CCHR Protests Coercive Psychiatric Practices, Calls for Human Rights-Based Mental Health Treatment Based on Consent

Posted on June 2, 2025 by cchrstl

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights advocates for the adoption of international standards in the U.S. that call for ending involuntary mental health treatment and ensuring human rights in the field of mental health.

by  CCHR National Affairs Office

A coalition of human rights advocates, civil rights leaders, clergy, medical professionals, and attorneys, led by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), protested at the Los Angeles site of the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association to call for ending forced mental health treatment.  That behavioral treatment includes involuntary institutionalization, nonconsensual electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, or electroshock), forced drugging, and the use of restraints and seclusion.

The May 17 protest focused on the tragic deaths of people, especially young people, who died from mental health treatment involving restraints.  Among them were Ja’Ceon Terry, a 7-year-old who suffocated while being restrained at a residential behavioral treatment center in Kentucky, and Cornelius Frederick,16, who died after being restrained at a Michigan facility for youth with behavioral problems.

“Until coercive and deadly practices in mental health are prohibited, vulnerable individuals – especially children – will continue to suffer,” said Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International, speaking at the protest.

Rev. Fred Shaw, Jr., president of the Inglewood South Bay branch of the NAACP, spoke to the gathering about the disproportionate use of restraints on African Americans. Research has indicated that Black psychiatric inpatients are nearly twice as likely to be subjected to physical, mechanical, and chemical restraint compared to White patients and more likely to be restrained longer.

Guidance issued jointly in 2023 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) lays out steps towards ending coercive practices and “establishing mental health services that are respectful of human dignity and comply with international human rights norms and standards.” 

Those standards call for “free and informed consent as the basis of all mental health-related intervention,” as well as patients’ “effective and meaningful participation” in mental health treatment, according to the WHO/OHCHR guidance.

The World Psychiatric Association has committed to ending coercive practices, but the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has not yet come into alignment with this international standard.  CCHR has called on the APA to issue a formal statement in support of the elimination of coercive psychiatric practices and involuntary detentions.

During the protest, CCHR also pointed to the failure of massive federal mental health funding to reduce the U.S. suicide rate.  While mental health funding totaled some $329 billion in 2022, a 315% increase from 2000, the suicide rate hit a record high in 2022, a 37% increase since 2000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Over 49,000 people died by suicide in 2023, or one death every 11 minutes.

CCHR continues to call on Congress to redirect mental health funding to programs and services that provide effective help for Americans experiencing mental health issues.

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CCHR Promotes Human Rights During Mental Health Awareness Month

Posted on May 19, 2025 by cchrstl

Citizens Commission on Human Rights advocates the global adoption of international human rights standards that call for informed consent to mental health treatment and an end of coercive psychiatric practices.

by  CCHR National Affairs Office

During Mental Health Awareness Month, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is focusing on activities to ensure human rights in the field of mental health.  This advocacy is consistent with new calls from the World Health Organization (WHO) for human rights-based mental health treatment based on informed consent and ending coercive psychiatric practices.

As a major focus of its national efforts, CCHR has committed to raising awareness of the abusive and costly practice of detaining people against their will in psychiatric facilities.  Research indicates that involuntary psychiatric confinements have been increasing at  three times  the rate of the increase in population.  It has been estimated that four of every ten admissions to psychiatric facilities are involuntary, a figure that reportedly rose by 27% over the last decade, according to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors.

Media  investigations  and U.S. Justice Department  complaints  have alleged that patients have been wrongly committed to psychiatric facilities, given unnecessary treatment that has harmed them, and their insurance fraudulently billed.

CCHR chapters around the world have for years complained to the proper authorities on behalf of individuals reporting to the organization that they were wrongly committed to a psychiatric facility, forced to take psychiatric drugs, held for long periods of time, traumatized by circumstances in the facilities, and released in worse condition than when they were first detained.

