Help Anyone want to picket the American Psychiatric Association?

[cm2020]

Hello all!

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in picketing the APA's headquarters in Washington D.C. to protest their ableist position on medical euthanasia for people suffering from mental illness that is, statistically, unlikely to improve? We can invite the media. Honestly, even ten people can get news coverage. It would be meaningful, for me at least, to attempt to finally bring some visibility to this issue. I'd also be open to doing something in New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore. We could also picket Independence Hall in Philly, like the early LGBT organizations did before the gay rights movement had mainstream visibility. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annual_Reminder Granted, I'm biased because I live in Philly.

Their position: "The American Psychiatric Association, in concert with the American Medical Association's position on Medical Euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death." I think it would be good if we could at least try to apply pressure for them to break away from the AMA on this.

Tell me what you think! Please say yes! Ironically, it would help my depression to be able to do something meaningful and feel like I am making a difference.

 

[RedEther]

Now...Im not saying do this, but Iv watched of picots and sit ins throughout history. The government releaces a statment along the lines of "we are aware that this is an issue that we are very aware of and we will do our best to fix it" and then proceed to do nothing. Things dont change untill it affects their wallets. Laws wernt changed until riots where had and people got violent. Its sad, but each time i watch a documentary, its starts off peaceful, nothing happens, shit escalates, shit gets broken, someone dies the public demands change, change starts to happen. Same cycle since the 1700s.
I have a crazy idea but this is probably suturing enough pots...

 

[cm2020]

I know, I know. You're absolutely right! But we have to start somewhere! We have to start putting the thought in the heads of everyday people that people with depression who've wanted to kill themselves for years on end aren't delusional and deserve to have their needs met, even if it makes us upset. It's about changing the government's policies, yes, but it's just as much about cultivating acceptance and understanding.

 

[RedEther]

If i wasn't so crippled with depression ill be with you man. I lose my breath getting off the couch now. unfortunetly i feel many are in my situation. If I ever get better Ill def be on whatever organized gathering that may some how get together. People like me get shot at these kinda things so there's an initiative XD

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

For boring reasons I'll keep to myself, I couldn't participate. But I'd support how I could. I don't expect the APA or AMA to care, as there are already MANY online and in print reports, popular and academic, of psychiatric abuse, publication bias in assessment of psychotropics' effectiveness, the often significantly greater effects of other factors (like poverty, living with chronic pain, loneliness, abuse, homelessness...) on so-called mental illness than access to therapy, on and on. Not to mention some excellent academic publications on cultural bias in the ways studies are designed and data are interpreted--potentially invalidating a great deal of "mental health knowledge"... Or the decades-long evidence of many kinds of patient abuse in psych units.

No matter the challenges to their position, the APA puts corporate marketing to shame in its unctuous deflection of culpability. It's able to do it because it has the State's blessing. And the blessing of corporations with very, very deep pockets and armies of lawyers. Worse yet, since most people who're doing OK don't care about the struggle of the "mentally ill," the public is very happy to dismiss anyone pointing out grave flaws of the mental health machinery as crazy (and therefore not worthy of a serious discussion) or a source of misinformation. And we all know by now how Big Tech and the government respond to what they deem to be misinformation.

Sorry for the rant, but after too long railing against bias, corruption, and patient harm in mental health but getting nowhere, I don't believe this leviathan will budge in my lifetime.

 

[cm2020]

To be honest, I don't really expect the APA to care either. It would mainly be a publicity thing, really. Whenever I talk to people about psychiatric euthanasia, they are often shocked by the mere notion of it. And that is what we, first, need to change. I agree with a lot of what you said, however.

I'm also more than willing to hear about your allegedly boring issues. I always like to hear about what troubles people. If you want to talk, just PM me. :)

 

[stellabelle]

Hello all!

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in picketing the APA's headquarters in Washington D.C. to protest their ableist position on medical euthanasia for people suffering from mental illness that is, statistically, unlikely to improve? We can invite the media. Honestly, even ten people can get news coverage. It would be meaningful, for me at least, to attempt to finally bring some visibility to this issue. I'd also be open to doing something in New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore. We could also picket Independence Hall in Philly, like the early LGBT organizations did before the gay rights movement had mainstream visibility. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annual_Reminder Granted, I'm biased because I live in Philly.

Their position: "The American Psychiatric Association, in concert with the American Medical Association's position on Medical Euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death." I think it would be good if we could at least try to apply pressure for them to break away from the AMA on this.

Tell me what you think! Please say yes! Ironically, it would help my depression to be able to do something meaningful and feel like I am making a difference.

I agree that the system needs to change. There are too many of us that are damaged beyond repair, our reputations, our minds, our bodies. Why continue the suffering? Let us go legally. It doesn't make any difference. Pop a pill and they'll stop harassing you! They'll stop stealing from you! They'll stop lying about you and go gooochie goooochie goooooooooo awwwww sweeetipi. Yeah. It's best to just let us exit. Plus, it costs so much more to play pretend and keep us alive and drag us around forever. It's a waste of time and life and everything else. Let us go.

