(photo : Sophie McGuire. Imprisoned for 2 years in Forth Valley Royal Hospital. Self portrait. 19 January 2022)
Dear Friends and Supporters
Now Dr Gary Cooney has confiscated Sophie's iPad and laptop. Because she had been using them to contact her mother.
On 2 June last year Dr Cooney banned all contact between Sophie and her mother. No visiting. iPhone, laptop and iPad confiscated. Contact with her family and friends was interfering with his "care plan" to make Sophie forget about them and start a new life in a home of his choice and with a family of his choice.
By late November Sophie had been “conforming” well enough that Dr Cooney allowed her to have her iPad and laptop back, provided that she did not use them to make contact with anyone outside of the hospital.
The temptation was too much. Within 2 weeks she emailed her mother Lynn. And continued to do so several times each day. Both were overjoyed. It was some small consolation in the hell that Dr Cooney is putting them through.
Following the attempt to escape on 14 January (see previous Update), Sophie had lashed out and screamed for 3 days. Suspicions were aroused : unsettled, hostile behaviour had coincided with increased time spent on the laptop and iPad. A week later it was confirmed that Sophie had been contacting her mother.
Sophie's devices were confiscated. Again. They will not be returned while she remains under Dr Cooney's “care.”
Sophie reacted violently to this news. She “required” manual restraint and was transferred to the Intensive Psychiatric Unit for a few days.
Dr Cooney is aware of the exposure we are giving to his “treatment” of Sophie. He is “worried” that "confidential information" about her is being made public. Presumably he thinks it might hurt her in some way?
He does not show any interest in what Sophie thinks about it. And he does not appear to be troubled at all by the effect his “treatment” is having on his patient.
Psychiatrists call this attitude professional detachment. It is prized. The public calls it something else, which is not prized.
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Please continue to share our Petition with your own family and friends Encourage them to sign it.
You can support Sophie and Lynn by joining the private facebook group Stand Up For Sophie (https://www.facebook.com/groups/139060214970896