DOCSLIB.ORG

ETD Template

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
ETD Template TALKING BACK TO PSYCHIATRY: RESISTANT IDENTITIES IN THE PSYCHIATRIC CONSUMER/SURVIVOR/EX-PATIENT MOVEMENT by Linda Joy Morrison BA, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1975 MSW, University of Pittsburgh, 1985 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 1995 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2003 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Linda Joy Morrison It was defended on March 3, 2003 and approved by Joseph S. Alter Mark B. Ginsburg John H. Marx Kathleen M. Blee Dissertation Director ii © Copyright by LINDA JOY MORRISON 2003 All Rights Reserved iii TALKING BACK TO PSYCHIATRY: RESISTANT IDENTITIES IN THE PSYCHIATRIC CONSUMER/SURVIVOR/EX-PATIENT MOVEMENT Linda Joy Morrison, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2003 This research shows that activists in the consumer/survivor/ex-patient (c/s/x) movement develop a range of resistant identities in response to their encounters with psychiatry. Looking beyond the apparent distinction between “consumer” and “survivor,” components of a unifying survivor narrative are seen to underlie their resistance to assuming a totalized “mental patient” identity. A shared sense of injustice and betrayal of trust motivates people to identify with movement goals and values, which emphasize talking back to the power of psychiatry, rights protection and advocacy, and self-determination. Activists share a collective identity yet enact their concerns along a continuum from conservative to radical, according to their position in relation to psychiatric treatment and their relative levels of resistance and patienthood. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank all the people who made this project possible and encouraged me to do the work. Many thanks to my friends in the movement who have shared their lives and passions in order to help me understand. I owe it all to you. I am forever grateful to those who insisted that I finish, especially Kathleen Blee, David Maines, Lynetta Mosby, Jo Reger, and Richard Stamps. Thanks to Cynthia Schellenbach and Abdi Kusow for their good will and support. Thanks especially to the people who inspired me but are no longer here to share the joy: Nancy Abel, Jim Alles, Jack Barry, Diana Forsythe, Ron Gibson, Joyce King, Fred Koloc, and Steve Sapolsky. I hope they are smiling somewhere in peace. Thanks to the dear friends who helped me through it: Suzanne, Paul and Rachel, Penny and Phil, Kellee and Saul, Jean-Luc, Ken and Brad, dear patient Fred who was so supportive, and Jeff who proved it was possible. Many thanks to all the activists, who know the work is not over yet. To my daughter Anna, whose mom has been a student nearly all her 23 years, thanks for letting me finish first. And above all I thank my parents, Alan and Joy, who believed in me. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: From Sick Role to Social Movement ....................................................................... 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 1 A Complex Social Movement..................................................................................................... 2 A Different Point of View........................................................................................................... 3 Historical Background of the Research ...................................................................................... 5 Chapter Two: Literature Review ................................................................................................. 10 The Sick Role............................................................................................................................ 10 Sick Role: The Chronic Variant................................................................................................ 12 Implications for Psychiatry....................................................................................................... 13 “Good Patients” and “Bad Patients”......................................................................................... 16 Labeling and Secondary Deviance............................................................................................ 17 Encounters with Resistance ...................................................................................................... 21 Deviant Identity as Political: Anspach and Beyond ................................................................ 22 Talking Back: Challenges to Expert Authority........................................................................ 24 Self-Help Alternatives .............................................................................................................. 26 A Radical Self-Help Position.................................................................................................... 27 Understanding Resistance......................................................................................................... 28 Talking Back as Claiming Voice .............................................................................................. 29 Voice, Power & Knowledge ..................................................................................................... 30 Subject/Object Relations........................................................................................................... 35 Social Movement Literature ..................................................................................................... 37 Literature of the Movement and its Interlocutors ..................................................................... 39 Chapter Three: Research Design and Methodology ..................................................................... 