“I’ve learned how to manage my depression with cognitive behavioural therapy and support from my family. I want to be able to direct my own treatment and recovery”
People who are involuntarily detained under BC’s Mental Health Act – or released from hospital on leave – currently have no right to give or refuse consent to any psychiatric treatment. They are legally ‘deemed’ to consent to all psychiatric treatment and can be forcibly administered medications and electroconvulsive therapy, even when they are mentally capable of making their own treatment decisions. The law also deprives detained individuals of the right to a substitute decision maker, like a representative or family member, to give or refuse consent on their behalf.
“Being forcibly medicated is terrifying and dehumanizing,” says ‘Sarah.’ “My clothes were stripped off me and I was pinned down by 4 male security guards while someone injected a needle into my backside. I was not given any say in my treatment, and even my mom was not allowed to make decisions for me. I’ve learned how to manage my depression with cognitive behavioural therapy and support from my family. I want to be able to direct my own treatment and recovery.”
“Sarah,” a 24-year-old woman who went to a BC hospital voluntarily with her mother to seek help with her feelings of depression, was involuntarily detained. After being forcibly medicated for a month, she escaped from the hospital and a warrant was issued for her apprehension by police. Sarah fled BC and turned herself into a police station in Calgary, where the police refused the BC hospital’s request to apprehend her. She is now living as a self-described ‘psychiatric refugee’ from BC’s law in Ontario, where the law upholds patients’ consent rights.
We speak with “Sarah.”
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audio |#psychiatry #britishcolumbia #forcedtreatment #mentalhealth @VIMentalHealth @ccdonline @clasbc | listen: https://t.co/pOzTBclDEl pic.twitter.com/TLAM2fLCii
— People First Radio (@peoplefirstrad) September 23, 2016
