CCHR Applauds California Supreme Court Decision Holding Electroshock Machine Manufacturer Liable for Brain Damage

Posted on July 15, 2024 by cchrstl

Court concluded that company’s failure to fully disclose risks of electroshock to a physician meant that the patient also did not know the risks before undergoing the procedure, which resulted in brain damage. Citizens Commission on Human Rights warns device has never been proven safe.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

The California Supreme Court has issued a decision in a product liability case involving an electroshock machine which establishes that patients must receive adequate disclosure of the risks of the device prior to treatment. Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) says electroshock has never been proven safe and has known risks that include brain damage and permanent memory loss.

The lawsuit at issue concerned Somatics LLC, manufacturer of a device used by psychiatrists to deliver electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, or electroshock) to patients who may be experiencing deep depression. The electroshock machine sends a strong electrical current through brain tissue that causes convulsions, a procedure used as treatment even though it is not known how electroshock is supposed to work. Somatics was sued by a woman who had sustained brain damage from ECT treatment.

According to Wisner Baum, the law firm representing the plaintiff, Somatics “did not dispute in the lower court that its electroshock therapy (ECT) device can cause brain damage and permanent memory loss; did not dispute it failed to warn doctors of the risk of brain damage and permanent memory loss; and did not dispute that plaintiff…sustained brain injury.” 

Somatics relied for its defense on legal precedent which had established that device manufacturers have a duty to warn physicians of the risks associated with their products but need not warn the patient of those risks.  The company presented testimony that even if it had given the physician a stronger warning, the physician still would have recommended electroshock to his patient.

However, in its ruling, California’s highest court wrote that a patient’s expectations about the effects of a medical device are based on what their physicians tell them, and without adequate disclosure of risks to the physician, the physician could not give adequate disclosure to the patient. The court concluded that patients could prevail in establishing product liability “by showing that the physician would have communicated the stronger warning to the patient and an objectively prudent person in the patient’s position would have thereafter declined the treatment,” even if the doctor continued to recommend the treatment.

“This California ruling is a win for patients who have a right to know the full extent of the potential damage from electroshock,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office. “Patients should be informed that electroshock has never been proven safe or effective.”

Patients undergoing electroshock – mostly women and the elderly, but even young children – are often not being given enough information about the serious risks and lack of effectiveness of the procedure, according to professor of psychology John Read, Ph.D., who conducted an audit of patient information pamphlets.

He found that pertinent information about risks was omitted, such as the cardiovascular risks, the risk of death, the lack of evidence of long-term benefits, and the fact that it is not known how ECT is supposed to work. “The minimisation of risks is not uncommon in ECT practice and research,” Read said. 

Read disputes claims that electroshock is highly effective, writing that no proof of that exists. “There have…been no placebo-controlled studies of ECT for depression since 1985, and all 11 studies prior to that date were very small, severely flawed and conducted on adults,” he wrote, adding, “There have been no placebo-controlled studies on children or adolescents.” 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires ECT machines to have signs next to them stating, “The long-term safety and effectiveness of ECT treatment has not been demonstrated,” Read observed.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights advocates a total ban of electroshock.  More than 135,000 people have signed CCHR’s online petition to ban ECT.

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New Research Links Psychiatric Hospitalization to Much Higher Risks of Premature Death and Suicide After Discharge, CCHR Warns

Posted on July 8, 2024 by cchrstl

A growing body of evidence suggests that psychiatric hospitalization itself may be a major risk factor for suicide and other harms to patients’ mental health, especially for those admitted against their will. Citizens Commission on Human Rights is calling on Congress to investigate.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

Patients discharged from psychiatric hospitalization face a risk of premature death eight times higher than in the general population, and a risk of suicide 33 times higher, with an even greater risk of suicide – 54 times higher – in the first year after discharge, a new study has found.  The study adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that psychiatric hospitalization does not decrease, but can actually increase the risk of suicide and other harmful outcomes for patients, especially for those receiving treatment against their will. 

Researchers in Spain, Norway and the United States examined medical records of over 49,000 psychiatric patients in Spain who had received psychiatric hospitalization from 2014-2018.  They found that in a follow-up period of one to six years after discharge, 1 in 20 patients (5%) died prematurely (before the age of 70), with the risk of premature death almost eight times higher than in the general population. 