To restore human rights to the field of mental health, CCHR is actively raising awareness of the  Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights  and calling for its global adoption.  This Declaration, like the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that inspired it, lays out fundamental human rights, but as specific to the field of mental health. These rights include the right to be treated with dignity, the right to fully informed consent to mental health treatment based on the full disclosure of risks, as well as the right to refuse consent and the right to know what alternative treatments are available. 

WHO’s recently issued  Guidance on Mental Health Policy and Strategic Action Plans  forwards the organization’s push in recent years for person-centered care, based on informed consent, to replace involuntary psychiatric practices, which it has found are ineffective and can be harmful to mental health. 

WHO further calls for an end to the overreliance on the biomedical model of psychiatry, which focuses on psychotropic drugs to reduce mental health symptoms, but ignores the important physical, social, and environmental factors that affect individuals’ mental health.  WHO is promoting a shift to “approaches that are more person-centred, recovery-oriented, and grounded in human rights.”

CCHR has  called on  the American Psychiatric Association to renounce coercive psychiatric practices, in line with international human rights standards.  These practices include involuntary institutionalization, involuntary medication, involuntary electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, or electroshock), and physical, chemical and mechanical restraint.

CCHR exposes psychiatric violations of human rights through its traveling exhibit, displayed at venues that have included the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation annual legislative conference in Washington, DC.  Research has  found  that people transported against their will for psychiatric evaluation are disproportionately Black people.

Most recently, CCHR provided testimony for a Maryland bill, now passed into law, that  prohibits  young people from being picked up in the middle of the night and having blindfolds, zip ties, and leather straps used on them during transport to residential behavioral treatment programs by for-profit transport services.  Paris Hilton, who also testified in support of the bill, has been active in exposing the harm from residential treatment facilities and the transport services taking children to them, after being traumatized in such programs and transport as a teen.

To track the nation’s progress in eliminating unnecessary involuntary institutionalization and treatment, CCHR is calling for the national collection of data related to coerced psychiatric treatment.  CCHR continues to advocate for laws to ensure human rights in the mental health system.

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Maryland Governor Signs CCHR-Supported Legislation to Protect Troubled Youth from Abusive Transport to For-Profit Residential Behavioral Treatment Programs

Posted on May 12, 2025 by cchrstl

Maryland legislators took action after receiving reports of abuse during the largely unregulated transport of young people to residential behavioral treatment programs. The programs themselves have been the subject of investigations that found rampant physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of the children and teens residing there.

by  CCHR National Affairs Office

Maryland Governor Wes Moore has signed a bill intended to prevent the trauma inflicted by the use of blindfolds, zip ties, and leather straps on young people being transported to residential behavioral treatment programs by for-profit youth transport services.  The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) National Affairs Office provided testimony in support of the bill, which passed in both chambers of the Maryland legislature last month. 

Paris Hilton, who also provided testimony in support of the bill, has been active in exposing the harm from youth transport services after reportedly having suffered during a transport incident as a teen. Maryland Senate Bill 400, the Preventing Abduction in Youth Transport Act, prohibits the use of visual impairment, as with blindfolds and hoods, and mechanical restraint, as with handcuffs, belts, leather straps, and zip ties, of children during transport.

Physical restraint, including holds or other use of physical force to restrict a child’s freedom of movement, may only be used if there is a substantial likelihood of imminent serious physical harm to the child or others, and there are no less restrictive alternatives that would handle the situation.  Physical restraint is expressly prohibited as punishment or for the convenience of the transport company staff. 

Children being transported to residential behavioral treatment programs may not be picked up overnight between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., under provisions of the bill.

Now signed into law, the bill also enables the state attorney general to take legal action against companies found to have violated the law and enables those harmed during transport to sue for civil damages. 

The residential behavioral treatment programs for children referred to in the bill include wilderness and boot camp programs, behavioral modification schools, and other residential treatment facilities to which young people with behavioral or substance abuse problems may be sent by their parents.

Paris Hilton, who has been a strong advocate of reforms in the largely unregulated troubled teen industry, testified before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee about her experience at age 16 of being grabbed in the middle of the night by two large men who handcuffed her, shoved her in the back seat of a car, refused to answer her questions, and delivered her to a program where she says she endured further abuse.