42 Choice of Research Methods .................................................................................................... 42 Institutional Review Board ....................................................................................................... 43 Gaining Approval.................................................................................................................. 43 A Special Population............................................................................................................. 44 Other Ethical Issues .............................................................................................................. 45 Fieldwork: Participant-Observation......................................................................................... 46 Gaining Entry........................................................................................................................ 46 Background:...................................................................................................................... 46 Entering the Field:............................................................................................................. 47 Reflexive Aspects:............................................................................................................ 49 Field Settings ........................................................................................................................ 50 Contributions of Fieldwork Experience................................................................................ 53 Relations with “Normals”:................................................................................................ 53 Workshop Leader: ............................................................................................................ 55 Behind the Book Table:.................................................................................................... 56 Community Involvement ...................................................................................................... 56 vi Making Contacts:.............................................................................................................. 56 Attending Meetings: ......................................................................................................... 57 Consumer-Provider Dialogues: ........................................................................................ 58 Ethical Issues ........................................................................................................................ 59 Emotions ............................................................................................................................... 59 Insider Status Issues.............................................................................................................. 60 Distance: ........................................................................................................................... 60 Whose Side Are We On? .................................................................................................. 62 Validity Issues: ................................................................................................................. 63 “Insider” and Disclosure Issues:....................................................................................... 63 The Activist Researcher Position: .................................................................................... 64 Leaving the Field .................................................................................................................. 65 Interviews.................................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • History of Psychosurgery at Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris, France, Through Translational Interactions Between Psychiatrists and Neurosurgeons
    NEUROSURGICAL FOCUS Neurosurg Focus 43 (3):E9, 2017 History of psychosurgery at Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris, France, through translational interactions between psychiatrists and neurosurgeons *Marc Zanello, MD, MSc,1,2,6 Johan Pallud, MD, PhD,1,2,6 Nicolas Baup, MD, PhD,3 Sophie Peeters, MSc,1 Baris Turak, MD,1,6 Marie Odile Krebs, MD, PhD,3,4,6 Catherine Oppenheim, MD, PhD,2,5,6 Raphael Gaillard, MD, PhD,3,4,6 and Bertrand Devaux, MD1,6 1Neurosurgery Department, 3Department of Psychiatry, Service Hospitalo-Universitaire, and 5Neuroradiology Department, Sainte-Anne Hospital; 2IMABRAIN, INSERM U894, and 4Laboratoire de Physiopathologie des Maladies Psychiatriques, Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, UMR S894; and 6University Paris Descartes, Paris, France Sainte-Anne Hospital is the largest psychiatric hospital in Paris. Its long and fascinating history began in the 18th centu- ry. In 1952, it was at Sainte-Anne Hospital that Jean Delay and Pierre Deniker used the first neuroleptic, chlorpromazine, to cure psychiatric patients, putting an end to the expansion of psychosurgery. The Department of Neuro-psychosurgery was created in 1941. The works of successive heads of the Neurosurgery Department at Sainte-Anne Hospital summa- rized the history of psychosurgery in France. Pierre Puech defined psychosurgery as the necessary cooperation between neurosurgeons and psychiatrists to treat the conditions causing psychiatric symptoms, from brain tumors to mental health disorders. He reported the results of his series of 369 cases and underlined the necessity for proper follow-up and postoperative re-education, illustrating the relative caution of French neurosurgeons concerning psychosurgery. Marcel David and his assistants tried to follow their patients closely postoperatively; this resulted in numerous publica- tions with significant follow-up and conclusions.
