The World Health Organization (WHO) has released guidelines that lash out against coercive psychiatric practices, stating they “are pervasive and are increasingly used in services in countries around the world, despite the lack of evidence that they offer any benefits, and the significant evidence that they lead to physical and psychological harm and even death.”
The WHO report points to a series of UN Human Rights Council resolutions that have called on countries to tackle the “unlawful or arbitrary institutionalization, overmedication and treatment practices [seen in the field of mental health] that fail to respect…autonomy, will and preferences.”
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights in Australia welcomes the report, not just because it recognizes that psychiatric abuses and torture are rife in the mental health system, but also it vindicates CCHR’s tenacious worldwide efforts since 1969 and that of other groups who have fought diligently for the recognition of patients’ rights violations. CCHR’s Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights written in 1969, includes many of the rights that the WHO report now addresses.2
The report states there is “significant evidence that such practices lead to physical and psychological harm and even death.”3 It points to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which in essence, calls for a ban on “forced hospitalization and forced treatment.”4
The CRPD says patients must not be put at risk of “torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and advises prohibiting “coercive practices such as forced admission and treatment, seclusion and restraint, as well as the administering of antipsychotic medication, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and psychosurgery without informed consent”.5
Mental Health Legislation Enables Coercive Treatment
The WHO report highlights that coercive practices are enabled because “they are mandated in the national [or state] laws of countries.”11 Coercion is “built into mental health systems, including in professional education and training, and is reinforced through national mental health and other legislation.”12
The WHO says countries need to take crucial steps including changing laws to ensure that “admission and treatment are always based on free and informed consent of people using services, including medication, ECT and other irreversible interventions such as sterilisation.”13
This is the case in Australia with every state and territory mental health act allowing involuntary commitment and treatment including restraint and electroshock.
Australia’s state and territories mental health laws must change. Electroshock and restraint must be banned for all ages with criminal penalties enshrined in law if they are used, violating patient rights and their legal capacity (right to consent to treatment).
TAKE ACTION
Visit, write, phone or email your Premier, Health Minister and local Member of Parliament and ask them to amend your state’s Mental Health Act to ban electroshock and restraint for all ages.
Their contact details are:
NSW: www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/pages/all-members.aspx
VIC: www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/people-in-parliament/members-search/list-all-members
QLD: www.parliament.qld.gov.au/members/current/list
WA: www.parliament.wa.gov.au/parliament/memblist.nsf/WebCurrentMembLA
SA: www.parliament.sa.gov.au/en/Members/Members-Home
TAS: www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ha/pdf/halists.pdf
ACT: www.parliament.act.gov.au/members/members-of-the-assembly
NT: parliament.nt.gov.au/members/by-name