Youth residential treatment programs have come under increasing scrutiny due to reports of rampant physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of youth in the programs. 

A 2007 investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which resulted in death.  However, the GAO was unable to determine the scope of abuse, reporting that “GAO could not identify a more concrete number of allegations because it could not locate a single website, federal agency, or other entity that collects comprehensive nationwide data.”

More recently, a 2022 report from the National Disability Rights Network detailed extensive abuse of youth in for-profit residential treatment facilities that is “current, ongoing, and is not limited to any one corporation or geographic region.”

Yet, reports of abuse in youth residential treatment facilities and programs continue. “What is truly troubling is that, despite the mounting evidence of pervasive and systematic mistreatment, the troubled teen industry continues to perpetrate these harms, collect profits, and evade comprehensive oversight,” according to The Regulatory Review, a publication of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania.

“The Maryland bill is an important first step in protecting emotionally stressed young people by reining in the traumatic experience of being forcibly transported to youth residential treatment programs,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office.

“But much more needs to be done to protect troubled children and teens from harmful practices and abuse in programs that claim to be providing treatment for their mental health issues,” she added. “We need to uphold the human rights of these young people to dignity and safety and ensure they are getting real help.”

This is an updated version of the post originally published February 19, 2025 as “CCHR Supports Legislation to Protect Troubled Youth in Maryland from Abusive Transport to For-Profit Residential Behavioral Treatment Programs.”

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CCHR Calls on FDA to Update Antidepressant Prescribing Information for Increased Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death

Posted on May 5, 2025 by cchrstl

New research shows antidepressants substantially increase the risk of heart-related sudden death. Citizens Commission on Human Rights calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to update medication guides to reflect this risk.

by  CCHR National Affairs Office

A new study finds that antidepressant use substantially increases the risk of sudden cardiac death.  Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to update antidepressants prescribing information and medication guides to fully disclose this increased risk.

At a recent scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology, researchers presented study findings showing that those who use antidepressants have an increased risk of sudden cardiac death, compared with the general population with no history of antidepressant use.  The risk varied with age and the length of time antidepressants were used.

The researchers examined all deaths in Denmark in 2010, identifying those whose death certificates or autopsy reports indicated sudden cardiac death.  They further identified those who filled a prescription for an antidepressant at least twice in a year during the 12-year period prior to 2010.

They found that compared with the general population not using antidepressants, those using antidepressants for 1 to 5 years increased their risk of cardiac sudden death by 56%.  Those using the drugs for 6 years or more had a 2.2 times greater risk.

“Exposure time to antidepressants was associated with a higher risk of sudden cardiac death, and linked to how long the person had been exposed to antidepressants,” according to study co-author Dr. Jasmin Mujkanovic at Rigshospitlet Hjertecentret in Copenhagen, as quoted in a European Society of Cardiology press release.

“Those exposed [to antidepressants] for 6 years or more were at even more increased risk than those exposed for 1 to 5 years, when compared with people unexposed to antidepressants in the general population,” he continued. 

Among 30- to 39-year-olds, those who used antidepressants for 1-5 years had a three times greater risk of sudden cardiac death than non-users in the general population, a risk that rose to five times higher at 6 or more years of use.

For 50- to 59-year-olds, antidepressant use for 1 to 5 years doubled their risk of sudden cardiac death, while 6 or more years of use had a four times higher risk, compared with non-users in the general population.

Only 18- to 29-year-olds had no statistically significant association with a higher risk of sudden cardiac death.  The study was also published in Heart, the journal of the British Cardiovascular Society.

Another recent study investigated the effect of depression and antidepressants on seven cardiovascular conditions: arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation (AFib), coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke, and cardiovascular diseases as a group.

They found that the use of antidepressants increased the risk of atrial fibrillation and stroke by 44% each; arrhythmias by 28%; coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and heart failure by 16% each; and overall cardiovascular disease by 35%.  They concluded that the association of depression with these cardiovascular diseases is primarily accounted for by depressed patients’ use of antidepressants, not from depression itself.

