Through my undergraduate and graduate studies, I cannot recall once encountering a critical voice. The academic world was steeped in bio-psychiatric conceptions and the fraud of ‘chemical imbalances’. But even if something can be scientifically validated does not mean it is ethical or good. One could validate many coercive practices. We must enter the realm where we realize that mental health is highly dependent upon our response to issues of social justice. Science must be linked with a strong sense of ethics and respect for the dignity and liberty of persons. Ethics must always proceed technology.

From the beginning, I met children whose experiences were completely invalidated and who were being drugged without giving any account to their experience and the oppression they were encountering around them. One young man had been on a stimulant drug and was having tics and told me that the drug gave him extreme stomach pains. The family was chaotic and engrossed into their own self interest and wanted the child labeled and drugged. They stated this directly. The psychiatrist ignored the issues. And this became a repeat pattern I began to notice. The system often evoking more harm than good. It was exonerating the important people in children’s lives and various institutions from taking any responsibility in meeting the true needs of these young people. Instead, it was blaming their brains, and subduing them through the use of chemical restraint. Psychiatrists have often completely misunderstood what the term recovery really means. It does not mean being a lifelong consumer of toxic psychiatric drugs. The psychiatric establishment’s idea of recovery is based on suppression which leads to oppression.

I share this scenario because sadly it is becoming a frightening reality: a child is considered overly active and has behavioral issues at school. The school recommends psychiatric intervention and even goes as far as to say that medication is necessary, even designating which one… The psychiatrist sees the child for a brief session- it is not thoroughly examined if the child has physical conditions, allergies, etc. Immediately the child is labeled and given a dose of psychostimulant. The child develops side effects such as weight loss, insomnia, possible tics. In order to counteract the insomnia, a new drug such as Clonidine is administered. The child now must receive regular blood tests to insure that liver toxicity does not arise. The child is not overly active, he is quite docile, so it is reported that improvement has occurred. However, with the combination of drugs, he develops some psychotic features where he feels something is crawling on him and has some hallucinations. The psychiatrist is consulted again, and its determined that bipolar with psychotic features exists or maybe even the possibility of childhood schizophrenia. The child is given Risperdal or another neuroleptic. Strangely, the child begins developing unusual movements and muscle rigidity. The parents are concerned and ask if the problems are related to the medication and if the child is overmedicated. The psychiatrist does not answer the question and prescribes Cogentin (used for Parkinson’s) to alleviate the problems caused by the development of tardive dyskinesia but fails to remove the offending agent. The child’s behavior becomes more unusual and bizarre. The child then requires hospitalization where medications are raised and adjusted. Then comes from the psychiatrist that it would be better for the child to be moved to a residential treatment facility. While in the residential facility, the child is frequently restrained and is injured, he is placed with other children with emotional and behavioral distress. He is discharged home having absorbed negative behaviors from peers, lacking knowledge of the outside world, skills. So, once the child nears adulthood, it is recommended that he live in a group home or other institution. The child has been ‘treated’.

I decided after only a year in the field, that I could bear no more, and that it was imperative that I speak out. I invested my own funds into a radio program to address these issues and invited a number of critical professionals to share information.

I began work in 2002 with autistic and developmentally different children. I witnessed programs that were very undignified and treated these children in demeaning ways. Rather than seek to understand and accept, the programs sought to alter the child often by force and coercion. I set out to do things differently, in a humane and relationship based way. The results were amazing, and I began to develop emotional connections with these wonderful young people. I found that many of the assumptions being made of these children were plainly wrong once I took the time to understand them as fellow human beings.

I began to see many children who had been labeled “ADHD” and prescribed psychostimulants, or Straterra, or other drugs for behavioral control. I noticed a pattern that when the drugs caused adverse events, that more drugs were added, along with new labels. Psychiatrists were suggested bipolar diagnosis when actually children were becoming manic from the stimulant drugs. I began a brief lecture tour in Florida to address these topics, and to offer a plan for parents and educators. This later led to me writing the book, “They Say My Child Has ADHD: Challenging the Bio-Psychiatric Paradigm” http://lulu.com/spotlight/voice4kids

In 2006, I founded the International Center for Humane Psychiatry, as an emancipatory movement of mental health professionals, psychiatric survivors, educators, activists, and others concerned about human rights in the mental health system.

Our work is to fight against oppression and coercion in the mental health system, to eradicate the hierarchical barriers between ‘doctor and patient’, to eliminate the medicalization of emotional distress, and to develop means of helping distressed persons where their autonomy, experience, and dignity is respected. We seek to return a conscience to the field of mental health and create an environment where people undergoing distress feel validated, empowered, and capable.

We believe in the power of the human spirit and each person’s potential to be resilient. We believe that the forging of relationship is a key to emotional healing as well as the ability to help a person explore themselves, their world, society, and the human condition. We we seek to join with people in setting life goals, understanding the human condition and experiences without looking upon the person as defective. ICHP encourages involvement in issues related to social justice and believes that our working together to create a world free from poverty, greed, conflict, and discrimination will go a long way towards the development of true mental health.

We seek to be pro-active and preventative in our care for persons. We promote drug free, relationship based approaches for troubled and distressed children and adults and encourage the development and implementation of community based programs. We advocate for juvenile justice reform and for an education system that inspires a zeal for learning and is respectful of children’s innate strengths and abilities. We believe in the development of community based options. We are opposed to force and coercion in the mental health system.

We seek to provide a place of sanctuary for people in crisis or undergoing extreme states of mind, where they can feel supported and validated, and not be subjected to any ‘treatments’ they do not desire. We believe distressed people thrive in environments that are non-threatening and they feel safe.

