Psychiatric Interventions Often Create More Harm than Help
Graeme F. Bacque
319 Dundas St. E. #408
Toronto, Ontario M5A 2A2 CANADA
Ph: (416) 368-3366 F: (416) 368-5984
E-mail: <gbacque@colosseum.com>
To the Editor:
I really wish that you would take the proper steps to ensure that research claims made by your guest columnists are properly validated, and their
personal comments are subject to review by an attorney prior to publication of their articles. This might prevent a recurrence of medically
unverifiable and potentially libelous material (such as E. Fuller Torrey's column, titled 'Hippie Healthcare Policy') being inflicted upon
the public, and especially on innocent people who happen to bear a psychiatric label.
Once again, Dr. Torrey is manipulating the numbers on homicide statistics, homelessness and assorted other social issues in order to 'justify' the
denial of basic, inalienable human rights to some of society's most vulnerable members. He appears to be of the mindset that so-called 'mental
illness' is grounds for complete withdrawal of legal protections that most people take for granted, such as the right to be protected against
arbitrary preventive detention or not to be subjected to unwanted medical
procedures.
It has never been scientifically established that so-called 'mental
illnesses' have any physiological basis. What *has* been well-documented is the fact that common psychiatric interventions themselves are frequently
the cause of significant neurological impairment, including crippling movement disorders, memory loss (in the case of electroshock 'therapy'),
the potentially fatal condition called Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, and exacerbation of the very 'symptoms' these 'treatments' claim to be
alleviating.
It is likewise commonly accepted that being subjected to violence (such as unwanted psychiatric interventions) serves to traumatize people further and
can only worsen the situation for someone who is already frightened, angry or otherwise in emotional pain. Why is it that psychiatry (and in
particular Dr. Torrey) appears so fundamentally blind to this very simple human reality?
As well, it is completely unacceptable that Dr. Torrey continues to use the media to engage in scurrilous personal attacks against specific leaders in
the Psychiatric Survivor community and other oppressed groups, including in this case uttering some views which appear openly racist. Your publication
should certainly know better than to allow such personally-targeted vitriol to see the light of day - or have Dr. Torrey's much-vaunted 'medical and
research credentials' completely blinded you to principles of fundamental human decency?
Just because someone has the letters 'MD' appended to their name doesn't mean they automatically have the best interests of others at heart. You
need only look back as far as Germany during the Nazi era, or to Canadian psychiatrist Ewan Cameron's horrific human experimentation in the 50's and
60's to recognize this fact.
Sincerely yours,
Graeme Bacque
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
cc: E. Fuller Torrey, MD
c/o Treatment Advocacy Center
Bethesda, MD
Resist The Tory Psychiatric Police State - A Few "Mental Health" Facts
by People Against Coercive Treatment
(short version)
1. In 1995, the Harris-Tories killed the Advocacy Commission, which would have provided individual and systemic advocacy for psychiatric prisoners, developmentally disabled and elderly citizens in institutions. There are only a few government-appointed psychiatric patient advocates in nine provincial psychiatric hospitals - none in general hospitals.
2. In June 2000, the Harris Tory government passed its fascistic "mental health law" deceptively titled "Brian's Law" or Bill 68; it was proclaimed on December 1, 2000.
3. Bill 68 targets and criminalizes thousands of citizens labelled "seriously mentally ill", "psychotic" or "schizophrenic".
4. Bill 68 re-traumatizes and re-stigmatizes vulnerable people.
5. Bill 68, the Health Care Consent Act and Substitute Decisions Act perpetuate the common myth/stereotype of the violent and incompetent mental patient, and promote psychiatry's medical model which fraudulently medicalizes life crises and dissident behaviour as "mental illness".
6. Only 4% of violent crime is committed by "mentally ill" citizens, 96% by "sane" or "normal" people - facts never mentioned in the media.
7. Under Bill 68, a "community treatment order" (CTO) can be imposed on any citizen who has been treated in a "mental health facility" for at least 30 days or twice within the last three years. It applies to both involuntary and "voluntary" patients.
8. A CTO authorizes another health professional to forcibly treat (e.g., drug and/or electroshock) you in the community. If you refuse the treatment or a doctor's appointment, the police can force you back into a psychoprison ("mental health centre") where you will be locked up, drugged and/or shocked for a longer period. The government refuses to release statistical and other information on CTOs.
9. Assertive community treatment teams (ACT) consisting of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and social workers also enforce CTOs. They "monitor" your "treatment", making sure you "take your meds" (e.g., brain-damaging antidepressants and neuroleptics).
10. Under the Mental Health Act, any doctor can lock you up for 72 hours for "observation and assessment" on the belief you are "mentally ill" and dangerous - without a hearing or trial. This is preventive detention which is prohibited by international law. You have no legal right to appeal your 72-hour incarceration, which violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
11. Electroshock ("electroconvulsive therapy") is a memory-destroying, brain-damaging procedure which mainly targets women and elderly citizens labelled "depressed", "bipolar" and "manic". Each year during the last five years in Ontario, over one thousand people have been forcibly electroshocked - without "informed consent".
12. The Toronto police have killed several "mentally ill" citizens during the last twelve years - mostly men of colour. In 1988, Lester Donaldson (labelled "schizophrenic") was killed by the Toronto police while defending himself in his own home. In 1997, Edmond Wai Hong Yu - Chinese, homeless, labelled "schizophrenic", and former medical student - was shot and killed on a deserted TTC bus by policeman Lou Pasquino. Pasquino was never charged with murder or any crime. One-and-a-half years ago, Hungarian immigrant Otto Vass (also labelled "schizophrenic") was kicked to death in five minutes by four Toronto police officers outside a 711 store. All were charged with manslaughter, the trial has not yet started.
13. The Tory Implementation Task Force (Toronto-Peel Region), one of nine government-appointed "mental health" task forces in Ontario, is dominated by psychiatrists and other "service providers" - there are only 3 or 4 psychiatric survivors on this 34-member committee. It holds secret meetings chaired by former federal Tory finance minister Tory Michael Wilson
Psychiatric survivor-activists have started reaching out to social justice organizations such as the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty(OCAP), Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, Street Health, and the Ontario Common Front. We're determined to throw the Tories out, because they've violated our human rights and seriously threatened our health and lives. Resist now.
IT'S TIME TO FIGHT TO WIN.
