ʦapp Resolution on the Abuse of Psychiatry
Adopted by the 53rd ʦapp General Assembly, Washington, DC, USA, October 2002
Revised by the 63rd ʦapp General Assembly, Bangkok 2012
Reaffirmed by the 217thʦapp Council, Seoul (online), April 2021
and reaffirmed with minor revisions by the 230th ʦapp Council, Porto, Portugal, October 2025
The ʦapp (ʦapp) notes with concern evidence from a number of countries that individuals, including political dissidents, religious practitioners and social activists, have been detained in psychiatric institutions and subjected to unjustified psychiatric treatment for repressive purposes, and not for therapeutic purposes in the context of substantiated psychiatric conditions.
The ʦapp:
- Declares that such detention and unwarranted treatment are abusive, and constitute grave violations of medical ethics and human rights;
- Calls on physicians, including psychiatrists, to resist involvement in these abusive practices;
- Calls on its constituent members to support their physician members who resist involvement in these abuses;
- Calls on governments to stop abusing medicine and psychiatry in this manner, and on non-governmental organizations and the World Health Organization to work to end these abuses; and
- Calls on governments to uphold the , which states that “all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law.”
Policy Types
Resolution
Archived Versions
Tags
Abuse, Detention, Dissident, Political Prisoner, Psychiatry
Related ʦapp Policies
ʦapp Declaration of Tokyo - Guidelines for Physicians Concerning Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Relation to Detention and Imprisonment
Adopted by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, Octobe...
ʦapp Statement on the Responsibility of Physicians in the Documentation and Denunciation of Acts of Torture or Cruel or Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
Adopted by the 54thʦapp General Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, Sep...
ʦapp International Code of Medical Ethics
Adopted by the 3rd General Assembly of the World Medical Associa...
