Please put an end to the harmful forced drugging and 6-year-long psychiatric incarceration of Lisa Espinosa
September 10, 2024. Lisa reports that at her latest hearing (last week), the judge declared that Lisa would not be eligible to have another hearing until next year. It is not known at this writing if the hearing that the judge was referring was in regards to Lisa’s guardianship status or the continuation of her involuntary commitment. At the last treatment team meeting, Lisa asked Dr. Balasuriyar, to lower her daily dosage of Clozaril from 200 mg to 175 mg. He refused. Lisa said that the clozaril is affecting her dental health (one of her teeth fell out recently) and that it is causing her to experience extreme weight gain. She now weighs 275 pounds and she is 5’3″ inches tall. Lisa Advocacy Unlimited, a peer run organization has a ‘Bridger’ program in which people who are hospitalized in Connecticut may obtain peer delivered services to help them transition back into the community She will ask her treatment team this Wednesday (Sep. 11) if her treatment team can name a discharge date as a goal so Lisa will be eligible to receive Bridger services.
July 25, 2024. Annie Singer has posted a video on YouTube and TikTok to engage social media on behalf of Lisa. You can share these to support Lisa.
July 23, 2024. After five years in Connecticut Valley Hospital, Lisa Espinosa has recently been transferred to Capital Region Mental Health Center where she is under the authority of psychiatrist Dr. Saravana Balasuriyar. Dr. Balasuriyar is forcing Lisa to take 200 mg of Clozaril. Lisa has suffered devastating side effects from the Clozaril, including tooth decay, rapid weight gain and facial rashes. After expressing a desire to lower her dosage of the Clorazil she was denied discharge from the hospital. Lisa would like to be out of the hospital and to taper off of this harmful medication. She would like to go back to veterinary school in Kansas. Please help Lisa reclaim her life after 6 years.
Please call Dr. Saravana Balasuriyar, MD and ask him to taper Lisa down from the Clozaril. Ask him to discharge Lisa into a more supportive environment. He can be reached at 860-297-0977. Keep in mind that he sometimes goes by Dr. Bala. Or you can contact his boss Dr. Charles Dike, Medical Director of Connecticut State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services at (860) 418-6879 and let him know of the harmful treatment Lisa has endured.
Lisa would also appreciate letters of support at 500 Vine Street, 2nd Floor East, Room 2040, Hartford, CT, 06112.
When choosing your words, remember that Lisa is at risk of retaliation and you are supporting her under the MindFreedom banner. MindFreedom International does not condone threats of violence or harm. Our mission statement is:
In a spirit of mutual cooperation, MindFreedom International aims to lead a non-violent revolution of freedom, equality, truth, and human rights in mental health care by uniting psychiatric survivors, consumers, and allies through movements for justice everywhere.
This is the spirit we want to bring to this effort. MindFreedom thanks you for your support of Lisa.
Please comment below sharing the actions you have taken. Our system requires us to approve comments so they may take a bit of time to show up.
MindFreedom’s Shield Program exposes human rights violations in mental health and, uniquely, spurs action to try to stop them. We need your support to be a shield for those facing psychiatric incarceration, forced drugging and forced electroshock. Please help. Fund freedom in mental health! Support the MindFreedom Shield!!
I have no problem with being contacted through e-mail, but I would simply share with her Dr. Breggin’s books about Drug Withdrawal and other information about holistic alternatives. As a layperson, I can share my “testimony”, BUT I can NOT give medical advice or instructions. God bless you all for your concern about your family and community. It’s all about LOVE: love God, love people.
