The direct voices of psychiatric users and survivors have been ignored for too long!

As you may or may not know, this government is currently pushing for controversial plans to reform the Mental Health Act of 1983. Unfortunately, some of the changes suggested by the government have caused almost universal concern amongst psychiatric survivors, user groups, mental health charities, those working within the mental health professions and legal specialists.

One example is the Community Treatment Order, or CTO for short. Under such an order, a person would be obliged to take medication within the community. If they refused to accept this, they could be sectioned and have the drugs forcibly administered, regardless of their emotional state. A person subject to a CTO would also be required to live at a specific location and attend certain places at certain times.

At present, widespread compulsion is limited by the number of beds available in hospitals. If compulsory treatment in the community becomes law, then such limits will be removed, potentially leaving the way clear for thousands more people to be medicated against their will, outside of the hospital environment.

Other proposals have caused further concern, such as the government’s wish to detain some people diagnosed with a severe personality disorder for potentially indefinite periods, even if they’ve never committed a violent crime.

If such proposals ever make it into law, they will radically worsen the way that people with severe mental stress are treated by both society and the mental health system. However, despite concerns raised by many people in the world of mental health, this government appears determined to victimise those of us who’ve been diagnosed with mental health problems. Although the draft Mental Health Bill was temporarily postponed from the Queen’s speech last year, recent comments by Alan Milburn, Jacqui Smith and others reveal a desire to push forward with many of the more draconian aspects of the Bill, however it’s redrafted.

With this in mind, a number of psychiatric users and survivors got together and formed a group called ‘Protest against the Mental Health Bill’ (‘Pab’ for short). At present, we have two main projects running;

We’re planning a mental health conference to be held around September 2003 in London. This conference will be run by psychiatric users and survivors, and will promote the direct and powerful voices of people who suffer from severe mental stress. All the speakers will be people who’ve had direct experience of mental health problems, rather than just professors or psychiatrists. There shall also be plenty of opportunity for discussion and information sharing amongst all the attendees.

The other project is called ‘Send a message in a bottle’. With this, we’re asking people to send in their empty psychiatric medication boxes and bottles, along with messages of protest against increased compulsion. These shall be displayed at the conference and then presented to the government. For more information, see the attached leaflet, or phone Symon on 07792064974

On the web; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/protestagainstthementalhealthbill/