Remembrances: Loren R. Mosher, M.D.

Remembrances
Loren R. Mosher, M.D.
1933-2004

This page is for people to give their remembrances of Dr. Mosher.
To include your remembrances, e-mail info@psychrights.org.
Loren Mosher is dead. Read tribute by David Oaks:
There is another remembrance page for Dr. Mosher at the The Society for Laingian Studies
New York Times Obituary
British Medical Journal on Loren

Because the Robots have discovered this page, I have had to discontinue the automatic addition of memorials. However, you can e-mail me at jim.gottstein@psychrights.org and I will manually add it. Jim

My deepest condolences to the family of Dr. Loren Mosher. It's been a long time (21 years), since we were in touch, but I always remember him and his family with a very deep feeling. Loren was a good friend and a man full of happiness. It was a great pleasure having him with us in our home in Italy. Today I came to know about his loss, I am very sad. I hope all the members of his family will be healthy. My love. Christiana Loupouc[6/at/4]yahoo.gr

It is so difficult to believe that it is three years since loren died - although we/I mourn him it is so exciting to see his work being carried forward by believers around the globe - somewhere he is smiling -several months before he died he said to me "Judy i think it is happening. I think it (Soteria and alternatives) is catching on" - and becuase of the work of all of you it is - god bless and good strength to all as we continue the fight.

RIP Loren Mosher You were a bona-fide truth seeker Dr. Andrew J. Cantwell (Clinical Psychiatrist)

Although I have only met you here. Rest in Peace Brother your friend in Supported Housing UK Kate

today is two years since loren died and it feels like yesterday and forever - i have been reading over tributes and remembrances today - the best way to honor his death is to honor his lifelong beliefs - i know that is happening and loren is our guardian angel through the process thank you all for your continued caring judy schreiber ( mosher)

I have just come across Loren Mosher, I am from NZ & work as a mental health professional. What a loss to the world of mental health, & what a wonderful legacy of understanding he leaves! We need more of this in the world, more honest wholistic interventions, more nutrition approaches for mental health, salutations to Dr Mosher for standing up for what he felt was right & good in this field... H. Falla, NZ

I am sorry to hear of Loren Mosher's passing. He spoke to me as a peer long before I filed a psychiatric abuse and malpractice case. He also wasn't egotistical or arrogant with me. Prayers and Blessings for him. Jan Norman Montgomery county, maryland

I came across Dr. Moshers literature when I was researching rehabilitation for those that have been diagnose with a mental disorder. I knew, even during my social work education at Cal State Los Angeles that under all the symptoms there was a person; people who like me wants to be loved and to love, to belong, to make a difference, and to contribute to society. Beyond the human needs there was also God given talents and gifts that humans acquire. Even thou I was taught otherwise. In working in residential for boys who had behavioral problems in Altadena, with the homeless that were diagnosed with a mental disorder in Los Angeles, and with those that have been labeled chronically ill in the Act Program in Pomona California I felt the attitudes and the heart of those in leadership very cold and very distance from serving those individuals that needed healthy, compassionate, support. Instead, bureaucracy and power hungry people, yes I mean Licensed Psychologist, Marriage Family Therapist, and Social Workers looked towards fulfilling their agenda with our tax dollars. And the politicians that are suppose over see these programs also have no idea of what is going on or care to know even when issues are brought to their attention. Passing the buck has been a tradition in Los Angeles County. It was through Dr. Mosher writings that I began to understand why the helping field was the way it was and why I refuse to be part of the mess and confusion. He brought me through a time in my career when I was about to leave it and brought me hope. I felt that I was not alone in seeing that those individuals diagnosed with a mental disorder are people just like you and me and that ever program should be lead with an attitude that people could get better and recover. And like you me they need to be treated with respect and dignity. They need people who care around them. Thank You Dr. Mosher for you courage and your commitment to your conscious. For not taking the easy way out like so many do. For standing firm in your believe from seeing your patients recover with your love and support, even to the point of resigning from the American Psychiatric Association. Norma Bailey Normark.bailey@verizon.net

Well, it has been over a year since Loren passed away. He is not forgotten! The community continues to recognize and embrace that which Loren had already discovered and had the courage to tell. How wonderful it would be if those who vilified and marginalized him were to devote the same measure of energy, and more, to publicly give Loren credit for sounding the warnings that they now accept as their own solid truths. Loren, You will always be a hero! Love you and Judy both! Adele Lynch

Does anyone have contact information for Dr. Mosher's family? I believe he has a son in NY...? I produced a documentary and Dr. Lauren Mosher is in it - He gave us a wonderful interview - maybe his last. I would like to give a copy of the film to his family. I can be contacted at mloudon@garynull.com or at 646-505-4660 Ext 161 Thank you.

