By CCHR International The Mental Health Industry Watchdog November 16, 2016 The parents of a deceased Massachusetts teenager are seeking to expand a lawsuit against…
By Kelly Patricia O’Meara September 18, 2014 Northern Ireland will soon consider first-of-its-kind mental health legislation, which provides safeguards against forced intervention and commitment by…
Americans take considerable pride in our Constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, yet our government and institutions often abridge or ignore those rights when it comes to certain classes of people.
According to a National Council on Disability report, people with psychiatric illnesses are routinely deprived of their civil rights in a way that no other people with disabilities are. This is particularly so in the case of people who are involuntarily committed to psychiatric wards.
Excessive use of forced detention and coerced treatment by the NHS means patients have little control over their treatment. “I became ‘zombified’ for nearly 12 months when I was forced to take mood stabilisers and antipsychotic medication,” says Reka Krieg. The 30-year-old has bipolar disorder, so has periods of manic activity and psychotic episodes, which led to her being forcibly detained and treated in hospital in 2009. Krieg’s case exemplifies the crisis in NHS psychiatric care, which is resulting in excessive use of coercive detention and treatment of people with mental illness. Latest statistics released in January show a 17.5% rise in the number of people being “sectioned” – under the Mental Health Act (MHA) – from 32,649 in 2008‑09 to 38,369 in 2009-10. This means that nearly 40% of patients in NHS psychiatric units are there under legal duress.