For months the world has witnessed how the people of Iran dare to protest against their ruling regime for the extensive violation of human rights and multiple other social, economic, and political issues affecting their daily lives. Independent media reports claim that more than 300 people, including at least 40 children, have been killed by the regime’s military and paramilitary forces.
Primary school and high school students have joined these protests, asking for freedom of choice. The Minister of Education of Iran admitted in a state media interview that the school-age students who are arrested in the protests are sent to psychological centres, claiming that “it is possible these students have become ‘anti-social characters’ and we want to reform them”.
As a group of psychiatrists, we strongly condemn the use of psychiatric and psychological services as a corrective measure in political conflicts. This approach leads to arbitrary psychiatric confinement, especially in a country that has no mental health laws. Such practices are clear violations of human rights and are concerning for many other reasons, including wrongly pathologising opinions and values that differ from that of a ruling regime.
Such drastic measures would lead to stigmatising young people by labelling them as having mental health conditions. Psychiatry must never be used as a social control, oppressive, or punitive measure.