I "happened" to Google Soteria in response to a dream about Soteria where I had worked from 1974-78. I was taken aback to learn of Loren's death. I recall the times he would visit the House, and offer support to staff by sitting with one of the residents who had gone without sleep for days. I was fortunate to be part of the experience. My sincere condolences to all of Loren's family and friends. David Shaw

There once was a doctor named Mosher, And he said, "Fellow shrinks, it's not kosher To prescribe harmful drugs. Treating patients like bugs Is so gauche. You get gaucher and gaucher. I denounce all your ties to Big Pharma. It's been said 'Do no harm.' So don't harm a Patient under your care. Please do right. Please be fair, Since injustice will give you bad karma." Harris Risman, Lynn, Massachusetts

I am so sad to hear of Dr. Mosher's demise. I used to work with him on a schizophrenia project conducted at Children's Hospital in the late 90's. Dr. Mosher was so nice to me and very generous with his time. He was sharp as tack and had a lightening fast wit (with a little edge to it). He enjoyed sharing his adventures, and I loved to hear about his many achievements, both professional and personal. He gave me such a nice gift for my wedding which was at the same time I left the project at Children's. Dr. Mosher made me believe that there is still integrity in the field, people who sincerely want to help rather than pad their pockets, and that sometimes it's better to dispense advice than meds. I will truly miss him! He was a great man. Dawn Taggett, San Diego, California

I just learned today of Loren's death. I send my warm wishes to Judy and the rest of the family as you grieve. I met Loren(and Judy) when I worked at Crossing Place (in Washington, DC) in the mid 80's. Loren always treated us (staff) like our observations and insights were valuable. He constantly thought out of the box and urged us to. He helped me to learn so much from the residents I had the priviledge of working with during my four years at Crossing Place. When I need inspiration (with a tough clinical situation) I try to imagine what Loren would do. To meet an anti-med/systems focused psychiatrist so early in my career has been such a blessing to me. Alice Franks (currently of Pocatello, Idaho)

Dr. Mosher was a most compassionate man. He was the first psychiatrist I saw professionally who put "choice" at the top of his list of priorities. Other Doctors were not interested in discussing alternatives to drugs. When I first met Loren in Annapolis, Maryland at the statehouse, he was advocating for treatment alternatives. I remember him asking me to set up a dating service for other psychiatrists interested in similar options. We laughed because we realized there really weren't many who hadn't bought into the medical model, hook, line and sinker. I thank you, Loren, for your courage and the strength to stand up for the values of caring and compassion, to believe that the therapeutic alliance built with a vulnerable person who is suffering is one of the most tremendously healing things one can offer another. You are in my mind, heart and spirit always.

My deepest condolences to the family of Dr. Loren Mosher. He was a man of integrity who was willing to stand up and speak out for persons with mental illness. Although I never met him in person, just knowing that he stood up to the APA and spoke against the injustice gives me great hope for the profession. I hope and pray that more doctors will be so bold as to stand up to the Drug cartel. Thank you Dr. Mosher. I know you are with us in spirit.

Loren is one of the great men of our age in the fight for human rights and dignity, in psychiatry and beyond. His greatness and his role and importance as one of the fathers of the mental health movement will be more an more publicly recognized and acknowleged when ostracism by his contemporaries of the psychiatric establishment will give way to the justice of history. He payed a high price for his unconditioned advocacy in favor of the client, is love for truth and justice. Thanks Loren for teaching us what psychiatry is or, better, should be. We will treasure your legacy for ever. Lorenzo Burti, Verona, Italy

