Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health

This week on the Mad in America podcast, we talk to Jim Gottstein, president and founder of the organisation Law Project for Psychiatric Rights. Jim talks to us about his own experiences with the psychiatric system, patient rights in mental healthcare and the recent trial between Wendy Dolin and the UK Pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.

In this episode, we discuss:

Jim’s experiences growing up in Alaska

How Jim became involved with the psychiatric system

That Jim was told he was mentally ill and he needed drugs for the rest of his life and would never be able to practice law again

How found a Psychiatrist who told him that anyone who doesn’t sleep could become psychotic and that he could manage the problem

How his experience with the psychiatric system changed the focus of his life

About his involvement in a case involving the State of Alaska stealing a million acre land trust for the “mentally ill”

That the book ‘Mad in America‘ by Robert Whitaker provided a litigation roadmap for challenging forced psychiatric drugging

How Jim formed the organisation Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights) to mount a strategic legal campaign against forced drugging and Electroshock in the USA

How the number of people detained or forcibly treated in the mental health system is dramatically out of step with the reality demonstrated by Open Dialog and Soteria type approaches

That changing public attitudes to the hidden parts of the mental healthcare system is very important

How cases can arise very rapidly, requiring almost immediate response which is sometimes difficult

That the deck is really stacked against the patient because they are having to defend themselves against medical professionals and their lawyers while they have no credibility because they are charged with being mentally ill

The events in the trial between the widow of Stuart Dolin and the UK Pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline

That it was a legal first because Wendy Dolin sued the manufacturer of the brand name drug, Paxil, even though Stuart Dolin was taking the generic version of the drug manufactured by Mylan

How Wendy Dolin’s lawyers came up with a common law negligence claim against GSK that GSK had a duty to provide accurate information about the drug

How GSK manipulated the science of the clinical trials to downplay the suicide risk

That Dr. Joseph Glenmullen and Dr. David Healy were key expert witnesses

That the jury unanimously found GSK guilty of withholding information

That GSK have stated their intention to appeal the verdict

How the appeal process will work

Why we shouldn’t trust what Pharmaceutical manufacturers tell us about clinical trials

The lack of informed consent where the prescribing of psychiatric drugs is concerned

That outcomes for patients who have either not taken, or withdrawn from, antipsychotic drugs are much better than for those who continue with the drugs

To listen on Mad in America: https://goo.gl/tyyLmt

Podcast show notes: https://goo.gl/QpjVsA

To get in touch with us email: podcasts@madinamerica.com

© Mad in America 2017