I received this information from David Oaks at MindFreedom International:
Hi MindFreedom Oregon TALK list,
We got a call from an individual locked up in a Salem psychiatric
facility who is pretty frustrated about getting any advocacy from
anyone.
I talked with her for a while, gave her some leads.
If someone is inspired to network with her, she could use the call.
She understands a volunteer doesn’t necessarily represent us, but
sounds like she could use any support.
Her name is JANIE.
She is locked up in Salem Hospital in Oregon where she’s been locked
up for a while.
She was FORCIBLY DRUGGED.
Her focus is mainly on the legal aspects of her case, to appeal, but
she doesn’t have an attorney or money to hire her own so that can be
tricky.
If anyone reading this would want to get involved in helping this individual or perhaps being in contact as a supporter, email me at
I will help serious and trustworthy folks who want to be active in assisting Janie in her cause.
PBS show investigates the drugging of children
From: Senior Editor
Ken Dornstein, PBS, FRONTLINE
This Week: “The Medicated Child”
*THIS* Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings)
Live Discussion: Chat with producer Marcela Gaviria, Jan. 9, 2008, 11am ET
This summer, FRONTLINE producer Marcela Gaviria set out to answer a question that has been troubling parents, doctors, and government regulators: Why are millions of American children being prescribed increasingly powerful, behavior-modifying drugs that have not been adequately tested in kids?
In “The Medicated Child,” airing Tuesday night, Gaviria takes us deep inside the world of child psychiatry where a debate is growing about how early to diagnose mental illness in children, and which drugs are safe for treatment. At the heart of the story is the dramatic rise of a controversial new diagnosis–bipolar disorder–which, until recently was thought only to exist in adults, but now has been found in over one million children, including a growing number of toddlers.
Watch a preview at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/
Gaviria finds many who challenge the validity of child bipolar disorder, and others who charge it’s being overdiagnosed. But, ultimately, it’s parents who are stuck with the hard choices about whether to treat their children with the potent psychiatric drugs prescribed for the disorder.
Meet Jacob Solomon, for instance. A preschool teacher urged his parents to medicate him for hyperactivity, but the diagnosis progressed to bipolar disorder and Jacob soon found himself on a cocktail of prescription drugs that came with serious side effects his doctors don’t yet fully understand. “It all started to feel out of control,” Jacob’s father tells FRONTLINE. “Nobody ever said we can work with this through therapy and things like that. Everywhere we looked it was, ‘Take meds, take meds, take meds.'”
Then there’s four-year-old DJ whose parents reluctantly agreed to treat him with a new “anti-psychotic” drug for his extreme mood swings. “If he didn’t take [the medicine], I don’t know if we could function as a family,” his mother tells FRONTLINE. “It’s almost a do-or-die situation over here.” DJ’s doctor explains: “It’s really to some extent an experiment, trying medications in children of this age. It’s a gamble. And I tell parents there’s no way to know what’s going to work.”
So who’s monitoring this experiment on our children?
How do doctors decide when a toddler’s tantrums cross the line into mental illness?
What are scientists learning about genetics and brain development that might one day remake the entire field of child psychiatry?
Gaviria talks to a broad range of child psychiatrists and researchers, then heads to Washington where she learns something that’s sure to give any parent pause at the pharmacy: The Food and Drug Administration knows shockingly little about the effects of most prescription drugs on children.
“Parents need to be aware that all products haven’t been studied in children,” one top doctor at the FDA tells FRONTLINE. “As a matter of fact, I’d say too high a percentage of time we don’t know what we’re doing, and we need to study it in kids and get the dosing right and know whether it works in them.”
I hope you’ll watch this important and timely program Tuesday night, and then visit online to watch it again, explore the extended interviews with experts, read a parents’ guide on psychiatric medications for children, or get answers to some “frequently asked questions.” And, join the discussion at:
http://pbs.org/frontline/medicatedchild/
Mad and Non-Mad Radio: Some Different — Very Different — Radio Shows
submitted by David W. Oaks — last modified 2007-11-06 10:32
Here are several Mad radio shows and one Non-Mad radio show you may listen to about changing the mental health system, all hosted by MindFreedom members who are psychiatric survivors! All may be heard on the web.
