psychiatry in the news (new post)

There are a couple of items in the news right now that I’m going to briefly cover here as I used to do. Since social media really took off, covering psychiatry in the news isn’t something I’ve done much of. That said, occasionally it feels important to do so. I will do it with the help of social media as that is where I found the news.

psychiatry in the news:

they cut my words out so I’ll repost here:
“Forcible restraints are routine events in American hospitals. One recent study, using 2017 data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, estimated the number of restraints per year at more than 44,000.

***But it is rare to hear a first-person account of the experience, because it tends to happen to people who do not have a platform.***

Researchers who surveyed patients about restraint and seclusion have found that a large portion, 25 to 47 percent , met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.”

this is why, try as I might, I cannot shutup. I still have a bit of a voice left…not much mind you, credibility continues to be erased as I get older…agism and ableism are both silencers…I am aging and I remain gravely disabled. People just like to look away. It’s a fact. Still my position in society allows me a wee bit of a voice so I continue. We are killing people in the name of medicine. All over the world. Please wake up. Do something. Don’t be complicit at the very least.

thank you Jim Gottstein I’m hoping your access to the NYT will allow people to get to the article. I had some trouble on other platforms.

and

and they cut Rob’s word out which are here:

Elle called 988 to talk, and after 15 minutes was instructed by the call-attendant to drive herself to a psychiatric hospital or her call would be traced and police would be sent to get her. Elle had never experienced psychiatric incarceration. “I didn’t know what was happening. I was very terrified. Every access I had to the world was taken away…I wasn’t suicidal going in, but I sure was coming out.” Elle is one of a staggering 400,000 callers/year contacting the “confidential” US 988 hotline who has had something like this happen to her. #988Lifeline needs more transparency. (And yes, the same practices happen on Canada’s 988 hotline.)

telling people to call the national suicide hotline is dangerous and amounts to criminalizing despair. The cops will be sent out to people’s homes with some frequency and brutality and force happens routinely. Know this. Don’t be complicit and fight to change it please.
***

more on: Forced treatment

A brief post on Ron Wipond’s book: the rise of coercive treatment in psychiatry and society

and for alternative ways to approach folks when they are thinking about suicide check here

we don’t have to harm people when they need help!

***

Support Beyond Meds. make a donation with PayPal. Thank you!