head luxury hotel
conference about International Human Rights Day!

   It is time to get creative!

* Ray will not give up!

* We will not give up!

* Don't you give up!

   Please be peaceful, but be CREATIVELY MALADJUSTED in your next
phone calls to Governor Pawlenty's office.

First, get the name of the operator and write it down. Then start by
asking polite but firm questions about advocacy...

* about citizen input...

* about who to talk to about mental health policy...

* about the names and phone numbers of the Ombudsman office

* about mental health policy and the mental health division...

* about how poor people can have adequate legal representation...

And only then ask about why the Governor is refusing to speak out
about Involuntary Outpatient Electroshock (IOE)?

Insist on speaking to a live real person about this issue.

If you do not get a real person with a real reply, CALL BACK.

If an operator hangs up on you, call back and ask to speak to a
manager and complain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

REMEMBER:

Telephone Governor Pawlenty's office *NOW*:

Call any day, but especially call *before* Ray's scheduled
electroshock next Wednesday, 10 December 2008.

Call from anywhere in the world phone (651) 296-3391.

 From inside Minnesota phone toll free (800) 657-3717.

You have the best chance of reaching staff from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Central Time weekdays.

If you do receive any helpful information or leads, e-mail it to news-
at-mindfreedom.org.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Learn more about Ray on the all-new "Frequently Asked Questions"
page about the Ray Campaign.

Learn about:

* The back story about Ray.

* How MindFreedom filed an official torture complaint about the State
of Minnesota to the United Nations.

* And what else you can do to help.

Click on the Frequently Asked Questions page here: http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray/sandford-faq

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A clickable version of above Ray Alert 5 is on web here: http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray/alert-5-sandford

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Get Around the Media Blackout! Forward this human rights alert to
all people who care about human rights, on and off the Internet!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Encourage Everyone to Join MindFreedom International During the Fall
2008 Support Drive

Build the people power it will take to stop the kind of torture that
Ray is experiencing!

For information about how you can join MindFreedom today, click here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Ray Sandford - Alert #3

MindFreedom International - 16 November 2008
Ray Human Rights Alert #3: Please Forward

Now see a photo of Ray here:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray

   Media ought to ask, "What is Minnesota Governor Pawlenty's
position on Involuntary Outpatient Electroshock (IOE)?"

   Ray gets a one week reprieve.

First the good news.

Within days of MindFreedom launching its campaign on 7 November 2008
to stop the weekly involuntary outpatient electroshock of Ray
Sandford, his doctor has decided to "skip a Wednesday."

Ray says that this coming Wednesday, 19 November 2008, for the first
time in months, Ray will not be escorted against his will, under
court order, from his Minnesota home out in the community to his 34th
involuntary outpatient electroshock.

So there's a reprieve for Ray.

For one week.

The bad news is that Ray's doctor said Ray's forced outpatient
electroshocks will resume on Wednesday, 26 November 2008, the day
before the USA holiday of Thanksgiving.

Ray said his involuntary shock will then continue every other week.

We don't know if the one-week reprieve is because of the MindFreedom
campaign, but we know MindFreedom News readers are having an impact.

Since the MindFreedom first alert went out nine days ago, on 7
November 2008:

    *** Many people from all over the world have e-mailed and phoned
the offices of the Governor of Minnesota, along with social service
agencies, media, and the hospital where Ray receives his electroshock
against his expressed wishes.

    *** For the first time, thousands of people are now aware of the
existence of IOE -- Involuntary Outpatient Electroshock.

    *** A few national and local media are now actively investigating.

    *** Several advocacy agencies and human rights organizations are
expressing concern and getting involved.

    *** Several volunteer attorneys are now in touch to provide
assistance.

    *** Volunteers are visiting Ray and sending him their support,
and Ray tells us he is grateful. One volunteer took the photo of Ray
shown on the web version of this alert:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray

    *** MindFreedom's "Zapback" e-mail list is coordinating the
campaign.

    *** A disability professor and her class of students have called
up Ray and are taking on his campaign as a project.

    *** And more.

Thank you, everyone.

Keep up the pressure and the support!

   KEEP IT UP!

First, keep phoning and e-mailing, especially if you have not so far.
Show there is national and international concern!

