{"id":2325,"date":"2025-09-16T11:01:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T11:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/?p=2325"},"modified":"2025-09-16T11:17:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T11:17:58","slug":"speaking-out-my-testimony-to-the-united-nations-on-psychiatric-harm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recasas.org\/en\/2025\/09\/16\/speaking-out-my-testimony-to-the-united-nations-on-psychiatric-harm\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaking Out: My Testimony to the United Nations on Psychiatric Harm"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is currently collecting testimonies from victims and survivors of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment \u2014 including those who experienced harm within the psychiatric system. You can find the call for input here.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I am sharing my own statement below, and I want to encourage anyone who has been harmed within the medical model to consider adding their voice.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment<\/strong><\/span>
\nThematic Report on Survivor Experiences and Perspectives<\/strong><\/span>
\nSubmitted by:<\/strong> Ingrid E. Johnson, Founder of RECASAS gGmbH<\/span>
\nDate: <\/strong>September 16, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/span>
\nMy name is Ingrid E. Johnson. I am a German-American survivor who experienced harm through psychiatric interventions framed within the medical model. I am also the founder of RECASAS gGmbH, a Berlin-based nonprofit initiative that fosters resilience, empowerment, and self-determination through creative writing, reading, and arts groups, particularly for people who have gone through difficult life experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am submitting this statement because I believe it is important to recognize how practices carried out in the name of \u201ctreatment\u201d can, in reality, amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. I also wish to share alternatives I have witnessed and helped build that restore dignity and foster healing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harm Experienced within the Medical Model and Beyond<\/strong><\/span>
\nMy life was shaped by many difficult experiences: I lost my father when I was 13, I was raped as a teenager, and later the first man who said he loved me beat me. In my early 30s, I moved from Berlin to New York City. I carried unresolved grief and trauma, and the enormous pressure of starting a new life abroad while working day and night to pursue my dream.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was under this weight that I began to struggle. What I needed was recognition of the violence and losses I had endured, and compassionate support as I adjusted to overwhelming new circumstances. Instead, I was drawn into the medical model of psychiatry. I was diagnosed, placed on lithium, and told this condition would be lifelong.<\/span><\/p>\n

This approach caused harm because it:<\/span><\/p>\n