Ratify UN Treaty on Disability Human Rights!

MindFreedom International had a team led by MFI board president Celia
Brown inside the United Nations for several years worked in a spirit
of mutual cooperation with disability groups from all over the world.

The result was a United Nations treaty on disability rights that
could also help people in the mental health system. But now that
treaty needs to be ratified by nations all over the world. Disability
activists have created a campaign to win that ratification. Here's a
news release for the campaign and web site, RatifyNow.

More info:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-global/united-nations/
disability

Or go directly to: http://www.ratifynow.org/

Today, 10 December, is International Human Rights Day! More info:

http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007

RECOVERY PSYCHOLOGY

The Council for Recovery Psychology is an independent organization and makes no assertions or claims of affiliation or endorsements of any organizations, agencies or service providing companies. Although its members may be professionally employed by or involved in such separately, no such relationship or partnership with any other entities is implied by the council. The Council suggests no expertise or authority on an academic level; nor does it claim Recovery Psychology as its own intellectual property; recovery belongs to those who recover.

The Vision

Recovery as the rule not the exception in all mental health care; and all persons knowledge of mental health. It is an expeirince equal to pathology, and should discussed equally.

The Mission

To produce research and publication of information on "recovery" behavior, To validate the social and behavior sciences of recovery and direct these efforts toward the academic and professional strata.

The text as it stands today (12.09.07)

About the textbook “Recovery Psychology,” the text available at www.lulu.com entitled “Recovery Psychology” with all the disclaimers and the buyer beware warnings, it is a work in progress. A person buying it should only do so; if they understand that it a sample of what could be. The Lulu version was last updated on 08.15.07 with disclaimers on the back cover…The original version was entitled “The Psychology of Recovery” or “Psychology of Recovery,” this idea began around 03.04.04 when I graduated from peer support and this idea had been brewing up and morphing along ever since. On 03.19.07 I had ran off a print from Lulu that was blank, it was merely just a cover on a hardbound textbook typically used in academic instruction, this was referred to as the “blank”. The next version to have been printed was a sample with about 15 pages with words and pictures in it, and another 735 or so pages that had no words in it, this was referred to as the “sample.” Sadly enough it is a sample of a sample or example; of what a college textbook on mental illness should contain.

Congressional Negotiators Hitting Roadblocks on Mental Health Parity Legislation

Sponsors of the House and Senate versions of legislation (HR 1424 and S 558) that would require most health insurers to provide equal levels of coverage for physical and mental illnesses are "bumping up against" conflicts in negotiations that could "thwart" the bill's passage this year, CongressDaily reports. Over the last month, House sponsors Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) have met with Senate sponsors Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to discuss possible compromises. "We are at a delicate point in the negotiations," Ramstad said (Johnson, CongressDaily, 11/19).

The House bill includes provisions not included in the Senate legislation, including a broader definition of medical conditions that insurers would have to cover. In addition, the Senate bill would take effect one year after the legislation becomes law, while the House bill would be implemented Jan. 1, 2008 (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/17).

Domenici said that the talks have been difficult.

Medical model vs. recovery model

A lot of people ask me what the difference is between a medical model of treatment for mental illness and a recovery model.

You want to know what that difference is, in a nutshell?

The medical model treats me like a disease; the recovery model treats me like a person.

Next on MF Free Web Radio: Live Open-Topic Call-In Show!

his Wednesday, 5 December 2007, at 4 pm ET, "click and listen" to a
MindFreedom Live Free Web Radio Show.

Click here at that time:

http://prncomm.net/

Then phone in LIVE from anywhere in the world (toll free in the USA)
with your questions & comments. Host of MindFreedom Free Live Web
Radio is David Oaks.

The MindFreedom News host is David Oaks, who also sums up the latest
"Mad News," before getting to an hour of YOUR calls.

Phone numbers to call in live will be announced throughout the show.
You can phone in toll-free in the USA. A special phone number is also
given for international calls, so you can call in from anywhere in
the world. If you can't get through keep trying.

You are invited to speak out on any topic, especially human rights
and alternatives in mental health.

* Talk about your experience with the mental health system.

* Let people know about an alternative to the traditional mental
health system you like.

* Ask questions about advocacy and activism to change the mental
health system.

