Soterias House Alaska opens, (non drug psycho-social treatment approach)

I am publishing this email from Jim Gotstein in full as the content is great news!
Jim mentions psychiatrist Loren Mosher who was one of our speakers in the first APRIL conference in 2001. Loren Mosher resigned from the Americal Psychiatric Association as he felt they were controlled by the pharmaceutical industry.

From: Jim Gottstein [mailto:jim.gottstein@psychrights.org] Sent: 24 July 2009 19:14To: millie@april.org.uk

Subject: [PsychRights] Soteria-Alaska Opens With Two Residents

Hello,I wanted to let you know that Soteria-Alaska has opened its doors on a partial basis with two residents, pending receipt of its license, which will allow it to take more. This is a milestone six years in the making.

For those that don't know about Soteria, Soteria-Alaska is a replication of the original Soteria House in San Jose California. The original Soteria-House was the brain-child of Loren Mosher, psychiatrist of beloved memory who tragically passed away in 2004.

There is also no doubt that the original Soteria House's success depended on marvelous Alma Menn, its administrator, and Voyce Hendrix, its House Manager. The original Soteria House proved that outcomes for people diagnosed with schizophrenia could be dramatically improved if a psychosocial approach was used instead with neuroleptics used as a last resort and stopped as soon as possible when they were used.

The Soteria-Alaska website at http://soteria-alaska.com/ has quite a bit of information on this as does the PsychRights web page at http://psychrights.org/Research/...

While I co-founded Soteria-Alaska in 2003, I left the board in October of 2007, and this achievement can be squarely credited to god-send Susan Musante, Soteria-Alaska's Executive Director, and Dr. Aron Wolf, a well-respected long-time Alaska psychiatrist, who early in his career worked at the famous Chestnut Lodge. Susan has assembled a terrific staff of people for Soteria-Alaska, including house manager Bill Miller, and they have also been instrumental in pulling this off.

Soteria-Alaska has been lucky to have been able to consult with marvelous Alma Menn, who is so terrific with conveying how Soteria House actually worked in practice. It is anticipated that Voyce Hendrix will also be available for consultation as things go forward.

Dr. Mosher and Luc Ciompi, who ran Soteria-Berne in Switzerland for many years developed the following Soteria Critical Elements, which guide Soteria-Alaska:

SOTERIA CRITICAL ELEMENTS Luc Ciompi, Loren Mosher

1. FACILITY: a. Small, community based b. Open, voluntary home-like c. sleeping no more than 10 persons including two staff( 1 man & 1 woman) on duty d. preferably 24 - 48 hour shifts to allow prolonged intensive 1:1 contact as needed

2. SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT: a. respectful, consistent, clear and predictable with the ability to provide asylum, safety, protection, containment, control of stimulation, support and socialization as determined by individual needs b over time it will come to be experienced as a surrogate family

3. SOCIAL STRUCTURE: a. preservation of personal power to maintain autonomy, diminish the hierarchy, prevent the development of unnecessary dependency and encourage reciprocal relationships b. minimal role differentiation ( between staff and clients) to encourage flexibility of roles, relationships and responses c. daily running of house shared to the extent possible; "usual" activities carried out too maintain attachments to ordinary life - e.g. cooking, cleaning, shopping, art, excursions etc.

4. STAFF: a. may be mental health trained professionals, specifically trained and selected nonprofessionals, former clients, especially those who were treated in the program or a combination of the three types b. on the job training via supervision of work with clients, including family interventions, should be available to all staff as needed

5. RELATIONSHIPS: these are central to the program's work a. facilitated by staff being ideologically uncommitted ( i.e. to approach psychosis with an open mind) b. convey positive expectations of recovery c. validate the psychotic person's subjective experience of psychosis as real by developing an understanding of it by "being with" and "doing with" the clients d. no psychiatric jargon is used in interactions with these clients

6. THERAPY: a. all activities viewed as potentially "therapeutic" but without formal therapy sessions with the exception of work with families of those in residence b. in-house problems dealt with immediately by convening those involved in problem solving sessions

7. MEDICATIONS: a. no or low dose neuroleptic drug use to avoid their acute "dumbing down" effects and their suppression of affective expression, also avoids risk of long term toxicities b. benzodiazapines may be used short term to restore the sleep/wake cycles

8. LENGTH OF STAY: a. sufficient time spent in program for relationships to develop that allow precipitating events to be acknowledged, usually disavowed painful emotions to be experienced and expressed and put into perspective by fitting them into the continuity of a person's life

9. AFTER CARE: a. post discharge relationships encouraged (with staff and peers) to allow easy return ( if necessary) and foster development of peer based problem solving community based social networks b. the availability of these networks is critical to long term outcome as they promote community integration of former clients and the program itself

--from
James B. (Jim) Gottstein, Esq.President/CEOLaw Project for Psychiatric Rights406 G Street, Suite 206Anchorage, Alaska 99501USAPhone: (907) 274-7686)
Fax: (907) 274-9493jim.gottstein[[at]]psychrights.org http://psychrights.org/

BBC looks at financial links of psychiatrists with the pharmaceutical industry

Tonight on BBC radio 4, at 8pm, a documentary will review the links between psychiatrists who create and determine new names for mental disorders, conditions, even quirks of personality, and the psychiatrists' financial links to the pharmaceutical industry. An industry that profits from the prescribing of drugs licensed for these conditions.

