A Potential Framework for Thinking About an Overall
Strategy for Psychiatric Freedom
Jim
Gottstein
Last
modified 11/16/04
The following is a draft of an outline
I am putting together from various sources and through my own thinking. I intend to expand this into something like a
"White Paper."
1. Organizing
Principles
1.1.
Freedom, Equality and Human Rights
1.2.
Psychiatry Has and Uses Abusive Power Driven by
Fear and Absolution, Justified by Faulty Science, and Sustained by Lies
1.2.1. No
Biological Basis for mental illness
1.2.2.
“Medical Model” Psychiatric “Treatments” are
extremely dangerous, destroy lives and ultimately ineffective for their primary
purposes, to wit: protection and control.
1.3.
People are Entitled to the Truth
1.4.
People are Entitled to be Free of Coercive
Treatment that is based on Lies.
1.5.
People Are Entitled to Treatments of Their Own
Choosing, based on Accurate Information.
2. Goals
2.1.
Acknowledgement of Truth About Medical Model
Treatments (Truly Informed decision making)
2.2.
Recognition of emotional basis of psychiatric
symptoms
2.3.
Elimination of Coercive Treatment
2.4.
Availability of Truly helpful Alternatives
3. Roots
of Psychiatric Power
3.1.
Society Has Abdicated to the Psychiatrists out
of Fear
3.2.
The Mothers (and many of their “mentally ill”
children) Have Been Seduced by Psychiatry’s Absolution from Responsibility.
3.3.
The Mothers Are Also Terrified of What Will
Happen to their children.
4. Psychiatry’s
Strengths
4.1.
Essentially Unlimited Financial Resources
courtesy the Pharmaceuticals
4.2.
Stature in Society
4.2.1. Presumed
experts.
4.2.2. Power
to lock people up and force “treatment” on them merely through invocation of
their status as experts.
4.3.
Stranglehold on “The Story” in the Media.
4.4.
Alliance with the Mothers (i.e., on the side of
motherhood)
5. Psychiatry’s
Vulnerabilities
5.1.
Morally Bankrupt
5.2.
Intellectually Bankrupt
5.2.1. The
Lies
5.2.2.
Medical Model
5.2.3.
Mental Illness is a biologically based brain
disease (defective brain).
5.2.4.
Mental Illness is incurable (i.e., can’t recover
from it).
5.2.5.
Dangerousness
5.2.6.
Effects of “Treatments”
5.2.7.
Toxic
5.2.8.
Addictive
5.2.9.
Prevents Recovery
5.2.10.
Causes Relapses
5.2.11.
Destroy Lives (lower expectations so much that
relapse prevention is only goal).
5.2.12.
If those people weren’t crazy they’d know what we
are forcing on them is best for them
5.3.
Fiscally Bankrupting
5.3.1. Virtually
everybody sucked into the public system ends up permanently disabled and a
drain on the public fisc.
5.4.
Coercive Psychiatrists’ Cowardice
5.5.
Psychiatry’s Arrogance
5.6.
Psychiatry’s Greed
5.7.
Excesses Have made it a virtual caricature of
itself
5.7.1. “Obsessive
Shopping Disorder” treated with Paxil (or whatever it was).
6. Chinks
Are Appearing In Psychiatry’s Armor
6.2.
Pharmaceutical Corruption of Government
Processes
7. Our
Strengths
7.1.
Grass Roots Support
7.1.1.
We actually have a lot of allies
7.1.2.
MindFreedom/Support Coalition International has
over 100 organizations
7.1.3.
NARPA and its Membership
7.1.4.
ICSPP and its Membership
7.1.5.
All of the many C/S/X groups
7.1.6.
MDRI
7.1.7.
Many listserv groups
7.1.8.
ISPS and its members???
7.1.9.
Many more that I don't know about
7.2.
Moral High Ground/Righteousness of Cause
8. Our
Weaknesses
8.1.
Poor as Church mice
8.2.
Confederation Type of Organization
9. Existing
and Potential Campaigns
9.1.
United Nations
9.2.
World Health Organization
9.3.
Screening
9.4.
MindFreedom Shield
9.5.
MindFreedom Sanctuary
9.6.
Expansion of ECT Globally
9.7.
Congress
9.8.
9.9.
9.10.
The Emperor Is Naked
9.11.
10.
Spheres of Action
10.1.
Media (TV/Radio/Newspapers/Magazines, Etc.)
10.1.1.
Needs to be organized
10.1.2.
