MindFreedom International Alert - 15 December 2007

http://www.mindfreedom.org

You have six (6) more days to e-mail to USA

National Institute of Mental Health about their

"Strategic Plan." Deadline: This Fri., 21 Dec.

NEEDED: Voices for Choices in Mental Health!

Why you ought to call on NIMH for research on more

CHOICES in mental health system other than drugs,

drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs and more drugs.

One of the biggest funders of research in the mental health field on

Earth is the USA National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

NIMH is requesting public comment, which you can e-mail to them,

about a draft of their "Strategic Plan" about NIMH research goals

over the next three to five years. Their deadline to receive e-mail

comments is *this* Friday, 21 December, 2007.

E-mail to: strategicplanning2@mail.nih.gov

Why Bother?

MindFreedom International has a copy of the 26-page NIMH Draft

Strategic Plan.

To help you understand it here is...

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NIMH DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN -- BY THE NUMBERS!

98 - number of times NIMH draft uses any of words "drug, medication,

biological, illness, disease, genetics"

38 - number of times NIMH draft uses word "brain"

16 - number of times NIMH draft uses word "recovery"

2 - number of times NIMH draft refers to the "mind"

0 [zero] - number of times NIMH draft uses any of the words

"counseling, consumers, survivors, peer, mutual support, empowerment,

self-determination, rights, employment, jobs, housing, psychosocial,

wholistic, holistic, psychotherapy"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, the lion's share of NIMH research on mental wellness in

the past has with few exceptions gone to the following ten (10) research

areas:

drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs

NIMH is considering getting into an 11th area.

And that would be "more drugs."

Seriously, MindFreedom is pro-choice about personal health care

decisions, and many MFI members choose to take prescribed psychiatric

drugs. But we all stand UNITED in saying that the corporate drug industry

model is choking out non-drug choices, including jobs, housing, peer

support, psychosocial approaches, and more.

Only one choice is no choice at all!

So why bother to e-mail in your comments?

Because, at least, that way NIMH can't claim they never heard from

citizens with another point of view!

~~~~~~~~~~~

* * * ACTION ACTION ACTION * * *

VOICES FOR CHOICES IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE!

ACT NOW! DEADLINE: This Friday, 21 December 2007.

E-mail in *your* comment to NIMH.

Sample message: Ask in your own words that far more non-drug choices be

included in the draft plan!

E-mail your comment TODAY to NIMH to:

strategicplanning2@mail.nih.gov

If you wish, bcc to news@mindfreedom.org  for possible publication on the

MFI web site.

~~~~~~~~~~~

MORE INFORMATION ON NIMH REQUEST FOR COMMENTS

You can read about the NIMH request for comments here:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/strategic-planning-reports/nimh-draft-strategic-plan.shtml

or use this web address:

http://tinyurl.com/2w2fwq

You may download a PDF (789 kb) draft of the NIMH strategic plan here:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/strategic-planning-reports/nimh-draft-strategic-plan.pdf

or use this web address:

http://tinyurl.com/37bzv7

You may e-mail your comment to NIMH to:

strategicplanning2@mail.nih.gov

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why You Ought to Bother to E-Mail Your Input Into NIMH About their

Draft Strategic Plan!

by Tom Wilson, MindFreedom Lane County Advisory Committee

This is an opportunity to contribute your thoughts to the direction and

funding of mental health research in the USA over the next 3 to 5 years.

If we do not respond we can expect more of the same:

New drugs and more new drugs.

As we know, silence gets us no where, please respond!

If we want to get past temporary stability at a terrible cost through

drug therapy it is imperative that we get research dollars focused

dollars elsewhere also.

MindFreedom board member Al Galves, PhD, said,

"I believe it is important to continue studying the brain, nervous

system and its functioning. However, the scientific evidence is that

direct manipulation of brain chemistry and brain structure through

psychotropic drugs, electroconvulsive treatment and other psychosurgery

is only marginally effective in helping individuals who are diagnosed

with behavioral health disorders when compared to placebo and is very

harmful.

"I would encourage the NIMH to put a significantly larger percentage of

its budget and its effort into research on a wide variety of

interventions that are more likely to be helpful to persons diagnosed

with behavioral health disorders and less likely to harm them. Examples

of such interventions include:

" * All kinds of non-drug psychotherapy - not just the ones that can be

manualized. Included should be Gestalt therapies, psychoanalysis, other

psychodynamic therapies, expressive therapies, narrative therapy,

solution-focused therapy, hypnotherapy, modern group technique (based on

Hyman Spotnitz' work), body-centered psychotherapy, Reikian therapy,

etc., etc., etc

" * Other forms of intervening to help persons diagnosed with

behavioral health disorders including employment assistance,

supportive housing, peer specialist training, Soteria-type houses,

expanded clubhouses, traditional education, non-traditional

education, self-directed care (giving patients control over some the

money that is allocated for treatment), etc., etc., etc.

"The bottom line is that I encourage NIMH to spend a much larger

percentage of its budget on research and demonstrations that promise to

help people in the immediate future, i.e. within five to ten years. That

is not true of brain research."

- end of alert -

E-mail your comment to NIMH by Friday, 21 December 2007:

strategicplanning2@mail.nih.gov

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More news at the MindFreedom News Web Site:

http://www.mindfreedom.org

Don't see a news item? Submit it to news@mindfreedom.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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companies, religions, corporations, or the mental health system.

All human rights supporters are invited to join or donate here:

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