It is with real saddness in my heart that I now write, as I have only just discovered that Dr Mosher has left us. I do know however that I will carry my memory of him in my heart, a fond memory of a man who I never met in person but of one who touched me on a personal level when he replied to an email I sent him, when in a time of great need emotionally. When I wrote to Dr Mosher I was not sure that he would ever be able to reply but it was a comfort to me just to be able to write and tell him how I was struggling with withdrawal from neuroleptic drugs. I didn't ask for any specific advice but I did ask if he could give me some words of encouragement, to counter all the negatives that I had been given from my psychiatrist and other clinicians. Dr Mosher did reply and of course his words were encouraging, he told me, "dear robert as the grateful dead would say, "keep on truckin'" and told me not to worry that psychiatrists have lost their way. Dr Mosher ended his email to me by telling me "people REALLY need advocates like you to face the power and authority of the medical establishment"

I read my email from him every day that I sit in my office at work and every day I am at work I draw inspiration from his words and I know why I work as a mental health advocate. If it were not for Loren Mosher there would be fewer people fighting for the rights of those who are imprisoned by legal drugs. I will keep on truckin'and I will do so with Loren Mosher in my heart.

I remember the first time I met Dr. Mosher. It was when he came to San Diego to be our Medical Director. I presented him with a Sunflower because I believed that he would be a ray of sunshine for the clients who would benefit from his "consumer friendly philosophy" He was a man who lived before his time. So many of us who stuggle to convince the establishment that we know what is best for us and that recovery is possible found in Loren a friend and colleague.

I remember too the first time I met with him in his office. As president of the Board of Directors of a client-run drop-in center I was appalled when he suggested that we change the composition of our Board to 1/3 non-clients and I fought hard to keep our board 100% clients. In the end I had to succumb, but realized that as we grew and expanded we needed outside expertise. So Dr. Mosher in his wisdom really was working on our behalf. I didn't see it them.

It's too bad that the professional community and administration didn't appreciate what he was fighting for. We, the clients, surely did and in him we found a friend a colleague. He may be gone, but his ideals and values will live on as long as one person who knew and worked with his is alive and passes the gift he gave on to others.

In the early-1980s, I met Dr. Mosher at a group home where I worked and he was the consulting psychiatrist. When I moved to California, I worked in a group home in which one of the counselors had been his patient at Soteria. It's been many years, I've gone to other things, but I read the notice of his death in the Chronicle of Higher Ed and remembered what a gentle man of good humor he was and how much he has helped others.

the first time I met Loren was at Highlander in tennessee. like sherry taub, i was new to the movement and did not feel as wise or accomplished as the others there. I remember Loren and Janet Foner expecially making me feel at home.

since that time i've been blessed to see Loren at a number of conferences and events. the last time i saw Loren was when he came to visit us out here earlier this year. he spoke with many of the faculty and students before his talk and was welcoming, attentive, and kind. His talk overflowed a large hall at Mt. Holyoke College willots-hallowell building. i remember the excitement in the air that night as we really felt the psychiatric survivor movement had ARRIVED in western massachusetts. Loren Mosher had that kind of effect on people. Loren spoke to a standing room only crowd that night.

When asked how to best approach somebody in an extreme state, he paused, than said simply, "with compassion, wisdom and humor."

i was most impressed with Loren's wisdom, humor and sense of peace. you are in my heart forever.

1995 as a italian psychiatric trainee I had the luck to spend in Washington DC six months with Loren. I learned a lot of "psychiatric stuff" and a lot about the american style of life thanks to Loren and Judy. I enjoyed very much my time in Washington. Loren was not only a psychiatry master, but also a life master; and he was with suffering people same as he was in his life and with friends: simple but deep, reliable but happy and ironic. Loren, I still can not believe I will not see you again in this life. Thanks for your teaching and more of all for your friendship. Stefano

Although I never met Dr. Mosher, I know he was a tireless fighter for the rights and dignity of those alleged to be mentally ill. I saw his presence everywhere on the Internet and read about many of his offline activities. He will be sorely missed by me and many others like me who know what a giant of a man he was. Bon Voyage, Dr. Mosher, to your new home where I hope you will be able to carry on with your love of humanity, truth and beauty.

its too bad with psych multi million dollar business that all cant participate in what this pioneer as a man found out about his own perfession if i had a father such as this i think my life twisted in the government state and social systems would never end up in their profit so cold and inhumane as a label called scizofrenia europe and surfing would cast a bitter light compared to the things called help with this man and i love them both more than i do myself

I wish to say so long to Loren Mosher and to express my gratitude for his open, honest and brave fight for our collective truth. Though his personal part of the battle has ended, our collective battle for reform will be carried on until the war is finally over and peace for all becomes the ultimate reality. Patricia Lefave labelled D.D.(P) Canada

I walked into Loren Moshers NIMH office in 1978 to spend six weeks with him as a medical student. He told to make myself at home at his desk and in his office, consider the validity of the diagnosis of schizophrenia and do whatever else I thought would be useful ---then left for Italy for three months. He said not everyone was satisfied with his permissive style but that those who were satisfied were supremely so. I extended my stay.

