REAL HELP Curing the �Incurable� Without Psychiatry

In Imola, Italy, Dr. Giorgio Antonucci developed a non-drug program for treating �schizophrenia� that achieved much greater success than psychiatry�s dehumanization and chronic drugging.

Dr. Antonucci firmly believed in the value of human life and that communication, not enforced incarceration and inhumane physical treatments, could heal even the seriously disturbed mind. At the Institute of Osservanza (Observance), Dr. Antonucci treated dozens of so-called schizophrenic women, most of whom had been continuously strapped to their beds (some for up to 20 years). Straitjackets were used as well as plastic masks to keep patients from biting. Dr. Antonucci began to release the women from their confinement, spending many, many hours each day talking with them and �penetrating their deliriums and anguish.� In every case, Dr. Antonucci listened to stories of years of desperation and institutional suffering.

Under Dr. Antonucci�s leadership, all psychiatric �treatments� were abandoned and some of the most oppressive psychiatric wards were dismantled. He ensured that patients were treated compassionately, with respect and without the use of drugs. In fact, under his guidance the ward transformed from the most violent in the facility to its calmest. After a few months, his �dangerous� patients were free, walking quietly in the asylum garden. Eventually they were stable and discharged from the hospital; many were taught how to read and write, and how to work and care for themselves for the first time in their lives.

Alternative programs also come at a much lower cost to the community. This and a number of similar programs constitute permanent testimony to the existence of both genuine answers and hope for those seriously troubled.

Dr. Giorgio Antonucci freed dozens of �incurable� patients with compassion, communication and respect.

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