A new Report
on Improving Mental Health Outcomes, a collaboration of scholars,
activists, and survivors (James Gottstein, Esq, Peter C.
Gøtzsche, MD, David
Cohen, PhD, Chuck Ruby, PhD, Faith Myers) demonstrates that the mental health system's
standard interventions (especially overreliance on drugs and incarceration into
psychiatric facilities) are harmful, counter-productive, and forced on unwilling
patients. These standard interventions turn upside down known facts about what
helps people in distress while they violate principles of international law. The
authors recommend that People (relationships), Place (safe places to live), and
Purpose (meaningful activities), alongside hope, all within a voluntary system
of services, should be made broadly available via public and private programs.
The authors describe over a dozen currently available approaches embodying these
principles, which they suggest would both dramatically improve treatment
outcomes and reduce treatment harms. |