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Dear MFI supporters:

We are facing unprecedented times. Many of you have been sheltering in place for more than a month. Isolation can be tough but can also present some opportunities for self enrichment. We came up with a short list for items for viewing and reading.

1) Ron Bassman, MFI’s Executive Directive, recommends this article by Alice Wong who warns of the dangers faced by people with disabilities during this pandemic HERE

2) Jim Gottstein, attorney/activist long time supporter of MindFreedom was recently interviewed about his new book The Zyprexa Papers chronicling his years of legal work, exposing psychiatric fraud and representing plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Eli-Lily. You can listen to this interview for free in this podcast HERE

3) Carole Hayes Collier, MindFreedom International’s newest board member highly recommends a new movie entitled Crip Camp.

“The world always wants us dead. We live with reality,” according to a disability rights activist quoted in Crip Camp. This movie will leave viewers with a strong sense that disability rights activists are needed more than ever.

4) A panel discussion featuring MFI’s Executive Director Ron Bassman and Joanne Greenberg, author of ‘Never Promised You a Rose Garden’ can be found HERE. When Ron found this nine year old video, he was surprised and glad to see that his views and work have remained consistent, with what he believes now – the biggest change is much more grey hair!

5) Claire Chang and Ron Bassman collaborated in writing this article in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology the article “The Power of Names: Psychiatric Diagnosis” HERE

Two staff members recommend the following movies

Medicating Normal

Crazywise

PISS ON PITY

6) A poem by Allen Ginsberg which he dedicated to his mother 

Kaddish

The incredible life story of Allen Ginsberg’s mother, a psychiatric survivor, which is archived in the New York Times HERE

7) Activist and MFI member Lauren Tenney shared an extraordinary reading list she assembled while pursuing her doctoral degree in 2009. Her list is broken down into topics ranging from ‘antipsychiatry” to “schizophrenia”.

She also shared her latest project www.mentalamericanmonster.org as well as a way HERE for people to subscribe to updates as it unfolds! 

Here is an article by Scott Kelly, describing how he dealt with the isolation of living on the space station for a year. HERE

Finally, MFI members will be able to access a new consolidated version series of educational videos produced for MFI by Jim Flannery entitled Voices for Choices. Expect a message soon from us when that is available.

In times like these, we hear how it important it is to support one together. But others in the medical system may not understand our fears. We may have emergency needs but we are afraid to let people know.

One way to deal with fear and anxiety is to know your rights. We have the right to be treated in a compassionate manner that is in alignment with our values and preferences, regardless if we have been given a psychiatric diagnosis in the past. Please  consider filling out a Psychiatric Advance Directive to increase the likelihood that your rights are honored. To find the PAD in your state click HERE.

Please consider enrolling in the Shield to leverage people power if you are at risk of psychiatric harm or abuse. Click HERE to read about MindFreedom’s Shield program and enroll in the Shield HERE.

If you would like to be added to the list of people who receive alerts when others ‘activate’ their Shield, please send an email to office@mindfreedom.org with ‘Add to me the Alert list’ in the subject heading!

If you cannot leave your place and you have access to the internet, please consider that activism, even activism from the privacy of your own computer is needed! One for all and all for one!