Vol. 4 No.1 - Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto

40 Phoenix Risingrnovernen-Cnews"Stop Shock"DemonstratorsArrestedOn Tuesday, March 15, nineteenpeople were arrested for blocking theentrances to the administration buildingof Berkeley's Herrick Hospital in aprotest against theelectroshock treatmentresumptionat Herrick.ofAnadditional 150 demonstrators formed apicket line and acted as legal observorswhile the civil disobedience action was inprogress. Electroshock in Berkeley hadbeen banned by Measure T, a ballot initiativepassed by Berkeley voters lastNovember. Several psychiatric associationssubsequently filed suit against theordinance. In January a Superior Courtjudge issued an injunction permitting thecontinued use of electroshock until thelegality of the ordinance can be determinedat a future hearing. Massivemedia coverage of the March 15 demonstrationalerted many Berkeley voterswho were not aware that electroshockhad been resumed. The ballot initiativecampaign and the civil disobedienceprotest were organized by the Coalitionto Stop Electoshock.The ten w,omen and nine men whowere arrested at the demonstration wereheld in jail for about 7 hours and thenreleased on their own recognizance.Several women were strip-searched whilein jail. The blockaders were arraignedthe following day in Berkeley MunicipalCourt before Judge Julie Conger. Sincethe Berkeley Court is not wheelchairaccessible, and one of the arrestees,CeCe Weeks, was in a wheelchair andrefused to be carried into the courtroom,the group demanded that they allbe arraigned in the downstairs hallwayalong with Weeks. Blockader BarbaraQuigley announced the group's decisionto Conger, who responded by transferringthe arraignment to the accessiblecity council chambers in a nearbybuilding. Berkeley mayor Gus Newportand school board member BarbaraLubin, both supporters of Measure T,attended the arraignment. The chargesagainst most of the blockaders were reducedfrom a misdemeanor to an infractionwith a sentence of "timeserved" (the previous day in jail), in exchangefor pleas of "no contest."Several arrestees chose to be sentencedfor the original misdemeanor charge andalso received a sentence of "timeserved." Two ~lockaders, Trudy Rogersand Maureen Bei, pled "not guilty" to themisdemeanor, and requested a jury trial.The date of their trial is not yetscheduled and they are looking forattorneys willing to represent them at nocost.Following the sentencing, JudgeConger permitted the demonstrators tomake brief statements of their reasonsfor getting arrested. One said her motherhad died of a cerebral hemorrhagefollowing shock treatment, one said thata close relative had committed suicidefollowing shock, one said that someonehe grew up with is currently receivingshock at Herrick, one said that she hadbeen damaged by shock treatmentherself. Several stated that the shockdoctors were the real criminals.According to the Department ofMental Health, two-thirds of all peoplereceiving shock in California are womenand two-thirds are over 45 years of age.The rate now being charged for eachshock treatment, a nurse who formerlyworked at Herrick Hospital (who wasone of those arrested at the March 15action) stated that inmates are notinformed of the likelihood of permanentbrain damage and memory loss.According to hospital reports, a smallpercentage of those receiving shock havenot consented to it because a judge hasruled that they were incapable of givingconsent.One of the blockaders, Trudy Rogers,who described herself as a formermental patient, explained that she plednot guilty because "I did nothing wrong.Electroshock is not a treatment. It isbarbaric, like rape. There are people inHerrick who don't have a voice. We aretheir voice."For more information about electroshock,the Measure T campaign, and theinternational anti-psychiatry movement,send $1 US to Madness Network News,2054 University Ave., room 405,Berkeley, CA 94704, with a request forthe Spring issue.Therapy AbuseSeveral groups in the United Stateshave started up what promises to be anetwork of protection, advocacy andsupport for people abused in private ­usually nonmedical - therapy. InJanuary, 1982 four people founded theAssociation of Psychologically AbusedPatients in Fort Worth, Texas: theresponse they received to leafletting at aweek-end single's fair and a small ad inPsychology Today was overwhelming.Inquiries from coast-to-coast led to anetwork of self-help groups of abusedtherapy consumers. Sexual abuse intherapy and drug abuse by therapistsare issues most often confronted,although others - overcharging, falseadvertising, misdiagnosis, abandonment,sadism, dependency I cult - areof equal concern.Also in January, 1982, an advertisementthat William Cliadakis placed inThe Village Voice in N.Y.C. elicited asimilar response: phone calls from asfar away as San Francisco resulted inthe setting up of a core group of concernedtherapy consumers who haveundertaken - among otherresponsibilities - to investigate variousmental health committees, to look intopast records and procedures of thevarious redress systems, to formulateresearch questions, to set up peersupportgroups, to plan joint projectswith other self-help organizations andto try to raise funds for ongoing work.The N.Y.C. group publishes a newsletter,available for $lO.OO/yr. (U.S.)from NCPPA, 60 W. 57th St., N.Y.