Special recording of Don Weitz's series of four lectures/seminars on antipsychiatry & psychiatry at the Free University/U of T at OISE this fall. This is the first seminar, recorded at OISE, 252 Bloor St.W.(St.George/Bloor subway), Room 2214, 2nd floor.
FULL SCHEDULE BELOW: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DATE: Friday, September 30 TIME: 7-8:30pm TITLE: Psychiatry's Human Rights Violations and Antipsychiatry DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: As the first of four seminars, major human rights violations in psychiatry are critiqued. Also discussed are major misconceptions, myths and facts about antipsychiatry This seminar features major reasons for dismantling psychiatry including its fraudulent diagnoses, discredited medical model of "mental illness", and harmful "treatments" such as psychiatric drugs and electroshock. The seminar ends with a brief summary of antipsychiatry protests and conferences in Canada, the United States, and Europe. (Event sponsored by Alumni for a Free U of T.)
DATE: Friday,October 28 TIME: 7-8:30pm TITLE: Electroshock: The Struggle to Ban "ECT" DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: Electroshock ("Electroconvulsive Therapy/ECT") is the most 'controversial treatment' in psychiatry today. This seminar deconstructs electroshock as a traumatic, memory destroying and brain-damaging procedure procedure that targets women and elderly people. Several studies and shock survivor testimony that document ECT's horrific effects, and the growth of international resistance against "ECT" are also discussed. (Event sponsored by Alumni for a Free U of T.)
DATE: Friday,November 25 TIME: 7-8:30pm TITLE: Psychiatric "Medication": Chemical Lobotomies/Chemical Prisons DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: Millions of children, women and the elderly in Canada, the United States and Europe, are prescribed dangerous psychiatric drugs faudulently promoted as "safe and effective medication" in psychiatric facilities, prisons and the community. These drugs are frequently administered without informed consent. From an antipsychiatry/anti-oppression perspective, this seminar critiques many health-threatening and direct effects, including neurological disorders or brain damage, of the neuroleptics ("antipsychotics") and "antidepressants." It also discusses how people can withdraw safely from these neurotoxins. Several drug deaths of young people and recent inquests in Ontario are cited. Guest speaker and author Erick Fabris (Tranquil Prisons) critiques community treatment orders (outpatient forced drugging) as chemical prisons. The roles of psychiatry and multi-national drug companies ('Big Pharma') are denounced as unethical. (Event sponsored by Alumni for a Free U of T.)
DATE: Friday, December 9 TIME: 7-8:30pm TITLE: A Radical Vision: Alternatives to Psychiatry and the "Mental Health System" DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: A world without "mental health centres"? Without psychiatry? This seminar addresses these questions by discussing several existing community based, non-medical alternatives in Canada, the United States, and Europe These alternatives include Soteria House as a successful social experiment, Berlin's Runaway House, safe houses, supportive housing, drop-ins, self-help groups, and nonexistent but urgently needed withdrawal centres, healing houses, and co-ops. Obstacles to their acceptance and growth are critically discussed: psychiatry's medical model, mental health legislation, the myth of "mental illness'", public fear of "mental patients", bigotry in pro-psychiatry media. Possible ways to overcome them are explored.
Biographical note: Don Weitz is an antipsychiatry activist, psychiatric survivor, and human rights advocate. He is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault (CAPA), and co-editor (with Dr. Bonnie Burstow) of Shrink Resistant: The Struggle Against Psychiatry in Canada. He continues speaking out against human rights violations in psychiatry and the "mental health system"; for many years he has been active in the international movement to ban electroshock.
Don Weitz
Don Weitz Opening Lecture on Anti-Psychiatry Series
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