You can access the programme for the next 7 days, on the BBC iplayer via this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/subjects/c3ViamVjdC9waGFybWFjZXV0aWNhbCBpbmR1c3RyeQ

The DSM is the psychiatrist's bible, with such conditions as 'Social Phobia' and 'ADHD' being conditions added by members of the Americal Psychiatric Association

Matthew Hill investigates the links between psychiatrists and the industry and asks should there be increased transparency over top psychiatrists' links to the pharmaceutical industry.

The following link should take you to the information page and the broadcast on the Internet

Rewriting the Psychiatrist's Bible 8pm Tuesday 4th August 2009

http;//www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kf117

Doctors and Psychiatrists' FINANACIAL LINKS WITH THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

My personal awareness of the conflict of interest goes back to the year 2000 when I attended the British Association of Psychopharmacology (BAP) conference in Cambridge. The event was like a trade fair. Stands promoting drugs, food and literature provided by the pharmaceutical companies, abounded. The presence of industry representatives, standing around a room seemed to inhibit questioning about the safety of drugs in the session I attended on Suicide and antidepressants.

Following the shock of the BAPC drugs trade show, I then became aware of the efforts of psychiatirsts, Loren Mosher, David Healy, Joanna Moncrieff, psychologist Rufus May to open up the debate on drug safety and the overuse of psychotropic medicines including antidepressants.

Little attention to the harms and over emphasis on benefits, in research, has led to many drug induced illnesses (iatrogenic disease), suicides, sudden deaths, disability and misery, affecting countless millions of people across the world.

(Loren Mosher, David Healy and Rufus May attended and spoke at the APRIL charity conference in 2001)

LOREN MOSHER'S RESIGNATION FROM AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION (APA)

I invited psychiatrist Loren Mosher MD to attend the London conference I organised in 2001. He was dismayed at the Industry influence on the psychiatric profession, the Diagnostic Manual (DSM) and the APA. Loren and his wife Judy came over and it was an honour to meet them. Loren's death in 2004 was a great loss to the campaign for truth and transparency in psychiatric diagnosis and prescribing.

( At the time of his death in 2004, Loren Mosher was Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, at the University of California, San Diego.)

I had seen his letter of resignation on the Internet. I felt admiration for his courage and tenacity in the face of such power and influence.

The letter to Rodrigo Munoz, President of the APA is self explanatory:

http://www.moshersoteria.com/resig.htm

Professor DAVID HEALY

At the same conference we heard from Dr David Healy, who had a job withdrawn, in Canada, following his advice to a group of psychiatrists that they should be aware of the risk of adverse reactions that may lead to suicide for some patients, when they prescribe SSRI and similar antidepressants. The influences on the University of Toronto were clearly seen in this scenario.

(David Healy was Director and is now Professor of Psychological Medicine, Cardiff University School of Medicine.)

The full story is told on the web site www.healyprozac.com

RUFUS MAY

Psychologist Rufus May has done so much for people suffering mental distress, without using drugs. Rufus openly discusses his own episode of psychosis when a young man and this is now in the archives of BBC radio 4. A documentary film was made about his support for a medical student while she was psychotic and links to these and advice on coming off psychotropic medicines is on web sites: www.comingoff.com and www.rufusmay.com

CRITICAL PSYCHIATRY and DR JOANNA MONCRIEFF

I disoverered the group known as Critical Psychiatry and found these are psychiatrists in the UK who are concerned about the over use and harm being caused by psychotropic medicines.

Dr Joanna Moncrieff was at the conferences I organised for APRIL charity in 2004 and 2008. Films with Joanna in the Coming of Medicines sessions, is on the APRIL web site www.april.org.uk and the link is in the left hand menu.

Joanna Moncrieff has written a book called The Myth of the Chemical Cure which contains valuable facts and information about the lack of evidence for prescribing and how the drugs work.

Joanna believes the drug induced state caused by medicines is not addressing the underlying problem and that we do not know what is actually going on in the brain.

Joanna says there is very little research into the drug induced states that the drugs create and main stream views that the drugs reverse an underlying state are wrong. We do not know what the drugs actually do when they create a changed mental state. I say that there is no research into the harms caused by psychotropic medicines, polypharmacy and inapropriate prescribing.

A BBC inteview highlights some of her views and can be accessed from an article:

'The myth of the chemical cure'

http://news,bbc,co.uk/1/hi/health/8138893.stm

A compact cheaper book by Joanna Moncrieff in the Straight Talking Introductions series edited by Richard Bentall and Pete Sanders is called Psychiatric Drugs at a price under £9 is recommended by David Healy who states " This straighforward book is one that should be read by anyone currently taking or thinking about taking, a psychotropic drug, anyone prescribing them and anyone party to their use. It offers a radically different and sobering view as to what the drugs can do compared with the views on offer elsewhere." www.pccs-books.co.uk