Of even greater concern is the finding that 1 in 10 (10%) committed acts of self-harm, including attempted suicide, after discharge from psychiatric hospitalization, while 1 in 100 (1%) died from suicide.  The risk of suicide was 33 times greater than in the general population during the study’s follow-up period, with an even higher 54 times greater risk in the first year post-discharge.

The study findings indicate that “individuals discharged from psychiatric inpatient care are a vulnerable population for premature death and suicidal behavior,” wrote lead researcher Philippe Mortier, Ph.D., at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain.  The study was published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Almost 1 in 4 (24%) of the patients hospitalized during the period under study had prior psychiatric hospitalizations, another indication of the inadequacy of psychiatric treatment.

These findings are consistent with other studies which have found that admission to a psychiatric facility is highly associated with the risk of dying from suicide.  A study earlier this year pinpointed the first few days and weeks after discharge as a period of extremely high risk of suicide for patients who received psychiatric hospitalization for depression.  Even many years after discharge, previously hospitalized psychiatric patients have high suicide rates compared to the general population, another study found.

People admitted to a psychiatric facility against their will are even more likely to attempt suicide after discharge than psychiatric patients who were not forcibly admitted, according to research findings.

Antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs used as treatment during hospitalization are also linked to suicidal behavior.  Researchers conducting a 2019 re-analysis of safety summaries in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) database found evidence that depressed patients receiving antidepressants attempted suicide at a rate 2.5 times higher than those who received a placebo.

“With substantial evidence that psychiatric hospitalization and treatment result in significant harm to many patients, especially increasing the risk of suicide, the Citizens Commission on Human Right is calling on Congress to investigate in-patient psychiatric treatment,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the organization’s National Affairs Office. 

“The current standard treatment in psychiatric facilities is not only failing to decrease the rate of suicide in the U.S., but it is increasing it at a cost of human lives.  This must stop.”

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Mothers’ Psychiatric Drug Use Increases Risk of Newborns Needing Urgent Medical Attention, New Research Finds

Posted on July 1, 2024 by cchrstl

Expectant mothers considering psychiatric drugs should have the increased risks of premature birth and respiratory, circulatory, and feeding problems for their newborns fully disclosed to them by their prescribers.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog organization, is calling attention to a new study indicating the increased risks of newborns experiencing respiratory distress, circulatory distress, and feeding problems as a result of their mothers taking psychiatric drugs during pregnancy. Newborns exposed to the drugs in the womb were also more likely to have been born prematurely, researchers found. CCHR is making the research known so that expectant mothers and their prescribers can make fully informed decisions about starting or stopping the drugs. 

Observing that the use of antidepressants for depression during pregnancy has increased worldwide and that pregnant women may be taking other types of psychiatric drugs as well, German researchers set out to investigate the frequency and severity of the resulting effects on newborns from their exposure to single or multiple psychiatric drugs before birth. 

Among 207 newborns studied, nearly two out of three (62%) had clinical symptoms after birth from exposure in the womb to their mother’s psychiatric drugs. This was close to four times as many as in the control group (17%) of newborns whose mothers had not used the drugs. 

Neonatal therapy was needed for 41% of the newborns exposed to psychiatric drugs, as compared to 3% of newborns who were not exposed. It made no difference if the mothers took one or multiple psychiatric drugs or what class of psychiatric drug was used. The greater need for neonatal therapy resulted from cumulative multiple symptoms. 

One in three psychiatric drug-exposed newborns with symptoms had more than one symptom, which was six times as many as non-exposed newborns. The exposed newborns had more frequent respiratory distress, circulatory distress, hypothermia, and feeding problems than the newborns not exposed to psychiatric drugs. The exposed infants also had significantly lower scores on the Apgar scoring system used to assess newborns’ well-being immediately after birth. Mothers taking psychiatric drugs also were more than three times more likely to give birth prematurely.

“The increasingly frequent maternal drug treatment of depression and anxiety disorders in pregnancy results in an increasing number of neonates [newborns] requiring special neonatal therapy,” the researchers wrote, advising that newborns “should be continuously monitored for at least 24 hours.”

