Advocacy "for the mentally ill" is actually advocacy for an agenda

“Prejudices are what fools use for reason.”

Voltaire

DJ Jaffe never misses an opportunity to capitalize on a tragedy which involves a person with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.   Oddly, whether the tragedy involves the person with the diagnosis committing criminal acts or the person being victimized by the criminal acts of others, does not matter. He uses tragic events to further his advocacy platform and spread the seeds of ignorance and to justify bigotry towards those with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.  Using fear and misinformation, he capitalizes on tragic events and advocates for his agenda in a column in the Huffington Post, and in whatever arena or forum he is allowed. In the latest instance of fear based "advocacy for the seriously mentally ill," DJ Jaffe's utilizes the murder of Kelly Thomas in Fullerton California, to further his platform calling for increasing forced psychiatric treatment. Kelly Thomas died after a prolonged violent assault in which six police officers beat and repeatedly shocked him with tasers; a homicide committed by out of control police officers.

The US Constitution grants DJ Jaffe the same Individual Rights that are  granted to all individual American citizens.  The First Amendment protects his right to say whatever the hell he wants, whether based on reality or fantasy.  Jaffe uses his Freedom of Speech to advocate for an agenda that implicitly suggests that people with a psychiatric diagnosis either don't need or don't deserve equal protection of their Individual Rights under the US Constitution; although he denies this is so.  DJ Jaffe denies this is the case because he is unwilling to objectively consider whether one's individual rights are in fact effectively preserved, when individual rights are not defended.  DJ Jaffe's advocacy activities are protected by the US Constitution; and he is entitled to exercise these rights as he sees fit.

DJ Jaffe assumes that because Individual Rights are defined within civil commitment statutes, and the statute itself contains a declaration that  Individual Rights of people Court Ordered to Involuntary Treatment are to be preserved and defended when Court Orders are sought; the declaration written into the law preserves and defends an individual's rights. This is an erroneous assumption.

When we as a society, fail to preserve or defend the individual rights of an entire class of people, predicated on the notion that preservation of the individual rights of people labeled "mentally ill" is secondary to the interests of the rest of society, we diminish ourselves as a society and as individuals; we violate The US Constitution, which clearly states that no law can deprive any individual or group of their Liberty, without Due Process of Law.

AMENDMENT XIV

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of the 14th amendment.

Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

When the Involuntary Treatment laws are implemented and carried out, the Individual Rights to Substantive and Procedural Due Process are neither protected or defended for those who are the Court Ordered to conform to a treatment protocol which may disable or cause their  sudden or early death.


We as a society have allowed so-called advocates like DJ Jaffe and the "grass roots advocates" like NAMI, to successfully lobby Have we done so in the mistaken belief that these laws help the people who are effectively deprived of their Individual Rights to Substantive and Procedural Due Process of Law? The casual manner in which DJ Jaffe, and other advocates "for the seriously mentally ill" dismiss the negative impact of a legal deprivation of individual rights on the people so deprived, is despicable.


DJ Jaffe and "grass-roots advocates" who claim to be "The Nation's Voice on Mental Illness" do not seem to understand or care that Individual Rights are not protected by words alone. Rights are protected when Rules of Evidence are followed, Proper Notice served upon to the person facing a Court Order for Involuntary Treatment and Proof of Service is filed with the Court, Standard Court Procedures used, and Effective Assistance of Counsel provided.  All of these elements are necessary to effectively preserve an Individual's Rights under the US Constitution. When Court Orders for involuntary psychiatric treatment are sought, these clearly defined individual protections are conspicuously absent.


The people who are detained on psychiatric holds, Court Ordered to Involuntary Treatment, and/or Assisted Outpatient Treatment under Laura's Law, Kendra's Law, or other Involuntary Treatment statutes, are deprived of these individual rights as a matter of course; and as a matter of fact.  We, as a society, have been misinformed by zealous advocates and have blindly accepted it and in effect, we have justified allowing fears, biases and ignorance to be the legal basis used to deprive an entire class of people, "the seriously mentally ill," of their individual rights outlined in the US Constitution. We have legally declared the mentally ill to be different and have passed laws that are obviously discriminatory, and which effectively lower the legal standards applicable in Court proceedings for Involuntary Treatment. How can we as a society claim to be acting in the best interests of an entire class of people by instituting lower legal standards applicable only to them, depriving them of their Individual Rights?

