Psychiatric Torture
- madcanada
- May 21
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 6
The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment will present an overview of global trends and developments in respect of the absolute prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment to the General Assembly in the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in October 2025. The Mad Canada Shadow Report Group submitted the following:
Forced and Coerced Psychiatric Treatment Constitutes Torture
To: United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture
Re: Urgent Recommendation to Classify Coercive Psychiatric Treatment as Torture and Demand Its Abolition
From: Irit Shimrat and Erick Fabris, Mad Canada Shadow Report Group, Vancouver and Toronto, Canada. Contact: efabris@teksavvy.com
Date: May 9, 2025
This report urges the United Nations to formally recognize all involuntary psychiatric interventions – including, but not limited to, detention, forced medication, electroshock treatment (ECT), physical restraints, and outpatient committal (wherein patients’ right to stay out of hospital is predicated on treatment compliance) – as instances of torture and of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. These practices are routinely obscured under the guise of medical care, leading to widespread complicity and denial.
We note that, when similar methods are applied to political dissidents, they are universally condemned as torture. This double standard highlights a societal bias that dehumanizes individuals labeled as mentally ill (regardless of how they identify themselves).
The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) prohibits torture under all circumstances, including during medical treatment. Article 2 of the Convention mandates that no exceptional circumstances may be invoked to justify torture. Despite this, psychiatric practices that amount to torture are ubiquitous, and are often justified under purported legal safeguards that are superficial and noncompliant with international human rights standards.
Below, we demonstrate that:
Coercive psychiatry meets the UN’s definition of torture (Article 1, CAT),
States systematically violate Articles 12 and 14, among others, of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by permitting detention and forced treatment,
Alternatives such as mutual support and trauma-informed care exist, and must replace forced and coercive psychiatry, which cannot prevent – and may likely cause or exacerbate – individual suffering, recklessness and dangerousness.
Coercive Psychiatry as Torture: Legal and Evidence-Based Analysis
Per the CAT, instances of torture include:
Severe pain/suffering (physical or mental),
Intentional infliction by state actors (e.g., doctors, police),
Purposeful control (e.g., “behaviour modification”).
Psychiatric practices that meet these criteria include, but are not limited to:
Forced drugging: antipsychotics and sedatives can cause extreme distress (akathisia, metabolic damage, tardive dyskinesia) (Moncrieff, 2007),
Restraints and isolation: prolonged immobilization induces traumatic responses (Méndez, 2013 UN Report),
ECT without consent: electrical shocks induce terror, memory loss, and brain damage (Breggin, 2008).
Reasons for psychiatric torture include social control and discrimination, while therapeutic and professional legitimization is used to justify it, however:
• Suffering inflicted due to discrimination violates CAT Article 1. Forced interventions are most commonly used on marginalized/disempowered groups, including women, children, sexual minorities, Indigenous persons, refugees, immigrants, non-English speakers, non-white people in general, and persons with disabilities.
• “Therapeutic” justifications are irrelevant according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2013): “Medical necessity must never justify forced interventions ... they may constitute torture or ill-treatment” (CAT 2).
Case Law
Purohit and Moore v. The Gambia (ACHPR, 2003). Forced treatment constitutes inhumane treatment.
Stanev v. Bulgaria (ECtHR, 2012). “82. The CPT concluded that these conditions had created a situation which could be said to amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.”
CRPD’s Absolute Prohibition
The UN CRPD Committee has repeatedly ruled that:
Forced treatment is discriminatory (e.g. CRPD/C/GC/1, 2014),
“Mental illness” diagnoses cannot justify deprivation of liberty (CRPD Art. 14),
The UN CRPD Committee (2014) has ruled that forced treatment violates CRPD Article 15 (freedom from torture).
Survivor Testimony and Psychological Impact
State-Sanctioned Trauma
States regularly inflict unwanted psychiatric interventions on large numbers of people, and the threat of expanding such practices is rapidly increasing as violent crimes are blamed on supposedly disordered brains and minds.
UN Hearing Testimony (2022): Survivors of psychiatric torture describe trauma resulting from, for example:
Strip searches during hospitalization,
Forced injections (themselves traumatic enough) and resultant permanent disability (e.g., tardive dyskinesia).
A majority of survivors report worsened emotional well-being post-coercion (Russo & Beresford, 2015).
For compelling examples of survivor testimony and salient critiques, please see:
Conclusion: Coercion’s Destructive Effects, and Compassionate, Rights-Based Alternatives
Psychiatric coercion not only fails to resolve crises, stress, misery, suicidality and violence, it actively exacerbates them while masquerading as the sole viable intervention:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (2007). Antidepressant Use in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: Suicidality and Aggression. FDA Public Health Advisory.
Sharma, T., et al. (2016). SSRIs and violent crime: A pharmacoepidemiological study. BMJ, 354, i4637. 850,000+ patient records showed SSRIs increase violent crime arrests by 40% (vs. non-users).
Sudden discontinuation triples post-SSRI suicide risk (Fava, 2018), yet doctors rarely warn patients.
Victims report “increased trauma, loss of autonomy, and heightened suicidality” post-coercion (Méndez, J. E., Para. 72, 2013).
“Violence and self-harm” post-psychiatric hospitalization are higher among those subjected to coercion (p. 259 in Read, J., & Arnold, L., 2017, in Journal of Medical Ethics, 43(4)).
Evidence shows that non-coercive, trauma-informed approaches are not merely preferable alternatives, but urgent public-health necessities. These methods must be prioritized and funded as the primary response to emotional distress, displacing institutionalized violence entirely. Here are two examples:
Open Dialogue (Finland): 80% reduction in psychosis diagnoses resulting from the use of consensual, patient-led care (Seikkula et al., 2006).
Soteria Houses (various locations): Drug-free crisis centers show better recovery rates than hospitals (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17573357/).
See also:
Recommendations
Issue a formal statement classifying involuntary psychiatric interventions as torture, declaring this to be the case in a General Comment to both the CAT and the CRPD.
Demand the immediate abolition of forced treatment in all member states.
Establish independent bodies to oversee psychiatric practices and ensure compliance with international human rights standards.
Provide education and training for healthcare professionals on human rights and the prohibition of torture.
Ensure access to rehabilitation and support services for, and provide reparations for, individuals who have been subjected to psychiatric torture.
Demand that states redirect monies currently used for forced treatment to groups and voluntary organizations offering compassionate, rights-based care.
Sanction states permitting forced treatment via suspension from WHO mental health programs, as well as economic penalties for CAT and CRPD violations.
Fund alternatives, such as peer-run crisis respite centres and trauma-informed non-medical supports (e.g., The Wildflower Alliance, Soteria Houses), as well as survivor-controlled cultural projects and on-site education on, and promotion of, the right of psychiatric patients to be free from torture and other harms.
Comments