On June 22-26 tens and thousands of people from across the country (and
world) joined in detroit to attend a huge variety of left-wing workshops
and actions. On Wednesday June 23rd the Freedom Center did a workshop
titled "Psychiatry as a form of Social Control". There were three of us
presenting on behalf of the Freedom Center and about 60 people attending
the workshop.

The presentation included FC members individual experience of
psychiatric abuse, their bad experiences with psychiatric drugs, and
about the dangerous apoliticizing myths of the psychiatric system. The
psychiatric survivors on the panel also spoke of their shared experience of
being told that they should be mental patients for their life. They
spoke of their experience of freeing themselves from the psychiatric
system, getting themselves off psychiatric drugs, and healing by taking
their health in their own hands. There was also discussion about the
history of psychiatry and the ways it has been used for social control on
a huge scale in this country.

When the floor was opened up for questions and discussion many people got
involved. The conversation ranged from subjects such as psychedelic
therapy, the problems with the medical model, potential replacements for
the medical model, and the importance of peer support. Joining us in the
crowd included psychiatric survivors, social workers, alternative
therapists, and people who were involved in the psychiatric survivor
movement many decades ago. A number of people joined our discussion
list-serv to stay tuned with these topics. Thanks to all involved!