CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL E-MAIL TO PROTEST!
THREE-DAY SERIES IN OREGON NEWSPAPER ON "MENTAL HEALTH" SYSTEM DEATHS OMITS
VOICES OF PSYCHIATRIC SURVIVORS AND MENTAL HEALTH CONSUMERS...
SERIES ALSO OMITS REFUTATION OF EXTENSIVE COVERAGE OF "FORCED DRUGGING"
PROPONENTS
by David Oaks, Director
MindFreedom - Support Coalition International
Today, _The Oregonian_, the largest newspaper in Oregon, just completed
publishing a three-day investigative series on deaths in the mental health
system called "Out of the Shadows."
But this series plunges us deeper into the shadows, and we're asking people to
e-mail in complaints.
The series does have a few points that are helpful, such as a brief mention of
psychiatric-drug related deaths, and a lack of investigation of deaths. A
community-based alternative is covered.
And of course, any media coverage of deaths of people in the mental health
system at all is very unusual.
However, all in all this series is unfair and a lost opportunity.
"OUT OF THE SHADOWS" PUTS US "BACK IN THE SHADOWS"
This series totally excludes any interview quotes from any self-identified
psychiatric survivor or mental health consumer, or their organizations.
Employees of the mental health system are frequently quoted.
Could you imagine a three-day series on women... people with AIDS... African
Americans... without any quotes from that community, or their organizations?
As a result, the major "solution" proposed is about more money for the mental
health system. Even the lack of state investigations of these deaths is blamed
on not giving the mental health system more money.
The series tends to blame deaths on a lack of coercion in the mental health
system, especially more forced psychiatric drugs.
The second day of the series focuses on a story that has been misused for
years to promote spending more money on forced psychiatric procedures,
especially forced drugging. There are quotes by the rabidly pro-force
proponent E. Fuller Torrey. The title of that day's piece is the inflammatory,
"Free to Die." The reporter chose not to run any real refutation at all of
what amounts to an editorial by Dr. Torrey's extremist advocacy group.
An editorial in _The Oregonian_ laments that mental health consumers and
psychiatric survivors are "ignored." Yes, ignored by the newspaper itself.
What adds to the sense of betrayal is that many of us saw this coming back in
the Fall, and tried to work with the reporter and turn this around.
The writer is Michelle Roberts. We first heard about her because she had PAID
the state-wide chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill to send
out a letter on her behalf. Her letter openly stated that she wanted to find
examples of how lack of coerced psychiatry led to deaths. This letter went out
to hundreds of NAMI members in Oregon.
While a number of NAMI members support human rights, approximately one-third
of the revenue for the organization is from the psychiatric drug industry
(source: executive director of NAMI told me himself). But NAMI continues to
have a policy of non-disclosure of the levels or sources of their drug company
funding.
Psychiatric survivor activists were outraged at Roberts' letter, and a copy
circulated on the Internet and at conferences.
We contacted Ms. Roberts. She visited our office and we talked for several
hours. At her request, I e-mailed out to our Oregon e-mail list about how
people could contact her. Several people did also communicate with her.
Her response to our concerns about her unusual payment to NAMI to distribute
her announcement letter was to promise to get the other side of the story by
attending the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA)
conference. This special national conference happened to be in November in
Portland. Michelle Roberts was a no show.
On Dec. 11, concerned about this series, I contacted her again. She said I'd
be pleased with the series, and promised to call "next week" (mid-December).
We never got that promised call.
You can read the whole series here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/shadows/
This series claimed to be about deaths in the mental health system... But it
actually exploited deaths in the mental health system to promote giving *more*
money to that same system, and to promote *more* forced psychiatry by that
same system.
Irony of ironies, the day the series started had already been named
internationally as a DAY OF REMEMBRANCE for people with psychiatric labels
forgotten in the Holocaust: December 29.
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/proclamation.shtml
Instead of really exploring and exposing deaths in the mental health system,
Roberts' series added to to this silence... gave voice to people seeking to
deprive us of our rights... and plunged our community deeper into the shadows.
Corporate media parroting the mental health system's demands for more and more
and more money is one of the main obstacles facing real change in the mental
health system.