Loren was generous with his time and attention and took me around the country to NIMH meetings so I could see how things worked. In large professional gatherings he was not hesitant to speak truth to power, sometimes with a reckless abandon that earned him vilification (a word I learned from him).

When I returned to Washington after psychiatric training, Loren was starting a second-generation Soteria program in Northern Virginia and asked if I could help. Every week we went together to do a consultation where Loren would interview a client selected by the staff as a difficult or impossible person to deal with. Loren's ability to spin a metaphor to reach a totally withdrawn person or to slow a wildly manic person to the point of being able to think with only his words was remarkable for a young psychiatrist to observe. This was someone I wanted to be like. Then it became my turn to do the interviews while he watched and taught.

More than anything, Loren knew how to make a person feel secure, safe and valued in his presence - in a setting of great interpersonal safety and security it was just not nescessary for many people to be very symptomatic.

I saw Loren denounce medications one day and prescribe them the next if he thought they would help. When confronted about the apparent contradiction: "It just shows how flexible I am".

"Do not do anything until you understand what is going on." -- this was Lorens clinical creed, his version of "First do no harm". Medication should never be a substitute for understanding.

When Loren became Director of Montgomery I was a Chestnut Lodge, then a upscale private hospital. The state offered to convert 300K in state hospital money into community services if Loren could reduce the hospital long stay census by a dozen -- but the offer was only good for ten days. On a handshake (and to the dismay of the auditors who later reviewed the 'transaction') we moved the patients to a residential setting on the edge of the hospital grounds, then into the community. How would "back ward patients" mix with the Chestnut Lodge class? The first day one person pissed in the pool, but it worked and the next year 20 long stay patients came and the year after 20 more. It was a moving testament to Lorens vision and ability to cut through the bureaucracy beurocracy to see rich and poor ex-hospital patients living together as friends in the small town atmosphere of old Rockville, Maryland. It was during this time that Loren started McAullife house, where we demonstrated in a rigorous randomized clinical trial that a home-like setting could deliver outcomes as least as good as a hospital at a fraction of the cost.

Loren did not insist his friends agree with him on every matter and there were many things about which we disagreed. I think Loren agreed there was enough room in the vast space of what we don't know for a variety of opinions.

About living Loren would often say: "this is not a rehersal". He lived life this way, without regrets. There is little doubt the lives of many many people, myself among them, were enriched and made better by association with this gifted, kind and extraordinary man.

Our team at the Centre al Dragonato in Ticino had the pleasure to meet Loren and his wife Judy in 2002 having invited them to open a series of conferences by presenting his early work with Soteria and his later proposals for alternative intervention for people unfortunately diagnosed as psychotic. A wonderful couple, a determined and uncompromising mind with regards to psychiatric abuse and an inspiring enthusiast. All our sympathetic thoughts and support go out to Judy as well as to all Loren's colleagues who must continue to uphold his honest and humane approach towards people in difficulty. Christine Meier and Luigi Pintus for all the staff at Dragonato

I briefly met Lauren Mosher earlier this year when he visited Birmingham UK where he was invited to talk about Soteria. It was only in recent years I came across his ideas and his approaches and he has been a new and exciting source of inspiration for me. He had a vision of a better way to help people and he realised that vision and showed that it worked. He was a principled and courageous man and it was a privilege to meet him and to hear him speak. I would like to pass on my sincere condolences to his family and friends.

thanks everyone for the wonderful appreciations of loren - i read them every night and they help me through this difficult time - i continue to marvel at the number of lives he has touched - judy (loren's wife)

I first came to know Loren in the late 1970's when he was one of our original witnesses in Rennie. I was overwhelmed by his intelligence, his thoughtfulness, his humanity, his creativity, and his dedication to his work. We talked at great length about Soteria, of course, and I had always hoped that his ideas would flourish across the nation and the world.

