Dr. Peter Breggin’s Empathic Therapy Center
Gains IRS 501 c3 Non-Profit Status
Dr. Peter Breggin’s Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy has announced that the Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy is now a fully authorized 501 c3 nonprofit corporation. The US Internal Revenue Service approved the center’s 501 c3 application in July 2011.
“Nonprofit status is going to help us tremendously in our educational and charitable activities,” stated Peter Breggin MD, International Director of the Center. “We are establishing a growing membership of concerned mental health and education professionals as well as families, advocates and individuals who have been exposed and wounded by biological psychiatry and are seeking better approaches. Our first Empathic Therapy Conference, a 3 day event we held in Syracuse, New York State April 2011 was a great success with almost 200 people attending from over a dozen countries,” he continued.
“I am best known from my critiques of biological, mechanistic psychiatry with its cookie-cutter diagnoses and brain-disabling drugs and shock treatment. Establishment and institutional psychiatry can be like a dark shadow that crowds out the light. Even as we grow in awareness of the harm perpetrated by biological psychiatry, we need more focus on the light -- on the life-giving principles that have moved me and so many others to take up the cause of reform in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Our Empathic Therapy center had developed a set of 15 guiding principles to capture what is good and important in human relationships beginning with empathy, love and respect for each individual's unique life,” said Dr. Breggin. “The pursuit and applications of these principles and our continuing critique and pressure upon psychiatry to ‘first do no harm’ and to become humane are dual engines that drive our work.”
The Center has already developed a number of activities for the general public and concerned professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, educators, medical doctors, nurses, therapists, addiction specialists, advocates, psychiatric survivors, family members and concern laypersons, including:
1. An annual Empathic Therapy Conference. Plans for the 2012 conference are well along with the conference scheduled to take place in Syracuse, New York State, April 13-15th 2012. Registration for the conference is open now at http://www.EmpathicTherapy.org.
2. The free monthly “Empathic Therapy Newsletter” containing critiques, news and analysis of biological psychiatry and better approaches to helping those in emotional crisis or overwhelm.
3. A growing Empathic Therapy network of professionals and laypersons participating in sharing information, news and discussion.
4. Responses and information provided to the thousands of inquiries from the media, general public, colleagues, and various government officials that come to Dr. Breggin and the Empathic Therapy center seeking data about psychiatric topics, better, more empathic approaches to mental health issues, a clearer understanding of what circumstances contribute to emotional overwhelm, and related matters.
5.Membership in the Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy which supports the Center's varied activities.
In addition, Dr. Breggin is participating in public information outreach activities that include a weekly internet radio show on PRN that airs live Mondays at 5 pm EST as well as being available as podcasts. The radio show and the podcasts can be accessed through www.breggin.com. Click on the “Live Radio Show” link on the left-hand contents bar.
"Of course, I have made available a wealth of information on my professional website including free access to hundreds of scientific papers and other information for those seeking material that explains their difficulties at the hands of psychiatry,” said Dr. Breggin. “I’ve also made available my first Empathic Therapy Training Film and am receiving excellent feedback on how useful and inspiring it is for therapists and families, and even for individuals seeking to improve their personal relationships.
“The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy is providing a beacon of hope to individuals and families caught in the biological psychiatric net as well as inspiring and informing professionals who are looking for better ways to work with their patients and clients. Our Center has grown so much in our first year! We look forward to many years of increasing and effective work to inspire better approaches to re-humanizing mental health fields and social services,” concluded Dr. Breggin.
The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education and Living
607 272 5328
101 East State Street, #112
Ithaca, New York, 14850
Dr. Peter Breggin's
Center for the Study of Empathic
Therapy, Education & Living
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