Other recent research has indicated that expectant mothers’ use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants during pregnancy may adversely affect the brain development in their children and increase the risk of certain birth defects and miscarriage.

Tapering and discontinuation of SSRIs before and during the early phase of pregnancy was advised in another recent study of withdrawal symptoms experienced by newborns born to mothers who had taken antidepressants during pregnancy. The newborns’ withdrawal symptoms included rapid breathing, respiratory distress, tremors, and lower blood sugar.

“Expectant mothers should have the risks to their babies from taking psychiatric drugs fully disclosed by their prescribers so they can make fully informed decisions about whether to take the drugs during pregnancy,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office. “Anyone who wants to stop taking a psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a physician because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms.”

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CCHR Calls Attention to New Research Finding More Serious Risks to Elderly Dementia Patients from Antipsychotic Drugs

Posted on June 24, 2024 by cchrstl

Citizens Commission on Human Rights calls for government action to make prescribers and caregivers of the elderly aware of the wider range of serious risks to dementia patients from antipsychotic drugs and to curtail the wrongful use of the drugs.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is calling attention to new research that has found a wider range of serious or life-threatening risks to elderly patients with dementia from taking antipsychotic drugs than what is currently found in drug regulatory agency warnings.  Despite previously known safety concerns, antipsychotic drugs continue to be prescribed to older adults for psychological and behavioral symptoms common to dementia.  More than two million Americans over the age of 65 are currently prescribed antipsychotic drugs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that all antipsychotics include a black box warning, its most serious type of warning, stating that the psychiatric drugs are associated with increased rates of stroke and death in older adults with dementia.

In a new study, researchers in the U.K. recently went beyond those two known risks, investigating 20 years of medical records for more than 200,000 patients 50 years of age and older with dementia, to look for conclusive evidence of other adverse effects from antipsychotics.  

They found that antipsychotic use was linked to “a considerably wider range of harms” for older adults with dementia than previously known and that the greatest risks of these serious or life-threatening events occurred soon after the drugs were first taken.

“Antipsychotic use compared with non-use in adults with dementia was associated with increased risks of stroke, venous thromboembolism [blood clot in a vein], myocardial infarction [heart attack], heart failure, fracture, pneumonia, and acute kidney injury,” wrote Pearl L. H. Mok, PhD, of the Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety at the University of Manchester in the U.K.

Mok emphasized the importance of the findings: “The range of adverse outcomes was wider than previously highlighted in regulatory alerts, with the highest risks soon after initiation of treatment.” 

Beyond the additional safety concerns, the researchers also noted that “the efficacy of antipsychotics in the management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia remains inconclusive.” 

In spite of this potentially negative risk-benefit ratio, antipsychotic prescribing in dementia treatment remains common and has even increased in recent years, Mok and colleagues write.  They suggest that further regulatory and legislative action may be needed to curtail dangerous prescribing practices.  Their study was published in the British medical journal, The BMJ.

“With the latest research showing even greater risks of very serious harm to older adults with dementia from antipsychotics, the FDA and other government agencies should take action now to make the harms more widely known and curtail the rampant prescribing of these psychiatric drugs to such a vulnerable population,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office.  “Prescribers and caregivers of the elderly need to know that these drugs can put lives even more at risk than previously known.”

After investigating the practice of giving elderly nursing home patients a psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia as a rationale for then prescribing antipsychotic drugs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General issued a report in 2022 which disclosed that from 2015 through 2019, the number of nursing home residents reported as having schizophrenia nearly tripled (194%).

The HHS report found that, taking all classes of psychiatric drugs into account, eight in 10 nursing home residents were prescribed some type of psychiatric drug each year from 2011 to 2019.  Critics call this drugging “chemical straightjackets.”  The report found that nursing homes with stretched staffing had higher use of psychotropic drugs, suggesting the drugs were used to subdue patients to ease the workload of staff.

Following that report, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched its own investigation in 2023 into residents of nursing homes being falsely reported as having schizophrenia so they could be inappropriately sedated with antipsychotic drugs.