I lost touch with him for years, and only started emailing with him recently (b/c of the Jim Gottstein connection) and it was wonderful for me to begin to catch up on so many years. My heart sunk when I read of his death in the NY Times last week.

At a meeting of suvivors last year in San Francisco I spoke with Loren about how he had handled Soteria residents who had become violent at times. He said :"We hugged them. And we kept hugging them. When a person is suicidal and another person stays with them and does not leave them, they eventually come out of it and are OK again." This was Soteria. Who else today is saying let's hug them??

I did not have the privilege of personally knowing this great man. What I did know was 'of' this outstanding human being, of his courageous stand against wrongs in medicine. As a mother whose life is devoid of a child who should be living still, but for the wrongs in medicine, I salute this man, for making a difference and leaving behind such worthly contributions to mankind. Rest in Rewarding Peace, Dear Man. Ardis Noreen Townsend Mother of Julia Caren

I believe Loren Richard Mosher made valuable contributions in how people who are labelled as being mentally ill are treated. He realized that the drugs often used to "treat" schizophrenia often cause further problems. He also was courageous in admitting publicly the problems associated with psychiatry. In fact, WHO studies have shown that patients often recover better in the Third World from conditions diagnosed as schizophrenia. This could well be because of, rather than in spite of, reduced access to neuroleptic drugs. Some MRI studies have illustrated that such drugs can cause brain damage.

Loren Mosher was one of the great men in psychiatry: a rare member of that breed with a backbone. This allowed him to stand up for what was right, despite the pharmacological chorus of opposition. Always remembering that medicine's first maxim is "First, do not harm," he recognized the psychosocial causes for the situations called schizophrenia, the value of compassionate psychosocial intervention to help correct them, and the harm caused by the excessive drug use which has become so common. He was a superb clinician; when we first met a few years ago, he pointed out something I had not realized: the desirability of sedation for newly-admitted mental patients, who had usually been sleepless for several days. In his death, we have all suffered an immense loss.

Nathaniel S. Lehrman, M.D., former Clinical Director, Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, Brooklyn NY

Dr. MOsher was an inspiration. His simple clarity and the strength of his experience and his work spoke to the hearts of many...I appreciated meeting him for the first time at a NARPA conference in 2001 or 2002 after having read widely of his Soteria work. As a relative newcomer to the area of advocating simple, safe, self-help measures to help people caught in extreme states, I was so very touched by how carefully he listened to my views. I have rarely felt so HEARD in my life... I also appreciated reconnecting with him on his recent visit to Mt. Holyoke College and then to Northampton to discuss a local community effort to establish a 'Soteria-Northampton.' He was warm, insightful, cordial but direct, and infinitely wise...He is in my heart. Cheryl Stevens, MD

I first met Loren at Highlander. I was impressed by his combination of gentleness and strength. His film about Soteria House brought me to tears, seeing what was possible and how his work had been derailed. I asked how he could bear it in the current climate, and he described the welcome his ideas had found in Europe. His inspiring perseverance gave me hope. Let us each find our strength and support each other as we work for change, in honor of Loren Mosher. --Linda Morrison

Loren was a delight to know and a clear inspiration to all who knew him. One important thing about his work was that the humankindness, respect, and intelligence that informed his life as an activist fighting psychiatric oppression was evident in his work, especially in the design of Soteria House and the way it worked. it's exciting to know that other houses based on his work have come into being and I am sure more will in teh future. He was a courageous, dear, friend and colleague, and I will miss him greatly.

