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Alternatives:

The Right To Be Informed


In general medicine the standard for informed consent includes communicating the nature of the diagnoses, the purpose of a proposed treatment or procedure, the risks and benefits of the proposed treatment, and informing the patient of alternative treatments so he can make an informed, educated choice. Psychiatrists routinely do not inform patients of non-drug treatments, nor do they conduct thorough medical examinations to ensure that a person's problem does not stem from an untreated medical condition that is manifesting as a "psychiatric" symptom. They do not accurately inform patients of the nature of the diagnoses, which would require informing the patient that psychiatric diagnoses are completely subjective (based on behaviors only) and have no scientific/medical validity (no X-rays, brain scans, chemical imbalance tests to prove anyone has a mental disorder).

All patients should have what is called a "differential diagnosis." The doctor obtains a thorough history and conducts a complete physical exam, rules out all the possible problems that might cause a set of symptoms and explains any possible side effects of the recommended treatments.

There are numerous alternatives to psychiatric diagnoses and treatment, including standard medical care that does not require a stigmatizing and subjective psychiatric label or a mind-altering drug. Governments should endorse and fund non-drug treatments as alternatives to dangerous drugs that have been proven no more effective than placebo, and more dangerous than most street drugs. Although CCHR International does not condone or promote any specific practitioner, medical organization, practice or group, we have found the below resources to be helpful for individuals looking for more information on the following topics:

INFORMATION ABOUT NON-DRUG APPROACHES TO MENTAL HEALTH AND/OR SAFELY GETTING OFF PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS

Safe Harbor includes links to find medical doctors (by zip code) who can assist with helping people safely get off of psychiatric drugs and medical personnel who will treat people without the use of psychiatric drugs
http://www.alternativementalhealth.com

Alternative to Meds Center — Residential psychiatric medication withdrawal with medical and naturopathic oversight in Sedona, Arizona
http://www.alternativetomedscenter.com/

Green Mental Health — Holistically-centered mental health care system which reflects traditional environmental, humanitarian, and health conscious values
http://greenmentalhealthcare.com/

The Road Back — How to get off psychiatric drugs safely
http://www.theroadback.org

Soteria House — Alternative and non-drug solutions for people diagnosed schizophrenic
http://www.moshersoteria.com

ALTERNATIVES TO PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS FOR CHILDREN

The Block Center — Find and treat underlying health problems in children and information on how children can safely get off of psychiatric drugs
http://www.blockcenter.com

DrugFreeChildren.org — Informational website on issues surrounding the use of "chemical restraints" on children
http://www.drugfreechildren.org

The Doris J. Rapp Education Corporation — Vital information on environmental factors affecting health in children and adults
http://www.drrapp.com

AbleChild — Parents for a label and drug-free education
http://www.ablechild.org

MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS RIGHTS GROUPS

Mind Freedom International — is a nonprofit organization that works to win human rights and provide alternatives for people labeled with psychiatric disabilities
http://www.mindfreedom.org/about-us

COMPLIMENTARY/ALTERNATIVE HEALTH

Whitaker Wellness Institute — Health care for a longer, more active life with a focus on elderly care
http://www.whitakerwellness.com/medical-services

Institute for Progressive Medicine — Conventional and complementary therapies
http://www.iprogressivemed.com

The American College for the Advancement of Medicine — A nonprofit medical society dedicated to improving complimentary and alternative medicine
http://acam.org

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES & MENTAL HEALTH

American Academy of Environmental Medicine — Promotes optimum health through prevention and safe and effective treatments
http://www.aaemonline.org

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry — Lead toxicity: What are the physiologic effects of lead exposure?
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/lead/pbphysiologic_effects2.html

DRUG INFORMATION

MedlinePlus — Information on drugs, supplements and herbal information
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html

Psych Drug Dangers — CCHR International's psychiatric drug side effects search engine includes reported side effects of psychiatric drugs to the US FDA
http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers

REPORTING SIDE EFFECTS OF DRUGS

Medwatch — The FDA safety information and adverse event reporting program
http://www.fda.gov/medwatch