The Declaration of Independence
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
As a society, we validated intolerance and openly discriminate against people with a psychiatric diagnosis Under Color of Law. 


Advocates like DJ Jaffe, are lobbying for strengthening existing laws that are much like the public policies implemented in Germany during WWII:  Identify, segregate, and provide "treatment" to people who are given no choice; depriving the people targeted of the individual protections the rest of society takes for granted.  We are doing this right now in the United States of America, targeting the people who are labeled with a psychiatric diagnosis, depriving those targeted of their Individual Rights to Substantive and Procedural Due Process of Law, under the US Constitution, and Court Ordering psychiatric treatment with teratogenic drugs and/or electric shock which can be disabling and fatal, "for their own good."


Utilizing a human tragedy as a means of furthering a forced treatment agenda to "help the mentally ill" belies having any altruistic intent. Involuntary Treatment Laws are morally reprehensible.  It is as if proponents of these discriminatory laws determined that the words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" are not self-evident truths, but are privileges some of us still have... 

"Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, 
he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope."

Robert Kennedy

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."  C.S. Lewis 

DJ Jaffe's huffpo Kelly Thomas article which inspired me to write this post 

DJ Jaffe's Washington Times article September 16, 2011 well worth your time to read the comments to see how DJ Jaffe is unwilling to answer questions about what he has written.

DJ Jaffe's Tip Sheet written when he was a NAMI Board member and co-author E. Fuller Torrey 

they are both co-founder's of the Treatment Advocacy Center a non-profit established as a function of NAMI in 1998.

from this "tip sheet":

"While AMI/FAMI is not suggesting you do this, the fact is that some families have learned to ‘turn over the furniture’ before calling the police. Many police require individuals with neurobiological disorders to be imminently dangerous before treating the person against their will. If the police see furniture disturbed they will lusually conclude that the person is imminently dangerous.

Read How and why to change involuntary treatment laws in your state.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT WHICH MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO PROVIDE THIS INFORMATION TO THOSE WHO COULD BENEFIT FROM IT.

NAMI/ NYC (formerly AMI/FAMI) does not endorse any medicines or treatments. This info is a public service as part of our efforts to educate and help others affected by these disorders. Do not rely on it. Consult your doctor before making any decisions. NAMI/NYC is a non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of people with neurobiolgical disorders (“NBD”, formerly known as ‘mental’ illness) through education, advocacy, support, and research. If this has been useful to you, PLEASE JOIN US. Send a deductable contribution of $30 (or more) to NAMI/NYC, 432 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016 to get on our mailing list or call (212) 684-3AMI. To join chapter outside NYS: 1 800 950 NAMI. Families Helping Families is what NAMI/NYC is all about. Thank you for helping us help others."

Summary:

This "tip sheet" is no longer available on the website I originally found it on; so I am glad I took the liberty of copying it verbatim. I suspect it is no longer on the NAMI site due to how much DJ Jaffe has been confronted about the outrageous advice it offers...He has claimed that he does not endorse lying or tipping over furniture---I, for one, do not believe him. Jaffe in fact put these statements on a widely distributed Tip Sheet meant to advise families how to get help for a family member who is in crisis, making his denial not at all credible. The fact that this document was disseminated by "advocates for the mentally ill" belies an altruistic intent. NAMI functions as a Nation-wide special interest lobby, using propaganda produced by The Treatment Advocacy Center. The fact that NAMI advocates for a very specific agenda--which is not the same thing as advocating for a group of individuals who have psychiatric diagnoses.  
NAMI, the Treatment Advocacy Center, Torrey, and Jaffe, all disseminate the same inaccurate information claiming that schizophrenia is a "brain disease" or "neurobiological disease" as if it is a scientific fact, or medical certainty; and further assert the disease can be "effectively treated" with teratogenic drugs. The claim that schizophrenia is a disease, defect or the newest term, "neuro-biological" disease is not in reality, based upon any empirical evidence, there has been no pathology found to cause schizophrenia to date. All of these "advocates" take their cues from the corrupt drug industry and continue to exaggerate the effectiveness of neuroleptic and other psychiatric drugs; while minimizing and denying altogether the actual brain damage and disability caused by the drugs. Even worse, is their denial of drug-induced adverse events including fatalities---advocates effectively become co-conspirators of a corrupt drug industry in defrauding federally funded medical programs.
The fraud, corruption, and Conflicts of Interest in psychiatric Research, Drug development and marketing, and Medicaid and Medicare being the source of the majority of the ill gotten gains which were obtained in the Pharmaceutical pilfering of the Federal Medicaid and Medicare Programs ARE not even mentioned. NAMI, TAC, Torrey and Jaffe function as pharmaceutical Lobbyists who advocate for a very specific agenda.  It is obvious that if their advocacy was for individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis, these Lobbyists would spend some of their energy towards stopping such criminal conduct from victimizing the people they claim to be advocating for. 


