Global Initiative on Psychiatry

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Global Initiative on Psychiatry
HeadquartersLorentzweg 45 B 1221 EE, Hilversum, Netherlands
Fieldspsychiatry
1986–present Chief Executive
Robert van Voren, Ph.D.
Subsidiaries
  • Working Group on the Internment of Dissenters in Mental Hospitals;
  • Committee of French Psychiatrists Against the Use of Psychiatry for Political Purposes;
  • German Association Against the Political Abuse of Psychiatry;
  • International Podrabinek Fund;
  • Swiss Association Against Psychiatric Abuse for Political Purposes
Websitewww.gip-global.org

Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP) is an international foundation for mental health reform which took part in the campaign against the

NGO type.[2]

Headquartered in Hilversum, GIP has regional centers in Tbilisi, Sofia, and Vilnius, and a country office in Dushanbe.[3]

GIP is a main contributor to improving psychiatric care in countries of the former

the Caribbean.[3]

GIP also focuses on the political abuse of psychiatry throughout the world[5] and human rights monitoring.[6]

History

20 December 1980 saw the formation in

Eastern Germany, Hungary, Romania, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia.[citation needed] The publication of the IAPUP was Information Bulletin.[12] The IAPUP included the following participating committees:[12]

  1. Working Group on the Internment of Dissenters in Mental Hospitals;
  2. Committee of French Psychiatrists Against the Use of Psychiatry for Political Purposes;
  3. German Association Against the Political Abuse of Psychiatry;
  4. International Podrabinek Fund;
  5. Swiss Association Against Psychiatric Abuse for Political Purposes.

In 1986, Robert van Voren became General Secretary of the IAPUP.[13] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the financing of the IAPUP headed by Robert van Voren ceased until it adopted program of broad compromises and, correspondingly, the opposite name of The International Association for the Abolition and Prevention of Political Psychiatry, or Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry.[14] In 2005, the organization was renamed Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP).[15] From 1995 to 2000, Chair of the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry was James Birley.[16]

Leadership

The board is composed of professionals from some twenty countries.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his work as a human rights activist.[19] He is a professor of Soviet and post-Soviet Studies in the Ilia State University in Tbilisi (Georgia) and in the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Lithuania).[20]

Approach

The Global Initiative on Psychiatry uses a local approach to helping the mentally ill in underprivileged countries around the world. In Robert van Voren's words, their idea is that "mental health services should be locally empowered, locally adapted, community based, user oriented, and focused on keeping people with mental illness in society, instead of taking them out."[21] The organization has been involved in deinstitutionalizing mental health services for children in post-Communist countries.[22] The GIP dedicates itself to promoting the necessary reforms to implement "humane, ethical, and effective mental health care throughout the world."[23] Reports by the Global Initiative on Psychiatry are often comprehensive and consider the treatment options.[24] The organization has campaigned with substantial success against poor mental health practices abroad, especially in China and the former communist states.[25] Robert van Voren's contribution to reform of forensic psychiatry in states of the former Soviet Union is widely recognized.[26]

References

Sources

Further reading