Street Spirit

Electroshock: A Crime Against the Spirit

By Leonard Roy Frank on
Features
Electroshock robs people of their memories, their personality and their humanity. It reduces their capacity to lead full, meaningful lives. It crushes their spirits. Put simply, electroshock is a method for gutting the brain in order to control and punish people who fall or step out of line.

Shocked into Action: How Electroshock Created a Rebel

By Terry Messman on
Features
"Leonard Roy Frank is the Gandhi of the psychiatric survivors' movement. He's really helped bring a powerful spiritual discipline to this movement, similar to the work of Martin Luther King. Certainly in the 20th century, Leonard would be one of the foremost challengers of psychiatry, especially electroshock." -- David Oaks

The History of Psychiatric Mistreatment, Interview with Robert Whitaker

Features   In Dialogue
The New York Times, in reporting on the treatment of Soviet dissidents, said giving these neuroleptic drugs practically makes a person a vegetable. The Times said it was a form of a “spiritual gas chamber.” Then they’ll cover a trial about forced drug treatment of a mentally ill person in the U.S. and report the drugs are known to be widely efficacious.

Oral History from the Seniors of St. Mary's Center

Arts and Culture
The following oral histories of seniors Joe Batiste, Darlene Thomas, Milas Hackett, David Fobroy, Henry Thompson, and Richard Mingus were compiled by Trena Cleland to document the inspiring life stories of poor and homeless seniors who have been helped by St. Mary's Center in downtown Oakland.

Wellness and Recovery or the Same Old Sickness?

Commentary
It is clear that for all my compassionate concern about the social injustice that is homelessness, I need to put more focus on my own wellness and recovery — physically, emotionally and mentally. The shift in mental health services delivery is to look more closely at the holistic link between mental, emotional and physical health, with a growing concern about diet, exercise, and the need to address physical ills facing the poor such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma, often linked to issues of environmental racism.