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MindFreedom International records, 1966-2013

Overview of the Collection

Creator
MFI (MindFreedom International)
Title
MindFreedom International records
Dates
1966-2013 (inclusive)
Quantity
23 linear feet
Collection Number
2013-026
Summary
The mental health advocacy group MindFreedom International is part of a collaborative network of organizations of international proportions. Beginning in the 1970s with local groups in scattered locations, it gradually coalesced into its current form. MindFreedom has alway stood for patient rights in the face of involuntary commitment and forced therapies, from restraints to psychosurgery. The collection provides a vast array of materials covering the growth of the "Psychiatric Survivors" and "Mad Pride" movements; not only in the United States, but also in Canada, Europe, and as far afield as New Zealand.
Repository
Oregon Health & Science University, Historical Collections & Archives
OHSU Historical Collections & Archives
Oregon Health & Science University
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd. MC:LIB
Portland, OR
97239
Telephone: 5034945587
hcaref@ohsu.edu
Access Restrictions

Some materials in this collection may be restricted due to the presence of protected health information (PHI) or other confidential information. Please contact Historical Collections & Archives for more details regarding access.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

MindFreedom International (MFI) is an advocacy group for people with mental health issues, which traces its origins to the 1970s. Organizer David Oaks of Eugene, Oregon, first became acquainted with the mental health system while he was a student at Harvard (circa 1976). Afterwards he began networking with nascent associations concerned with the issues facing patients, and together they became passionate champions for them against forced institutionalization, drugging, and psychosurgery.

MFI grew out of collaboration with entities already working in the field. These grass-roots organizations included the Mental Health Patients Liberation Front (MPLF), of Boston (1971); the Network Against Psychiatric Abuse (NAPA), of San Francisco (1972); and the National Association for Rights Protection & Advocacy (NARPA), (1980). Together they had an ambivalent and often oppositional role to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), which was organized in 1979, and felt to be a creature of the psychiatric care industry.

A new advance was the creation of an advocacy magazine, "Dendron" (1986). This was followed by the organization of MindFreedom, joining an umbrella group with NARPA and the Support Coalition International (1990). For years they were generally known as MindFreedom Support Coalition International, before coalescing under MindFreedom International in 2005.

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Content Description

This collection contains most kinds of media available. Paper documents include correspondence, memos, reports, appendices, brochures, and other ephemera. There are also visual and audiovisual materials, such as photographic prints, CDs, DVDs, strip negatives, slides, and one audiocassette.

The content is part historical, part organizational, and part polemical. It attempts to show the gradual growth of the mental health advocacy movement. From a varied assortment of interested parties there grew a cooperative web of support, for both groups and individuals at odds with what was viewed as the punitive actions of a flawed mental health system. It shows the specific actions and policies taken in their quest to halt or ameliorate forced treatment, and to envision alternative ways of approaching mental health issues.

"Series I: Papers" includes the written works of organizer David W. Oaks. There is a sub-grouping of files labeled "Credibility". These are files which were felt to bolster the organization's message and work. Oaks' writings were published in a variety of organizational publications, as well as mainstream media papers.

"Series II: Administrative records" contains materials reflecting the day-to-day activities and subjects of concern at the organizational level. They cover everything from marches in Washington D.C. to memoranda about the hiring of interns.

"Series III: Issues" contains materials covering the core subjects of mental health advocacy. These include forced institutionalization and medication; psychosurgery such as electroschock and lobotomy; and hopeful alternatives such as community-based group homes and self-help organizations.

"Series IV: Publications" consists primarily of journals of the MFI and allied organizations. Books are a small portion of this series. The earliest publication, "Acting ," was the newsletter of the Mental Health Liberation Front of Boston. David Oaks is credited as being among the original staff. The most prominent of these is "Dendron." Dendron is David Oaks's publication via the Clearinghouse on Human Rights & Psychiatry. He was the creator & editor. Its headquarters was located in Eugene, Oregon. There is normally more than one issue in a file. Some of them are galley proofs. In 2001, with issue number 44, "Dendron" was re-named "MindFreedom Journal." It kept the numbering (though in a different style) for the first issue only. Henceforth issues were listed as a seasonal quarterly, starting with Winter. "State and Mind" was previously known as "RT: A Journal of Radical Therapy." published in Somerville, MA. Issues have been individually foldered.

"Series V: Photographs" includes photographic prints; photocopies of prints; slides; and strip negatives. The strip negatives have been separated from their prints and housed in narrow polypropylene sleeves and paper files. The number of strips is in parentheses. The images are generally grouped by the formula People, Places, and Subjects.

"Series VI: Audiovisual" consists predominantly of discs (CD, CD-R, & DVD), with a VHS and an audiotape included. They cover the organizations' protest actions with collections of photographic images and video.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

MindFreedom International records, Collection Number 2013-026, Oregon Health & Science University, Historical Collections & Archives

Restrictions on Use

OHSU Historical Collections & Archives (HC&A) is the owner of the original materials and digitized images in our collections, however, the collection may contain materials for which copyright is not held. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials. Consult with HC&A to determine if we can provide permission for use.

Alternative Forms Available

Some publications from this collection have been digitized and are available in the OHSU Digital Collections. Additional online holdings, including more publications, are available online as part of the Judi Chamberlin papers held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is divided into six major series: "Series I: Papers," "Series II: Administrative records," "Series III: Issues," "Series IV: Publications," "Series V: Photographs," and "Series VI: Audiovisual."

Related Materials

Finding Aid: James Hawthorne Beck Papers, 2000-004. This has information about Dr. James Hawthorne's Oregon Insane Asylum in Portland, Oregon, prior to the creation of Oregon State Hospital.

Subject file: Mental Health Advocacy, Box 13

Acquisition Information

Heather Marek, MFI staff.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Jeff Colby
2017

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