Mad and Non-Mad Radio: Some Different — Very Different — Radio Shows
Oryx and Will at the madness radio controls.
MINDFREEDOM NEWS HOUR:
Of course!
MindFreedom’s own show each Wednesday at 4 pm ET for more info click here.
That’s one… here are three more!
NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts, USA:
Listen to Madness Radio: Voices and Visions from Outside Mental Health, produced by Freedom Center and the Icarus Project. Madness Radio is broadcast weekly on Pacifica affiliate WXOJ-LP FM Wednesdays at 6 to 7 pm Eastern Standard Time in Northampton Massachusetts.
Their podcast can be heard at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/madnessradio
Listen live and to archived shows and podcasts at madnessradio.net.
COLORADO:
Mary Van Pelt has done a number of radio productions… For info about the link to her web site, click here.
PORTLAND, Oregon, USA:
Talking about “being nuts” on Portland, Oregon radio- Mad Liberation by Moonlight
By Rick Snook and Daniel Flessas
History:
It all started when I was in the 5th grade and Dan Flessas was my best friend. Our favorite activity was to get on the radio by making prank calls to talk radio stations, usually with the intent (and some success) of getting some racy language or crude joke past the 3 second bleeper. Time flies and years later Daniel became a host of a regular Friday night program on KBOO- The Outside World. He has been doing the show for at least 23 years.
In the fall of 2006 I suggested to him that we start having a monthly feature on his show where we would discuss mental health related topics and request callers to join in with their stories of struggle with the system. He said- “great”- so we did it.
So, on the Friday following the full-moon the lunatics take over KBOO and talk about being nuts. I usually bring some news items to read, sometimes some poetry related to the subject or a personal story. We often have guests. The show is from 1 am to 2 am (approximately- sometimes longer and we rarely start right on time). We are gradually gathering steam; more callers each month. KBOO is streamed on the internet so we can get some calls from far away places.
We play some music that seems appropriate. We sometimes have live music in the background (folks who stop by the station after their club sets).
For more information see
Or contact me, Rick Snook-
NON-MAD Radio
The following radio show host, who is a psychiatric survivor, prefers that his show not be called “mad” radio… Host Don Weitz is a and legend in Toronto and internationally for his decades of work against psychiatric human rights violations, so his preference is fine with us.
Says Don, “Antipsychiatry should not be confused or conflated with madness!” Don’s biography describes some of his writing to newspapers as “angry,” so duly noted, Don can be angry, but not mad!
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada:
by Don Weitz
Antpsychiatry Radio is a unique and powerful program on CKLN (88.1FM, http://www.ckln.fm, an independent community radio station in Toronto.
It airs on the last Friday every month at 6:30-7pm (EST).
Hosted and produced by antipsychiatry activist and psychiatric survivor Don Weitz, the program features interviews with psychiatric survivors re their personal stories of psychiatric abuses including electroshock, forced drugging and involuntary committal; victories over human rights violations in the psychiatric system; grassroots resistance, and movement news.
Don can be contacted at:
Peer Operated Recovery Treatment and Support (PORTS)
A Mental Health Recovery Model Developed by Michael Hlebechuk
PORTS is a mental health self-directed care model that combines mental health brokerage services with a peer counseling/advocacy education program and a couple of evidence based practices that actually work. There are no outcome studies to demonstrate the efficacy of PORTS. It has never been implemented. I drafted it up in response to a question for a job interview. I firmly believe, however, that if implemented this model would help people along the road to recovery in ways we haven’t seen yet through a formal program. The 2 page draft that outlines PORTS is located at:
http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/mentalhealth/consumers-families/ports.pdf
moon soup 