Responding to the UN Special Rapporteur’s anti-psychiatry bias

Why a rights-based approach is not anti-psychiatry

“…In a recent ‘Debate’ article, Dharmawardene and Menkes (2018) criticize the 2017 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the ‘ right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health ’ (UN Human Rights Council, 2017). While praising the Report for drawing attention ‘ to the pernicious problem of human rights abuses of the mentally ill ’, they conclude that it is imbalanced and ideologically biased against biomedical approaches (p. 1).…”

Criticising psychiatry is not ‘antipsychiatry’

“…In their commentary on the recent Report of the Special Rapporteur on the ‘right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’ (UN Human Rights Council, 2017), Dharmawardene and Menkes (2018) took very strong exception to what they saw as its inherent bias against the biomedical model of psychiatry. By challenging this model, they argued, the Report aligned itself with the ‘global anti-psychiatry movement’.…”

Anti-psychiatry in 2019, and why it matters

“…Our critique (Dharmawardene and Menkes, 2019) of the UN Special Rapporteur’s Report on mental health (UN Human Rights Council, 2017) has been challenged by two further articles in the ANZJP (Cosgrove and Jureidini, 2019; McLaren, 2019). Both attempt to defend the Report, but the latter’s fundamental anti-psychiatry bias remains both unmissable and dangerous.…”

“…His extreme views, typical of anti-psychiatry, are unsurprisingly promulgated by the Church of Scientology (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzdu3WQyIZg). McLaren’s sweeping criticism of contemporary psychiatry and dismissal of our critique ignores both the diversity of opinion within our discipline as well as our contention (Dharmawardene and Menkes, 2019) that psychiatric practice and biological reductionism require ongoing critical scrutiny.…”