It is also plain that when a person with a diagnosis of schizophrenia is killed as a result of being beat to death by a gang of out of control Police Officers, the death is the fault of the assailants. Blaming the victim or 'the mental health system" is inappropriate. It is done for because is serves as propaganda to support the forced treatment agenda which is the primary focus of their "advocacy."  
The simple truth is that Kelly Thomas is dead because of brutal assault and battery, intentionally inflicted by six Police Officers; each of whom had a duty to protect and serve Kelly Thomas. It is a Hate Crime. The tragic death of Kelly Thomas, a man with a diagnosis of schizophrenia is used by Jaffe, TAC and individual NAMI members as a means to a very specific end: to lobby State legislatures in support for forced psychiatric treatment; including soliciting the endorsement of Kelly's grieving family members, to support Laura's Law. Jaffe and others minimized the fatal actions taken by those whose Duty was to Protect and to Serve Kelly Thomas---whether he was "treatment compliant" or not; homeless or not, and whether he was mentally ill or not. The fact that he was a man diagnosed with schizophrenia, homeless and not on psychiatric drugs or any intoxicating substances when he was killed---should have compelled any advocate who reached out to support the family to stand with them to demand that Kelly Thomas's murderers be brought to justice. It is not advocacy or altruism that compels advocates who choose to blame the victim or "the broken mental health system" for the murder of a mentally ill person. It is self-interest that compels advocates to exploit a brutal murder committed rogue Police Officers of a mentally ill man to further a forced psychiatric treatment agenda.


I am a mother of a young man who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and I know that when I heard of Kelly's murder; my first thoughts were for his family. My second was that those responsible, would be held accountable. I know from painful experience, crimes committed which victimize people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are seldom prosecuted, or even investigated. I do not believe that Kelly's lifestyle choices are the issue, nor do I doubt or question his family---It is for me, very simple: Senseless brutality committed by anyone which ends a person's life must compel society to hold the perpetrators responsible. Kelly Thomas and people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are considered "vulnerable" yet when victimized, are in fact frequently neither protected or defended; far more often, the victims of crime are blamed or ignored altogether. It is as if their vulnerability compels the rest of society to abdicate any responsibility by failing to perform any duty which would protect or defend them---even when they are killed. Otto Zehm was killed by Police Officers in Spokane, Washington and although his death was ruled a homicide, and his brutal assault was caught on video---none of the handful of Police officers who killed him were charged with murder.  This is the 'norm.'


The forced psychiatric treatment agenda, that some 'advocates' focus on, is a biased and discriminatory agenda; not altruistic advocacy in the public interest in service to the mentally ill. People psychiatry labels as mentally ill and society considers to be vulnerable should have the same legal protection those of us who are not mentally ill take for granted. Surely, we can not claim to be a just, civil society if we deprive vulnerable people of their individual rights under color of law, and then claim the deprivation is "for their own good."
 

Portions of this post were first published on August 16, 2011 under the title, Advocacy for who?

A MadMother wonders what happened to the Rule of Law? is everyone corrupt?

About Rob McKenna

I sent Washington State's Attorney General, Rob McK an email this morning...I don't really wonder, I know that I probably will not hear from anyone.  

to rob.mckenna@atg.wa.gov cc Senator Pam Roach , Representative Charles Ross , Representative Norm Johnson bcc Jeanette Barnes , "Moorhead, Ronald (DSHS/HRSA/DBHR)" , Kevin Bouchey date Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 7:24 AM subject This is some Mental health Transformation... mailed-by gmail.com

Mr. McKenna,

Does it occur to you the class action lawsuits that you joined and got settlements from drug companies for illegally marketing, etc. of psychiatric drugs have real live human victims; that the tax payers are secondary, not primary victims?  My son is a victim.  My once brilliant son is now physically and cognitively impaired and continues to be victimized by Washington State employees and contracted mental health providers.  You are the legal advocate for the State, the State is the people Mr. McKenna, and you are an Officer of the Court, as is the Yakima County Prosecutor.  Both of you have failed in your duties as officers of the Court, in my son's case.  

