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From:
Sarah Smith <sarah@mindfreedom.org>
Dear Dr. Fox:
I am extremely concerned about your treatment of a patient by the name
of David Russell,specifically, your threat to petition the court to
continue subjecting David to shock 'treatment'.
I represent an organization called MindFreedom International. (MFI), a
501c3 organization based in Eugene, Oregon. which has consultation
status with the United Nations. Our Shield campaigns are loosely modeled
after the campaigns organized by Amnesty International on behalf of
political prisoners and torture victims. David has sought help from MFI
to help him win his right to bodily autonomy and avoid treatment which
he finds harmful and ineffective.
The United Nation's Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities
(CRPD) is an international treaty which clearly states that any form of
forced or coerced psychiatric intervention constitutes "torture." This
treaty has been ratified by over 185 nations as of 2022. Notably, the
USA is one of the few nations choosing not to ratify.
If part of your rational for shocking David is the notion that he is
'delusional' for considering himself to be the victim of torture, than
consider the thousands of United Nations representatives around
the world who wrote the CRPD and the newly released document by the
World Health Organization (WHO) which, following the UN, decries all
forced psychiatric treatments as torture and counterproductive to
recovery from mental illness.
The American Psychological Association (APA) lists the following
principles which are foundational to recovery from mental illness:
1.
Self-direction: Consumers determine their own path to recovery.
2.
Individualized and person-centered: There are multiple pathways
to recovery based on individuals’ unique strengths, needs, preferences,
experiences and cultural backgrounds.
3.
Empowerment: Consumers can choose among options and participate
in all decisions that affect them.
4.
Holistic: Recovery focuses on people’s entire lives, including
mind, body, spirit and community.
5.
Nonlinear: Recovery isn’t a step-by-step process but one based on
continual growth, occasional setbacks and learning from experience.
6.
Strengths-based: Recovery builds on people’s strengths.
7.
Peer support: Mutual support plays an invaluable role in
recovery.
8.
Respect: Acceptance and appreciation by society, communities,
systems of care and consumers themselves are crucial to recovery.
9.
Responsibility: Consumers are responsible for their own self-care
and journeys of recovery.
10.
Hope: Recovery’s central, motivating message is a better future —
that people can and do overcome obstacles.
By institutionalizing David, forcibly drugging and forcibly shocking
him, you violate every one of these principles and fail to establish a
therapeutic alliance with your patient. Your failure to be informed by
the subjective experiences of your patients as well as your
flagrant disregard of the Hippocratic oath to 'first do no harm' is
concerning.
You probably think that you are helping David yet your clinical
practices are lacking in scientific methodology. The 'evidence base' for
your practices have been bought and paid for by pharmaceutical companies
and medical device manufacturers. Your beliefs are a testament to the
level of corruption in medical training and research due to political
and economic forces.
All of these forces have had the result of marginalizing and silencing
the voices of mental health consumers like David, a dehumanizing
process, which can explain David's anger and frustration.
Please cease and desist from electroshocking David Russell
Sincerely
Sarah Smith
Shield Coordinator
MindFreedom International |