MindFreedom News Show This Wednesday, 16 May 2007, 4 pm ET.

Psychiatrically-labeled. Harvard-trained lawyer. Activist. Whistle blower.

Jim Gottstein of Alaska qualifies for all these labels and more, and he’s the guest on the next MindFreedom News Hour.

Listen and phone in to the free LIVE MindFreedom News Internet Radio Show by clicking on http://prncomm.net/  every Wednesday at 4 pm ET.

This is radio for a nonviolent revolution in the mental health system, hosted bypsychiatric rights activist David Oaks, director of MindFreedom. David also experienced the mental health system as a youth when he was institutionalized five times and diagnosed”schizophrenic.” For a brief bio about David click here.

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Brief bio about Jim Gottstein:

Jim Gottstein grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and went to college at the University of Oregon. He then went to Harvard Law School. After law school, Jim went back to Alaska and has practiced law there for over 25 years. He is a psychiatric survivor and for over 20 years has devoted a portion of his time advocating for and representing people labeled with mental illness.

Jim won national attention by taking on Eli Lilly over their attempt to suppress thousands of documents revealing fraud and corruption in the marketing and sale of their psychiatric drug Zyprexa. For links to background information on this battle click here. For links to some of The New York Times articles click here.

One of these cases, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Lands litigation resulted in a settlement valued at over One Billion Dollars and created the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority which has had a dramatic, positive impact on Alaska’s Mental Health program. In, 2002, after reading the book _Mad in America_ by Bob Whitaker, Jim founded the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights, known as PsychRights, to mount a serious, strategic, coordinated legal campaign in the United States against forced drugging and electroshock.

Since then Jim has addressed public misconceptions about what is called mental illness and the very limited effectiveness and great harm caused by what is called psychiatric “treatment.” Because of legal and practical reasons and because it is the right thing to do, Jim also works on creating humane, non-coercive alternatives to current psychiatric practices.

In Alaska Jim has had some considerable success in these efforts. In June of 2006, the Alaska Supreme Court decided the landmark Myers case which held Alaska’s forced drugging statute unconstitutional.

In September of 2006, another project he has been working on — a non-coercive alternative to hospitalization that allows non-drug choices, called Soteria-Alaska — received formal support by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and a commitment of funds to help get it going.

Another program, called CHOICES, Inc., which is a non-coercive community program run by peers, received a grant in 2006 to provide Independent Case Management and Flexible Support Services. This grant is designed to allow CHOICES to receive sustainable revenues into the future, including under Medicaid.

Jim is also president of the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA).

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TheMindFreedom News Hour is part of a diverse array of shows onProgressive Radio Network.

On each MindFreedom News Hour you’llhear hear news, resources, and an interview. Shows have covered thehistory of the psychiatric survivor movement, how psychiatric survivorsand concerned mental health professionals are working together on humanrights campaigns, and more.

Regular features include networking announcements about successful activism and alternatives.

It’s your mind! It’s your freedom! Free your mind with theMindFreedom News Hour hosted by David Oaks every Wednesday at 4 pmeastern time.

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If you have show suggestions, comments, ideas, please e-mail it to radio@mindfreedom.org. E-mail is checked during the show, and your comments may be read live on “the air.”