Here are the links to the original two MindFreedom alerts, which have
information about how to e-mail and phone the Governor of Minnesota,
and how to write or visit Ray:

7 Nov: Alert #1:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray-sandford

12 Nov: Alert #2 - Governor Phone-In Campaign:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/pawlenty-electroshock

16 Nov: Alert #3 - Link to this alert with photo of Ray:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray

   SOLVE A MYSTERY!

Second, help MindFreedom answer the main mystery.

Despite all this public interest the question remains, "What is
Governor Pawlenty's position on Minnesota laws allowing involuntary
outpatient electroshock?"

Is this Governor, who campaigns for "limited government," for such
laws or against them?

Unfortunately, the Governor's office has not responded to any of the
many e-mails or phone calls requesting his policy position. The
Governor's office is immediately forwarding citizen inquiries to a
voice mail, and then not replying to the voice mail.

We need media to ask the Governor for us. Please forward this alert
to all media, small and large, from newspapers to bloggers.

Media can direct questions to:

Brian McClung
Director of Communications for Minnesota's Governor
phone: (651) 296-0001.

Media ought to ask, "What is Governor Pawlenty's position on
Minnesota laws allowing involuntary outpatient electroshock?"

Sometimes the Governor's office is re-directing calls to the
Minnesota Department of Human Rights. At first that sounds good. But
this office says it is only focused on determining whether narrow
discrimination complaints are legally valid. A spokesperson said this
department makes no statements about policy.

This Minnesota agency said they are planning a major one-day human
rights conference and forum on 5 December. One barrier is the "forum"
costs $200.

For information on this Minn. Dept. of Human Rights, and their
"forum," click here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray/minnesota-human-rights-conference
or use this link:
http://tinyurl.com/mn-human-rights

You can also keep up with some of the latest developments about the
Ray Campaign on the MindFreedom blog by MindFreedom director David
Oaks, here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/mfi-blog

Disclaimer: Because the State of Minnesota won't reply, portions of
these alerts are based on Ray's personal statements. By Ray's own
admission, he now has severe memory problems. Therefore, journalists
may want to find a second source to confirm accuracy.

Coercion in the mental health system - A Norwegian documentary

On October 28th 2008 the Norwegian television station NRK 1 broadcasted the documentary "Tvang i psykiatrien" (Coercion in the mental health system) in the series "Brennpunkt" (Focus). The program can be watched here (in Norwegian language).

In the program two young women, Kristina and Hege, tell about their experience with commitment and coercion in the Norwegian mental health system. The thought that immediately came to my mind after watching the program was: 'Grotesque'. While I, at the same time and once again, hardly could believe my own luck.

Kristina

Kristina S. Larsen's first experience with psychiatry occurs after she has been assaulted physically and, as a result of this, loses the child she at the time is pregnant with. She says, that what she herself felt she needed, was to be listened to, a calm and safe environment, and her feelings being acknowledged as real enough.

Around Christmas 2007 her mother notices that Kristina becomes more and more stressed, doesn't sleep well, and loses her appetite. Kristina is committed to a psychiatric hospital where she is assessed as being in need of "protection" - "protection" and "protected unit" are euphemisms for seclusion, while there officially is no such thing as seclusion in the Scandinavian mental health system - to "calm down", as her psychiatrist says.

Kristina describes the situation as extremely humiliating, especially being forcibly drugged, and not knowing when she'd be allowed to leave. She says, the only way to get a somewhat tolerable stay at the hospital was to not get angry,not criticize, not cry, not show any emotions, and to just please the staff. "These people act as if they are gods. They may define, they may judge, and no one can in any way re-examine what they say and do", she says.

After some time at the "protected unit", Kristina is moved, only to be sent back into "protection" shortly after again, because she, according to her psychiatrist, has a very "unfavourable influence" on the other patients at the unit, whom she makes refuse to take their drugs.

In March 2008, after two and a half months at the hospital, Kristina is discharged, but is now under outpatient commitment referred to the community mental health system. She asks for a female therapist, preferably with some experience in treating women who have experienced violence and the loss of a child due to spontaneous abortion. She is referred to a young male psychiatrist in training, who hasn't much understanding for her situation, and whom she often becomes angry with. In July 2008 the therapist assesses, that Kristina isn't angry with him, but "hypomanic". He contacts her psychiatrist at the hospital, and they decide that Kristina would have to go back to the hospital, since another "episode" seemed to be on its way.

Kristina's mother arranges for her to escape and hide at Store Torungen Lighthouse Station. The lighthouse keeper says, there were no problems with Kristina whatsoever during her stay. On the contrary, she was cooking, making coffee, and easily socializing with the people in the community.