People lie to us, treat us like shit all day long, talk shit, and then say cant you do any better than that? apparently not. We should absolutely have a right to die. It's the best thing for people like me who know nothing more than violence, misery, hatred, theft, lies, and more harassment to get a person to finally snap… so they can laugh in my face one more time and say oh well, wellllll…. We care sooo much that we don't care at all. We are all sooooo materialistic and soooooo speshul if you work soooo hard you get nowhere and you deserve to just be able to go the fuck to bed and never get up again.

 

[wait.what]

I totally share the desire to yell at the APA, but anything involving travel or hiking through DC or Philadelphia is beyond me at this point. I also can't think of anything I could do that would sting them in the slightest. They are as supremely confident in their pill bottles as 18th century docs were in their leeches and humour imbalances.

Maybe I can think of something though. Some kind of really embarrassing and unforgettable performance art, maybe. How about photos of people who ctb in particularly gruesome ways, done in black and white so as not to be so horrible people feel all right about looking away, with the caption, "If assisted suicide were legal, I wouldn't have had to do this." Also maybe "my family wouldn't have had to see this." Then "blah blah blah, small print, let us go with dignity and in peace." No idea how I'd make any of that happen, but I like it. Maybe I'll offer the idea to Exit International or Pegasos. I don't think either of them does much public outreach, though.

 

[RedEther]

But not Seriously

 

[deadverysoon]

i think that most of us are that damaged is also one of the biggest chances.

because tbh: i have really zero to loose anymore.

so i would not only make a picket.

i would takeover the whole government and spread fear and terror in the health system.

if i wasnt that broke i would fly in every country where you start something.

 

[cm2020]

I really appreciate your messages, all of you! What cities would you be interested in demonstrating in? And please note if you are serious about participating. I know that, right now, this may sound a bit crazy, but I assure you, most "issues" you have ever heard of have started in just this way.

And, to summarize, again:

So, in my opinion, I think the main point of this demonstration is really just to get into the news. Or at least try to. Too many people—even avowedly secular and progressive people—consider psychiatric euthanasia unthinkable. We need to let them know that it is most certainly not. It's legal in several European countries and on the precipice of legalization in Canada. The current framing from the global right-to-die movement is the notion of "Medical Aid in Dying," or just MAID for short. Prohibiting people with persistent and treatment-resistant mental illness from accessing MAID to relieve their suffering is not only cruel, but also ableist toward people with mental illness as class, gaslighting them as hysterical and intrinsically unable to determine what would be in their best interests.

So, I was thinking we would try to picket the APA to get into the news. If not that, we could also do the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, who I think would be more receptive. However, NAMI is not as "high-profile" a target, and a demonstration against them may not be deemed as newsworthy.

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

How about photos of people who ctb in particularly gruesome ways, done in black and white so as not to be so horrible people feel all right about looking away, with the caption, "If assisted suicide were legal, I wouldn't have had to do this."

Now that in countries like the US & Australia governments have passed legislation allowing them unprecedented powers to censor viewpoints they don't like, these otherwise provocative scenes would be removed before the files could be backed up to multiple servers. And then the witch-hunt would begin for those who participated in publishing them. Blair/Orwell would be proud. :(

 

[Bird up]

Forced psychiatric hold led me here . I wasn't even suicidal beforehand

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

Forced psychiatric hold led me here . I wasn't even suicidal beforehand

I've been there. Once. NEVER EVER EVER again. Police beat me in my apartment first. Then they rifled through my bedroom drawers while making fun of me. Then they taunted me while "watching me" on ward... What the h*ll do they expect us to feel after that kind of ordeal? I'd rather die a painful, desperate death homeless than EVER be committed again.

 

[Bird up]

I've been there. Once. NEVER EVER EVER again. Police beat me in my apartment first. Then they rifled through my bedroom drawers while making fun of me. Then they taunted me while "watching me" on ward... What the h*ll do they expect us to feel after that kind of ordeal? I'd rather die a painful, desperate death homeless than EVER be committed again.

They taunted me as well in front of my neighbors . They told all my neighbors I was suicidal ( I wasn't at all ,)and basically manifested my suicide

They taunted me as well in front of my neighbors . They told all my neighbors I was suicidal ( I wasn't at all ,)and basically manifested my suicide

The truth doesn't matter as soon as police and psychiatrists get involved everything you can say is false while they control the whole narrative

 

[Chancerator]

Hi, cm2020. I'm amazingly crushed by depression right now, but I'd push myself to picket if I'm still around when it happens. Definitely serious. I could swing cities on the eastern-ish side of the US. Wish I could be more help in organizing, but I'm having one of those episodes where showering seems like a herculean task. Best of luck. Get those voices out there. ;)

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

They told all my neighbors I was suicidal ( I wasn't at all ,)

Yes! They put a show on for my small neighborhood too. Landlord kicked me out when I got out of hospital. You're also right that whatever they say will be taken as gospel truth. Notice how it can become acceptable to beat on someone so long as the accusation of mental illness is shoved on them? :/

Did someone turn you in, since you weren't suicidal before?

