UPDATE - 23 July 2010Victory!
Journalist Bob Whitaker is "Re-Confirmed" as Keynote for Alternatives
2010
Whitaker is Critic of Psychiatric Drug Company Claims in His Book,
"Anatomy of an Epidemic"
Thank You MFI News Readers! MFI Alert 48-hours Ago Called "Effective"
by David W. Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International
What a difference two days and a MindFreedom International alert can
make?
What a difference a MOVEMENT can make!
While there's no guarantee public attention helped, there has been a
sudden change today:
This morning, author Robert B. Whitaker has been "re-confirmed" as
keynote speaker at the annual federally-funded Alternatives 2010,
which has brought together hundreds of mental health consumers and
psychiatric survivors for 25 years. His new "Anatomy of an Epidemic"
has significant criticisms of claims by the psychiatric pharmaceutical
industry.
Bob told MindFreedom, "It does go to the sense that this is a consumer/
survivor conference. They can set the agenda. That's the way it should
be, in terms of self-empowerment. They should choose who they want to
hear from. It's a nice step forward."
Congratulations everyone -- especially those who do good work in the
"system-funded" world and have the courage to invite a critic of the
dominant paradigm. We know your job is tough, and we appreciate your
effort.
At the same time, this is a great teaching moment in the importance of
supporting and remembering the independent psychiatric survivor
activist movement, including MindFreedom International.
Below this brief timeline of recent events is how YOU can thank the
Obama administration, and encourage more support for deep change in
mental health care.
TIMELINE:
** June 2010: Robert Whitaker is confirmed as keynote speaker of
Alternatives 2010.
** 15 July: His confirmation is withdrawn by organizers, citing
concerns by high-level federal officials. Bob was told he was not
going to keynote.
** 21 July: MindFreedom issued a public alert, "What About Bob?"
copied BELOW. Many of you quickly responded by contacting President
Obama and SAMHSA (I'll post some on the MFI blog). A SAMHSA phone
operator could guess the topic before a caller even said it!
** 23 July: Today, Whitaker is re-confirmed as keynoter of
Alternatives 2010. An anonymous source said the MindFreedom alert was
"effective."
~~~~~~~~~~
*** NEW ACTIONS *** NEW ACTIONS *** NEW ACTIONS ***
1) THANKS!
Too often, activists are seen as complainers. Here's a chance to give
some APPRECIATION.
Please use the White House web form here to send THANKS, and
encouragement for more:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
SAMPLE MESSAGE -- please limit yours to 2,500 characters. Your own
words are best:
THANK YOU President Obama for your administration support today for
the self-determination of mental health consumers/psychiatric
survivors to choose journalist Bob Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an
Epidemic, to keynote Alternatives 2010, which is an important annual
conference funded by SAMHSA. Now it's time to do even more. We
encourage you and your staff to support the availability of more non-
drug, effective, empowering choices in mental health care.
If possible, please copy your thank you message by e-mail to SAMHSA
director Pam Hyde at Pam.Hyde@SAMHSA.hhs.gov, and to MFI for public
use at news@mindfreedom.org
2) FORWARD THIS GOOD NEWS!
Many blogs, Facebook pages, e-mail lists, etc. are talking about the
MFI alert from two days ago. Please spread this good news.
3) READ BOB'S BOOK!
You can order Whitaker's book "Anatomy of an Epidemic" at discount
from MindFreedom's MAD MARKET, and benefit MFI's human rights work:
http://www.madmarket.org
MindFreedom will also have an exhibit booth at Alternatives 2010 with
Bob's book, see you there!
4) JOIN AND SUPPORT MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL!
Here's a great lesson in inside-outside strategy. That relies on
MindFreedom independence. Donate to MFI today:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate
~~~~~~~~~~
COPY OF ORIGINAL "EFFECTIVE" ALERT -- NOW COMPLETED
21 July 2010
"WHAT ABOUT BOB?"
USA Mental Health Agency May Cancel Journalist Robert B. Whitaker as
Keynoter of "Alternatives 2010"
Bob Whitaker's Book "Anatomy of an Epidemic" Criticizes Psychiatric
Pharmaceutical Claims
A major annual conference funded by the US government since 1985
advertises itself as "organized by and for mental health consumers and
survivors." The goal of this popular "Alternatives Conference" is to
support empowerment, self-determination and choice by mental health
clients.
But MindFreedom International News discovered that after Alternatives
2010 organizers confirmed their choice of keynote speaker as
journalist Robert B. Whitaker, author of a new book with a scathing
critique of psychiatric pharmaceutical claims, upper-level federal
officials objected.
*BELOW* is an exclusive MindFreedom interview with Whitaker about his
possible cancellation, plus how you can take action to inform
President Obama, and join an online conversation on the controversy.
BACKGROUND: Anatomy of Psychiatric Censorship?
Since 1985, the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration [SAMHSA] has provided a grant to fund the Alternatives
Conference, bringing together several hundred mental health consumers
and psychiatric survivor from throughout the USA, many of whom lead
innovative mental health peer support programs.
The Alternatives Conference is organized each year by one of the
handful of federally-funded "Technical Assistance" or TA Centers,
which are staffed and advised by mental health consumers and
psychiatric survivors.
Alternatives 2010 is slated to begin 29 September in Anaheim,
California with the provocative theme, "Promoting Wellness Through
Social Justice." Conference organizers confirmed an invitation with
Robert Whitaker to keynote.
Whitaker's book is getting a lot of attention. Time Magazine's review
said, "Despite much vaunted claims to the contrary, writes Whitaker, a
medical journalist, 'there was never any evidence' in the scientific
literature showing that certain mental illnesses result from faulty
brain chemistry... Psychiatric drugs have changed the lives of
millions, but this book explores how they would have fared without
them. It's an alternative worth imagining."
