“The High Commissioner underscores the urgent need to adopt a human rights–based approach to mental health,” the UN report reads, echoing what the Church of Scientology has been advocating for decades.
Nations should “ensure that free and informed consent is the basis of all mental health–related interventions, recognizing that the ability of individuals to make decisions about their own healthcare and treatment choices is an essential element of the right to health.”
“Survivors of psychiatric institutionalization have called for recognition, redress and reparations for human rights violations suffered.”
The report advises countries to “end coercive practices in mental health, including involuntary commitment, forced treatment, seclusion and restraints” and “ensure that all mental health care systems respect the autonomy and informed consent of persons … in accordance with international human rights law.”
Should the High Commissioner’s recommendations be implemented, they would mark a huge shift away from, let’s say, Florida’s notorious Baker Act, which allows individuals to be hauled off by police to psychiatric institutions, where they are restrained, forcibly drugged and even electroshocked, entirely against their will.
Florida isn’t alone—all 50 states permit some form of involuntary psychiatric examination and incarceration.
“Laws and health practices continue to allow involuntary treatment and institutionalization,” the UN report reads, with individuals “remain[ing] in institutions, confined and subjected to involuntary treatment, often in inhumane conditions, including being chained.”
“Survivors of psychiatric institutionalization have called for recognition, redress and reparations for human rights violations suffered, in line with international human rights law,” the report continues. “Past harms and human rights abuses need to be acknowledged and meaningful steps should be taken towards recognition and reparations.”
Mental health watchdog the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) and its president, Jan Eastgate, welcomed the UN’s report, stating: “It is time for comprehensive reform to prohibit coercive practices, enforce meaningful oversight and prioritize the human rights of mental health consumers.
“Legislators must act now to ensure that no individual is subjected to the kind of abuse and inhumane treatment reported in these institutions.”
Involuntary commitment leads inevitably to abuse and fraud, CCHR explains, with private psychiatric facilities keeping patients confined for as long as possible in order to bill Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance for the extended time, thereby maximizing corporate profits and incentivizing the human rights abuses the UN has just condemned. Likewise, there is every motivation to keep these facilities short-staffed and poorly maintained to minimize expenditures and maximize profits.
Disturbingly, involuntary incarceration in psychiatric facilities also increases suicide.
“Rates of suicide remain high for many years after discharge.”
In 2017, JAMA Psychiatry published a study that found that, soon after release from a psychiatric facility, the risk of suicide shoots up to 100 times more than average. A 2016 report suggested that “adverse experiences associated with hospitalization” were responsible for the high number of post-discharge suicide attempts. “Rates of suicide remain high for many years after discharge,” the study read.
Another study of 905 formerly incarcerated individuals found that 19 percent of them—168 people—attempted suicide after their release.
“The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities considers that involuntary hospitalization is contrary to articles 12, 13, 14 and 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” the UN report reads. “There is insufficient independent oversight and accountability to address the reoccurring violations in the context of compulsory admissions and use of outdated facilities.”
Dr. Thomas Szasz, a psychiatrist and co-founder of CCHR, said: “The most important deprivation of human and constitutional rights inflicted upon persons said to be mentally ill is involuntary mental hospitalization.”
“The reforms called for must be implemented at both the federal and state levels to protect the rights and safety of individuals in the psychiatric system,” said Eastgate of the UN’s new recommendations. “A commitment to reparative justice for those harmed by the psychiatric system, alongside policies that uphold the dignity and autonomy of all patients, is essential for a health system that should truly serve the well-being of individuals, not corporate interests.”
As the UN High Commissioner put it: “Systemic reform of mental health systems is urgently needed.”
