PsychOUT Conference
May 7-8, 2010

Proceedings of the PsychOUT Conference

 

ABSTRACT: Don Weitz, Mary Maddock, Linda Andre

Strategies to Ban Electroshock
A panel discussed and shared possible strategic actions and selected tactics for the purpose of banning electroshock ("ECT"). The psychiatric procedure of electroshock is a paradigm of psychiatry's 3Fs: force, fear and fraud. This panel included both shock survivors and antipsychiatry activists who have helped organize and participated in anti-shock actions in their countries including Canada, the United States, and Ireland. The panel included a maximum of five (5) speakers known for their knowledge and anti-shock activism, and a moderator who acted as facilitator. The panelists focused on specific and practical anti-shock organizing strategies they find useful and currently advocate. The panelists also discussed strategies and some tactics that have not been helpful including public hearings. The current campaign to stop the reclassification of shock machines as "safe" in the United States was also critically discussed.