PRESS RELEASE
Libertarianz
Health Deregulation
Coercive Psychiatry Must Stop, Says Libz
Libertarianz spokesman Dr Richard McGrath says compulsory psychiatric treatment using drugs, electric shock and
incarceration is a barbaric violation of human rights that should be stopped forthwith. Reacting to comments attributed
to the Mental Health Commission, he said that people previously labelled as mentally ill have the same rights and
responsibilities as everybody else.
“Compulsory psychiatric treatment has been used for decades to remove difficult individuals from society, when often
these people have not in fact harmed anyone else,” said Dr McGrath. “Historically these people have been forcibly
administered drugs, given shock treatment and locked away in psychiatric gulags.”
Dr McGrath says there is no situation which justifies the state using force to medically treat people whose behaviour
merely disturbs others. “The Mental Health Act should be repealed, so that treatment for emotional and behavioural
problems becomes a matter of voluntary choice.”
Libertarianz would fully privatize the health system, including the practice of psychiatry, and remove the insanity
defence from criminal trials. People with behavioural issues would be expected to compensate others for acts of violence
and property damage and would be handled through the justice system.
Dr McGrath added that the medical model of mental illness is still controversial and largely unproven.
ENDS