You may instead e-mail in any questions, comments or technical
problems at any time. Your comments may be read live during the show.
E-mail to: radio@mindfreedom.org

The live show, with your call-ins, will be archived for others to
hear, too, via the web. If you or others miss the live show Wednesday
at 4 pm ET at http://prncomm.net/, recent shows from the MindFreedom
News Hour are archived by Progressive Radio Network here:

http://oaks.progressiveradionetwork.org

Older archives for free download can also be found here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/media/mfradio/archived-shows

R.I. Congressman Advocates for Mental Health Parity

Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy spent the weekend in Iowa stumping for U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, who is campaigning for president. He said while he was there he had an opportunity to speak with members of the International Fire Fighters Union who told him about 50 percent of the phone calls they receive from their membership are related to drug and alcohol addiction.

“Our health care system is ignoring two-thirds of its population,” by not covering many of these mental health and addiction issues, Kennedy told a group of mental health experts and advocates at the Legislative Office Building Monday. He said the health care system would save money if it addressed these issues because the suicide rate and the number of alcohol-related accidents would go down.

Recovery Support

I dislike intake appointments. They make me feel worse when they’re over than I did beforehand.
The last intake appointment I had was with my new psychiatrist. She was very kind, professional, validating, and not at all shaming. She is a lovely psychiatrist.
But she’s not perfect.
And the intake form she used was not perfect, either.

Letter from Anonymous

My Story

This is my story when I was growing up, especially when I was going to elementary school. I am the oldest of four sisters. Well, I had some pretty hellish stuff happen to me. When I was about 8 or 9 years old. I was molested by an old White man while I was going to the store. It was wintertime: I was supposed to get some bread from the store and this person grabbed me and pulled me into an abandoned car and fondled me. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. When this person let me go I ran home, I was scared. When I got home I got a spanking for making my father late for work, I couldn’t tell my parents what had happened.

Then I had an incident with a medicine bottle. My sister was playing outside and cut her knee real bad. So my mom brought some medicine for my sister’s knee. The medicine bottle was somehow emptied; I think someone must’ve wasted it. Well, I got blamed and punished for it, but I didn’t bother that medicine.

So I was playing around with a rope, pretending to hang myself, just playing around. My dad found out and he took that rope and put it around my neck and just about lifted me off the floor. Then he made a statement saying, “You said you want to be a boy, I’m going to show you how fathers beat their sons”. He beat the hell out of me where I couldn’t go to school for 3 days. My dad didn’t realize what had happened to me and I couldn’t tell him.

Then I had another incident where I was traumatized. I lived in the Jeffries Projects; I was about ten at the time. I was lured into a basement of this older boys house, he said he had some baby kittens he wanted to show me. When I got to the basement this boy pulled out a large butcher knife and threatened to cut my throat if I didn’t do what he said. I was sodomized, and raped, among other things. When I got away, I went home but I couldn’t tell my parents what happened. Instead, my mom gave me a ‘Whuppin’ for not combing my hair.

I started having trouble in school so I had to go and see all them psychiatrists and doctors, I couldn’t tell them either. I was really confused and messed up. I was sent to Lafayette Clinic for several months for observation. I didn’t understand what happened to me. I was put on medication, (it was three kinds of medication). I was in special education up until I was thirteen; I stayed with an aunt for the summer. When she was drunk, she was very abusive and would egg my mom on. I tell you I carried around a lot of anger, so I expressed myself through my drawings. My mom and aunt didn’t understand, so I got ‘Whuppins” for that. It took me a long time to get over my anger and rage. I can relate to and help any person who has been through some hellish s_ _ t like that.

Now I am grown and have a family of my own and my husband is such a blessing, he understands me. I have two wonderful children. With the help of my peers I am doing a lot better. It took me a long time to open up and tell my story: you see, that’s the only way you ‘gonna’ heal. Keeping stuff like that inside can mess you up really bad. It’s like a festering wound with all that poison going through your system, so it has to be lanced to let all that poison out.

My being a consumer doesn’t mean that I can’t overcome a bad childhood, because I can. You can see what I can do because of Gods help. See, now I play with a band called ‘Recovery’ and I am enjoying my new life. I know what it is like to feel worthless: there were times I felt like taking my own life because that’s how worthless I felt. Now that I am enjoying my life, I just want to help somebody else have some hope. People tell me that is peer support.

H.R.1424 - Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007

Heath Shuler has joined 39 Republicans and 230 Democrats in cosponsoring the Wellstone Mental Health Parity Act. Folks have been trying to get this bill passed for years, and it’s back for another day in the sun. This time it has broader support than ever before. The Act will require insurance companies to carry mental health coverage on their group insurance plans. The Act also orders a study to see how implementation of the Act affects costs across the health system.