Researchers in another 2024 study examined whether overprescribing could be curtailed by warning letters sent by CMS to primary care physicians with the highest-volume prescribing of the antipsychotic drug quetiapine (Seroquel) for Medicare patients with dementia.  The result was that the warning letters significantly reduced the doctors’ antipsychotic drug prescribing, with no adverse impact on the cognitive, behavioral, or physical health of the dementia patients – more evidence of the wrongful use of these psychiatric drugs with dementia patients.

WARNING: Anyone wishing to discontinue or change the dose of an antipsychotic or other psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a physician because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms.

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CCHR Applauds FDA Advisory Committee Rejection of Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy for Post-Traumatic Stress

Posted on June 17, 2024 by cchrstl

Committee’s recommendation to reject as therapy the psychedelic drug MDMA, also known as the “date rape” drug Ecstasy, comes after evidence from clinical trials was deemed insufficient to establish safety or effectiveness.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee voted overwhelmingly against use of the psychedelic drug MDMA, also known as the “date rape” drug Ecstasy or Molly, as treatment for post-traumatic stress.  The committee found that the evidence presented in its June 4 hearing in support of the treatment did not demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy.  The committee’s recommendation goes to the FDA for a final decision, which is expected in mid-August.  If the FDA concurs, it would end the first attempt to gain FDA approval for a psychedelic drug treatment.

The FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee heard from representatives of Lykos Therapeutics on the results of the company’s clinical trials, in which patients suffering from post-traumatic stress were given MDMA in conjunction with psychotherapy.  With psychotherapists present in the treatment sessions, patients were encouraged to discuss emotionally-charged memories while under the influence of the drug.

Committee members voted 9-2 that the evidence presented did not adequately establish the effectiveness of the MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and further voted 10-1 that the risks of the treatment would outweigh the benefits even with a risk mitigation plan proposed by the FDA.

A briefing document prepared by FDA staff and issued prior to the hearing pointed to a number of drawbacks in the data from the Lykos clinical trials.  Claims of efficacy could be skewed by a large majority of trial participants knowing whether they had received MDMA or placebo, the staff observed.  The cardiovascular risks of MDMA, which acts as a stimulant, and the underreporting of adverse effects were also concerns. 

During the hearing, committee members and testifying members of the public referred to a troubling, alleged incident of a female patient under the influence of MDMA being sexually abused during a therapy session.  A video of the session reportedly shows the MDMA-intoxicated patient being pinned down, cuddled and stroked by a male therapist and his therapist wife.

Committee members also discussed allegations of ethical misconduct in the clinical trials, including claims that participants were pressured not to report adverse effects. 

MDMA is still classified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, defined as having no currently accepted medical use and a high risk of abuse and dependency.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) lists lowered inhibition, increased heart rate and blood pressure, muscle tension, nausea, faintness, chills or sweating, and a sharp rise in body temperature leading to kidney failure or death as potential short-term adverse effects of MDMA.

The National Affairs Office of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) submitted a statement to the FDA during the public comment period prior to the hearing, which cited safety concerns over known adverse effects of MDMA, as delineated by NIDA, and referenced the lived experience of MDMA users, as reported in readers’ comments in response to a recent New York Times article on MDMA. 

Among the readers’ comments are reports from MDMA users of having experienced an inability to move or stand up, “thirty-six hours of total body tension with uncontrollable clenching and grinding of teeth,” an after-effect of feeling “bleak and depressed,” a months-long “flat life,” and a sexual situation that would not otherwise have been engaged in. 

Depression occurring several days following use was mentioned by a number of commenters, with one user writing: “The comedown was so brutal a couple of days later that I could never go through it again. I was literally sitting in my office and felt an uncontrollable need to cry for absolutely no reason. It was bad!”  Though anecdotal, these reports are an indication of the real-life experiences of MDMA users outside of carefully controlled clinical trial settings.

The push for approval of psychedelics as treatment for post-traumatic stress arose from the failure of psychiatry’s mind-altering psychotropic drugs and psychotherapy to adequately treat the condition.  Giving military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress an alternative to current treatment options has been used as a prime rationale in efforts by pro-psychedelics groups to gain approval for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and was frequently mentioned in the committee hearing.  Companies developing psychedelic drugs for therapy have attracted millions of dollars from investors hoping to cash in on a “psychedelic revolution.”

