Monday, January 05, 2004
"Crime, Fraud, Patient Abuse: Welcome to the World of Psychiatry"Press release from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights at
US Newswire - "A controversial exhibit on psychiatry, recently featured in the
Chicago Tribune, will be open to the public in downtown Chicago as part of a world tour that has included stops in Rome, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, and the Federal legislature in Mexico City among the 33 cities and six countries where it has been displayed. In the United States it has been featured at the state Capitols of Georgia, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and a federal building in New York City. The organizers of the exhibit, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog, say that the psychiatric abuses portrayed throughout the exhibit though graphic, are a documented portrayal of the rampant abuses committed daily under the guise of mental health -- and effecting some of our most defenseless citizens -- particularly children, the elderly and the mentally or emotionally vulnerable." See also the
Citizens Commission on Human Rights web site.
In Mental Health Research, a Clash Over Funding PrioritiesDecember 24
Washington Post story - "A recent report criticizing the funding priorities of the federal government's National Institute of Mental Health has reignited controversy over the organization's direction and destiny -- with the top official at the institute echoing some of the criticism himself. The percentage of funds devoted to severe mental illnesses has shrunk even as the institute's budget has doubled, according to the report issued last month by psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey's Treatment Advocacy Center, the Public Citizen Health Research Group and other mental health experts. ... The report has found more critics than friends. Many health groups accuse Torrey of using misleading statistics, and caricature instead of scientific criticism. Advocacy groups for illnesses not included on Torrey's list of serious conditions criticize the report for its lack of inclusiveness, while neuroscientists and psychologists who do basic research argue that the study of normal behavior and brain biology is essential to developing new treatments for disorders. " If you have trouble accessing the
Post story, it's been reprinted, too, at the
Contra Costa Times. See also the
report at the Treatment Advocacy Center's web site.
Mental health care has come far in 40 years but stigma remainsColumn by Ken Stewart in the
Tullahoma News (Tennessee) - "In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed into law the "Community Mental Health Act." This piece of legislation resulted in funding for the establishment of community based mental health services. Prior to this time, services for the mentally ill were limited to large state institutions. These facilities housed thousands of residents who had little hope of ever returning to their homes and families. ... Despite the strides that have been made, fears and prejudices still exist that prevent people who may need help from getting the proper treatment. Among the general population, half of those in need of behavioral health services never seek treatment..."
Law to help mentally ill is in limbo (California)San Francisco Gate story on Laura's Law, "....a state statute that gives counties the power to force the most severely mentally ill into outpatient treatment. But a year after the Legislature passed Laura's Law, even its name is controversial. Critics say naming the measure after Laura Wilcox was intended to gain sympathy for what is one of the most volatile topics in the mental health world -- forced treatment. ... So far, only one county, Los Angeles, has implemented even a tiny pilot program under the law, which allows forced outpatient treatment after a court hearing for people who are severely mentally ill and have refused voluntary services. The program there, under scrutiny so intense that the head of the agency running it says she has "an advisory board watching our advisory board," has not even filled its maximum of 35 slots. ..."
