MindFreedom International

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MindFreedom International is an international

Consultative Roster Status.[2]

Origins and purpose

MindFreedom International is rooted in the

David W. Oaks as its director.[4] SCI's first public action was to stage a counter-conference and protest in May 1990 in New York City at the same time as (and directly outside of) the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting.[9]

Many of the members of MFI, who feel that their human rights were violated by the mental health system, refer to themselves as '

psychiatric survivors'.[3] MFI is a contemporary and active coalition of grassroots groups which are carrying forward the historical tradition of survivor opposition to coercive psychiatry.[3] It does not define itself as an antipsychiatry organization and its members point to the role which 'compassionate' psychiatrists have played in MFI.[4] Activists within the coalition have been drawn from both left and right wing of politics.[4]

MFI functions as a forum for its thousands of members to express their views and experiences, to form support networks and to organize activist campaigns in support of human rights in psychiatry.[4][5] The coalition regards the psychiatric practices of 'unscientific labeling, forced drugging, solitary confinement, restraints, involuntary commitment, electroshock' as human rights violations.[4][10]

In 2003, eight Mindfreedom members, led by then-executive director David Oaks, went on a hunger strike to publicize a series of "challenges" they had put forth to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the US Surgeon General and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The eight MFI members challenged the APA, US Surgeon General and NAMI to present MFI with "unambiguous proof that mental illness is brain disorder." By sustaining the hunger-strike for more than one month, MFI forced[dubious – discuss] the APA and NAMI to enter into a debate with them on this and other issues.[3]

MindFreedom describes their Shield Program as "an all for one and one for all" network of members. When a registered member is receiving (or is being considered for) involuntary psychiatric treatment, an alert is sent to the MindFreedom Solidarity Network on that person's behalf. Members of the network are then expected to participate in organized, constructive, nonviolent actions—e.g., political action, publicity and media alerts, passive resistance, etc.—to stop or prevent the forced treatment.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Introductory FAQ's about MFI — MFI Portal
  2. ^ "United Nations - Department of Economic and Social Affairs - NGO Section". Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-119-99612-5
    .
  4. ^
    PMID 16870979. Retrieved 2011-08-05.[permanent dead link
    ]
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0-472-07138-8
    .
  6. ^ Chamberlin, Judi (1978). On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System. New York: Hawthorne.
  7. S2CID 19635873
    . Retrieved 2011-08-05.
  8. PMID 16870981. Retrieved 2011-08-05.[permanent dead link
    ]
  9. ^ About Us — MFI Portal
  10. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.51.3.389
    . Retrieved 2011-08-05.
  11. ^ Fritz, Mark (2006-02-01). "Strong Medicine". Wall Street Journal. Karnowski, Steve (2009-05-10). "Minnesota patient wants right to refuse electroshocks". Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-08-04. Mannix, Andy (2011-03-22). "Elizabeth Ellis protests her forced electroshock treatment on Mind Freedom". City Pages. Archived from the original on 2015-05-10. Retrieved 2011-08-04. Snyders, Matt (2009-05-20). "Minnesota mental health patient Ray Sandford forced into electro-shock therapy". City Pages. Archived from the original on 2015-05-10. Retrieved 2011-08-04. "Campaign Victory! Forced Electroshock of Elizabeth Ellis Ended!". MindFreedom International. 2011-05-30. Retrieved 2011-08-04. "Welcome to the MindFreedom Shield Campaign". MindFreedom International. Retrieved 2011-08-04. "MindFreedom Shield Launched Online". MindFreedom International. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 2011-08-04. "Gabriel Hadd". MindFreedom International. 15 October 2006. Retrieved 2011-08-04. "Introduction to MindFreedom Shield". MindFreedom International. 9 October 2006. Retrieved 2011-08-04.

External links

Literature

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