David Oaks' organization MindFreedom International includes psychiatric survivors and psychiatrists who reject the biomedical model that defines contemporary psychiatry. They believe that "mental illness is caused by severe emotional distress, often combined with lack of socialization", and they "decry the pervasive treatment with prescription drugs, sales of which have nearly doubled since 1998". Further, "they condemn the continued use of electro-convulsive therapy—or ECT, also known as electroshock—which they say violates patients' human rights." Oaks has stated that the psychiatric drugs that patients take are debilitating and have harmful side effects, and people can recover without them. He has protested against drug companies and participated in hunger strikes to "demand proof that drugs can manage chemical imbalances in the brain". Oaks has called for "a nonviolent revolution throughout the mental health system". Oaks was institutionalized and forcibly medicated in the 1970s, while studying at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for what was diagnosed as schizophrenia. He has stated that he recovered by rejecting drugs and getting support from family and friends. Oaks "maintains his mental health with exercise, diet, peer counseling and wilderness trips — strategies that are well outside the mainstream thinking of psychiatrists and many patients". He is on the board of directors for the United States International Council on Disability. On December 2, 2012, Oaks fell from a ladder, suffered a broken neck and is now paralyzed. He stepped down as executive director of MindFreedom in December 2012.
Awards and honors
The United States International Council on Disability has listed some honors and awards received by Oaks:
Oaks, David W.. ‘Antipsychiatrie und Politik – 20 Jahre Widerstand in den USA’. In Kerstin Kempker & Peter Lehmann, Statt Psychiatrie. Berlin: Antipsychiatrieverlag;.
Oaks, David W.. ‘Mad movements: Chaordic paths in mental health activism toward a revolution of empowerment.’ In National Research and Training Center’s National Self-Determination and Psychiatric Disability Invitational Conference.
Oaks, David W.. ‘MindFreedom International: Activism for Human Rights as the Basis for a Nonviolent Revolution in the Mental Health System’. In Peter Stastny & Peter Lehmann, Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry. Berlin/Eugene/Shrewsbury: Peter Lehmann Publishing; ; . E-Book in 2018.
Oaks, David W.. ‘MindFreedom International – Engagement für Menschenrechte als Grundlage einer gewaltfreien Revolution im psychosozialen System’. In Peter Lehmann & Peter Stastny, Statt Psychiatrie 2. Berlin/Eugene/Shrewsbury: Antipsychiatrieverlag;. E-Book in 2018.
Oaks, David W.. 'The moral imperative for dialogue with organizations of survivors of coerced psychiatric human rights violations'. In Thomas W. Kallert, Juan E. Mezzich and John Monahan, Coercive Treatment in Psychiatry: Clinical, Legal and Ethical Aspects. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd;.
Oaks, David W.. ‘Whose Voices Should Be Heard?: the Role of Mental Health Consumers, Psychiatric Survivors and Families’. In Dudley, M., Silove, D., & Gale, F.. Mental health and human rights: vision, praxis, and courage. Oxford University Press;.