On 15 July, Alternatives organizers told Whitaker his "confirmation"
was retracted, saying they had received objections from US government
higher-ups that he was a high-profile critic of federal agencies.
However, many past Alternatives keynoters -- including the heads of
federal agencies and MindFreedom director David Oaks -- have also
criticized federal agencies.
And Whitaker is no radical, he's a medical journalist. He emphasizes
that he sees value in the use of psychiatric drugs. His book is also
pro-active, describing his recent visit to Finland's vaunted "Open
Dialogue" approach that is helping young people diagnosed with
schizophrenia while minimizing psychiatric drug prescriptions.
By coincidence, the day before Whitaker's un-confirmation, on 14 July,
a number of national mental health consumer/psychiatric survivor
leaders issued a statement of "alarm" about "the conflict of interest
in the current relationship between the federal government and the
pharmaceutical industry."
So if the Alternatives conference is about alternatives... then what
about the alternatives Bob talks about?
What about Bob?
BELOW is the MindFreedom International interview with Robert B.
Whitaker. BELOW that is how to speak out to President Obama, and find
out more info.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT B. WHITAKER:
MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL [MFI] QUESTION: Why do you think you have
been disinvited from the Alternatives conference? What do you make of
this?
ROBERT B. WHITAKER ANSWER: I think the reason is obvious -- I was
going to tell a well-documented story of science about psychiatric
medications that some at SAMSH find threatening, a story that they
don't want users of the drugs to hear. But you should ask those who
nixed the invitation. I would be curious to hear their answer.
MFI: What is it that you write about in Anatomy of an Epidemic that is
so threatening?
WHITAKER: The story told to the public by the NIMH and by academic
psychiatry is that psychiatric medications have greatly improved the
lives of those diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses. Yet, even as our
society has embraced the use of psychiatric medications during the
past two decades, the number of people receiving government disability
due to mental illness has more than tripled, from 1.25 million people
to more than 4 million people.
So you can see, in that data, that something may be wrong with that
story of progress. And then, if you look at how psychiatric
medications affect the long-term course of psychiatric disorders, you
find -- in the scientific literature -- consistent evidence that they
increase the likelihood that a person will become chronically ill. I
know this is startling, particularly since we do know that some people
do well on the medications long term, but that evidence, in terms of
how the medications affect long-term outcomes in the aggregate, shows
up time and again in the scientific literature.
MFI: Can you give an example?
WHITAKER: Sure. I'll give two quick examples.
First, outcomes for bipolar disorder today are much worse than they
were 40 years ago. Today, people so diagnosed are much more constantly
symptomatic than they used to be; their employment rates have declined
from around 85% to around 33%; many struggle with drug-related
physical problems, such as obesity; and today they show signs of long-
term cognitive decline, whereas that didn't used to be the case.
Leading bipolar experts have written about this deterioration in
modern outcomes, and they point to the prescribing of antidepressants
and antipsychotics to this patient group as a likely reason for the
decline.
Second, our society of believes that all people diagnosed with
schizophrenia need to be on medication all their lives. Yet, the NIMH
has funded a long-term study of schizophrenia outcomes by a researcher
named Martin Harrow, and in 2007 he reported that at the end of 15
years, the recovery rate for those off medication was 40%, versus 5%
for those on medication. At the very least, Harrow's study shows that
some people diagnosed with schizophrenia do better long-term off
medication, but that is the type of information that is never conveyed
to the public. The NIMH didn't publicize the results of Harrow's
study, and certainly it hasn't publicized the astonishing
deterioration in modern bipolar outcomes, even though it is recognized
by experts in the field.
MFI: Why is this information so important? What is at stake here?
WHITAKER: I think we can all agree that the honest communication of
scientific results is essential to good medicine, and essential to
helping people make informed choices about what is best for them. And
if our society is going to stem this epidemic of disabling mental
illness has erupted in our society, then it needs to know this
information and think about alternative programs of mental health care
that might be funded. Mindfreedom held a hunger strike in 2003 to push
for this very thing--honesty in what psychiatry and the powers that be
tell about psychiatric disorders and psychiatric medications.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
[THIS ALERT IS NOW COMPLETED -- THIS IS JUST FOR YOUR INFORMATION:]
ASK: WHAT ABOUT BOB? *** ACTIONS *** ACTIONS *** ACTIONS ***
Please keep all communication civil and strong:
(1) ASK PRESIDENT OBAMA: WHAT ABOUT BOB?
Please use the White House web site to encourage President Barack
Obama to ask SAMHSA to encourage empowered community organizing and
choice by and for mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors,
here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Sample message -- your own words are best:
"Dear President Obama: You are a community organizer. Did you know
that mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors have also done
community organizing for decades? Please ask your agency SAMHSA to
support their choice of journalist Robert Whitaker to be keynote
speaker at the annual Alternatives 2010 conference. The Alternatives
conference is about alternatives, so... WHAT ABOUT BOB? Bob's book
Anatomy of an Epidemic is an important warning about problems with the
psychiatric pharmaceutical industry."
If possible, please copy your message by e-mail to SAMHSA director Pam
Hyde at Pam.Hyde@SAMHSA.hhs.gov, and to MFI for public use at
news@mindfreedom.org
(2) TALK ABOUT IT!
You can use the MindFreedom Facebook page to speak out about your
opinion. Should Bob be allowed to speak? What do we do if he's censored?
Go to MindFreedom's Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MindFreedom-International/33579368821
or click here: http://3.ly/FacebookMFI
(3) USE THE WEB TO GET AROUND ANY CENSORSHIP!
Please *forward* this alert with a few words of your support to all
interested people on and off Internet.
Forward MindFreedom's Twitter feed and add your own.
Use your "creative maladjustment" and get out the word!