Meanwhile, her psychiatrist chooses to see her escape as a "sign that her ability of decision making is rather poor. She could have come here, and proven that she was sane, and left again. But she chose not to show up. I experienced this as poor ability of decision making. And it is typical for these episodical diseases that the ability of decision making deteriorates."

Three weeks after her escape, Kristina's mother succeeds to arrange a meeting between her, Kristina and the psychiatrist. On neutral ground. Kristina, of course, refuses to go and talk to her psychiatrist at the hospital as long as the court order for her commitment is effective. "You never know what these people can imagine to do", she says, while she attentively watches the parking lot where her mother is waiting for the psychiatrist. He, nevertheless, arrives alone, and after a one and a half hour long meeting at a nearby hotel, he agrees to lift the commitment order for Kristina if she is willing to stay in touch with the community mental health system and see a therapist.

Hege

The other woman in the documentary is Hege J. Orefellen. In summer 2003 Hege has been in contact with Folloklinikken, a community mental health facility under Aker University Hospital, for a shorter period because of emotional problems. - Interestingly, at the top of the website the terms "openness", "community", "respect", and "involvement" appear in turns. Well, just a - somewhat funny - observation. - Hege, whose baby daughter suffers from a rare condition, and is very dependent on Hege breast feeding her, is not minded to take psychiatric drugs, and wants to end her regular talk sessions at Folloklinikken.

The 3rd of July 2003, while Hege is preparing to go to university to discuss her thesis with her supervisor, she receives a phone call from Folloklinikken and is told, that if she doesn't show up at the clinic within an hour, they'll send the police to come and pick her up. After consulting her GP about the matter, Hege, who feels clearly threatened by the phone call, and says, just as Kristina, that no one knows what these people might imagine to do, decides to go "voluntarily" to the clinic, still convinced, that she'll be able to leave as soon as she has made sure, that she isn't in any need of "treatment". What she doesn't know is that the psychiatrist at Folloklinikken assesses her to suffer from "major depression" and to be "a danger to herself", "acutely suicidal".

Hege says about the conversation: "I realize then, that my words don't count anymore. No matter what I may say, it is of no importance." She is denied permission to call her partner or her GP, and is referred to Blakstad hospital, where another psychiatrist is to assess her within 24 hours, and confirm that she is acutely suicidal in order to keep the commitment order effective. At Blakstad hospital Hege, who according to the psychiatrist at Folloklinikken is acutly suicidal, is asked to wait in a kind of workroom, with scissors, glue, paint, and lots of other stuff that easily could be (ab-)used to commit suicide...

At night, Hege writes a complaint to the control commission at Blakstad hospital: "I write this complaint, hoping that someone might see what a commitment can do to an individual. My story is long, but the way here to Blakstad is terrifyingly short. I admit, that I was in need of help and support, but instead I got a traumatizing commitment."

The next day, the psychiatrist at Blakstad assesses Hege as not suicidal, and she is discharged. Since she hadn't been under commitment for more than 24 hours, her stay at the hospital is registered as "voluntary".

Hege decides to sue Aker hospital for violation of human rights, illegal loss of liberty, and violation of family and private life, in regard to the threatening information she was given in the initial phone call from Folloklinikken, and wins in court.

The commitment procedure has left Hege with a deep feeling of insecurity towards both the health system, telephone calls, and the police, and a couple of months after she is discharged from Blakstad, while passing by a police station on her way to her GP, there's a turn-out that provokes an anxiety-attack in Hege. Her GP gives her a couple of valiums and a prescription for more. Hege isn't quite happy to take the valiums, as she isn't happy to take psychotropic drugs at all, since she has experienced adverse drug reactions before, but agrees to take them anyway. The valium causes an adverse reaction. Hege doesn't recall anything from the time period after she left her GP's office until next day, when she recovers her senses at Moss hospital. She learns, that she has been to a pharmacy and bought the prescribed valium, which she then took altogether.

Moss hospital has Hege assessed by a psychologist while she still is under the influence of the valium - she doesn't recall the conversation with the psychologist either - and the psychologist evaluates that she should be sent to Blakstad psychiatric hospital. At Blakstad hospital, Hege is asked to give up her cell phone which she denies as it is her "last lifeline to the outside world", as she says. The alarm goes, and Hege is violently thrown to the ground by four staff members, her arm twisted around onto her back, and the phone pulled out of her hand, with her fingers getting sprained. The whole incident only takes a few seconds, and Hege says, she didn't even get what was happening to her, and only felt extremely trampled on.