I can not change what was done to my son and my family by people with no ethics and no integrity, but as God is my witness, I will try to keep it from happening to some one else's child.

Respectfully,

Becky Murphy

http://involuntarytransformation.blogspot.com/2011/04/something-is-and-has-been-very-rotten.html

http://involuntarytransformation.blogspot.com/2011/09/washington-state-and-attorney-

generals.html

http://yakimavalleysystemsofcare.blogspot.com/2011/09/washington-state-has-some-very-strange_15.html

Washington State Supreme Court Rules Involuntary Commitment Hearings Must Be Open to the Public

 Justice Pro Tem., Richard Sanders, writes the majority opinion in re the Detention of D.F.F. 
declaring, in effect:  

It is unconstitutional to hold Involuntary Commitment proceedings in secret.  

via Temple of Justice:The History, People and Cases of the Washington State Supreme Court 


In re detention of D.F.F. SANDERS, J. 
—"We are asked to decide whether Superior Court Mental Proceedings Rules (MPR) 1.3, which provides involuntary commitment proceedings “shall not be open to the public, unless the person who is the subject of the proceedings or his attorney files with the court a written request that the proceedings be public,”  

Majority Opinion, written by Richard Sanders    

Temple of Justice    

"I believe we must speak our conscience in moments that demand it, 

even if we are but one voice" 

Richard Sanders

Corruption, Fraud and A Real Victim in Washington State

Isaac and I in 1992

originally published February 3, 2011
I can not tell you what it was like to have my question answered.  My question was, "Are you going to request that a criminal investigation be conducted on the crimes I reported, in which my son was victimized?"  I knew what the answer was; I just wanted the man to BE HONEST enough to say it.  After reporting crimes that occurred on July 28, 2010 committed by Nancy Sherman; and psychiatrist, Jeffery Jennings on August 2, and 6, 2010; I was told the truth, "No, we are not" on February 3, 2011.

The man is not going to do his job, and launch a criminal investigation, probably on the advice of State Attorney General's Office.  The Attorney General, Rob McKenna, is running for Governor.  As anybody who has dealt with "the system" and needed to file a complaint would know; it is a miracle to ever hear the truth from a public servant.  To get an answer at all is miraculous, even when the answer is more than disappointing.  I filed a report documenting unethical and illegal conduct of State contracted Medicaid professionals and was told nothing is going to be investigated a mere 6 months after filing my criminal complaint.

My heart, my mind, my spirit are devastated, the overwhelming, inescapable reality that my son did not have a chance of being respected or helped to recover after being victimized while in State care as a preschooler.  The fact that he has been further traumatized repeatedly, by the "treatment" he has received, is more tan insult to injury.  I have come to the realization that what happened after I placed him in state foster care when he was a toddler and he was abused, was meant to happen: it is how the system functions.

The purpose of the social service system is to serve the people whom it benefits directly; and society as a whole indirectly, by doing so.  The system more often seems to concern itself with sustaining the business structure of the system.  One thing the child welfare system does is fail to protect children who are Wards of the State by allowing them to be entered in Drug Trials undertaken by psychiatric or academic researchers, and allows them to be given dangerous drugs to treat dysfunctional behavior.   It was done to my son, doing so was not only immoral, but against State, Federal and International Law.

My son has not been served ethically, morally or legally by State social service systems and mental health providers, who owed him a duty.  He has been stigmatized and discriminated against since developing severe behavioral and emotional issues while in foster care.  The fact that I placed him in foster care, where he was harmed so very badly is something I remember every single day.  I can hardly breathe at times knowing that it was my failure which is at the beginning of this long painful journey.  There is no comfort in making my amends, no relief and no solace; I know now that all of these are viscerally related to Justice, and there has been none for my son; knowing this brings no chance of having any real peace.

