coerced treatment

[Ian Murray]

> The cases of Adam Szyszko and Paul Henri Thomas, a Haitian
> immigrant who's also fighting shock treatment at Pilgrim, have
> provided the therapy's opponents with enough juice to jolt New
> York legislators into action. The assembly's mental health
> committee has scheduled a hearing on the impact of ECT for
> Friday, May 18, in Albany.
> http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0120/harkavy.shtml
>
> I know of many other such cases.
> The patients may be unwilling for very good reason.
> Making laws that trap people into being the objects of paternalistic
> professionals or the state mandated "care" is not the way to go
IMHO.
> The approach certainly seems to be aimed at controlling the "social
> junk" rather than creating community for them.
>
> Marta
==========
The current pharmaco-therapeutic regime exists for the sake of workers
and managers of "mental" institutions, which in turn exist for
Capital; that they might benefit patients is epiphenomenal, given our
immense ignorance of our own brains.

Ian