I called Dr Bala – left a message asking he not increase the Clozaril and decrease back down and to discharge her so she can pursue her veterinary schooling. It was somewhat of a simple request. I mentioned my son is home on clozaril and that she needs not to be incarcerated for 6 years. What has she done wrong that she should be incarcerated for six years? That is awful. I asked him how he would like to be incarcerated for six years and unable to pursue his career or do anything he enjoys. I added that these hospitals do not have a therapeutic environment. My son has suffered trauma at every hospitalization. I asked him to discharge her into an environment where she can pursue her interests and live her life. That kind of sums it up. I am suffering withdrawal from tapering klonopin and it is difficult for me to really do all of this but I am doing the best I can. God bless Lisa. God bless everyone who is doing all they can to get her released from this torture.
A question: letters of support at 500 Vine Street, 2nd Floor East, Room 2040, Hartford, CT, 06112 are letters to Lisa personally, right? Because “letter of support” sometimes refers to a letter in support of somebody sent to an official body. I just wanted to clarify
Yulia, great point. Yes, letters of support can mean two entirely different things depending on the context. I will have to go over the entire alert to determine which kind of letter of support is indicated but given the address, I would say that it is referring to letters that go directly to Lisa to help her keep up her spirits. Thank you as always for taking time from your students and family to help a Shield member
Yulia, hopefully you got my reply above
I’m mailing my “Brain Dysfunction” report, Dr. Breggin’s article on psychiatric drug-induced chronic brain impairment, and the previously written responses for other Shield Alerts. I strongly believe that Americans have been bamboozled with voodoo with scientific jargon. Neurology explains mental disturbances as a biological anomaly, not a character flaw.
“Psychiatric illness is at once brain dysfunction, psychological conflict and spiritual crisis.” (Dr. Daniel Blazer, Duke University, North Carolina) Scientific truth once again trumps the alchemy with better diagnostic protocols:
+Brain dysfunction diagnosed and treated through neurology and Orthomolecular Psychiatry.
+Psychological conflict identified through the objective, valueless science of psychology.
+Spiritual crisis resolved through the individual’s chosen value-laden framework (Dr. Peterson).
Numerous publications expose the American voodoo now called psychiatry:
Dr. Peter R. Breggin, psychiatrist (breggin.com)
Dr. Abram Hoffer, biochemist, physician, and psychiatrist (isom.ca)
Dr. William J. Walsh, chemical engineer (walshinstitute.org)
Eva Edelman, naturopath (boragebooks.com)Robert Whitaker (madinamerica.com)
Dr. Peter Goetzche, MD and researcher
Dr. Thomas S. Szasz, psychiatrist
Andrew Scull, sociologist
Edward Shorter, historian
IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE.
I hope this is okay to ask if Elizabeth can email me. My son has suffered horribly within psychiatric hospitals and I finally have him home, but the ACT team is following him. I give him the drugs so they do not come over to do that. But I am saddened that my son has had no chance at adult life at all. It all started at age 19 and he is now age 29. They have attempted to murder him with an overdose of haldol, they have put him on the ground and kicked him in the head and more. He has self harmed when he stops Clozapine and when they keep changing drugs on him. How can I safely get him out of this system? I have so far been able to advocate strongly enough that they have not been able to send him to state (they tried multiple times) and they were not able to force ECT on him in 2022. But he is completely drugged up now at home and I am terribly afraid of him ever going back to any hospital. He mostly sleeps and has no ambitions or motivation and his health and cognition has declined. I have my own problems with psychiatry as they polydrugged me for past 27 years and I am working through a tapering protocol with a nurse practitioner but she will only help with klonopin and will not help my son. How can I help my son? He lost his eye in 2022 while at the hospital He now has no right eye. We need help. How can I help him?
Martha, I’m sorry for all that your son is being subjected to. I encourage you to enroll your son in Shield if he is not already enrolled. There is a support group for parents through Mad in America if you are interested. Email me privately at sarah@mindfreedom.org if you would like more inormation
I think it is all right to contact Elizabeth, but you raise a good point. Some people, by posting a comment here on a Shield alert may not be aware that their email is being made public. It may be a good idea for us to determine if comments may be made anonymously, for those situations where people do not want to receive any emails