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Why psychiatry Sees Itself as a Dying Industry

A Resource on its Failures and Critics

Click here to download and read the full CCHR report Why psychiatry Sees Itself as a Dying Industry — A Resource on its Failures and Critics.

Why is psychiatry so controversial? Why do critics say psychiatry creates unhappiness, rather than curing it? That psychiatric treatment causes harm? And why is it that, for example, a dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said, “Lots of other doctors don’t think we’re ‘real doctors’”?

On July 10, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a “Guidance on Community Mental Health Services: Promoting Person-Centered and Rights-Based Approaches” that lashed out about coercive psychiatric practices, which it said, “are pervasive and are increasingly used in services in countries around the world, despite the lack of evidence that they offer any benefits, and the significant evidence that they lead to physical and psychological harm and even death.” It reinforced the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which says patients must not be put at risk of “torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and recommends prohibiting “coercive practices such as forced admission and treatment.”

CCHR’s report provides the facts that psychiatrists, concerned about the many criticisms of them, have failed to address and why there remains a movement dedicated to eliminating psychiatric abuse. Governments should apprise themselves of this information before bending to the demands of more mental health funding. In this way, true mental health can be achieved.

Legal and policy protections should be implemented that force psychiatry to honor every individual’s right to be treated with humanity and respect and to recognize the inherent dignity of the person. These include protections from economic, sexual and other forms of exploitation and coercive, involuntary treatment, and protections against fraudulent claims that psychiatry’s diagnostic system is “scientific” or “biologically” proven.