To a friend and a maestro that will never be forgotten and whose teachings will serve to free other survivors from the grip of psychiatry. Luciano Sorrentino Torino, Italy

A great loss for the international ritical psychiatry movement that still struggles to defend the rights of survivor and for a humane psychiatry. In the years Loren worked with us and supported our efforts with his intelligence and experience. Agostino PirelLA, Rocco Canosa, Emilio Lupo Luciano Sorrentino PSICHIATRIA DEMOCRATICA

Loren Mosher was the bravest man I have ever met. He had the courage to speak out, to question, to balk, to refuse to join up. What a joy it was to hear him quiz people on their "data", to question their method of information gathering, their statistics. He never gave up. He was the first to tell everyone when the emperor had no clothes! i.e. that drugs prescribed for children where not tested on children, that there is no solid evidence that polypharmacy works...He was gutsy enough to speak up, to shout out...and humble enough to react with surprise when I told him how much I truly admired him and respected him. Loren, I will never forget your wisdom and courage, your kindness, friendship and humor. Judy, you are in my thoughts each day! With love and thanks! Adele Lynch

I never had a chance to meet Loren and just learned of his passing. I did share two telephone conversations with him in the past year, once when he recently arrived in Hawaii. During both of those calls, he was so warm and willing to help, even though he must have had at least some concerns about his own medical condition on his mind. He left a wonderful legacy of significant and compassionate service to others and it sounds like he also enjoyed his life. I wish him the best wherever he is and I hope his life will continue to inspire others to fight the good fights. Maureen Gest

I prayed for you now your ore going over to the heavenly world. Even though I just came to know you and the Soteria house for which I have searched for years. Maybe the corrupt doctor will try not to remember you but we, the survivors of psychiatry will certainly remember you. I which those you leave behind family and friends a short and strong mourning period and strength.

I first met Loren in 1980 when I was traveling with his niece in Italy - we were studying Architecture in Florence for the summer. His niece took me to "Uncle Loren's" house in Verona for the weekend -Loren took us all to the opera in the Verona Arena amphitheatre - Pavorotti sang... It was glorious and one of the most memorable evenings of my life.

We met again, MANY years later - 20, in fact - in 2001 after I opened "The Pandora's Box of Pharma's Big Lie" and came across a "Loren Mosher MD". Could there possibly be more than 2 men with the same name?! Doubtful and "NO"! I immediately called Loren and reconnected, thanked him for his incredible work - and we agreed to meet again at the Safe Harbor conference to take place in LA in September, 2001. The date turned out to be right after 9/11.

At the Safe Harbor gathering, it was the first time I was in a room where anyone knew, and quite well, about Pharmas BIG LIES... and what the real truth was/is about these horrid drugs, "ADD", "ADHD", "Mental Illness" and all of the other myths. Everyone in the room was part of the solution - not the problem - all working to protect humanity from being led down a path into drug addiction and hell - while paying doctors [$500/hour] to poison us.

Loren certainly served humanity and more. I believe he was tired of being part of such a destructive, greedy and twisted reality. He paved the way for us to follow and lead. It is our time now to take the reins and carry on the work that he began. Loren deserved to be released from the constant strain of being ignored and shunned by your own profession when he was such a brilliant doctor who truly cared and helped others to heal. He did NO harm. There are few in the medical profession who can say the same.

Loren was a great man. He validated many and gave us the strength to keep going. At least there was ONE decent psychiatrist in the world. Perhaps there could be another. I've since met even a few!

Loren restored my faith in much and I will always be eternally grateful that I was given the grace to know him. He made all the difference to me and I look forward to seeing him again on the other side of this life.

Lynn, ASPIRE Advisor [www.ASPIRE.us] --Moderator/SSRI-Research [groups.yahoo.com/group/ssri-research]

Bonnie and I are deeply saddened by Loren's death. He truly was one of our all too few genuine warriors and heroes.

Loren's death leaves a tremendous void. Even many psychiatry critics do not recognize that the true cause is to end coercion, intolerance, bigotry, and dehumanizing society (not simply criticizing psychiatric drugs). Loren was one of the few psychiatrists who knew this. He knew that there were plenty of superficially "nice" shrinks who mouthed some criticism, but when push came to shove, they did not stand up for the oppressed. Loren did stand up, and he made hypocrites deal with his contempt. He paid a price for that. Loren was a warrior who created something wonderful and sacrificed plenty for the cause. He will be missed.