“We call on the FDA to require antidepressant manufacturers to update the information provided to prescribers and patients to warn of the potential risks of sudden cardiac death and other life-threatening cardiovascular events from the use of these drugs,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office.  “Consumers have a right to know the full extent of the potential dangers of antidepressants.”

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

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Hallucinogen Use Leading to Hospital Visit More Than Doubles Risk of Premature Death, New Research Indicates

Posted on April 28, 2025 by cchrstl

A new study has found that needing acute care after hallucinogen use is associated with a significantly increased risk of death within 5 years, especially from suicide, compared with the general population.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

Hallucinogen use that leads to an emergency hospital visit or hospital admission is linked to an increased risk of premature death compared to the general population, according new research published in the Canadian Medical Association journal, MAJ.  In particular, the risk of death by suicide increased five-fold for those needing acute care after using hallucinogens.

The study, conducted by Canadian researchers at the University of Ottawa, analyzed health records of over 11 million people aged 15 and older living in Ontario, Canada, among whom nearly 8,000 received acute hospital care after hallucinogen use.  The researchers noted that prior to their investigation, there were no high-quality studies with large sample sizes that evaluated whether hallucinogen use may increase the risk of death.  Hallucinogens include dissociative drugs, like ketamine, and psychedelics, like psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA (ecstasy). 

The researchers found that an emergency department visit or hospital admission for acute care involving hallucinogens was associated with a 2.6 times greater risk of death from any cause within 5 years compared with the general population.  The risk of premature death from cancer, respiratory disease, and unintentional drug poisoning more than doubled relative to the general population, but the risk of dying from suicide increased more than 5 times. 

“In this population-based study of 11.4 million people, acute care for hallucinogens was associated with a markedly increased risk of death compared with the general population of people of the same age and sex,” they wrote.  Why this happens has not been well investigated, the researchers noted.

Further, they warned about the lack of research investigating the harms of hallucinogens, observing that “major gaps exist in our understanding of associated risks.”  They urged further research on the harms, especially in light of the rapid rise in the use of hallucinogens.  The increased use of hallucinogens in the U.S. is especially notable in the range of 6.7% to 10.5% of younger adults aged 19-30 reporting hallucinogen use, according to the 2024 Monitoring the Future Panel Study Annual Report.

The weakness of scientific evidence to date on the safety and effectiveness of psychedelics was the subject of a 2024 analysis by U.S. and European university researchers, published in the British medical journal, The BMJ.  They noted that such factors as study designs, short study time frames, and the lack of study participants who have not already taken psychedelics weaken the results of existing psychedelic research findings. 

They recommended research to specifically investigate and identify adverse events from psychedelics use, which may have been downplayed when earlier studies were published.  “While some of these events were observed during drug development, suboptimal reporting of safety issues in journal publications may have led to underestimation” of the harms, they wrote.

The researchers also expressed concern over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) speeding up the drug review and approval process, despite a lack of strong evidence of safety and effectiveness, for hallucinogens designated as breakthrough therapies.

Still further, hallucinogens are psychoactive drugs that cause altered perceptions, thoughts, and moods, raising yet another safety concern.  “Mind altering drugs place patients in a state of heightened vulnerability and potentially increased risk of harm,” the researchers wrote.

They cite as an example the allegations of therapists sexually assaulting a user during a clinical trial of MDMA (ecstasy).  “That such events occurred in closely monitored clinical trials, where best practices are theoretically ensured, is particularly concerning,” they wrote.

Such adverse events raise even more serious concerns about the street use of hallucinogens, which would likely proliferate if the drugs are eventually approved by the FDA, regardless of whether the approval is limited to supervised settings. 

“The fact that psychiatric drugs have failed for many as mental health treatment is no reason to rush into hallucinogens when safety concerns have not been thoroughly researched, especially when studies exist indicating potential increased risks of serious, even deadly outcomes from hallucinogen use,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the National Affairs Office of Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

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Oops, I Did It Again

Posted on April 22, 2025 by cchrstl

There is little value in making mistakes, yet contemporary psychology and psychiatry apparently lauds them in the idea that they present valuable opportunities for learning.

