Dr. Loren Mosher

[Guest guest]

> ElijahNYC

> Tue, 13 Jul 2004 23:46:34 -0000

> [sSRI-Research] Dr. Loren Mosher died

>

> ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)

> Promoting openness and full disclosure

> http://www.ahrp.org

>

> FYI

>

> We are deeply saddened by the death of AHRP board

> member, Loren

> Mosher, MD, a psychiatrist of integrity who never

> yielded to the

> pressures brought to bear by (in his words) " the

> unholy alliance " of

> the drug industry and industry-supported

> organizations-- the American

> Psychiatric Association, and the National Alliance

> for the Mentally

> Ill.

>

> Dr. Mosher, former Chief of the Center for Studies

> of Schizophrenia,

> National Institute of Mental Health, founder and

> first editor

> of " Schizophrenia Bulletin, " advocated for a kinder,

> gentler

> treatment model for psychosis, rejecting the

> coercive methods used by

> his profession--usually in concert with government

> policies of

> control. He encouraged mental health professionals

> to reject

> involuntary treatment policies which always resulted

> in increased use

> of powerful, psychotropic drugs--a boon to the drug

> industry and its

> beneficiaries-- " the unholy alliance. "

>

> In the 1970s through the early 1980s, Dr. Mosher and

> his colleagues

> founded and operated Soteria house, a residential,

> community-based

> treatment for individuals undergoing their first

> psychotic episode.

> With minimal use of drugs and no restraints,

> Soteria-treated

> individuals showed comparable or superior outcomes

> to a control group

> of hospital- and drug-treated individuals. Two-year

> follow-up

> outcomes were also superior for the Soteria group.

> Although Dr.

> Mosher's findings are discussed in over 30

> publications, his approach

> received little publicity in the United States.

>

> Soteria has been successfully replicated in several

> European

> countries. Indeed, Soteria Berne in Switzerland

> celebrated in 20th

> year of operation this year. Today, non-coercive,

> minimal-drugging

> family approaches to schizophrenia treatment are

> flourishing in

> several Scandinavian countries, in contrast to the

> United States,

> where coercive approaches resting on indiscriminate

> multiple-drug

> cocktails are the norm—even though such cocktails

> have never been

> tested to demonstrate either their safety or

> efficacy. A succinct

> description of the saga of Soteria and its

> institutional neglect is

> included in Robert Whitaker's book, Mad in America.

>

> Dr. Mosher challenged the psychiatric profession to

> provide evidence-

> based proof that involuntarily prescribed

> psychotropic drugs improved

> patients' quality of life or their recovery outcomes

> compared to

> patients who were treated with compassionate,

> alternative methods.

> Neither the APA nor the NIMH have ever met his

> challenge to show

> proof of their claims.

>

> Dr. Mosher died at the age of 71 this weekend in

> Berlin after

> struggling with a liver disease. But his legacy will

> be preserved--

> even with a posthumous publication of his new book,

> " Soteria: Through

> Madness to Deliverance. "

>

> Board of Directors

> Alliance for Human Research Protection

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> Loren Mosher's biography:

> http://www.moshersoteria.com/bio.htm

> Loren's work: http://www.moshersoteria.com/

>

> Info about Soteria:

> http://www.moshersoteria.com/soteri.htm

> Latest results from the Soteria Project: Bola JR,

> Mosher LR.

> Treatment of acute psychosis without neuroleptics:

> two-year outcomes

> from the Soteria project. Journal of Nervous and

> Mental Disease 2003

> April; 191(4): 219-229.

>

>

> Psychology Today article:

>

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_5_32/ai_55625499

>

>

> Letter of resignation from American Psychiatric

> Association

> http://adhd-report.com/biopsychiatry/bio_12.html

>