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To Be a Mental Patient by Rae Unzicker
NARPA - NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR RIGHTS PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY
Announcing NARPA's 2009 Annual Rights Conference:
September 9-12, 2009
Phoenix, AZ
Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak
Advocacy for Rights in a New Era
Three Conference Tracks include:
Guardianship/Forced Treatment
Recovery/Alternatives to Medical Model Treatment
Advocacy & Legal Strategies for Challenging Times
Schedule of Keynote & Workshop Presentations
CLEs, CEUs, credit for CPRP
will be offered.
Registration and updates coming
soon. Check back here
Or e-mail narpa or call
205-464-0101
for more information
Every day, behind closed doors, human rights violations are occurring on a regular basis - and Americans don't know about it. America's mental health system is still the shame of the nation. NARPA, the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy, works to expose abuse and to shed light on coercive and dangerous practices. NARPA is an independent organization, solely supported by its members. It is a unique mix of people who've survived psychiatric intervention, advocates, civil rights activists, mental health workers, and lawyers. NARPA exists to to protect people’s right to choice and to be free from coercion, and to promote alternatives so that the right to choice can be meaningful. Read about NARPA's history of human rights advocacy, check out the ADA Case of the Week archives, and more.
Read an essay sharply critical of the psychiatric industry, published in the medical journal, The Lancet. The article reviews two books: The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment by Joanna Moncrieff and Side Effects: a Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial by Alison Bass. Read the article here.
Read the NY Daily News story, "Kings County Hospital doctors, nurses facing charges in Esmin Green death-by-neglect case." And read the NYC Department of Investigation's report.
Listening to Madness - Why some mentally ill patients are rejecting their medication and making the case for "mad pride" (a May 2009 Newsweek piece on Will Hall and the Icarus Project)
"Tremors in the System: the help you want or the help you get" - a new 23 minute film by Nora Jacobson features long time NARPA member and supporter Marj Berthold and her experiences in the Vermont mental health system.
Big Pharma Gone Wild: How Risperdal, a drug meant for treating rare psychiatric disorders, became the seventh best-selling medicine in the world.
UN: Forced Psychiatric Treatment is Torture
Maine's medication law challenged A new federal lawsuit, filed by the Disability Rights Center of Maine, challenges the constitutionality of a new law that allows patients in psychiatric facilities to be medicated against their will. The lawsuit, which was brought on behalf of an 83 year old woman, alleges that the law violates due process rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; The law fails to provide patients with adequate notice of a hearing or an opportunity to be heard before being deprived of their liberty. The lawsuit also claims that patients may be forced to take drugs that can cause death or have devastating and irreversible side effects, especially in elderly patients. Read more here.
Prozac.org: how the pharmaceutical industry works behind the scenes to shape public policy and push drugs. An article by Ken Silverstein from Mother Jones Magazine.
The Needs of People with Psychiatric Disabilities During and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Position Paper and Recommendations - A report of the National Council on Disability, prepared and drafted by Susan Stefan and Ann Marshall of NARPA.
Report of the National Council on Disability:
" From Privileges to Rights: People Labeled with Psychiatric
Disabilities Speak for Themselves" -- With a link to
the full report as well as information about how to order a free copy.
The Rights Tenet Update -- The online version of NARPA's Rights Tenet newsletter. With coverage of the battles against forced drugging laws, the "parity" controversy, the Supreme Court vs. the ADA, etc.
The New York State Office of Mental Health is promoting the psychiatric drugging of children
: Haldol, Adderall, and Dexedrine for 3 year olds, lithium and Depakote for 2 year olds? See this booklet - a Q & A on using medications with children with mental disorders - published by the State of New York for parents of young children.