Using military personnel as guinea pigs for psychiatric drugging has a long history, dating back at least as far as the period of 1955 to 1967, when the U.S. Army conducted extensive mind control and brainwashing experiments with LSD on soldiers.  The frequent and severe complications that resulted have been downplayed in more recent accounts of the psychiatric testing, according to psychiatrist Colin Ross, M.D., who published a report on the experiments in the journal History of Psychiatry.  “In view of the current resurgence of interest in hallucinogens within psychiatry, the sanitized version of the effects of LSD exposure on US soldiers needs to be replaced with a more accurate account,” Ross wrote.

In 2014, with more than 60% of suicides in the military committed by those on antidepressants or recently undergoing outpatient psychiatric care, CCHR produced its acclaimed documentary, “Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry’s Covert Agenda,” which tracks the history of psychiatric drug experiments in the military and links the rising rates of psychiatric drug prescriptions in the military to the high rate of veteran suicides. 

“The psychiatric industry’s pressure on the FDA for approval of psychedelic drugs as an answer to failed psychiatric treatments is not a reason to expose military veterans and others suffering from post-traumatic stress to the risks of retraumatization and further damage to their mental health from MDMA and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office.

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Push for Use of Psychedelic Drugs as Mental Health Treatment Downplays Dangerous Risks, Citizens Commission on Human Rights Says in Protest

Posted on June 10, 2024 by cchrstl

It is not known how psychedelic drugs are supposed to work as mental health treatment. Psychedelics carry the risks of devastating immediate and long-term harms, putting human lives and sanity at risk.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

Drawing attention to the dangers of psychedelic drugs, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) protested outside the Boston site of a conference of researchers, academics, and industry representatives engaged in psychedelic drug research and the push for regulatory approval and commercialization of various hallucinogenic drugs for claimed health and mental health benefits.

The New England chapter of CCHR organized the protest to raise awareness of the considerable and dangerous mental health hazards of the drugs after pro-psychedelics organizations gathered enough signatures to qualify a Massachusetts ballot measure for the November 2024 election which would permit the use of psychedelics as therapy in the state.  

Psychedelics are hallucinogens, a class of drugs that cause hallucinations, which are profound distortions in a person’s perceptions of reality.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) says that psychedelic drugs can “produce adverse or debilitating psychological effects” and that the drugs can cause “impaired thought processes and perception” that have been linked to dangerous behavior and injuries.

Long-term adverse effects NIDA lists for various psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”) and LSD (“acid”), are memory problems, spontaneous and frightening flashbacks called hallucinogen persisting perception disorder, and persistent visual disturbances, disorganized thinking, paranoia, and mood swings.  Research has found that from 5% to 50% of hallucinogen users experience at least one flashback. 

Demonstrators at the CCHR protest handed out flyers that asked people to consider their airline pilot, their child’s daycare provider, or the driver next to them on the highway suddenly experiencing a flashback that alters their thinking and perceptions.

While some psychedelics researchers have contended that adverse effects of psychedelics are of short duration or rarely happen, the lived experience of users provides evidence that negative side effects are more common, dangerous, and long-lasting than what those researchers claim.  Readers’ online comments in response to a recent New York Times article on a “psychedelics revolution” reported numerous incidents of dangerous “bad trips,” traumatic experiences, worsened mental health, violent or self-destructive behavior, resulting psychiatric hospitalizations, and deaths from taking psychedelic drugs.

Just as the package inserts for some prescribed psychiatric drugs disclose that it is not known how the drugs are supposed to work to treat mental health issues, it is also not known how psychedelic drugs are supposed to work as treatment.

The huge commercial profit potential for drug manufacturers and “psychedelic-assisted therapy” providers is driving research and efforts to gain drug regulatory approval.  Biotech industry analysts project that psychedelic treatment for depressed individuals whose antidepressant treatment failed could reach $10 billion in annual sales, but far greater profits would be available if many of the 45 million Americans currently taking antidepressants switched to psychedelics. A single session of psychedelic-assisted therapy with psilocybin reportedly costs from $1,500 to $3,500. 

