Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry - Mental Health Laws and Treatment (Compulsory)

[Petros Agapetos]

I am going to court in January to challenge my treatment order. A government order that I take antipsychotics against my will.
I am well -prepared with expert affidavits and good medical information.
I am going to argue that taking dopamine blocking neuroleptics is not in my best interest.
It causes a whole host of debilitating effects and side effects. It is going to cause brain damage if I continue taking them. Neuroleptics cause intellectual impairments, cognitive and negative symtoms; Neuroleptic- induced deficit syndrome; anhedonia - lack of pleausre, depression - low mood, blunting of affective and emotional functions. sexual side effects: lack of libido, anrogasmia - loss of orgasm., Intolerable side effects, unacceptable. The CTO (community treatment order) gives my psychiatrist the right to treat me with these drugs for up to a year; 6 months at a time; I am appealing to the court because my psychiatrist plans on keeping me on the CTO for 1 year. which I find unconscionable and inhumane of him to coerce me into getting injected with 400 mg of Abilify every 3 weeks.

[Petros Agapetos]

Neuroleptic-induced deficit syndrome (NIDS) is a psychopathological syndrome that develops in some patients who take high doses of an antipsychotic for an extended time It is most often caused by high-potency typical antipsychotics, but can also be caused by high doses of many atypicals, especially those closer in profile to typical ones (that have higher D2 dopamine receptor affinity and relatively low 5-HT2 serotonin receptor binding affinity), like risperidone and amisulpride.

Symptoms
Neuroleptic induced deficit syndrome is principally characterized by the same symptoms that constitute the negative symptoms of schizophrenia: emotional blunting, apathy, hypobulia, anhedonia, indifference, difficulty in thinking, difficulty or total inability in concentrating, lack of initiative, attention deficits, and desocialization. This can easily lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment. Instead of decreasing the antipsychotic, the doctor may increase their dose to try to "improve" what they perceive to be negative symptoms of schizophrenia, rather than antipsychotic side effects.[citation needed] The concept of neuroleptic induced deficit syndrome was initially presented for schizophrenia, and it has rarely been associated in other mental disorders. In recent years, atypical neuroleptics are being more often managed to patients with bipolar disorder, so some studies about neuroleptic-induced deficit syndrome in bipolar disorder patients now available.

There are significant difficulties in the differential diagnosis of primary negative symptoms and neuroleptic deficiency syndrome (secondary negative symptoms), as well as depression.

[Petros Agapetos]

Users, what do you think of forced psychiatric treatment? Should it be legal?
Please vote on the poll!

In Canada, New Brunswick is the only province that does not have "community treatment orders" = forced psychiatric drugging.
I am under a CTO until March of next year (for 6 months). I detest having to be "treated" against my will with mind and body disabling drugs, which have intolerable side effects, such as blunting of emotions, anhedonia, depression, memory problems, attention deficit, etc. I am currently taking this case to the courts. If I fail, I am planning on moving to New Brunswick, where they cannot forcibly treat me.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

It should only be forced if the person has a tendency of trying to stab people around them when they don't take medication. If you want to believe you're Napoleon Bonaparte, then that's fine. If you want to stab people cuz you think they're assassins sent to kill you for being Napoleon Bonaparte then, um, no that's not fine and you should be forced to take meds if it can keep you from flipping out and hurting people.