The Children's Mental Health Initiative Systems Transformation Grant that Yakima County received from SAMHSA to correct the serious deficits in the publicly funded mental health service system for children, was run aground.  In reality, the grant is pay Yakima County and the State of Washington.to comply with Federal regulations which are decades old. Specifically, the grant was to enable the community to make the necessary changes so all the service providers that receive federal funds work collaboratively together, and serve children with emotional and behavioral problems and their families, better; using federal tax dollars more efficiently.  Just as importantly, the grant was meant to address the deficits in the social welfare social service system which defraud the Federal Medicaid and child welfare social service system. In effect, and in fact, the Federal Government is/was paying States and Local authorities to come into compliance with Federal Law; and stop committing FRAUD.

We have, in the community I live, an opportunity to become more effective, and ethically provide services to children and families. The grant from SAMHSA is intended to not just better serve children who have emotional and behavioral problems; but to alter how the system is structured to reflect this intent.  All of the services are to be  for the kids' benefit; and should be delivered and structured to reflect this. Where this fact is not well reflected, to make the changes required.  Federal funds are NOT to preserve State business and political structures (or individual budgets) of the entities that serve our children, systems are to primarily serve the children.  To do so responsibly, would require that the approach be dual pronged, making the changes necessary to serve the needs of the children; while developing a working responsive business structure to sustain the changes made.

I know that there is no interest in the Washington State system to help those who are harmed by State employees or State contractors.  Even when the harm is the result of CRIME, violent or otherwise, there is a concerted effort to deny responsibility, even if it means committing more crimes to do so.  There appears to be no recognition in the Washington State's Mental Health Division Behavioral Health and Recovery unit or Yakima County's Department of Human Services, that they work for my son and people like him; real people; not for some ephemeral idea, "The County" or "The State."

On July 28, 2010 Nancy Sherman committed 2 Felonies, each punishable by up to ten years in prison; forgery and perjury and had my son detained; On August 2, after drugging my son who was in crisis, into a confused stupor; and again on August 6th, psychiatrist Jeffery Jennings, committed perjury resulting in my son being further court ordered to "Involuntary Treatment," in spite of the fact my son had sought treatment.  My son has yet to recover, to the condition he was in prior to these events; and it is nearly a year later.  I am without hope that these crimes will be investigated or prosecuted.  It is obviously not a priority to actually follow the Law or to protect the Constitutional Rights of people who are Court Ordered to Involuntary mental health treatment.  Individual Rights protected by the US Constitution protect ALL AMERICANS--even those who are or are alleged to need "Involuntary Commitment." These protections are theoretical when Constitutional Rights to Procedural Due Process of Law are not even defended by counsel provided, as was the case for my son. Rules of Evidence were ignored, and Standard of Court Procedures were not followed; the original Superior Court record was shredded by the mental health agency; and there is no recourse since the reports of  these gross violations of the law were NOT investigated.  I can only assume The State of Washington apparently does not believe "mentally ill" people have any Constitutional Rights worth protecting.

My son and many others, are in need of kind and compassionate care from ethical practitioners, when in emotional distress.  There is no justice, and therefore no peace for me.  I was denied the right to protect my son as a child.  Now my son is grown; a young man still needing to be protected; because he was used and abused in Drug Trials by the State of Washington, and is now cognitively impaired as a result.  There is no excuse for this utter failure of Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health or it's two employees, Nancy Sherman and Jeffery Jennings; there is no excuse for the State of Washington for yet another failure to address criminal misconduct which caused my son further harm.  There is...

No Justice, No mercy.  No mercy, No Justice.

"God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right, even though I think it is hopeless."

Chester W. Nimitz


"He is a poor son whose sonship does not make him desire to serve all men's mothers."  
Harry Emerson Fosdick

Liberty, Responsibility and Psychiatry

WE as a Nation need to do better by our Veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq! The Mental Health field is in a freaking mess. Children, the elderly and military troops and veterans are especially vulnerable to being harmed and killed by mental health professionals using "standard practices." Prescribing psychotropic drugs with serious risks, but without evidence that supports the need or the utility for the prescription; little to no proof that the drug/s prescribed will actually help the patient. There is however ample evidence that prescribing psychotropic drugs in this manner will cause a significant percentage of patients iatrogenic injuries and diseases; and may cause a life-threatening adverse reaction like akasthisia which can compel a person to commit suicide, and or homicide. It is not at all a medically sound or an ethical decision to indescriminately drug physically healthy people in distress knowing that doing so may cause them metabolic, cognitive, neurological, and cardio-vascular diseases; knowing there is a risk that doing so can cause them to become suicidal, and maybe homicidal.  These are not the type of risks one can determine  are "acceptable risks" for another person without both being aware of the potential risks and hoped for benefits; nor can a prescriber ethically determine that the negative effects a patient experiences are "tolerable" to the patient.