Sharing at age 18 that I talked with God and She was very upset with how humans were treating Her planet I was diagnoised at with schizophrenia by the mad doctors at the Camirillo State Mental Hospital where I was then warehoused and forced to take toxic brain chemicals daily for six months. Only six months you say? - It has taken 30 years for my mind/brain and soul to recover from this outrage. Loren Mosher was the first and only doctor to acknowledge my survival and to apologize for the cruelty, torture and tremendous distrespect that operates throughout his profession to this day. He honored my wisdom to fight for my profound experineces and not let them be shredded by others. Since 1968 the damage to kids brains by these "newer" big proftit pharma chemicals is rapidly increasing through powerful marketing tools such as the 800 categories of the upcominjg DSM-V. Loren helped me to understand that the Times they are NOT changing. Help Save the Kids who think and act different - Help Save the Brainforest - Goddess Bless you, Loren Mosher.

I was stricken to read of Loren Mosher's death. He provided a presence and prestige that made me hopeful. Without him, the darkness is a little deeper.

Loren Mosher spoke at Mind Aid 2000 which I produced and also at an ADHD conference I helped organize with the Coalition for the Violence Initiative at Riverside Church for which I recruited his participation. Loren has always been a supporter of the efforts of survivors of psychiatric abuse to get the truth out about such pervasive human rights violations. I appreciated his willingness to respond to emails with questions or requests for his attention to issues that came up along the way the past four years since Mind Aid. He was never off-putting toward survivors/activists and always made us feel that we had an ally in him for our cause of taking the force out of psychiatry. We will be hard put to find someone who acted so boldly against the Pharmaceutical /APA/AMA/FDA/ NIMH/NAMI empire as he did when he resigned from the The APA calling it the American Pharmacological Association. Long live Soteria. May every activist,survivor,peer counsleor, advocate for the psychiatrically coerced take up the mantle of the anti-coercive movement he so avidly supported. We need more Soteria and less hospital/prisons. If Bush is going to call for the redevelopment of the psychiatric system in this country he needs to examine the work of Loren Mosher and put an end to the endless unnecessary abuses in the current system. Right On Doctor. May your etheric mind permeate the minds of all coercive psychiatry and bring about the Era of the Psychiatric Reformation. Thank God for the completion of your final work about Soteria. May Eternal Life be your reward. My deepest appreciation for Loren Mosher's life work. He was a great inspiration for me in the work I do on my TV show "Unearthing the Truth About Psychiatry". You'll be missed but will live on in your work and our continued references to you in ours. Rita DiCarlo, Mind Aid Host: Dyandria's The Real News "Unearthing the Truth About Psychiatry"

Poet Reiner Maria Rilke wrote: "You must give birth to your images they are the future waiting to be born...Fear not the strangeness you feel. The future must enter into you long before it happens...Just wait for the birth...For the hour of New Clarity." Thank you Dr. Mosher. Your courage, compasion, and quiet strength paved the way for people with mental health challenges to cultivate a vision of themselves not defined by their illness nor by anothers projected limitations of what course they think that persons life will take based soley on that persons psychiatric diagnosis. You will not be forgotten.

what a lovely man, i can't bear to think of him as gone. maybe i can keep him, in a way. there is this one particularly warm and strong thought i have of him, that is truly sustaining whenever i think of it, so i'm not letting go of it now, or ever. i was really scared and overwhelmed at a large gathering i was invited to (at the highlander center in tennessee), partly because i didn't know most people or feel known by them, while they all seemed to know each other really well. and they seemed important and knowledgeable while i felt small and clueless. while in a rather vulnerable emotional state, something heartfelt somebody read aloud choked me up, and i got tearful and had to slip out of one of the meetings. loren mosher followed me, and asked me what was up. i said 'wrong direction' and couldn't say much more, literally unable to speak. i was shocked, apparently there's a good kind of shocked, when he told me he loved me and opened his arms wide for a hug, asking if i could use one. man, i sure could. i still remember the simple physical communication that the hug would end when i wanted it to (not yet, not yet), the warmth of his leather jacket (i don't usually think of black leather as all that warm), and especially the clear sincerity with which he said and meant that unexpected thing. even though our conversations up to that point consisted maybe of pleased to meet you and pass the salt. i felt INTRINSICALLY lovable. sometimes, when i retrieve what i felt in that moment, i still do. what a ready, overflowing source of compassion. such deep and powerful kindness in that man. how can that ever pass away?

