Victims of human rights abuses in Ireland

Original letter to editor here.

IN her article (Feb 10), Jennifer Hough states that "so-called voluntary" patients are in reality being deprived of their liberty and if staff considered it necessary these patients could also be subjected to seclusion and could be administered medication prolonged periods against their wish in Ireland in 2011.

I speak on behalf of a group of people who are mostly psychiatric survivors. 

Many of us have been tortured with powerful psychotropic drugs which have changed our personalities and made it very difficult for us to do simple tasks. We are forced to take psychiatric drugs which causes us to have severe adverse effects to our well-being. 

When some of us object to harmful medical intervention, because of the label of being "mentally ill" we are not taken seriously. We are even seen as violent when we try to defend ourselves. We are not offered any helpful way if we have a life or spiritual problem. 

These human rights abuses have to stop. 

How can we complain about other human rights abuses when we have so many in our own backyard? 

Mary Maddock  

Rochestown

Cork, Ireland