We need to use alternative media to get around this blockade. Please forward
this announcement.
BELOW is an easy action you can take: A brief e-mail letter to the editor. AT
BOTTOM are four more peaceful actions you can take using e-mail.
~~~~~~~~~~
ACTION -- ACTION -- ACTION
THIS OREGONIAN SERIES SPEAKS *FOR* US, WITHOUT OUR WORDS...
NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US!
PLEASE WRITE A CIVIL LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE OREGONIAN, CONCERNED ABOUT
THIS SERIES!
E-MAIL your letter to the editor to:
letters@news.oregonian.com
COPY your e-mail to the reporter, her editor, and _The Oregonian_ ombudsperson
at:
MichelleRoberts@news.oregonian.com,
newsroom@news.oregonian.com,
susangage@news.oregonian.com,
danhortsch@news.oregonian.com
Talking points:
Please object to the way the voices of psychiatric survivors and mental health
consumers, and their organizations, were ignored.
Please object to the way pro-forced psychiatry material was given a great deal
of attention without refutation.
Point out that this issue should be about more than just giving the mental
health system more force and money, which are the implied lessons of this
series.
This issue is about empowerment, self-determination and respect for a
disenfranchised community -- and this series IGNORES the voices from that
community.
You can talk about humane and empowering alternatives that you know have
worked, and about the need for advocacy and activism.
NOTE: The Oregonian only prints short letters.
TO BE PUBLISHED, YOU *MUST* KEEP YOUR LETTER TO EDITOR LESS THAN 150 words.
Also, be sure to include your *complete* contact info.
Even a very brief letter will a least be read there.
E-MAIL your letter to:
letters@news.oregonian.com
BELOW is a sample letter to the editor I have submitted, but your own words
are best.
BELOW THAT SAMPLE LETTER, AT VERY BOTTOM, ARE FOUR OTHER ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: MindFreedom Support Coalition International
oaks@mindfreedom.org
Subject: Letter to editor -- DEEPER SHADOWS
E-mailed to
letters@news.oregonian.com.
Copy to Michelle Roberts.
[word count: 149]
Dec. 31, 2002
Dear Editor of _The Oregonian_,
Our coalition strongly objects to the series "Out of the Shadows" (Dec. 29,
30, 31). We cooperated with writer Michelle Roberts on her research. So why
did this three-day series entirely exclude the voices of people who have
experienced the mental health system? Why were proponents for increasing the
use of involuntary psychiatric procedures quoted at length without refutation?
Why did Ms. Roberts refuse to quote a single representative from organizations
of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors, although she knew these
groups existed?
In my 26 years as an activist for human rights in the mental health system,
I've seen our constituency used for many sensationalistic articles with the
same simplistic solution found in this series: More money for mental health.
But this issue is far more complex than money. It's about empowerment,
self-determination and respect for a disenfranchised community. Roberts
plunges that community into still deeper shadows.
Sincerely,
David Oaks, Executive Director
MindFreedom Support Coalition International
~~~~~~~
FOUR OTHER ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE
1) PLEASE COPY THIS ANNOUNCEMENT to others and encourage them to write a
letter to editor.
2) CHAT: A web site that carries the Oregonian has several on-line chat lists
in their "news" category, you can add your opinion there:
http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/
3) Read more about deaths of people in the mental health system -- CAUSED by
the mental health system itself, such as in this announcement for the Dec. 29
Day of Remembrance:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/proclamation.shtml
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/disabilities_02/
4) For people new to these issues, find out about MINDFREEDOM and Support
Coalition International and JOIN. See:
http://www.MindFreedom.org
--
David Oaks, Executive Director
MindFreedom Support Coalition International
454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284
Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA
http://www.mindfreedom.org
e-mail: oaks@mindfreedom.org fax:
(541) 345-3737
phone: (541) 345-9106 toll free in USA: 1-877-MAD-PRIDE
The mind is a terrible thing to label, forcibly drug & electroshock.
Freedom Rally, 18 May 2003, 1 pm, Moscone Center, SF, USA.
Last Updated on
04/14/04
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