    [Show full text]
  • Soteria – a Treatment Model and a Reform Movement in Psychiatry
    1 Soteria – a treatment model and a reform movement in psychiatry By Volkmar Aderhold - Translated by Peter Stastny - September 2006 In honour of Loren Mosher “Everyone is much more simply human than otherwise” H.S.Sullivan - The interpersonal theory of psychiatry Introduction The Soteria treatment model was originated by the American Psychiatrist Loren Mosher during the early 1970s. As director of the Schizophrenia Branch at the National Institute Mental Health (1968-1980) he developed two federally-funded research demonstration projects: “Soteria” (1971-1983) and “Emanon” (1974-1980). The aim was to investigate the effects of a supportive milieu therapy (“being with”) for individuals diagnosed with “schizophrenia” (DSM-II), who were experiencing acute psychotic episodes for the first or second time in their lives. In these programs neuroleptics were either completely avoided, or given in low dosages only. Since the founding of Soteria Bern by Luc Ciompi in 1984, similar programs have been developed in Europe, mostly in the form of residential facilities situated in proximity to psychiatric hospitals. Initiatives to promote such programs are currently active around the world. Due to the expectation that neuroleptics would be used selectively, in acute as well as long-term situations, the program’s challenge to the medical model of “schizophrenia,” and the wide acceptance of inpatient treatment provided by mental health professionals (Mosher & Hendrix 2004, p. 282), the Soteria model has been consistently marginalized in psychiatric discourse and largely ignored in the scientific literature. On the other hand, during the past twenty years the Soteria approach has become quite influential within the debate about the optimal therapeutic methods and the development of state-of-the-art acute inpatient services.
    [Show full text]
  • Principles of Community-Based Behavioral Health Services for Justice-Involved Individuals: a Research-Based Guide a Bridge to the Possible
    Principles of Community-based Behavioral Health Services for Justice-involved Individuals: A Research-based Guide A bridge to the possible Acknowledgments This report was prepared for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under contract number HHSS283201200058I/HHSS28342003T with SAMHSA, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Nainan Thomas served as contracting officer representative. Disclaimer The views, opinions, and content of this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of SAMHSA or HHS. Nothing in this document constitutes a direct or indirect endorsement by SAMHSA or HHS of any non-federal entity’s products, services, or policies, and any reference to non-federal entities’ products, services, or policies should not be construed as such. Public Domain Notice All material appearing in this publication is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission from SAMHSA. Citation of the source is appreciated. However, this publication may not be reproduced or distributed for a fee without the specific, written authorization of the Office of Communications, SAMHSA, HHS. Electronic Access and Printed Copies This publication may be downloaded or ordered at http://store.samhsa.gov or by calling SAMHSA at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727). Recommended Citation Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: Principles of Community-based Behavioral Health Services for Justice-involved Individuals: A Research-based Guide. HHS Publication No. SMA- 19-5097. Rockville, MD: Office of Policy, Planning, and Innovation. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2019. Originating Office Office of Policy, Planning, and Innovation, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, HHS Publication No.
    [Show full text]
  • Mental Health
    BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCH IAT RY ( 1007). 191 ( s upp l. 50 ), 171 -177. d ol: I0 .1191/ b j p . 191.5 0 .s71 REVIEW ARTICLE Schizophrenia outcome measures in the wider including clinical symptoms and their im­ provement, and social functioning, espe­ cially the ability to relate to people and international community performance at work (including employ­ ment, housework and tasks). Cognitive MOHAN ISAAC , PRABHAT CHAND and PRAT I MA MURT HY function, family burden and quality of life are other outcome measures. Outcome is also influenced by the course of schizo­ phrenia. The possible contribution of fac­ tors to the good prognosis observed in low- and middle-income countries is shown in the Appendix. Background Outcome of Schizophrenia may have a better outcome schizophrenia has been described as in low- and middle-income countries. The initial evidence for this came from the Inter­ Clinical symptoms favourable in low- and middle-income national Pilot Study of Schizophrenia (!PSS; The Present State Examination-9 (PSE-9; countries. Recently. researchers have World Health Organization, 1979) and was Wing et al, 1974) has been used as the mea­ questioned these findings. further strengthened by rwo subsequent sure of clinical symptoms at baseline and studies, the Determinants of Outcome of during follow-up in almost all long-term Aims To examine the outcome studies Severe Mental Disorders (DoSMED; studies from low- and middle-income coun­ carried out in different countries Jablensky et al, 1992) and the recently con­ tries. The PSE-9 assesses 140 symptoms specifically looking at those from low- and cluded International Study on Schizo­ grouped into 36 syndromes and measures phrenia (ISoS; Harrison et al, 2001).