HEALTH OPTIONS & INFORMATION

Naturalnews.com — Independent news on natural health, nutrition and more
http://www.naturalnews.com

Natural Solutions — Natural remedies and healthy solutions
http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com

Natural Health Education
http://www.thepeopleschemist.com

LEGAL RESOURCES

Bailey Perrin Bailey — Large civil litigation firm specializing in personal injury litigation
http://www.bpblaw.com

Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman — Wrongful death and personal injury lawyers
http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com

Vickery Waldner & Mallia LLP — Wrongful death and medical negligence lawyers
http://www.justiceseekers.com

Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. — Personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers
http://www.weitzlux.com

FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION

THOMAS — Legislative information from the Library of Congress
http://thomas.loc.gov

An Ideal Scene for the Texas Department of Mental Health

  • 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. Prosecute as a criminal offense any and all cases of physical damage caused through psychiatry’s use of electroshock, brain surgery or abusive drug “treatment.”
  • People in desperate circumstances must be provided proper and effective medical care. Medical, not psychiatric, attention, good nutrition, a healthy, safe environment and activity that promotes confidence will do far more than the brutality of psychiatry’s drug treatments. Housing and work will do more for the homeless than the life-debilitating effects of psychiatric drugs and other psychiatric treatments that destroy responsibility.
  • The use of physical and mechanical restraints should be outlawed. Until this occurs, any psychiatric staff member — and the psychiatrist who authorized the procedure — should be criminally culpable should the restraint result in physical damage or death.
  • Insist the community treatment laws that rely upon mandatory and thereby coercive measures be abolished, and dismantle or prevent “mental health courts” which are another conduit for drugging our communities.
  • Humane mental health hospitals and homes must be established to replace coercive psychiatric institutions. These must have a full complement of competent physical (non-psychiatric) doctors and medical diagnostic equipment, which non-psychiatric medical doctors can use to thoroughly examine and test for all underlying physical problems that may be manifesting as disturbed behavior. Government and private funds should be channeled into this rather than abusive psychiatric institutions and programs that have proven not to work.
  • 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.
  • Appropriate state regulatory agencies should investigate every complaint of psychiatric assault, fraud or illicit drug selling. Such agencies should revoke or suspend a psychiatrist’s or psychologist’s license for such criminal practices. All patient complaints of sexual abuse should be referred to the police, attorney general or prosecutor who are obligated to investigate and prosecute.
  • The responsible officials of regulatory agencies or their advisors must be held accountable and criminally charged for harm caused by psychiatric drugs and other psychiatric “treatment” if it is established that they knew, or should have known, of such harm either through clinical trial results, adverse reaction reports or broadly available public information.
  • Establish rights for patients and their insurance companies to receive refunds for mental health treatment which did not achieve the promised result or improvement, or which resulted in proven harm to the individual, thereby ensuring that responsibility lies with the individual practitioner and psychiatric facility rather than the government or its agencies.
  • Clinical and financial audits must be done of all government-run and private psychiatric facilities that receive government subsidies or insurance payments to ensure accountability, and the compilation of statistics on admissions, treatment and deaths, without breaching patient confidentiality.
  • Establish or increase the number of psychiatric fraud investigation units to recover funds that are embezzled in the mental health system.
  • Taxpayers’ money must not be used to fund psychiatry’s unworkable methods and “treatment” for “diseases” that cannot be scientifically verified.
  • It must be recognized that every person is responsible for his or her own actions and must be held accountable for their actions. State legislators should repeal any laws permitting the insanity defense and diminished capacity pleas.
  • Remove psychiatrists and psychologists as advisors or as counselors from courts, police forces, prisons, criminal rehabilitation and parole services, and educational institutions. Because psychiatrists have no scientific foundation for their claims, do not permit them to render opinions about or to treat drug addiction, criminal behavior and delinquency, or to probe for alleged dangerous behavior.
  • None of the mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) (or those in the International Classifications of Diseases mental disorders section) should be eligible for insurance coverage because they have no scientific, physical validation.