The Pasung Research Group
The Pasung Research Group, collaboration between CIMH and colleagues from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, nursing and law, was established in September 2008.
In Indonesia the term pasung refers to the physical restraint or confinement of "criminals, crazy and dangerously aggressive people."[1] The practice of pasung is widespread throughout Indonesia, widely known and almost universally ignored. While pasung can be explained – poverty, lack of basic mental health services, varying conceptions of mental illness in rural populations, desire of families to protect the mentally ill person and others from harm [1, 2] – it remains a fundamental abuse of the human rights of the mentally ill person and an affront to human dignity. The goal of the Pasung Research Group is to eliminate the practice of pasung from Indonesia, through research, education and advocacy.