Global Initiative on Psychiatry

Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP) is an international foundation for mental health reform which took part in the campaign against the political abuse of psychiatry in the USSR.[1]

Headquartered in Hilversum, GIP has regional centers in Tbilisi, Sofia, and Vilnius, and a country office in Dushanbe.[2]

GIP is a main contributor to improving psychiatric care in countries of the former Soviet Union as well as Central and Eastern Europe.[2][3] It has expanded its focus and as of 2010 is including projects in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.[2]

GIP also focuses on the political abuse of psychiatry throughout the world[4] and human rights monitoring.[5]

Contents

History

20 December 1980 saw the formation in Paris of the International Association on the Political Use of Psychiatry (IAPUP) whose first secretary was Dr Gérard Bles of France.[6] The IAPUP was constituted as a confederation of national groups who took part in the campaign against the political abuse of psychiatry.[7] In 1986, Robert van Voren became General Secretary of the IAPUP.[7] Since, the organization was renamed Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry and, in 2005, Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP).[7]

Chief Executive

Chief Executive of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry is Robert van Voren, a Honorary Fellow of the British Royal College of Psychiatrists and Honorary Member of the Ukraine Psychiatric Association.[1] In 2005, he was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his work as a human rights activist.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Donskis, Leonidas (2009). A Litmus test case of modernity: examining modern sensibilities and the public domain in the Baltic States at the turn of the century. Peter Lang. pp. 314. ISBN 3034303351. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ombc0FXnpaQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA314,M1. 
  2. ^ a b c "What GIP does". Global Initiative on Psychiatry. http://www.gip-global.org/p/13/99/ms6-0/what-gip-does. Retrieved 19 December 2010. 
  3. ^ van Voren, Robert (2006). "Reforming forensic psychiatry and prison mental health in the former Soviet Union". The Psychiatrist 30 (4): 124–126. doi:10.1192/pb.30.4.124. http://pb.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/124. Retrieved 19 December 2010. 
  4. ^ van Voren, Robert (2010). "Political Abuse of Psychiatry—An Historical Overview". Schizophrenia Bulletin 36 (1): 33–35. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp119. PMC 2800147. PMID 19892821. http://www.gip-global.org/images/46/516.pdf. 
  5. ^ van Voren, Robert (2009). On Dissidents and Madness: From the Soviet Union of Leonid Brezhnev to the “Soviet Union” of Vladimir Putin. Amsterdam—New York: Rodopi. pp. xii. ISBN 9789042025851. http://books.google.ru/books?id=tyDIKu8XsgcC. 
  6. ^ Bloch, Sidney; Reddaway, Peter (1985). Soviet psychiatric abuse: the shadow over world psychiatry. Westview Press. pp. 273. http://books.google.com/books?id=rgc1AAAAMAAJ. 
  7. ^ a b c van Voren, Robert (2010). Cold War in Psychiatry: Human Factors, Secret Actors. Amsterdam—New York: Rodopi. pp. 111. ISBN 9042030488. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ru3-kQAACAAJ. 

External links