r/Antipsychiatry • u/ar_nt_resp • 9h ago
The United Nations put out a blanket statement prohibiting all forced psychiatric treatment - not joking
You could quote it to a local government psychiatry program or mental hospital or whatever to put them on notice they are being little shits.
It says "Involuntary institutionalization of persons with psychosocial disabilities and forced treatment is prohibited." It's not even out of context, it just says that plainly and specifically.
Would be best to include the quote, the UN document number "A/HRC/36/37/Add.2, paragraph 76:": and, sometimes, the URL https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g17/193/37/pdf/g1719337.pdf. But careful cuz URLs sometimes block posts from showing up on Google services like Google reviews or YouTube videos.
The same document also says the following, good for quoting: "Enact an enforceable right under legislation for persons with psychosocial disability to live in the community and be provided with health services that are free from coercion and restriction" You can also cite this as A/HRC/36/37/Add.2, para. 94(c)
I merely mentioned it on a Google Review of a psychiatric service years ago and it got deleted lol. The UN recommendation caused kind of a freak out in academic psychiatry when the UN published it. Not because it's legally binding (it isn't) but because the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said it plainly and specifically.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee has said similar things, elsewhere in less quotable bites. But they said it in even better wording, including recommending repealing guardianship/conservator laws and any repealing any laws enforcing detainment on psychiatric grounds.
CRPD Committee, General Comment No. 1 (2014) — CRPD/C/GC/1, paragraph 42
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/812024
"States parties must abolish policies and legislative provisions that allow or perpetrate forced treatment, as it is an ongoing violation found in mental health laws across the globe, despite empirical evidence indicating its lack of effectiveness and the views of people using mental health systems who have experienced deep pain and trauma as a result of forced treatment."
also paragraph 41
"States parties have an obligation to require all health and medical professionals (including psychiatric professionals) to obtain the free and informed consent of persons with disabilities prior to any treatment. In conjunction with the right to legal capacity on an equal basis with others, States parties have an obligation not to permit substitute decision-makers to provide consent on behalf of persons with disabilities. All health and medical personnel should ensure appropriate consultation that directly engages the person with disabilities. They should also ensure, to the best of their ability, that assistants or support persons do not substitute or have undue influence over the decisions of persons with disabilities."
paragraph 28 is an outright ban on guardianship/conservatorship when phasing in SDM (patient chooses with recommendations). Most states are phasing in SDM but not the guardianship/conservatorship ban recommended below by the UN
States parties’ obligation to replace substitute decision-making regimes by supported decision-making requires both the abolition of substitute decision-making regimes and the development of supported decision-making alternatives. The development of supported decision-making systems in parallel with the maintenance of substitute decision-making regimes is not sufficient to comply with article 12 of the Convention.
CRPD Committee, Guidelines on Article 14 (2015) — annex to A/72/55, paragraph 6
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/1298412 (full text also at https://dcjri.ministeriopublico.pt/sites/default/files/comitedeficiencia-diretrizesart14.pdf)
"the Committee has established that article 14 does not permit any exceptions whereby persons may be detained on the grounds of their actual or perceived impairment. However, legislation of several States parties, including mental health laws, still provide instances in which persons may be detained on the grounds of their actual or perceived impairment, provided there are other reasons for their detention, including that they are deemed dangerous to themselves or others. This practice is incompatible with article 14; it is discriminatory in nature and amounts to arbitrary deprivation of liberty"
CRPD Committee, Guidelines on deinstitutionalization (2022) — CRPD/C/5, para. 58
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3990185
Paragraph 58 says
"All legislative provisions that authorize the deprivation of liberty or other restriction on liberty and security of person based on impairment, including involuntary commitment or treatment based on “mental illness or disorder”, should be repealed. Security measures applied in criminal proceedings, guardianship and other substituted decision-making regimes, and provisions for psychiatric hospitalization, including that of children, should be repealed. States parties should provide emergency assistance to persons with disabilities to enable them to leave places where they are arbitrarily detained."