Why I've Launched PsychForce Report

PsychForce Report will be a dedicated space for tracking the expanding uses of coercion, incarceration, and force by mental health systems.

Welcome! Today marks the launch of PsychForce Report—a dedicated space where I will be tracking the expanding uses of coercion, incarceration, and force by mental health care systems. This post explains why I’m doing it, what value I hope it will provide, and how you can help make it a more valuable service.

For those who don’t know about me and my work, I first became concerned about involuntary commitment when my father was detained under mental health laws and forcibly drugged and subjected to electroconvulsive shock therapy. The impacts on him, and to some degree on our whole family, were disastrous. Soon after, I began working in journalism, and frequently reported on people’s experiences of involuntary commitment, and examined the practices, research, laws, economics, and politics of psychiatric force. Some of my stories received magazine and journalism awards, and ultimately led to my recently published book Your Consent Is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions, Forced Treatment, and Abusive Guardianships.

That would be me with the book!

I’ve long considered creating a more regularly updated online resource—and there are several reasons I’m finally launching PsychForce Report.

First, my optimism that major news media will consistently and accurately report on involuntary commitment is, unfortunately, hitting all-time lows. Just a few examples:

• Involuntary commitment powers are increasingly used to manage families, foster-care residences, schools, universities, group homes, long-term care facilities, and many other institutions in our society—yet legislators and prominent news media largely maintain a myopic focus on rare, extreme cases of homelessness, drug use, and violence.

• Data on rates of civil commitment continue to be either deliberately made non-existent or routinely misrepresented, helping persuade the public and legislators that more detentions are needed rather than fewer. For example, news outlets in Oregon this year ran a series of reports on the state’s “vanishing” number of commitments—but their data was wrong by orders of magnitude. Massachusetts recently surpassed Florida for having the highest known psychiatric detention rates in the country—and shortly thereafter the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health quietly decided to stop collecting the data. So far, I haven’t found news media in either state interested in accurately reporting these stories.

• Vibrant Emotional Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recently released a report analyzing unwanted policing interventions on 988 callers. However, their report used mainly old, pre-988 data, and failed to mention let alone discuss the most extensive and recent 988 survey data, which I’ve reported on for Mad in America, showing huge increases in policing interventions. Nevertheless, some mainstream news media promptly reported the wrong, old numbers.

I’ll be discussing all of the above examples in greater detail in forthcoming posts.

Another impetus for PsychForce Report: In my research, I’ve noticed that even those organizations and individuals around the country defending the rights of involuntarily committed people and/or working towards the reduction or abolition of coercion in mental health systems often aren’t aware of each other’s activities. There’s no one-stop location for updates—it seems like PsychForce Report could meet a need.

Thirdly, I have some small but vital support to help get this going. PsychForce Report is launching as part of a series of mutually-supportive collaborations—involving research activities and in-person and online educational discussions—between me and the grassroots peer support, advocacy, and international training organization Wildflower Alliance.

image of bathroom wall, mirror, sink and pill bottles designed by Sera Davidow & AI

So, what can you expect from PsychForce Report? It’s going to evolve as we go, but I will track and comment on news coverage, legislative initiatives, research, and other activities related to involuntary commitment, as well as do original investigative reporting and interviewing.

The vast majority of the content will be available for free, because a core goal of this effort is to reach as many people as possible—and also because I loathe excluding anyone simply because they have low income. If you pay to subscribe, it will be in large part because you recognize that this kind of work takes time and effort, and you’re able and eager to support it. And for a limited time, as a special thank you to people who become “Founding Member” subscribers, you will receive a free copy of Your Consent Is Not Required—your choice of hardcover, ePub, or Audible audiobook. You may also choose to send it as a gift to someone else. (To get your free book, after your payment is processed, contact me at news (at) robwipond.com with your name and details. Additional mailing costs may apply outside of North America.)

If you’d like to make a larger contribution to this work, you may do so when becoming a “Founding Member”—if you would need a charitable receipt, please contact me directly first to discuss.

And there are other ways to help that don’t require money. Just subscribing and reading is encouraging! Please let others know about PsychForce Report. And you can help make PsychForce Report a useful and valuable service: If you produce or spot news stories, legal cases, investigative reports, scientific studies, or other content about involuntary commitment or other coercive psychiatric or psychological interventions, please send them to me at “news (at) robwipond.com”. And when you do, feel more than welcome to share your own summary and observations!

Thanks for reading!

Rob Wipond