What a loss.I am sorry that I never met Dr.Mosher but I have followed his work.His letter of resignation from APA was impressive and his Soteria work so important.As a tribute to him and his impressive and important accomplishments,lets keep working actively for a more ethical service system.Professor Eileen Gambrill

I first met Loren in 2002, at a small gathering of mental health care providers who shared an interest in working with psychosis. Loren had been invited to speak about his Soteria project. The evening was a wonderful introducton to a man whose achievements had made him a pariah among the American psychiatry establishment. [It was also a jarring awakening: laypeople as counselors ? as successful as psychiatrists with years of training? good God. no wonder this man was a pariah.]

Over the ensuing years, I came to know Loren as a fellow consultant; occasional advisor; and friend. We shared a passion for humanistic psychology, existentialism, and the deconstruction of biopsychiatry's outrageous claims.

It has been written in the Bible that "a prophet is honored everywhere but in his own country, and among his own people." Many aspects of Loren's life were truly prophetic in this vein (although his modesty would probably have made him shudder at this analogy, were he reading it today).

I will remember Loren as a champion for the cause of human rights, and the increasingly threatened right to BE human... free from the psychiatric tyrannies of coerced "care" and medical lobotomy (chemical, surgical, or electrical).

I would hope that our testament to Loren could be a living one. May the legacy of his Soteria (salvation) continue to flourish in our lives -- surviving in spirit, if not in form.

I am very upset that we have lost Loren Mosher. When I read the post yesterday I became frantic and as usual starting calling other allies to find out if this was true. David Oaks called me to confirm this. I met Loren at the 2000 Convention in Sacramento, Ca. My husband spoke to him several times in 1996 when our son was being poisoned and abused, in and out of psych wards and drained of his brain by neuroleptic poisoning. Loren was so kind and gentle and helped us to know that we were absolutely right about these drugs and the damages that happened to our only son. He gave us support and I shared him with others who called him and they got support. Some of them actually got released from psycho-prisons because of Loren's unselfish efforts to travel to the psycho-hold tanks and speak for the victims.

We will deeply miss him but just knowing that there are humans with compassion for survivors and their families gives us hope.

For those of us who are in the midst of the "fight for freedom".... we mourn together. There are so few people of Loren Mosher's character and courage. I will always remember his words to me......"Keep a steady course"......... They are simple words, but put the ground under my feet. He was a model of kindness and stability both professionally and personally. I will remember him always. He made a difference in my life.

I forgot to say who I am in my previous remembrance! Linda Hurcombe, author, Losing a Child: Explorations in Grief

The only time I met the irreplaceable Loren Mosher was in Philadelphia at a conference on the dangers of SSRI antidepressants. He was entirely kind with me on a personal level and his empathy over the death by suicide of my teenage daughter after a short time on Prozac, and even more importantly he believed me. But I think my best memory is helping him fix his glasses, when the screw came loose just before his presentation.

A rare gem who was not afraid to stand up and be counted, Loren Mosher made a huge difference during his lifetime and touched the lives of many people. He will continue to be remembered through the excellent work he has done and for the refreshingly inspiring person that he was. The best tribute we could give him would be to continue with the excellent work he started.

The speaker UCLA selected to give the first lecture in honor of Mike Goldstein and his research on families of schizophrenics talked only about biomedical factors. I was upset, but not courageous or articulate enough to protest and challenge the speaker. Loren spoke up very effectively (not that anyone listened.) Now it is left to we who survive him to speak up as well as he did.

Loren Mosher never stopped fighting the good fight--for truth, for a humane form of care for those struggling with their minds, and against the corruption of psychiatry by pharmaceutical money. He was an inspiration. I remember the first time I met him at his home in San Diego, interviewing him for a book I was writing, Mad in America. He rather relished his long struggle of fighting for a different way in psychiatry--I think he knew his was a life well lived. And in the Soteria House, he has left an example of a better way that will hopefully not be forgotten.

I didn't know Dr. Mosher for that long, but found him to be an absolute prince of a man. Even though he was extremely busy, he always took the time to help us out at PsychRights. In the Myers forced drugging case, even though he was jet lagged from just getting back from Germany, he agreed to testify on behalf of Faith and gave very powerful, important testimony. Those who knew him know he would do absolutely everything he could to help alleviate the distress of people suffering from psychiatric symptoms, including the trauma the mental health system itself inflicted. He was one of the people who really knew how to work with people in psychosis. His passing is a huge personal loss for many, including me. We have lost a tremendous force for good in the mental health field.