Sure, one can take the opportunity to find out what caused the mistake, correct it, and take steps to prevent it happening again. One should certainly do this. We may think less of someone who will not do this.

On the other hand, one should also ask why these steps were not taken previously, in order to prevent any possibility of a mistake.

How did it come to pass that one made a mistake in the first place? Obviously one had not learned something to begin with.

To be sure, a person who makes the same mistake again and again is demonstrating that they cannot learn from their mistakes and should be removed from the area. Illiteracy is a primary cause of an individual who cannot learn from their mistakes.

The prevailing sentiment is that mistakes are a normal part of the human condition. The better option is simply not to make mistakes. If one does not make mistakes, then there is no value to making them.

However, mistakes ARE going to be made. Knowing what mistakes are, how they might happen, where they might come from, and how to deal with them, are all vital things to know.

The English word “mistake” has multiple definitions:
— something that has been done in the wrong way
— an opinion or statement that is incorrect
— something done that is not sensible
— something done that has a bad result
— to misunderstand something
— to be wrong about something.

[late Middle English, from Old Norse mistaka “take in error”, probably influenced by Old French mesprendre (wrongly take) “to misunderstand”.]

The Psychiatric Connection

In psychiatric circles, “fear of making mistakes” is a big topic linked with fraudulent diagnoses of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Neuropsychiatry tries to blame mistakes on the brain, labeling it “Error-Related Negativity”, a euphemism to make it sound more scientific than it actually is.

Other psychiatric efforts call mistakes “Cognitive Distortions” or “Cognitive Errors”.

These psychiatric conjectures lead to the mistaken idea that when fear of mistakes becomes excessive and interferes with daily functioning, this may indicate some underlying psychiatric condition (“disorder”) that can be “treated” with psychiatric drugs or other harmful psychiatric “treatments.”

Additionally, psychiatric drugs themselves can have adverse side effects that impair cognitive function, contributing to an increased risk of making mistakes.

Examples of common mistake conditions that can result from such psychiatric interference are: driving accidents, workplace accidents, risky behaviors, poor judgment, emotional dysregulation leading to interpersonal upsets. The same things can happen from substance abuse with illegal drugs as well as with legal prescription drugs. Hallucinogenic drugs, a growing area of psychiatric interest, can also lead to a heightened risk of mistakes due to hallucinations, flashbacks and other adverse side effects.

Psychiatry has assumed they are in charge of diagnosing and treating substance abuse, with disastrous consequences, as they often treat this condition with more drugs instead of handling the root causes of addiction. Trauma is another area infiltrated by psychiatry, as well as so-called attention deficit conditions; these may have significant risk of mistakes being made.

We need a better view of the various conditions that lead to mistakes and how to effectively deal with people who make mistakes, and not from any psychiatric point of view which typically leads to abusive treatments such as harmful psychoactive drugs.

Causes of Mistakes

The first thing to know is that making a mistake is not a mental illness, and psychiatrists have no cure for such a condition in any case.

The second thing to know is that there is not just one single cause of all mistakes; many different conditions can lead to a mistake, or at least a greater risk of making a mistake.

The Antisocial Personality

People who have antisocial tendencies, and the people close around them who are disturbed or agitated because of this, are one of the main enablers of mistakes. Surrounding such people there is often a disturbed, agitated or turbulent environment, which is distracting enough to cause someone near it to make a mistake.

Attention Failures

More generally, any conditions which interfere with one’s ability to pay attention can be a ripe environment for making mistakes. For example, a person under duress may have their attention compromised and thus be susceptible to mistakes. A person who lacks the ability to observe what is going on around them, or who is unaware they are being fed insufficient, faulty, or illogical data can make mistakes.

The psychiatric billing bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (current version DSM-5-TR), specifically calls out mistakes in its diagnostic criteria for so-called Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): “Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, at work, or during other activities (e.g., overlooks or misses details, work is inaccurate).”