Summing up the opposition to psychedelic drugs as treatment, attorney Colbe Mazzarella, president of CCHR New England, emphatically pointed out the inherent contradiction: “Hallucination is not mental health.”

CCHR opposes putting human lives and sanity at risk with psychedelic drugs and will continue to alert the public to the dangers of the drugs.

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CCHR Commends Lawsuit Filed over FDA’s Failure to Act on Citizen Petition to Update Antidepressant Labeling for Persistent Sexual Problems

Posted on June 3, 2024 by cchrstl

Research has long indicated that antidepressant users are at risk of serious sexual problems that may persist indefinitely, even after stopping the drugs. Citizens Commission on Human Rights says FDA needs to act now.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

A lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia claiming the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to take final action on a 2018 citizen petition urging an updated warning on antidepressants labeling for the serious risk of persistent, worsening, or newly emerging sexual side effects after stopping use of the drugs.  One of the petition’s signers is suing the FDA to force it to act, a step that Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) commends.

“The devastating sexual side effects from antidepressants, harming the sex lives of an untold number of the 45 million Americans taking the drugs, should have been addressed as a public health concern years ago by the FDA,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office in Washington, DC.  “The FDA needs to act now, without further delay.”

In his lawsuit, Antonei B. Csoka, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the anatomy department at Howard University, says that the FDA has failed to follow its own regulations for granting or denying the petition.  Csoka is seeking a court order requiring the FDA to act.

The lawsuit states that antidepressant labeling warns of sexual problems that may be experienced while taking antidepressants, but “current labeling in the United States does not adequately convey the risk of broad, severe, and potentially permanent post-treatment changes to sexual function.” 

The antidepressants at issue are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), the two most commonly prescribed classes of antidepressants.  Csoka has researched post-SSRI sexual dysfunction since 2004. 

The citizen petition, which was also published in the International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine in 2018, references numerous studies on sexual dysfunction from antidepressants and its debilitating effect on patients’ quality of life.  The 22 petition signers call on the FDA to strengthen the warning on antidepressants labeling to include the risk of persistent sexual side effects after the use of antidepressants has stopped and to require SSRI and SNRI manufacturers to send a “Dear Health Care Provider Letter” to inform psychiatrists, family practitioners and other prescribers about the risk.

Csoka’s lawsuit says that after similar petitions were filed in 2018 with drug regulatory agencies in Europe and Canada, warnings were updated by the European Medicines Agency in 2019 and by Health Canada in 2021 to reflect the risk.  However, the FDA has yet to take final action.

Research variously indicates that while taking antidepressants, 25%-80% of patients encounter sexual difficulties they had not experienced before taking the drugs, and the symptoms can persist indefinitely, even after the drugs are no longer taken.

Researchers urge psychiatrists and other prescribers to adequately disclose these risks to patients before prescribing antidepressants, so patients can make fully informed decisions about the drugs.

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Psychiatrists’ Refusal to Align with UN, WHO on Ending Forced Psychiatric Treatment is Big Reason US Lags on Mental Health Human Rights

Posted on May 27, 2024 by cchrstl

Citizens Commission on Human Rights marches in protest, opens human rights exhibit, delivers open letter to American Psychiatric Association leadership demanding it adopt international human rights standards to end coercive psychiatric practices.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog, launched a series of actions to draw attention to the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) refusal to reverse its support of forced psychiatric treatment, remaining instead at odds with international human rights standards and leaving the US lagging the global movement to restore human rights in the field of mental health.  Coercive psychiatric practices include involuntary institutionalization, forced drugging, mechanical and chemical restraints, seclusion, and nonconsensual electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, or electroshock).

In a protest march organized by CCHR, demonstrators marched through Times Square to the Javits Center in New York City on May 4, site of the APA’s annual conference, drawing the attention of conference attendees with chanting and signs demanding an end to forced psychiatric treatment, a ban on ECT, and an end to the rampant psychiatric drugging of children.  As a follow-on to the APA’s 2021 admission that systemic racism is ingrained in psychiatric practices, signs also demanded an end to those racist practices. 

Overhead, an airplane banner called for the banning of ECT, while a Jumbotron truck driving in the area broadcast CCHR’s documentary, Therapy or Torture: The Truth About Electroshock.