Research fraud, illegal marketing, hidden trial data, Medicaid, Medicare and TriCare fraud, and good old fashioned greed this is what fuels the widespread use of psychotropic drugs for every symptom of distress,  discomfort, and behavioral issue---whether it is the patient who is wanting treatment or it is someone else who believes the problem resides within the patient. The reality is, regardless of what the cause/s ultimately are, how we treat one another is, in my mind, the single most important environmental factor that we can change, adapt, to positively influence our individual and collective wellbeing. That's why it always matters. In my experience, it matters very much more to people who have a psychiatric diagnosis because of the sensitivity to all of our energy, attitude and actions. One thing absolutely clear to me is that humans in distress know when they are disrespected, misled, coerced, manipulated and lied to...Humans are meant to survive, and coercing and misleading and lying to a person who may be perceived by others as being out of it or in another world, or just not seem to be aware of the same reality as anyone else in the room; I know that in that state, we know whether we are treated with respect or callous disregard, with acceptance and positive regard or with fear and dirision. How we treat one another really, really matters. All the time.

Under the guise of "practicing medicine," psychiatry has been using the same tactics that it has always used---coercion, manipulation, and misinformation; what is utterly horrifying is despite the lack of evidence which complies with the Rules of Evidence for Standard civil and criminal court hearings, (which is why the legal  standards had be lowered for civil commitments) psychiatry has Police Powers to detain, diagnose and treat people Under Color of Law. The ethically bankrupt "doctors" have taught families and firends to be their accomplices coercing, emotionally manipulating and effectively stimatizing people with a psychiatric diagnosis whom they have legally stripped of their individual rights by passing laws which in effect allow people with a psychiatric diagnosis to be treated as if they are less that fully human and not worthy of having their basic human rights respected. It is unconscionable how can anyone reasonably believe that stripping people in distress of their human dignity, their political power and their fundamental human rights, and using  different (lower) standards, to legally force them to comply with psychiatric diagnosis and treatment is "for their own good"? what kind of shit is that!? How could it be ethically, medically or legally justified? It is contradictory to ethical, medical and legal standards.

Based on carefully crafted misinformation and innuendo used to incite fear and feed innate biases, the stima of mental illness has come to be a justification for shameless bigotry that is basically accepted as "necessary" to be of benevolent assistance to "the seriously mentally ill?!"  This is now the societal norm in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave that by incessantly repeating misinformation, etc.; i.e. use of propagnada, most states have passed unconstitutional laws which violate individual Constitutional Rights to Substantive and Procedural Due Process of Law of people to ensure they get special treatment that is known to be minimally effective for a minority of people the laws are meant to be applicable to; yet have grave risks including fatality for all who take them. In "Mad In America," Robert Whitaker reported that 1 out of every 145 people in the drug trials for Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seroquel, and Serdolect died.  That's a lot---and the adverse effects are more profound for kids and adolescents.  1 out 116 or 119 (depending on who the lead author is on the "peer-reviewed" article) in the TEOSS trial died.

The current forced treatment laws are the brain child of Edwin Fuller, Torrey Director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, the "research" organization for NAMI, either that or being the fromt man is also one of his roles...TAC's forced treatment agenda has been marched across the nation by NAMI. NAMI trains "advocates" to lobby state legislatures. Involuntary Treatment legislation has been passed in 46 States, thanks to NAMI's special interest lobbyists funded and "educated" by pig pharma.

By using propaganda to fuel fear, ignorance and bigotry this effort uses advocacy groups and massive amounts of cash to spread a distorted message about psychiatric diagnoses and the people who have been labeled as "mentally ill." Torrey believes cat feces cause schizophrenia and he also collects human brains--- sometimes by using less than ethical, honorable, or legal  means... The Brain Collector, since becoming a beneficiary of the Stanley Family's generosity, was gifted with a faculty position at the The Uniformed Services Medical Sciences University; has founded the Treatment Advocacy Center; and "founded" the  Stanley Medical Research Institute. These latter two endeavors have received over $300 million from the Stanley Family Foundation in 21 years.....that's a pretty generous marketing budget for a propaganda campaign for a social and political control system for those who are "in need of treatment." Diagnosis by psychiatry has led to thousands being prescribed drugs without being adequately informed about what the risks of taking the drugs are.

