Involuntary commitment abuses rights

To the editor:

The Dec. 16 letter from James Beebe regarding Rodney Yoder's involuntary commitment hearing in Chester, Ill., not only attacked Scientologists, but also fired a continuous stream of hate directed at Mormons, Christians and Moslems.

Beebe ignored the central issue, which is the involuntary commitment of Yoder. Involuntary commitment is an abuse of human rights. These laws enrich the psychiatric industry, deprive individuals of the freedom of choice and milk millions of health-insurance dollars annually from private, state, national and military health plans. Because of their ubiquity and far-reaching powers, involuntary-commitment laws lay a truly concrete foundation for totalitarianism. The lack of regard for the welfare of the institutionalized is also evident in the lack of accountability demanded by the government of psychiatrists and psychiatric hospitals. Yoder has been unjustly committed, and his effort to be released back into normal society as a productive citizen is cause for our encouragement and support.

Beebe makes a point that psychiatrists are medical doctors. This is an important observation, as it shows where psychiatry has gone wrong. Most so-called mental illnesses are symptoms caused by physical problems and thus are properly treated by standard medical protocols. Psychiatry has abandoned standard medical treatment in favor of harmful but lucrative mind-altering drugs and barbaric electroshock.

MORITZ FARBSTEIN

Public Relations Officer

Citizens Commission on Human Rights of St. Louis

St. Louis