CCHR also hand-delivered an open letter to the leadership of the APA, Petros Levounis, President, and Saul M. Levin, Chief Executive Officer, at their conference, calling on the organization to renounce involuntary mental health treatment.  Copies of the letter were sent to the heads of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the U.S.-based office of the World Health Organization (WHO).

In 2023, WHO and OHCHR called for an end to all forced mental health treatment, saying coercive practices “violate the right to be protected from torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.”  WHO/OHCHR also advised, “International human rights standards clarify that ECT without consent violates the right to physical and mental integrity and may constitute torture and ill-treatment,” and called for banning ECT for children.  ECT passes electricity through the brain to cause convulsions, with the risk of brain damage and permanent memory loss.

The CCHR letter also referenced 2021 guidance from WHO that coercive mental health treatment should end even for those experiencing acute mental distress, pointing out that individuals in mental health crisis “are at a heightened risk of their human rights being violated, including through forced admissions and treatment….These practices have been shown to be harmful to people’s mental, emotional and physical health, sometimes leading to death.”

Among international psychiatric organizations, the World Psychiatric Association has stated its concern about “the extent to which coercive interventions violate” human rights, and the European Congress of Psychiatry has held a special session aimed at reducing the use of coercive measures.  Julian Beezhold, MD, current chair of the European Psychiatric Association’s Section on Emergency Psychiatry, is also on record saying that examining how to reduce coercive practices in psychiatry is a priority for his association.

In contrast, the APA has maintained its support of the profitable practices, which have left maimed and traumatized patients in their wake.

“We demand the APA renounce coercive practices that damage and traumatize patients and, in the case of ECT, cause brain damage, memory loss and even death in the name of mental health treatment,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office in Washington, DC. “Psychiatrists should not be exposing their patients to these unconscionable risks.”

Watch now: Video from CCHR’s NYC protest and exhibit.

New Yorkers were invited to tour CCHR’s “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” exhibit, which ran through May 12 at Union Square in New York City.  The free exhibit, which has toured the world, exposes some little-known history of psychiatry and how psychiatric practices have harmed patients.  Facts presented in the exhibit’s panels reveal the staggering number of children prescribed psychiatric drugs, psychiatry’s sordid history of brain-damaging psychosurgery and electroshock, and the prime role of psychiatrists in instigating and perpetuating racism.

Rev. Fred Shaw, CCHR International spokesperson and founder of the CCHR Task Force Against Racism and Modern-Day Eugenics, gave the keynote address at the exhibit grand opening May 5, followed by remarks by New York human rights activists Marion “Tiny” Frampton, a former gang member in The Black Spades (TBS) and now Harlem community activist and founder of TBS New Directions; former Harlem Globetrotter, now international goodwill ambassador Bobby “Zorro” Hunter; and Maliki Stone, human rights advocate and retired detective with the New York Police Department.

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CCHR Exhibit Exposes Psychiatric Human Rights Abuse

Posted on May 20, 2024 by cchrstl

Notable New York City activists spoke at opening of Citizens Commission on Human Rights’ exhibit exposing sordid history of harmful psychiatric practices still in use today.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an international mental health industry watchdog, held the Grand Opening of its traveling exhibit, entitled “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death.” The exhibit brings to light the history to the present day of the harm and human rights abuses of coercive psychiatric practices, including nonconsensual electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).  Forced mental health practices violate international human rights standards but are still endorsed in the U.S. by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).  CCHR advocates for state and federal laws eliminating coercive practices and banning ECT.

The event’s keynote speaker, CCHR International spokesperson and founder of the CCHR Task Force Against Racism and Modern-Day Eugenics, Rev. Fred Shaw, spoke about the damage people can experience from psychiatric drugs and ECT and stressed the importance of patients getting the risks fully disclosed to them.

“A trap wouldn’t be a trap if you could see it coming,” he said. “This exhibit brings the truth about psychiatric drugs and electroshock.” 

Marion “Tiny” Frampton, a former gang member in The Black Spades (TBS) and now Harlem community activist and founder of TBS New Directions, a youth mentoring program offering alternatives to youth gang involvement, spoke passionately about the damage he has witnessed from psychiatric drugs and ECT. 

