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Top 10 Reasons to Join NARPA

To Be a Mental Patient  by Rae Unzicker

Bonkers Institute

 

NARPA - NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR RIGHTS PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY

Save the Date!

October 1-4, 2008, Austin, TX

Announcing NARPA's 26th Annual Rights Conference:

"Seizing Opportunities for Change"

Click here for mare details and to REGISTER.
Additional information to come...

Every day, behind closed doors, human rights violations are occurring on a regular basis - and Americans don't know about it. America's mental health system is still the shame of the nation. NARPA, the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy, works to expose abuse and to shed light on coercive and dangerous practices. NARPA is an independent organization, solely supported by its members. It is a unique mix of people who've survived psychiatric intervention, advocates, civil rights activists, mental health workers, and lawyers. NARPA exists to to protect people’s right to choice and to be free from coercion, and to promote alternatives so that the right to choice can be meaningful. Read about NARPA's history of human rights advocacy, check out the ADA Case of the Week archives, and more.

New York High Court Condones Shocking Injustice: New York State's judicial system has abdicated its role and has virtually given the State's Office of Mental Health carte blanche to force unwanted electroshock on New Yorkers. Read PsychRights' press release, NARPA's amicus brief in the Simone D. case, and more...

 

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has been concealing information about the risks of its best-selling psychiatric drug and is intimidating health care advocates, researchers, and the media in an effort to keep this crucial data from regulators and the public. Read  about the Zyprexa documents case here. 
Lilly's lawsuit against whistleblower Dr. David Egilman settled. Link to details and an article by Dr. Egilman.

The New York State Office of Mental Health is promoting the psychiatric drugging of children:  Haldol, Adderall, and Dexedrine for 3 year olds, lithium and Depakote for 2 year olds?  See this booklet - a Q & A on using medications with children with mental disorders - published by the State of New York for parents of young children.

Alaska Supreme Court Strikes Down Forced Psychiatric Drugging Procedures
In a resounding affirmation of personal liberty and freedom, the Alaska Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Myers v. Alaska Psychiatric Institute. The court found Alaska's forced psychiatric drugging regime to be unconstitutional when the state forces someone to take psychiatric drugs without proving it to be in their best interests or when there are less restrictive alternatives. The Decision also points out that Alaska Statutes require the hospital to honor a patient's previously expressed desires regarding psychiatric medications. Read more...		 An open letter responding to the media campaign to undermine the rights of people with mental illnesses

Report of the National Council on Disability:
" From Privileges to Rights: People Labeled with Psychiatric Disabilities Speak for Themselves"  -- With a link to the full report as well as information about how to order a free copy

Curing the Therapeutic State -- Thomas Szasz on the medicalization of American life. An interview from Reason magazine

 

The Rights Tenet On-Line  --  The web version of NARPA's Rights Tenet newsletter. With coverage of the battles against forced drugging laws, the ADA,"parity" controversy, the Supreme Court vs. the ADA, and a link to the printed version of the latest newsletter mailed to NARPA members

The Needs of People with Psychiatric Disabilities During and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Position Paper and Recommendations - A report of the National Council on Disability, prepared and drafted by Susan Stefan and Ann Marshall of NARPA.

In Memory and Celebration of Rae Unzicker
See "When Women Pursue Justice," a 3,300 square foot mural in New York City celebrating women who led movements for social change in the U.S.A. over the past 150 years, features Rae Unzicker.

ADA Case of the Week archives 

Maintaining Integrity and Cultivating Compassion - Keynote address presented by Steven Schwartz, November 2003

"Mindless and Deadly:" Media hype on mental illness and violence.- from EXTRA! (the magazine of FAIR, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting)

Bush plans to screen US population for mental illness
The British Medical Journal reports on the Bush administration's sweeping program (already being implemented) to screen all Americans for mental illness. Read about this new initiative and the role of the pharmaceutical industry.

 

 "To Memorizing Politics of Ancient History": International Human Rights and Comparative Mental Disability Law: The Role of Institutional Psychiatry in the Suppression of Political Dissent - Professor Michael Perlin's keynote talk from NARPA's Annual Rights Conference, November 2006

Should all school children should be screened and labeled?
The final report of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, issued in 2004, calls for universal mental health screening of universal mental health screening of American children, and the Center for Mental Health Services and Congress are poised to take action...

Supreme Court Upholds ADA & Right to Integration (Olmstead v. L.C.)

Prozac.org: how the pharmaceutical industry works behind the scenes to shape public policy and push drugs. An article by Ken Silverstein from Mother Jones Magazine.

Prozac Revisited: As drug gets remade, concerns about suicides surface. . .  " Just as the 14-year patent on Prozac is about to expire... and the drug's maker is preparing to launch a new version, a body of evidence has come to light revealing the antidepressant's dark side." - from the Boston Globe
Mental Health Advocacy: From Then to Now

Treatment at Westborough State Hospital

NARPA Community Message Board / listserv

 

 The Highlander Statement of Concern and Call to Action

Participants at White House mental health conference appeal for justice - The breakout session on civil rights was a ray of hope in a conference otherwise dominated by proponents of biochemical psychiatry, force, and coercion

 
Last updated on June 23, 2008