This is an urgent call for change sparked by both personal and professional experience.

Countless numbers of people around the world have died decades earlier than necessary due to widespread issues in the mental health field. Misdiagnosed with mental illness, they were told their conditions were lifelong and genetic after which they lived their lives as mental health patients. Under Mental Health Acts, they were administered medications without their consent and force hospitalised.

There exists a wealth of evidence demonstrating the connection between psychiatric misdiagnoses, medications, and severe negative outcomes. The tragic consequences and human rights implications of these issues cannot be overstated.

We therefore call upon research funding bodies and University Ethics Committees the world over to advocate for better, safer mental health practices by mandating that all new research must give due recognition to the following five vital ethical considerations.

1. The ongoing debate about the validity of the chemical imbalance theory - the dominant framework that underpins mental illness diagnoses. The dominance of the biomedical model has lead to the medicalising of temporary emotional responses to life as chronic mental illness. 

2. Misdiagnoses can profoundly affect an individual's self-concept, causing psychological harm above and beyond the original issues.

3. Psychiatric medications, while often helpful, carry significant risks, especially when prescribed long-term. These include self-harm, suicide, homicide, addiction, drug withdrawal syndrome and reduced life expectancy.

4. Iatrogenic harm, or harm caused by medical treatment or advice, can  lead to lifelong disabilities. There needs to be informed consent re. these matters plus information re. deprescribing, tapering off medications . 

5. Forced hospitalisation and forced medicating constitute human rights abuses. 

Join us in this push towards a more ethical and nuanced understanding of mental health. Sign this petition to draw attention to these crucial issues and help us bring about meaningful change.