Needs to be a constant effort
10.1.3.
Need to develop relationships with members of
media
10.1.4.
Promote investigations of scandals
10.1.5.
Get media to recognize there is another side to
story and have list of people to talk to
10.1.6.
Develop Speakers Bureau
10.1.7.
Peter Breggin
10.1.8.
David Cohen
10.1.9.
Bruce Levine
10.1.10.
Larry Simon
10.1.11.
Pat Deegan
10.1.12.
Bob Whitaker (Mad in America author)
10.1.13.
Dan Fisher
10.1.14.
Laurie Ahern
10.1.15.
David Oaks
10.1.16.
Tom Behrendt
10.1.17.
Bill Stewart
10.1.18.
Sue Rogers
10.1.19.
Ron Bassman
10.1.20. Stefan P. Kruszewski, M.D.
10.1.21.
Mary Ellen Copeland
10.1.22.
Jim Gottstein
10.1.23.
Michael Perlin
10.1.24.
Bert Karon
10.1.25.
Pat Risser
10.1.26.
Celia Brown
10.1.27.
Darby Penny
10.1.28.
etc.
10.1.29.
Strikes, Protests, Other actions to get
attention
10.1.31.
MindFreedom Sanctuaries???
10.1.32.
Other Efforts
10.2.
Legal
10.2.2.
Expose the Lies (our experts and the power of
the subpoena).
10.2.3.
Attack prescribing authority under
"informed consent" requirements.
10.2.5.
Prevent Other forms of Forced Drugging
10.2.6.
Prevent Involuntary Commitments
10.2.7.
(Seriously) Sue the Bastards
10.2.8.
False Advertising with FTC (but does FDA action
insulate?)
10.3.
Competition/Alternatives
10.3.1.
ICSPP and/or ISPS Sphere?
10.3.2.
Availability of Alternatives (Needs to be able
to access the same public funding sources).
10.4.
Policy
10.4.1.
Current System Creating Budget Crisis
10.4.2.
Everyone put on Welfare rolls and no one getting
off.
10.5.
Politics
10.5.1.
NOTE: THERE ARE
SEVERE RESTRICTIONS ON USING 501(c)(3) FUNDS FOR THIS!!
10.5.2.
“Investigations.”
10.5.3.
FDA Corruption
10.5.4.
Pharmaceutical Corruption of procurement and
prescribing
10.5.5.
Elections
10.5.6.
Legislation
11.
Needs
11.1.
Develop Plan
11.1.1.
Clear Goals are
Needed!
11.1.2.
Which Spheres to Address (all, but to varying
degrees?)
11.1.3.
What is Realistic/Prioritization/Mobilization
(ramp up)
11.2.
$$$$$$$
11.3.
Organizing
11.3.1.
Task Assignments and Overall Monitoring of
Efforts/Progress
11.3.2.
Need Structure that organizes the disparate
supporters
11.3.3.
Harness Volunteer Power
11.3.4.
Pieces waiting to be put together?
11.3.5.
Public Education
11.3.6.
MindFreedom
11.3.7.
National Empowerment Center
11.3.8.
NARPA and its members
11.3.9.
ICSPP membership
11.3.10. PsychRights
11.3.11. Others?
11.3.12.
Competition/Alternatives
11.3.13. ICSPP
Membership
11.3.14. Self-Help
programs
11.3.15. Ad hoc
11.3.16. Others?
11.3.17.
Networking
11.3.18. MindFreedom
11.3.19. National
Empowerment Center
11.3.20. NARPA
11.3.21. ICSPP
Membership
11.3.22. PsychRights
11.3.23. Others?
11.3.24.
Legal
11.3.25. PsychRights
11.3.26. NARPA
11.3.27. Protection
& Advocacy Agencies/NAPAS
11.3.28. Public
Defenders
11.3.29. Bazelon
11.3.30. Private
Bar
11.3.31. Others?
11.3.32.
Expert Witnesses
11.3.33. ICSPP
Membership
11.3.34. Ad hoc
11.3.35. Others?
11.3.36. Political
11.3.37. ICSPP
Membership
11.3.38. MindFreedom/SCI
11.3.39. NARPA's
membership
11.3.40. Grass
Roots
11.3.41. Others?
11.3.42. Policy
11.3.43. NARPA
and its members
11.3.44. National
Empowerment Center
11.3.45. MindFreedom
11.3.46. ICSPP
membership
11.3.47. PsychRights
11.3.48. Others?