"The first three days at Blakstad were a downward spiral for me, psychologically seen", Hege says. "I can't stand further commitments, I can't stand further assaults. I won't be able to cope if they do implement involuntary drugging, I won't be able to cope if they do implement electroshock, I won't be able to cope with further interventions against me now. I reached a point where ending my life was the only solution. But it wasn't a solution anyway, because I could never have done that to my child."

Also this time, Hege complains to the control commission. At a meeting with the commission on the sixth day of her hospital stay, the commission evaluates her as neither depressed nor suicidal at all, and she is discharged.

Hege, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, went to law school after her experiences with human rights violations in the mental health system, and specialized in human and patient rights. She is active in the user/ex-user/survivor movement, and a member of MindFreedom International.

Accidentally, I came across Sørlandet hospital's reaction to a statement by Hege from 2005, quoted in a Norwegian newspaper, that says that one of the main reasons for people to commit suicide are the mental health system's "own suicide-triggering mechanisms". A statement, clearly based on her own dehumanizing and humiliating experience. Of course, the staff at Sørlandet hospital "believe[s] that Hege Orefellen is wrong to theorize" this. I believe - also from my own (even though only hypothetical) experience - she is right on. My plans in case of a possible commitment were quite clear to me.

Some thoughts about the documentary

There are several things, I found noteworthy about this documentary. First of all the striking difference between Kristina's experience of herself, her situation, and her needs, on the one hand, and the "expert's" perception of her and her needs on the other. While Kristina says, that what she felt she needed most was someone to ask her what had happened to her, that made her react the way she did, and while she, additionally, expresses that she didn't feel any whatsoever need for "protection" (isolation), or to be "medicated" into a consciousness erasing, mental fog, the "expert" states, that he couldn't "expose" Kristina to the "strain" a dialoge with her at the time of acute crisis in his opinion would have been. "Kristina was asking for dialogue. That's right. But during the acute phase, I don't work with dialogue but with treatment to stabilize", the "expert" says. "And when an individual is stable, then the intention is, that dialogue, accordingly to what Kristina is asking for, treatment of her psychological traumas, becomes relevant. Because this in itself, being treated for psychological traumas, is a strain. I can't put strain on someone in an acute phase."

I wonder how it is, that this "expert" doesn't seem to realize how much more straining it can be for an individual in acute crisis to be denied his/her most vital need, the need to come to an understanding of him-/herself through dialogue, to be met, than a dialogue in itself ever could be. And I wonder, if we also here have projection being at work, to be understood in the way that a dialogue with Kristina first of all would have been straining for the "expert", and not for Kristina.

As far as I myself am concerned, the need for dialogue, for being listened to, became overwhelming at periods of crisis. And that I certainly not am an isolated case, this experience can serve as a good example for. In principle, I guess, everyone has at some point in their lives had the opportunity to observe that the more overwhelming an experience is, the greater the need to come to terms with it - through expressing one's feelings about it in words, terms, through a dialogue with another human being - becomes.

It sometimes seems to me like there's a short circuit happening in the thinking of people, especially in that of the "experts": On the one hand it is acknowledged, that people who've had an overwhelming experience need to talk it through, and crisis intervention is offered. But as soon as the overwhelming experience, on the other hand, isn't immediately understandable for one's surroundings, the reaction to it is defined as "sick", the reacting individual as having a brain disease and thus in need of medical "treatment": "protection" (isolation) and the administration of chemical substances, that blunt consciousness, and render clear thought and speech a city in China. Instead of being recognized as in need of a dialogue. If at all, a dialogue is only offered after the individual has been "treated" enough, to make an open dialogue with the potential for coming to terms more or less impossible. Backwards world.

Thus, of course, the "expert" in the program also questions Kristina's ability of decision making. By definition, an individual's ability of decision making is put out of the running - by an alleged brain disease - if the individual is in crisis, and the cause of the crisis isn't immediately recognizable for the individual's surroundings - so that the cause can't but must be the alleged brain disease. Very simple.

Unfortunately - for the "experts" - the outcome of Kristina's story shows, that her ability of decision making obviously, and in stark contrast to the "expert's" allegations, was at its peak. Intuitively, she did what was best for her in her situation. While she mentions, that her immediate reaction to hospitalization and "treatment" - as being the opposite of what she herself felt, she was in need of - was anger.