Those on Medicare, Medicaid, and TriCare are targeted because these Government programs cover the cost--it is the source of a significant percentage of the billions of dollars of fraud over the last 10+ years and the fraudulent payment for non covered prescriptions, is still unabated...Medicaid paid fraudulent claims for my son's "off-label" prescriptions every time, without question.  It is an enormous betrayal of trust. I was never told even half of what I shold have been from the beginning---I didn't realize how very badly I had been betrayed and start researching until it was  too late. Every single social system  regulatory, medical, mental health, or social services failed to comply with the Law the ethical guidelines of their chosen professions and some treated us as if we were not worthy of any respect or even civility. I am appalled at the amount of money defrauded from my neighbors and my family members, to pay for what was done to my son.

Thanks to the lack of accountability and the deceit that permeates meant health services due to the use of coercion, etc. so called professionals know that forgery, perjury, and psychiatric assault are not ever investigated, so they too, can be standard practices... A "Designated Mental Health Professional," has the state's authority to "detain" a person for "treatment." The DMHP does not have to be a psychiatrist, and does not need to know anything at all about the person they are evaluating. The Courts and the Police now function as mental health treatment aides or medical tools enforcing the mental health treatment protocols without an evidence base which suppports the protocols from being "standards" at all. . How is this any different from what was done in Germany by the Third Reich?  It's not a bit different.

Direct to consumer marketing of drugs; drug industry funded "consumer advocacy and education" campaigns, biased research is conducted by psychiatrists who lack medical ethics, drugs approved by this process are then illegally marketed; it's "standard practice."   The regulatory system failure and propaganda campaigns with false claims about the safety and effectiveness of the drugs being illegally marketed; while presenting hypotheses as medical certainties and validated scientific findings, which serves to fuel society's ignorance and fear; which results in a dysfunctional, inhumane response to people who have a psychiatric diagnosis.

"New statistics from the VA show that veterans make up 20 percent of the 30,000 suicides in the United States each year. An average of 18 veterans commit suicide every day and five of those 18 are already getting treatment at the VA. "Veteran's Suicide: Problems in the VA"


Do Veterans Receive Care and Protection Needed?

Although we may not know it, we have, in our day,

witnessed the birth of the Therapeutic State. This is perhaps the major 

implication of psychiatry as an institution of social control. 

 --Thomas S. Szasz, Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry: 

An Inquiry Into the Social Uses of Mental Health Practices, 

   The Macmillan Company, New York, 1963, 

from the: The Thomas S.Szasz Cybercenter for Liberty and Responsibility

Psychiatry Has Anosognosia

I started this blog when I realized that no one was ever going to be held accountable for crimes committed against my son. My thinking was that I know that I can not make anyone do anything; but I can tell the world what has been done to my son and my family. Hopefully, by sharing our story, we can prevent others from experiencing what we have. I am truly humbled by what I have learned in the short time since I started to "tell the world" about my family's American Experience. 

I named my youngest son Isaac; because it means laughter. In retrospect, it is ironic that I gave him the name of the son Abraham was asked to sacrifice in the Old Testament to prove his loyalty to God. Unlike Abraham, I was not given a choice; neither one of us were asked if we were willing to make the sacrifices that were forced upon us. I am a mother whose son has been victimized by unethical mental health "professionals;" people who work for the State of Washington directly, and contracted "providers;" none of whom have been charged for their felony crimes. Some, still have the State paid jobs or publicly funded mental health jobs as contracted providers that they had when they committed these crimes; others have retired with pensions. The latest crimes victimizing my son occurred in July and August of 2010. 

What I have come to learn about how public mental health policy is developed and implemented in the United States of America, is horrifying. I can not tell you what is worse: my suspicions being founded; or coming to know it is so very much worse than I ever imagined...

Here is what Wikipedia says about anosognosia:

Psychiatry

"Although largely used to describe unawareness of impairment after brain injury or stroke, the term 'anosognosia' is occasionally used to describe the lack of insight shown by some people who suffer from psychosis, and who therefore do not have the insight to recognize that they suffer from a mental illness. There is also evidence that schizophrenic anosognosia may be the result of frontal lobe damage."