 

[YourNeighbor]

Only somewhat related, but I've wondered if a die-in by a group of terminally ill people at the AMA or near the Capitol or something like that might not be one way to boost the conversation on death with dignity for the terminally ill.

Not that I'd have the courage to participate.

 

[RedEther]

Only somewhat related, but I've wondered if a die-in by a group of terminally ill people at the AMA or near the Capitol or something like that might not be one way to boost the conversation on death with dignity for the terminally ill.

Not that I'd have the courage to participate.

I wanted to suggest but to afraid to bring up

 

[deadverysoon]

but to set a statement it should be a cruel death like burning or similar... and i cant do that tbh...


and i dont want anybody to do that.

 

[deadverysoon]

Any public group ctb would make a huge statement. No need to make it especially cruel. Would just have to be fast--guns could work.

but maybe it would stigmatize SS as a demonic-dangerous-mysterious-suicide circle. it should be clear that SS is not the reason to ctb.

 

[YourNeighbor]

I wasn't referring to SS. I meant that a group of terminally ill patients doing a public die-in for death with dignity options might spur a national conversation on the topic and have people question why the dying can't die peacefully on their own terms instead of suffering through disease. Again, pure hypothetical, nothing I could do.

 

[cm2020]

Hmm, well, to clarify, I am only going to particpate in something not *overly* crazy and certainly nothing illegal. Personally, a public (metaphorical!) die-in would be as far as I want to go. Can we please exclude any talk of actual death/violence in public here? That's not going to help the cause.

For those who are not familiar with this type of demonstration, here is the wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die-in

I believe the grassroots political group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) pioneered the technique when they were trying to get the Reagan Administration to put aside their homophobia and racism and finally do something about the AIDS pandemic in the '80s and '90s.

 

[Bird up]

Yes! They put a show on for my small neighborhood too. Landlord kicked me out when I got out of hospital. You're also right that whatever they say will be taken as gospel truth. Notice how it can become acceptable to beat on someone so long as the accusation of mental illness is shoved on them? :/

Did someone turn you in, since you weren't suicid

Yes! They put a show on for my small neighborhood too. Landlord kicked me out when I got out of hospital. You're also right that whatever they say will be taken as gospel truth. Notice how it can become acceptable to beat on someone so long as the accusation of mental illness is shoved on them? :/

Did someone turn you in, since you weren't suicidal before?

I called the mental health hotline to ask questions about mental health . I had just got done reading the red book by Jung who was mentally ill at the time . I was a wallflower type who actually believed they could answer questions I had instead of kidnapping me and torturing me. Btw I never said I was suicidal they asked if people say to kill myself . I said yea they do . These imbeciles thought I meant I hear voices saying to kill myself which is schizophrenia when I really meant I read online messages saying to kill myself which was the truth

 

[RedEther]

I wasn't referring to SS. I meant that a group of terminally ill patients doing a public die-in for death with dignity options might spur a national conversation on the topic and have people question why the dying can't die peacefully on their own terms instead of suffering through disease. Again, pure hypothetical, nothing I could do.

That was I was thinking. People are still talking about heavens gate. Changed the whole society with people saying "drinking the Koolaid" when referencing joining a following. If pulled off correctly it can get conversations started on humain mental helth treatments, and not the holes they throw in when we try to to seek help. Just trying to fill beds for money insted of actually caring for people. They should 100% see it as what it is. We would rather die than go to one of those hospitals because they dont work. Change sociaty and change the system.
That kinda thing would be difficult to organize now adays. Im not one for consperacy theroys but I def belive the govement would SOMeHOW shut it down quicker than we could get started...
idk im good at coming up with ideas, never how to execute them

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

I was a wallflower type who actually believed they could answer questions I had instead of kidnapping me and torturing me.

I really appreciate your language here--"kidnapping me and torturing me." When you're violently forced against your will into submission, held as if in prison, denied going to the bathroom without the shamefulness of others watching you, refused phone calls, had your reasonable assessments of your own life dismissed as lunatic ravings, even drugged and shocked without your consent, YES, you've been kidnapped and tortured. Hope it never again happens to you.

 

[YourNeighbor]

Hmm, well, to clarify, I am only going to particpate in something not *overly* crazy and certainly nothing illegal. Personally, a public (metaphorical!) die-in would be as far as I want to go. Can we please exclude any talk of actual death/violence in public here? That's not going to help the cause.

People talk about dying in public here all the time, from jumping off bridges, to headbutting trains, to hanging in parks, etc. Not saying that alone makes it a good idea, but it's not a topic that is out of bounds for this site, as far as I can tell.

That said, a real die-in might force a policy conversation on the topic. It would be hard to ignore death with dignity if the terminally ill died for it. It is easy, and comfortable, to ignore death when not confronted with it. Such an approach would also require a tremendously difficult to organize campaign, however, which is why my posts here were purely hypothetical.