We collaborate with and offer consultation to parents, educators, and children and their families to develop relationship based approaches and problem solving towards resolving issues of distress, realizing that people are resilient and capable of healing from distress. We have been successful in helping individuals not have to resort to psychiatric drugs or to be able under the direction of their physicians significantly reduce their use.

We believe the key to this healing is by the forging of relationship and the construction of meaning. We believe that compassion is one of the highest ideals. We believe that psychiatric drugs do not teach new ways of living, thinking, loving, and being, whereas people do. We are particularly concerned about the vast prescribing of psychiatric drugs (many which carry warnings of suicidal ideation, violence, agitation, and aggression) upon individuals’ well being. We are concerned about the unethical conflicts of interest existing between medical psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry.

We seek to provide to those individuals undergoing serious distress a place where they feel safe, secure, and can begin to begin the process of discovery and overcome fear and emotional chains.

We do not feel that locking individuals away in institutions solve human problems, rather it is through compassion, empathy, and seeking to understand our human condition that true mental health will arise. We believe that placing persons in mental hospitals is equivalent to incarceration however the distressed person has committed no crime, rather they are subject to a psychiatric ceremonial where the pschiatrist seen as ‘sane’, interrogates the person, makes a judgment, and then declares a sentence. We believe that psychiatric diagnosis often stigmatizes and limits opportunity for individuals. We believe that modern society is driving people ‘mad’ and that we must have radical transformation of ourselves and our values as well as return to a greater sense of community. We believe those who call themselves therapists must be actively involved in issues of social justice, helping end oppression and encourage liberation for marginalized persons. We recognize that distressed individuals must be treated as persons with respect and dignity. We believe in recognizing that even the most troubled persons and families have innate strengths. We believe that persons need to be given informed consent and not seen merely by a diagnostic label. We believe that ethics must proceed technology. We believe that bio-psychiatry has often used brutal methods (such as electroshock, insulin coma, toxic drugs, and lobotomy) and has evoked much harm in the lives of individuals and does not provide any true answers to the problems of life. We believe that there is no objectivity and science to the process of psychiatric diagnosis and that those diagnosed are often stigmatized and oppressed in society by virtue of this label.

We encourage drug free relationship based, problem solving, and holistic approaches and encourage individuals who choose to use helpful adjuncts such as meditation, acupuncture, tai-chi, and yoga. The International Center for Humane Psychiatry is one of few entities taking a strong stand on social justice issues and seeking to create a mental health system that does not treat people as objects, but persons.

We believe that it is also necessary for us to assume personal responsiblity and accountability for own own actions and choices and to not resort to the use of or embracing of labels to exonerate ourselves and institutions.

Also, in 2006, my work began to shift towards working with individuals undergoing extreme states of mind (commonly labeled as schizophrenia, psychoses, bipolar, schizoaffective) through drug free, relational approaches. I was a keynote speaker at a protest of a psychiatric conference where it was being suggested to give psychiatric drugs to infants to prevent ‘future mental illness’. I came to realize that what is termed ‘madness’ or ‘mental illness’ is for some the only means for expression of their being lost and confused in a world which has caused them deep hurt and pain. Such is not disease but behavior with metaphorical meaning. There has been received through life mixed messages and placement into situations where regardless of the option they choose they felt damned. They seek to break out from the reality which has only caused them distress. The development of hallucinations and delusions are all metaphors for the very real demons they have encountered in disordered society

Through my work with extreme states, arose my book “Mystical Metaphors” . A New Zealander who had undergone a ‘psychotic’ episode asked to send his journal he wrote during this period to me and to add my thoughts and commentary. After completing this, he told me that after years of involvement in the mental health system, I was the only he found who truly understood his circumstances. I wrote the article “Journey through Madness” which along the lines of Mystical Metaphors, I sought to be faithful to the experience of those going through emotional crisis. The article was written in collaboration with three individuals who had this experience. I expanded my successful work with extreme states in 2008, seeking to develop a holistic sanctuary for these persons in collaboration with two colleagues, one a social worker, the other an acupuncturist. I later developed a brief project with my assistant, Meghan Chmiewlewski that was similar in scope to Soteria, but though successful, lacked resources to continue. I have sought other avenues to help those undergoing extreme states.

Also in 2008, I became concerned with the vast number of foster children being placed on multiple psychiatric drugs. I traveled to Florida to meet with foster care officials and address my concerns. I was able to help one family while there who had a child in foster care placement be able to eliminate psychiatric drug usage. sadly, within 6 months of my visit, I was told of a child who had died from a suicide, only 7 years old, linked to psychiatric drugs. It has always been sad to see that the system does not often pay attention to critical voices until a tragedy arises and they are forced to.

In 2010, I wrote “The Meeting of Two Persons: What Therapy Should Be” http://lulu.com/spotlight/voice4kids , and here I address the problems of the medicalization of human experience, understanding the social, political, and familial processes that lead to distress, and exploring the need for the therapist to also be an activist who we wish to see true mental health arise. This work was highly influenced by Laingian ideas. I had never encountered Ronald David Laing’s work until 2003, and when I first read of him, it was astounding to me. I realized that what I was saying and thinking had a proponent much earlier, and that this message needs to continue.

Presently, I continue to challenge the system. I continue to journey with others who have been forced by oppression into situations of despair. The psychiatric establishment would ignore this experience, seek to categorize and pathologize it, and seek to suppress. It would also see that the complex language and symbolism cannot be understood and is without meaning. I take the position that even extreme experiences are to be valued, can be understood, and is a necessary process, not needing to be suppressed, but supported. It is a journey, albeit painful at times, but which can also provide insights to the individual. If there is one to simply listen and journey with this person. These experiences can be looked upon as a ‘shamanic voyage’, and the therapists best role is to be with the person, to guide them through and help them find wholeness.

Many come to me as a last resort when the system has failed them. I am thankful and honored to journey with them.