The term anosognosia is used by bio-psychiatry devotees more often than "occasionally."  It is used as a justification for laws which force "treatment" upon those labeled with psychiatric illness. Forced treatment robs human beings of their dignity and their Constitutional Rights to Procedural Due Process. According to my son, neuroleptic drugs have robbed him of his intelligence. Liberty and a Constitutional Right to Procedural Due Process of Law are something most Americans take for granted; some claim these are God-given rights; both are in fact denied as a matter of course for those people who are labeled "mentally ill." The Constitutional Rights of parents are stripped from parents whose child has been labeled with a psychiatric diagnosis, as well; it happened to me. 

I know liberty was denied my son for long periods as a child without his Constitutional Rights being preserved or defended. My Rights as a parent were repeatedly violated; my rights to make mental health treatment decisions for my son were illegally stripped from me by a "lead researcher" and psychiatrist. This 'doctor' ignored my pleas to stop using my son in Drug Trials; to stop drugging my son without Informed Consent. I was told I had NO SAY, by Jon McClellan, "Quack Master Jack." Incredibly, the man is still the Medical Director of Child Study and Treatment Center the only State run psychiatric facility for children, and he is still a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Washington. Jon McClellan is one of the investigators who was funded by the NIMH to conduct the TEOSS Drug Trials. I know my son trusts no one but family, for good damned reason...

How have so many psychiatrists victimized patients, lied to, manipulated and coerced family members? The American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry have forged an alliance with the pharmaceutical industry; then solicited the cooperation of desperate family members in 'grassroots' advocacy groups to spread the myth that "mental illnesses" are brain diseases that can be "safely and effectively treated" with neurotoxic drugs. It is a fraud that was perpetrated in order to push a bio-medical "psychiatric treatment" paradigm regardless of the outcome for the individual patients. 

The "Involuntary Commitment" agenda is advocated for by grassroots advocates who are funded by the pharmaceutical industry. This so-called "medically necessary treatment" has caused a significant percentage of patients iatrogenic injuries, permanent disability and early death for countless hundreds of thousands. The public mental health system which is paid by Medicaid and Medicare, and Child Welfare workers are all taken in by this fraud. The fraud could not be effectively perpetrated without the unethical 'psycho' pharmacologists, who claim psychiatric symptoms are evidence of a pathology, and that teratogenic drugs which cause diseases is 'safe and effective treatment." The forced treatment agenda and bio-medical psychiatric fraud have enabled a public policies to be adopted which make what happened to my little boy, possible.

It appears the underlying agenda of the Treatment Advocacy Center and the Stanley Medical Research Institute is to supply NAMI and other "advocacy" groups with propaganda, called "educational and informational" materials. In a little over twenty years more than $300 million was spent by the Stanley Family Foundation to further a forced treatment agenda and lobby for the implementation of involuntary treatment laws in virtually every State in the Nation. The materials were disseminated by advocacy groups and are nothing more than thinly disguised direct to consumer advertising developed by the pharmaceutical company's marketing deprtments. The primary purpose of the so-called advocacy and education materials distributed in the public interest is to increase industry profits. KOLs who are members of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent psychiatrists, professors, and researchers have willingly aided and abetted an ongoing criminal enterprise which continues to defraud publicly funded programs. This endeavor has been extremely profitable for the pharmaceutical industry; while it has decimated Medicaid, Medicare and Veteran Health Care budgets. Even worse, this bio-medical agenda has caused devastating and permanent disabilities and has caused the early deaths of vulnerable people who needed care and protection.

This video is about an Anti-Terrorism program which was developed to identify potential domestic terrorists. When I first watched this video in October 2010, I was shocked to learn that according to this report I could be identified as a "potential terrorist" because of what I write about on this blog.

This following link is the first in a four part message delivered by Dr. Peter Breggin who has the ethical integrity to produce research on the practice of psychiatry that is largely ignored. Our ignorance has meant that we, as a society have become unwitting accomplices to psychiatric practices that are are Human Rights crimes based on eugenic theories; not therapeutic medicine. Under a guise of benifi- cence,  public mental health policy strips the "mentally ill" of their Human Rights "for their own good."

Each of the videos is ten minutes. You will be able to access the subsequent videos on youtube.

Please say a prayer for my son, and for all the victims of iatrogenic illness.

this was originally written and posted on October 26, 2010 with the title "Psychiatric Anosognosia: Historically and In the Present." I have made minor changes and updated


comic by Jen Sorenson at Slowpoke Comics