By GREG ESPOSITO
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   BLACKSBURG - Marcus Cowgill has battled bipolar disorder for about 20 years. He hesitates to go into detail about his experience because he doesn't want it to be interpreted as universal for people with mental problems. Each person is unique, he explained.

    And that's why Cowgill, 41, hasn't eaten for six days.

    He's one of 14 "solidarity strikers" around the world joining six people in Pasadena, Calif., in the "Fast for Freedom," an event organized by Pasadena-based MindFreedom Support Coalition International

    The purpose of the fast is to call attention to a mental health system that the group believes has become too dependent on one model of treatment for mental disorders - prescription drugs.

    "Many of us, frankly, were not treated as though we were fully human," he said. "We're treated more as objects in a bureaucratic system."

    Cowgill underwent a combination of treatments involving hospitalization, prescription drugs and support groups. He credits a support group he joined about six years ago with finally bringing him to the point where he can say he is OK.

    Cowgill still takes medication for his disorder, but he believes his problems could have been overcome in five or six years instead of 15 if he had been treated more as an individual.

    "They owe me some years," he said, laughing.

    Sitting in a chair in his Blacksburg apartment, a brownish-green shirt hanging off his gaunt frame, Cowgill jokes about "losing a few pounds" over the last six days. He is having fun with the fast and enjoys the camaraderie with other strikers. But he is serious about the cause and angry that there are people with mental disorders suffering.

    "There are so many wasted lives," he said. "There are so many people just staring at a TV set ... who don't feel there is any hope at all for them."

    There's no end date for the fast, which began at midnight Aug. 15 and allows for a diet of juices, tea, water and clear broth. The group is looking for specific evidence from agencies such as the American Psychiatric Association supporting the notion that mental problems are primarily caused by chemical imbalances and should be treated with drugs. The group has put together a panel of experts to review the answers. The APA responded with a letter citing textbooks and a surgeon general's report and referring to the hunger strike as "ill considered."

    This is the first such fast for MindFreedom, a coalition of more than 100 psychiatric survivor groups that was formed in 1988. Executive director David Oaks said he wants to see specific studies that can be reviewed by the coalition's panel, and he hopes to create a dialogue about the issue. Drug companies and society's desire for a quick fix have created the prevailing view that drugs are the answer for most cases of mental disorders, he said. Oaks thinks more effort and funding should be directed at things such as housing and jobs for people with mental disorders. He expects a better answer from the APA but is encouraged by the first letter.

    "It's a bit of a breakthrough to get any kind of response," he said. "Though it's extremely general and not what we wanted."

    For Cowgill, who holds a doctorate in industrial and organizational psychology from Virginia Tech and co-founded a local mental health advocacy group called Empowerment for Health Minds, the answer to what he wants is simple.

    "We just want alternatives," he said. "We want to stop what we consider to be forced drugging."

    GREG ESPOSITO: 381-1675,

   greg.esposito@roanoke.com

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