    [Show full text]
  • Telemedicine for Treating Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Reflections Since the Pandemic
    www.nature.com/npp COMMENT Telemedicine for treating mental health and substance use disorders: reflections since the pandemic Neuropsychopharmacology (2021) 46:1068–1070; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-021-00960-4 INTRODUCTION telemedicine deployment in MH/SUD care are an important Since the United States COVID-19 pandemic emergency began, observation. This is because an often stated policy goal of telemedicine use has accelerated [1]. Prior to the pandemic, mental telemedicine is to improve access to care, particularly for patients health and/or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) care delivered by who lack geographic access to clinicians qualified to treat their telemedicine had been increasing but infrequently used—in fewer illness—for example, rural patients [12, 13]. Furthermore, MH/SUDs than 1% of visits [2, 3]. In contrast, in early October 2020, 41% of are considered to be particularly amenable to care via telemedi- MH/SUD visits were conducted via telemedicine [4]. The rapid cine, relative to other health care conditions; for example, earlier increase in telemedicine during the pandemic was enabled by research on the diffusion of telemedicine in Medicare found that sweeping temporary changes in federal and state regulations and nearly 80% of telemedicine visits were for mental health conditions health plan reimbursement policies that reduced longstanding [14]. However, there are some patients for whom the use of barriers. These changes included federal relaxation of HIPAA telemedicine, particularly video visits, poses significant barriers. compliance for telemedicine, removal of the requirement for an The “digital divide” affects many patients who are in groups that initial in-person appointment to prescribe buprenorphine (prohib- are already underserved—such as racial or ethnic minorities, those 1234567890();,: ited under the Ryan Haight Act), Medicare coverage for audio- in poverty, and the elderly [15–17].
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of Mental Illness and the Buffalo Psychiatric Center
    From Asylum to Psychiatric Center: The evolving role of inpatient facilities in mental healthcare Early Mental Health Treatment and Facility-based Care. Before the efforts of Dorothea Dix and others in the mid-1880s, mental disorders were recognized by early civilizations and with various attempts at treatment including some form of facility-based care. Early Treatments: (Prior to 500 BCE) Some early civilizations attributed mental disorders to demonic possession. Ritualistic ceremonies, talismans, and what could be considered by some cultures as torture were among the treatments. Early Treatments: Ancient Greeks (500 BCE - 600 AD approximately) The ancient Greeks are among the first civilizations acknowledged as recognizing a body and mind connection. Treatments emphasized physical health: personal hygiene, good diet, fresh air, and exercise Early Facilities: Ancient Greeks People would come to live in open air temples and priests would minister to them, sometimes using what we would now call drama therapy. Early Facilities: Ancient Indians (circa 230 BCE) The Indian emperor Ashoka founded 18 facilities specifically for the treatment of the sick. Early Treatments: Ancient Romans (500 BCE - 1st Century AD approximately) In addition to treatments used by the Greeks, Romans employed laxatives and purgatives to rid the body of the “poisons” believed to be the cause. 7 Early Facilities: Ancient Romans 291 AD The Romans built a specialized temple for the treatment of the sick on the island of Tiber. Early Treatments: Middle Ages (5th-15th Century AD) The concept that mental disorder could be attributed to demonic possession or the influence of the devil persisted from earlier times.