“I’m a former gang member in the ‘70s,” he said.  “Most of my comrades were placed in mental institutions and were given all kinds of drugs and were even given shock therapy (ECT).  For years I watched a lot of my comrades leave prison and be forced to take these medications.”

“Most of my comrades who are alive today are still on medication [and] are homeless,” he continued.  “The medication has been in their system so long, they can’t get off it.”

Former Harlem Globetrotter and now international goodwill ambassador Bobby “Zorro” Hunter saw firsthand the adverse effects of psychiatric drugs on teens when he taught at a high school for pregnant girls.  He talked about the need to give kids the help they really need instead of drugging them.

“Saving kids is so important because some day those kids will lead us,” he said.

His sentiment was echoed by Maliki Stone, a detective for 22 years with the New York Police Department and now a human rights advocate, who expressed concern that kids should not be harmed by the mental health treatment they receive.

The damage from coerced mental health treatment was the incentive for the 2023 call from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for an end to all forced mental health treatment, saying that nonconsensual practices, “violate the right to be protected from torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.”  Coercive practices include involuntary institutionalization, forced drugging, the use of restraints and seclusion, and nonconsensual electroshock.

Facts presented in the CCHR exhibit reveal the staggering number of children prescribed psychiatric drugs, psychiatry’s sordid history of brain-damaging psychosurgery and electroshock, and the prime role of psychiatrists in instigating and perpetuating the systemic racism still ingrained in psychiatric practices in today’s mental health system. 

The exhibit was open through May 9 from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at 37 Union Square in New York City.

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Human Rights Group Marches in Protest to Demand American Psychiatric Association Denounce Electroshock for Children, Coercive Treatment, in Step with UN and WHO

Posted on May 13, 2024 by cchrstl

Citizens Commission on Human Rights calls on APA to end the use of lucrative but dangerous coercive treatment and electroshock. CCHR’s exhibit in New York City exposes grievous harm that psychiatric practices have caused patients.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

Scores of protesters marched on the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) annual conference Saturday (May 4, 2024) in New York City, demanding the APA drop its support of coercive psychiatric treatments and electroshock and align itself to international human rights standards that argue against forced treatment. The protest was organized by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an international mental health industry watchdog, which advocates for state and federal laws eliminating coercive practices and banning electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

The demonstration included an airplane banner calling for the banning of ECT and Jumbotron truck which broadcast CCHR’s documentary, Therapy or Torture: The Truth About Electroshock. The group invited New Yorkers to CCHR’s “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” exhibit, which had its grand opening on Sunday, May 5, at 3 p.m. at 37 Union Square and run daily through May 9 from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The exhibit, which has toured the world, exposes the history of psychiatry and the grievous harm it has caused patients.

In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called for an end to all forced mental health treatment, saying coercive practices “violate the right to be protected from torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.”  WHO/OHCHR also advised that, “International human rights standards clarify that ECT without consent violates the right to physical and mental integrity and may constitute torture and ill-treatment.”  

Among psychiatric organizations, the World Psychiatric Association has stated its concern about “the extent to which coercive interventions violate” human rights, and the European Congress of Psychiatry has also held special sessions aimed at reducing the use of coercive measures. In contrast, the APA has continued its support of the profitable practices, which have left maimed and traumatized patients in their wake.

Since 2020, CCHR has put the APA on notice of the growing global concern about forced psychiatric institutionalization and treatment, which is rampant in the U.S.  New York City has been criticized for its aggressive approaches to mental health treatment, including involuntary commitment, compulsory outpatient treatment, high restraint use and forced electroshock treatment. 

The WHO/OHCHR guideline acknowledges ECT as a brain-damaging procedure, to which 100,000 Americans, including children, are subjected each year, but a sample of the websites of 12 New York hospitals delivering ECT revealed no mention of brain damage as an adverse effect.

“It is long past time for the APA to denounce coercive practices that traumatize patients and, in the case of ECT, cause brain damage, memory loss and even death in the name of mental health treatment,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office in Washington. “Psychiatrists should not be exposing their patients to these unconscionable risks.”

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