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RECOMMENDATIONS
1. If an elderly person in your environment is displaying symptoms of mental
trauma or unusual behavior, ensure that he or she gets competent medical care
from a non-psychiatric doctor. Insist upon a thorough physical examination to
determine whether an underlying, undiagnosed physical problem is causing the
condition.
2. Insist that any nursing home where an elderly person is to be admitted has
a policy of respecting the resident�s wishes not to undergo any form of psychiatric
treatment, including psychoactive drugs. Sign a �Psychiatric Living Will� (available
from CCHR) to prepare for this and give a copy to the nursing home staff.
3. Protect the elderly. There needs to be an increase in humane, rational and
drug-free alternatives to psychiatry for the elderly; research into Alzheimer�s
disease and dementia should be limited to neurologists and medical doctors and
taken out of the hands of psychiatry. ECT must be prohibited on the elderly.
4. File a complaint with the police about any mental health practitioner found
to be using coercion, threats or malice to get people to �accept� psychiatric
treatment or who hospitalizes an elderly patient against his or her will. Send
a copy of the complaint to CCHR. Fill out and email the Abuse Case Investigation Form found
by clicking HERE.
CCHR will assist you while protecting your confidentiality.
5. If you or a relative or friend have been falsely imprisoned in a psychiatric
facility, assaulted, abused or damaged by a mental health practitioner, seek
attorney advice about filing a civil suit against any offending psychiatrist
and his or her hospital, associations and teaching institutions.
6. No person should ever be forced to undergo electric shock treatment, psychosurgery,
coercive psychiatric treatment or the enforced administration of mind-altering
drugs. Governments should outlaw such abuses.
7. Legal protections should be put in place to ensure that psychiatrists and
psychologists are prohibited from violating the right of every person to exercise
all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as recognized in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights and in other relevant instruments.
THE
CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
investigates and exposes psychiatric violations of human rights. It works
shoulder-to-shoulder with like-minded groups and individuals who share
a common purpose to clean up the field of mental health. We shall continue
to do so until psychiatry�s abusive and coercive practices cease and human
rights and dignity are returned to all.
For further information:
CCHR International
6616 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA, USA 90028
Telephone: (323) 467-4242 (800) 869-2247 Fax: (323) 467-3720
www.cchr.org e-mail: [email protected]
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