Kristina's story clearly shows, what people in crisis really need, instead of "treatment": self-determination, personal freedom, and security - for, even if she is on the run for three weeks, this situation feels more secure to her than a commitment, with the inextricably linked to it loss of personal freedom and self-determination, ever could have felt. Security does not equal to be exposed to others' "care", for better or for worse. Security equals to being respected unconditionally.

The worst that can happen to an individual who has had an overwhelming experience, is feeling an additional loss of control over the situation. For instance by being controlled by others, by being told what to do and what not to do, by being "protected" (isolated), by being "medicated" with substances, that make the individual concerned lose control over their own thinking, intuition and body sensation, by being told by others what and how to think, and feel, and how to define oneself, etc. Such interventions in an individual's privacy will already under "normal" circumstances be perceived as a violation of one's limits. It becomes unbearable, if an individual beforehand is in a very vulnerable state because of an acute crisis. Nevertheless, the only logic reactions to the intrusions - in the shape of fear and anger - are regarded a worsening of the "symptoms", of the "illness", thus needing further "treatment", i.e. further intrusions. A vicious circle, or spiral, that unfortunately all too often ends with the individual in crisis going down, breaking. Mentally - or physically.

Quite interesting I also find the system's definition of "voluntary", in the program illustrated by Hege's story. "If you don't show up within an hour, you'll be picked up by the police", and the defence lawyer underlines how much effort is put into making people to show up voluntarily, although they also need to be informed about what will happen, if they - completely voluntarily - decide not to show up. A somewhat strange definition of "voluntary" the system makes use of. Kafka* comes to my mind. Just as I think 'Kafka', as I hear Hege tell about her conversation with the psychiatrist at Folloklinikken: "I realize then, that my words don't count anymore. No matter what I may say, it is of no importance."

I wonder, when the system eventually will start to respect and treat its clientele as human beings. And if the system ever will be capable at all of the humility, this would require. That the outlook, so far, is rather sinister, also this documentary again shows.

Which distinguishes this program from most other programs on the matter I've seen, is that not only Hege but also Kristina is given the opportunity to present herself as a fully accountable human being, fully aware her own situation and absolutely capable of making reasonable decisions about it, that she is given the opportunity to speak for herself, while, even though the "expert" involved in her case also is given the opportunity to tell his view of the situation, there is no attempt made to devalue Kristina's self-presentation as being that of a "mentally ill" person, and thus not trustworthy. On the contrary, the program actually proves the in the psychiatric establishment widespread idea that "patients" with "serious mental illnesses" have poor insight and thus are incapable of decision making, that is explicitly stated by Kristina's psychiatrist in the program, wrong.

Kristina chooses not to name her diagnosis directly in the program. But that it isn't in the category of some sort of "anxiety disorder" or the like, stands pretty clear. Her mother tells that the therapist saw Kristina's anger toward him to be "hypomania", so, figure it out. While, if at all I had to label anything in regard to Kristina, in regard to my own experience, and/or in regard to everything else, that gets labelled as "mental illness", I'd say there is only one "mental illness": PTSD.

No matter how critical of psychiatric practices otherwise, all Danish programs dealing with the matter of psychiatric "treatment", choose to only interview individuals who, in contrast to Kristina, display "insight" and furthermore, and also in stark contrast to Kristina, are compliant with psychiatric "treatment", i.e. drugs. The Danish media still has it coming to them to give people labelled with "serious mental illnesses" who are not "insightful" and "treatment compliant" a fair chance to speak out.

Until today, this group of "patients" is only reported about. Preferably in context with incidents that are meant to prove the insanity and lack of accountability of the individuals in question on the one hand, and to emphasize the alleged necessity of getting these individuals into psychiatric "treatment" as fast and extensively as possible to prevent further damage and deterioration, on the other. Proving psychiatric "treatment" - i.e. drugging and electroshock - to be both life-saving "treatment" measures, and the only reasonable, "evidence-based", "treatment" options for "severe mental illness", and thus being completely in line with the mainstream doctrine.

Individuals labelled with "severe mental illness" who successfully chose to do without the "help" of the system, have not yet been given a chance to present themselves and their reasons to do without the system's "help" in the Danish media. Hat off to the Norwegian NRK 1 for having the courage to do this groundbreaking documentary!

You can read more about the documentary, Kristina and Hege at MindFreedom's website.
_______________

* or Orwell