»Forced Psychiatric Treatment«

This is a continuation from the "nature of mental illness" thread:

Quote:

forced treatment in what instance? can you elaborate?

There are two kinds of forced psychiatric treatment, really. The first happens to in-patients incarcerated on a psych ward. They are subjected to forced drugging and sometimes electroshock. Their consent is dispensed with because their psychiatric labels mean they've been deemed incompetent to make health care decisions. This is really wrong and psychiatry is the only branch of medicine that forces people to do what's "good for them." This issue is really a human rights matter as forced treatment violates many international conventions.

There's a second kind of forced treatment too, though, which is more insidious. That is where an out-patient is coerced into taking drugs that they don't want in order to be allowed their freedom. Freedom comes at a high price: these patients often have to take blood tests to prove their medication levels, attend at day programs, have regularly scheduled appointments with their doctors, have psychiatric teams attend at their homes.

Thomas Szasz calls involuntary treatment a crime against humanity.

posted by Francesca Allan

in-my-opinion.org -> Politics -> Psychiatry and Anti-Psychiatry -> Forced Psychiatric Treatment

The time now is 12 October 2008, 11:43
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