MindFreedom International facts for kids

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MindFreedom International is a group of over one hundred local organizations and thousands of people from fourteen different countries. It started in the United States in 1990. Its main goal is to speak up for the rights of people who have been labeled with mental health conditions. They work against things like forced medicine, physical restraints, and involuntary electroshock therapy.

Anyone who believes in human rights can join MindFreedom. This includes mental health professionals, lawyers, activists, and family members. The United Nations has recognized MindFreedom as a human rights organization.

How MindFreedom Started and What It Does

MindFreedom International grew out of a movement called the "psychiatric survivors movement." This movement began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, around the same time as other civil rights movements. Early groups included the Insane Liberation Front and the Mental Patients' Liberation Front.

A very important book for this movement was On Our Own: Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System by Judi Chamberlin in 1978. She was a former patient and helped start the Mental Patients' Liberation Front.

In 1988, leaders from different groups felt there was a need for a new group. This group would focus on human rights issues within the mental health system. They formed the Support Coalition International (SCI). In 2005, SCI changed its name to MindFreedom International. David W. Oaks became its director.

SCI's first public action was a protest in May 1990 in New York City. They held it outside the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.

Many members of MindFreedom call themselves 'psychiatric survivors.' They feel their human rights were not respected by the mental health system. MindFreedom is an active group that continues the fight against forced psychiatric treatments. It does not call itself an "anti-psychiatry" group. Its members point out that some caring psychiatrists have also supported MindFreedom. People from different political backgrounds are part of the group.

MindFreedom helps its thousands of members share their ideas and experiences. It also helps them create support networks. They organize campaigns to protect human rights in mental health care. The group believes that certain psychiatric practices are human rights violations. These include unscientific labeling, forced medication, solitary confinement, restraints, involuntary commitment, and electroshock.

MindFreedom's Challenges and the Shield Program

In 2003, eight MindFreedom members, led by David Oaks, went on a hunger strike. They wanted to draw attention to some "challenges" they had made. They challenged the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the US Surgeon General, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). MindFreedom asked them to prove that mental illness is a brain disorder.

By continuing the hunger strike for over a month, MindFreedom encouraged the APA and NAMI to discuss these issues with them.

MindFreedom has a program called the Shield Program. It's like an "all for one and one for all" network for its members. If a registered member is facing or might face forced psychiatric treatment, an alert goes out. This alert goes to the MindFreedom Solidarity Network. Members of the network then take part in organized, peaceful actions. These actions might include political action, telling the media, or peaceful resistance. The goal is to stop or prevent the forced treatment.

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