    [Show full text]
  • Coercion: the Only Constant in Psychiatric Practice? Tomi Gomory, David Cohen, and Stuart A
    Florida State University Libraries Faculty Publications College of Social Work 2013 Coercion: The Only Constant In Psychiatric Practice? Tomi Gomory, David Cohen, and Stuart A. Kirk Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] Coercion 1 Coercion: The Only Constant In Psychiatric Practice? Tomi Gomory, Associate Professor, Florida State University1 David Cohen, Professor, Florida International University Stuart A. Kirk, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles To allow every maniac liberty consistent with safety; to proportion the degree of coercion to the … extravagance of behavior; … that bland art of conciliation, or the tone of irresistible authority pronouncing an irreversible mandate … are laws of fundamental importance … to the … successful management of all lunatic institutions. Philippe Pinel (1806) Introduction In the Western world, since at least the 15th century, state-sanctioned force has been employed to control those who disturb others by their violent or existentially destabilizing behaviors such as threatening or inflicting self-harm. Coercing the mad into madhouses, separating and detaining them from the rest of society, and forcing them to comply with their keepers’ wishes, occurred before physicians became involved in theorizing about the meaning or origins of madness, and it continues to distinguish psychiatric practice to this day. It is widely recognized that the mad used to be confined, beaten, tied, shocked or whirled into submission, but it seems less appreciated today by 1 Co-authors of Mad Science: The Disorders of American Psychiatry (Transaction Publishers, due in March 2013). Coercion 2 scholars, practitioners, and the general public that the physical control of “dangerous” mental patients remains a central function, and perhaps the only constant function, of public mental health systems.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case Against Antipsychotic Drugs: a 50-Year Record of Doing More Harm Than Goodq
    Medical Hypotheses (2004) 62, 5–13 http://intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/mehy The case against antipsychotic drugs: a 50-year record of doing more harm than goodq Robert Whitaker* 19 Rockingham St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Summary Although the standard of care in developed countries is to maintain schizophrenia patients on neuroleptics, this practice is not supported by the 50-year research record for the drugs. A critical review reveals that this paradigm of care worsens long-term outcomes, at least in the aggregate, and that 40% or more of all schizophrenia patients would fare better if they were not so medicated. Evidence-based care would require the selective use of antipsychotics, based on two principles: (a) no immediate neuroleptisation of first-episode patients; (b) every patient stabilized on neuroleptics should be given an opportunity to gradually withdraw from them. This model would dramatically increase recovery rates and decrease the percentage of patients who become chronically ill. c 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction which posed this question: “After fifty years of neuroleptic drugs, are we able to answer the fol- The standard of care for schizophrenia calls for lowing simple question: Are neuroleptics effective patients to be maintained indefinitely on antipsy- in treating schizophrenia?” [8] A close review of the chotic drugs. The evidence for this practice comes research literature provides a surprising answer. from research showing the drugs are effective in The preponderance of evidence shows that the treating acute psychotic symptoms and in pre- current standard of care – continual medication venting relapse [1,2]. Historians also argue that the therapy for all patients so diagnosed – does more introduction of neuroleptics in the 1950s made it harm than good.
    [Show full text]
  • Final Essay: Deinstitutionalization of The
    FINAL ESSAY: DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE MENTALLY ILL IN AMERICA By ANDREW BERTHIAUME Integrated Studies Final Project Essay (MAIS 700) submitted to Dr. Mike Gismondi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts – Integrated Studies Athabasca, Alberta December, 2016 FINAL ESSAY: DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION 2 ABSTRACT The decades-long deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients (from care in institutions to community-based supports) in the United States has been controversial. For certain individuals it has been a lifesaver, but for many more it has had negative consequences. By examining academic articles and media through interdisciplinary research, the ongoing effects of deinstitutionalization on psychiatric patients is explored. It is clear that the ideas associated with deinstitutionalization must innovate to better serve the mentally ill. FINAL ESSAY: DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION 3 Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………4 Historical and Sociological Lenses………………………………………………………6 Problems Start……………………………………………………………………………8 The Antipsychotic Era……………………………………………………………………9 Deinstitutionalization: A Failure?...................................................................................12 A Sociology Lens: Homelessness in America……......………………………………...12 Mental Illness and Criminality……………………......………………………………..13 Policing………………………………………………………………………..…………14 A Psychology Lens: Modified Labelling Theory……………………………………….15 Treatment outcomes……………………………………………………………………16 References……………………………………………………………………………….18
    [Show full text]
  • Psychiatry and Anti-Psychiatry: History, Rhetoric and Reality
    2 (4) 2018 DOI: 10.26319/4717 Daniel Burston, Psychology Department, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh PA [email protected] Psychiatry and Anti-psychiatry: History, Rhetoric and Reality Abstract: The term “anti-psychiatry” was coined in 1912 by Dr. Bernhard Beyer, but only popularized by Dr. David Cooper (and his critics) in the midst of a widespread cultural revolt against involuntary hospitalization and in-patient psychiatry during the 1960s and 1970s. However, with the demise of the old-fashioned mental hospital, and the rise of Big Pharma (with all its attendant evils), the term “anti-psychiatry” has outlived its usefulness. It survives merely as a term of abuse or a badge of honor, depending on the user and what rhetorical work this label is expected to perform. Those who use the term nowadays generally have a polemical axe to grind, and seldom understand the term’s origins or implications. It is time that serious scholars retire this term, or to restrict its use to R.D.Laing’s followers in the Philadelphia Associates and kindred groups that sprang up in the late 1960s and 1970s. Keywords: psychiatry, anti-psychiatry, psychoanalysis, DSM V, Big Pharma, normalization, psychopolitics On November 16, 2016, Dr. Bonnie Burstow, Associate Professor of Adult Education and Community Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto, launched the first (and thus far, only) scholarship in North America to support doctoral theses on the subject of “anti-psychiatry.” Predictably, this bold gesture garnered praise in some quarters, but provoked a barrage of criticism from both in and outside the university.
