[Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health Legislation](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5563026/)

Full disclaimer this is not implemented well, however, please go through the whole thing because awareness makes a huge difference in our beliefs and, therefore, our decisions. And learning about policies help us implement them individually! 

[Community mental health in India: A rethink](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2499987/)

>Community based initiatives in the management of mental disorders however well intentioned will not be sustainable unless the family and the community are involved in the intervention program with support being provided regularly by mental health professionals.

[Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF)](https://www.scarfymh.org/about-us/)

>Founded in 1984 by Padma Bhushan Dr. M. Sarada Menon, is a not-for-profit mental health organization committed to the rehabilitation and holistic care of persons with severe mental disorders. Over the past four decades, SCARF has established itself as a leader in clinical care, research, training, and advocacy, offering comprehensive mental health services for young people, adults, and the elderly. 

[Hearing Voices Network- For people who hear voices, see visions or have other unusual perceptions](https://www.hearing-voices.org/about-us/#content)

They raise awareness of the diversity of experiences, challenge negative stereotypes, share different ways to manage distressing, confusing or difficult voices. The also share information and free resources.

For anyone who would be interested. Found it to be useful.

Another fun fact- A former patient brought reform in mental healthcare in US.

>Clifford W. Beers,[ "Advocate for the Insane" ](https://mental-health-matters.org/2024/06/20/who-was-clifford-whittingham-beers-1876-1943/)was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1900 and experienced and witnessed serious maltreatment at the hands of the staff. His book **A Mind That Found Itself** (1908), an autobiographical account of his hospitalisation and the abuses he suffered.   
  
Beers gained the support of the medical profession and others in the work to reform the treatment of the mentally ill. In 1908 Beers founded the **“Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene”**, now named [Mental Health Connecticut](http://www.mhconn.org/).   
  
In 1909 Beers founded the **“National Committee for Mental Hygiene”**, renamed “National Mental Health Association”, now named “Mental Health America”, in order to continue the reform for the treatment of the mentally ill. He also started the Clifford Beers Clinic in New Haven in 1913, **the first outpatient mental health clinic** in the United States.

Another autobiography/memoir- ***The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness*** by Elyn R. Saks. 

>[Elyn Saks](https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/profile/elyn-saks/) is Orrin B. Evans Distinguished Professor of Law, **Professor of Psychology**, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the USC Gould School of Law; Director of the **Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics**; Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the UC San Diego, School of Medicine; and **Faculty at the New Center for Psychoanalysis**. She served as USC Gould’s associate dean for research from 2005-2010 and also teaches at the Keck School of Medicine.  
  
Saks writes extensively in the **area of law and mental health**, having published five books and more than fifty articles and book chapters. Her research has included the **ethical dimensions of psychiatric research and forced treatment of people with mental illness.**   
  
Her Institute spotlights one important mental health issue per academic year and is a collaborative effort that has included faculty and graduate students from several USC departments: **law, psychiatry, psychology, social work, philosophy, neuroscience, gerontology, and engineering.**

Her other book- ***Refusing Care: Forced Treatment and the Rights of the Mentally Ill*** **(University of Chicago Press, 2002)**

I chose her as my personal recommendation because even tho I know people have strong beliefs against psychoanalysis, I still find her to be an interesting source since she has the first-hand experience of schizophrenia and she is a psychologist herself. 

She is also a leading expert and advocate in mental health law and human rights of the patients. I also find her institute to be interesting because I have a special interest of interdisciplinary studies in psychology.



The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 made India one of very few progressive countries where people with schizophrenia can legally specify their treatment preferences before a crisis, including which treatments they refuse! We can hate the system but the Indian spirit of freedom is magical.