Public Education
One aim of the call for Congressional hearings about psychiatric diagnosis is to provide ways to educate the public about this subject. It would be wonderful if journalists were to recognize the importance of this subject and help to educate the public about it.I want to urge all interested people to assemble petitions, write letters to the experts and the media about what worries you, and obtain publicity about the ways that judgments about who is normal affect you. Consumers of mental health services now have the legal right in many places to obtain their files and find out how they have been diagnosed and what their therapists have written about them. Legal Aid services and private lawyers can sometimes be helpful, as can the psychiatric survivors' groups and groups that advocate for people with disabilities and those that work against racism, ageism, homophobia, and so on. A number of these groups are listed on the Endorser's List page of this site.
Also, people are urged to read especially items the material on the Lawsuits andTherapists pages of this website. In fact, it would seem to make sense if various governmental departments, such as the federal Department of Health and Human Services and state and local health departments, as well as national and local mental health associations and many kinds of therapists' professional associations and educational institutions were to help with the public education effort. Even simple steps like publishing and distributing a pamphlet that contains the information in Lawsuits and Therapists would be extremely helpful.
Also, people are urged to read especially items the material on the Lawsuits andTherapists pages of this website. In fact, it would seem to make sense if various governmental departments, such as the federal Department of Health and Human Services and state and local health departments, as well as national and local mental health associations and many kinds of therapists' professional associations and educational institutions were to help with the public education effort. Even simple steps like publishing and distributing a pamphlet that contains the information in Lawsuits and Therapists would be extremely helpful.