    [Show full text]
  • Measurement and the Decline of Moral Therapy
    University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive) Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health 1-1-2010 Measurement and the decline of moral therapy Graham D. Bowrey University of Wollongong, [email protected] Ciorstan J. Smark University of Wollongong, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/hbspapers Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, Life Sciences Commons, Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Bowrey, Graham D. and Smark, Ciorstan J.: Measurement and the decline of moral therapy 2010, 168-176. https://ro.uow.edu.au/hbspapers/1769 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Measurement and the decline of moral therapy Abstract The key theme of this historical paper is to highlight the misallocation of resources that canresult from mis-measurement in social programs. The social phenomenon explored in thispaper is a treatment for mental illness practiced in 19th century Britain called "moral therapy". One of the factors in the rise of moral therapy was that moral therapy asylums could point to mathematical "scientific" cure rates based on discharge and readmission rates to moral therapy asylums. These cure rates were far higher than the cure rates of other, merely custodial institutions of the time.However, failure to properly allow for the difference between acute and chronic mentalillness in the way that cure rates were calculated for these institutions led to a decline infunding for moral therapy asylums.This paper provides a cautionary vignette of how the (mis)use of statistics influenced animportant social policy in 19th century Britain.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    STREET SPIRIT INTERVIEW WITH LEONARD ROY FRANK (7/03) Printed below is Terry Messman’s INTRODUCTION and INTERVIEW with Leonard Roy Frank (12,700 words) published in the July 2003 issue of Street Spirit (1515 Webster #303, Oakland, CA 94612; [email protected]), a publication of the American Friends Service Committee distributed in the San Francisco’s East Bay region. INTRODUCTION Electroconvulsive Brainwashing The Odyssey of Leonard Roy Frank by Terry Messman Street Spirit Leonard Roy Frank's name is spoken with something approaching reverence by those movement activists, journalists, psychiatrists and psychiatric survivors who have come to know his work in exposing the abuses of psychiatry over the past 30 years. He has the bearing and intensity of an Old Testament prophet as he speaks gently and thoughtfully, yet with a deep urgency, of the countless lives that have been destroyed or irreparably damaged by what he describes as "psychiatric atrocities." Without hesitation, those activists who have built a nationwide human rights movement to resist psychiatric abuses compare him to past movement builders such as Gandhi and King. David Oaks, executive director of MindFreedom and a leading activist in the national movement of psychiatric survivors, says flatly, "Leonard Roy Frank is the Gandhi of the psychiatric survivors' movement. He's really helped bring a powerful spiritual discipline to this movement, similar to the work of Martin Luther King. Certainly in the 20th century, Leonard would be one of the foremost challengers of psychiatry, especially electroshock." Both in appearance and in his outspoken activism against injustice, Leonard somehow calls to mind such prophets as Isaiah and Jeremiah.
    [Show full text]