Chemical restraint is regarded as negative and coercive behaviour inflicted on mental health consumers. The medical profession has defined its regular use of forced medication, against the preference of the consumer, not as chemical restraint but as “treatment”. It justifies that position by making a diagnosis and acting on a norm adopted by the medical …
Harrow M, Jobe TH, Tong L. (2021). Twenty-year effects of antipsychotics in schizophrenia and affective psychotic disorders. Psychological Medicine, 1–11.This is a particularly damning study against the use of forced medication. This study investigated, over a 20-year period, the effect of antipsychotic medication upon a large number of patients suffering schizophrenia. The particularly damning finding …
OVERVIEW Nathan Chetty is a gentle person of Indian-Fijian descent, who is almost blind. Nathan had been traumatised following threats from a family member. In 2015 he was accused of pulling overhead electrical wires while standing on the car in the garage, responding to a perceived threat of electrical damage. Since 2015 he has been …
Purpose This document provides advice on how to successfully tackle forced medication – Community Treatment Orders (CTO’s) so that you can retake personal control of your life. This practice should be stopped so individuals can personally shape the plan they need to recover balance in their lives. The material below is based on the experience of …
As a member of the Australian Capital Territory Council of Social Services (ACTCOSS), as well as an ‘essential’ presence at the NSW Drug Summit and International Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA) (1997), Justice Action support the decriminalisation of drug use in Australia. Australian drug laws are regressive, punitive and harbour a very strict approach as they are influenced by the ‘war on drugs’ mentality. Instead, legislative change must be implemented to enable the introduction of a Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) in the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) for those who wish to use it. This is to ensure the prevention of disease transmission within prisons, as well as to secure detainees’ rights to an equivalent healthcare system.
The campaign against the Chief Psychiatrist’s Communique 2014 was sent to Bronwyn Taylor MLC – NSW Minister for Mental Health, Dr. Murray Wright – Chief Psychiatrist NSW Health and Judge Paul Lakatos SC – President, Mental Health Review Tribunal. We are still awaiting a response from Dr. Murray Wright and Bronwyn Taylor MLC. As you …
Call for withdrawal of the Chief Psychiatrist’s Communique 2014 Read More »
Forensic Community Treatment Orders (FCTOs) authorise the forcible medication of individuals with mental illness within prison. These orders apply to prisoners who develop a mental illness while in prison and to forensic patients who are detained in a prison. FCTOs raise a number of ethical issues, namely the breach of one’s entitlement to equivalent treatment …
Download Flyer here: CJC Education for Patients Flyer 2021 See our full report here: CJC Educational Opportunities for Patients 2021 Access to education is now available for people in locked hospitals regardless of where they are, or their previous educational experience. University courses and programs are now accessible without the need for Internet or any …
Media release: August 3, 2012 “Mental health patient Saeed Dezfouli who won a court challenge to study law whilst being held in the Forensic Hospital, has been refused the tools necessary to do the course. His lawyer has advised him to return to court to assert his right in practice. This situation provides an insight into how …