Psychiatric Abuse Protest in Philly

Remember Godly Mathew’s protest on the Roosevelt Boulevard? He writes to PG with news of his latest protest. And this time, he’s not alone.

Activists Eva Dech, Lauren Tenney, and Daniel Hazen are on a multi-state tour to raise awareness of psychiatric abuse. They are coordinating a campaign to stop forced mental health treatment – part of a nationwide organizing call to action. The tour will include 7 states and consist of 8 demonstration and organizing spots. The tour began at Kings County Hospital Center Psychiatric Emergency Room where a woman, Esmin Green, died on the floor while staff members repeatedly ignored her. Philadelphia was their second stop along the way and I got a chance to demonstrate with them on Sunday, September 6th. The demonstration was outside of Friends Hospital in Philadelphia (where I had recently done a solo protest). The traveling trio and their small dog, Lady Petunia, are touring in a vehicle with the back almost filled with protest signs, banners, and other activism materials.

The protest outside of Friends Hospital was on the sidewalk adjacent to the hospital entrance. We each held signs protesting what we feel are grave abuses of civil and human rights that occur routinely in psychiatric institutions under the pretext of ‘treatment’. All of us were victims of psychiatric force and we each feel that no one should be forced to undergo treatment against their will. Although they admit that they are sometimes viewed as radical by some members of the community, they see their mission as more rational than radical and believe that being outspoken about human rights is not at all a bad thing. The huge two person banner (almost 12 feet across) reads “Psychiatry Hurts People! No Forced Treatment”. There were other smaller signs, one of which read “Torture Never. Human Rights Now”.

Speaking with them, I came to understand a little more about the horrible conditions psychiatry imposes on people not willing to submit themselves to the ‘bio-chemical’ model. All three were introduced to the horrors of the psychiatric system at very young ages – one activist as young as 12 years old. Unlike me, all three experienced seclusion, forced drugging, solitary confinement, and restraints. Also unlike me their battle with trying to free themselves from the grasp of the mental health system took many years to accomplish and it became easy to understand their passion and purpose in making this their life’s cause. All became activists as soon as they were able to become independent from the mental health system. They have each been involved in the survivor movement for many years.

The nearly two hour protest passed amidst the dense Boulevard traffic but there were plenty of times when motorists honked in support, asked questions, and offered their encouragement. Like many modern day movements, this one would not be complete without the web.  On their website, the activists have more information about their mission and host a pledge page for supporters to sign their names to oppose forced psychiatric treatment. They also have a Facebook group to support theircause. One of their hopes for the tour is to plant seeds of activism that will continue to grow into independent grassroots movements in their respective locales. Often, the discrimination and stigma associated with having a psychiatric history prevents victims from speaking out against the abuses they encounter in the system. On top of that, society fails to take such allegations brought on by people having a mental illness label with the same level of attention and credibility that they will afford someone else. The starting message, they told me, is that it is okay to talk about these issues and that dialogue can then be a beginning point for activism. Once the dialogue starts, the walls of silence begin to breakdown and the status quos of an oppressive system can be challenged. The trio wrapped up the protest by folding up the signs and returning to their vehicle. After an oil change and lunch at the nearby IHOP, it was back to the road for their third stop: St. Louis, Missouri. The activists are currently at the annual National Association of Rights Protection & Advocacyin Phoenix, Arizona.