Notice, however, that the application of this psychiatric diagnosis is an opinion; there is no clinical test for it, and likewise no psychiatric cure. The usual drug treatments are stimulants, amphetamines or other psychiatric drugs designed to shock one into focusing attention, but which have known side effects of violence and suicide.

As a root cause, a person may have barriers that prevent or inhibit effective use of attention, but these have non-psychiatric-drug solutions. An often unsuspected cause of attention issues is illiteracy or study problems. The many side effects of reading and comprehension difficulties are a main barrier to one’s ability to focus attention.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is there are actions one can take to proactively proof oneself and others against any tendency to make mistakes, in addition to the usual exhortations to “learn from them” after the fact. Pretty much any non-drug, non-psychiatric methods to enhance one’s awareness, one’s literacy, one’s ability to observe, to recognize the lack of data or the presence of faulty data, to limit one’s exposure to antisocial persons or other duress, will help.

So go forth without any fear of making a mistake; resolve to proof yourself against them.

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New Research Finds an Increased Risk of Osteoporosis and Bone Fractures from Antidepressants

Posted on March 17, 2025 by cchrstl

New study indicates that osteoporosis and bone fractures are significant potential risks of using antidepressants.  Citizens Commission on Human Rights calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to update antidepressants prescribing information and medication guides to reflect these research findings and raise awareness.

by CCHR National Affairs Office 

New research has found that the use of antidepressants is associated with a significantly increased risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures in women.  Using more than one antidepressant and antidepressant use longer than one year were associated with an even greater risk.  The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to update antidepressants prescribing information to reflect these research findings and encourages women to discuss any concerns with their prescribers.

Osteoporosis is a medical condition that weakens bones and increases the risk of bone fractures, with around 80% of cases occurring in women.  While it is generally accepted that depression negatively affects bone density, the mechanism leading to the bone deterioration remains unclear, according to researchers at the University of Qatar, who conducted a study to determine whether antidepressant use could be a mechanism.

Using data from 30,149 adult women in the U.S. who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2020, researchers found significantly higher risks of osteoporosis and bone fractures among women using any class of antidepressants. 

“The results indicate that antidepressant use, irrespective of class, was associated with a 44% increase in the odds of osteoporosis,” they reported, while “the odds of fractures were elevated by 62%.”

Using more than one antidepressant increased the risk of osteoporosis even more, and so did taking an antidepressant long-term.  “The odds of developing osteoporosis increased by 6% for every additional year of antidepressants use, regardless of the antidepressant class,” the researchers wrote.

They also warned that a public health issue may be developing.  The study found that phenylpiperazines, a class of antidepressants that has been replacing prescriptions of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants, had the strongest association with osteoporosis and nearly the strongest association with fractures among all classes of antidepressants.  This led the researchers to warn that an increasing number of prescriptions for phenylpiperazines “potentially rais[es] serious public health concerns.”

Because current guidelines for osteoporosis treatment do not address the potential of an increased risk of osteoporosis from using antidepressants, the researchers called for raised awareness of the issue.

“Our findings underscore the need for heightened awareness of the adverse effects of antidepressants on bone health, particularly in adult women,” they concluded.  The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

CCHR has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to update antidepressants prescribing information and medication guides to reflect recent research findings, including an increased risk of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases,  sexual dysfunction that can be permanent, problems for babies born to mothers using antidepressants, and withdrawal symptoms when quitting, even if tapering off the drugs.

Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office, said, “With studies continuing to reveal the potential risks of serious side effects from antidepressant use,  prescribers have a duty to discuss these risks with their patients. By updating the prescribing information and medication guides, the FDA will help ensure that prescribers and patients know these risks.”

A common reason for prescribing antidepressants – to correct a supposed lack of the brain chemical serotonin – was found to lack a clear scientific basis, after a comprehensive review of prior research failed to find sufficient evidence to support the theory.  Researchers in that study called into question the prescribing of antidepressants.  Some 45 million Americans are currently prescribed these psychiatric drugs.

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

“The growing evidence of risks from antidepressants and the rising rates of depression, suicide, and other mental health issues add to the urgency of implementing more non-drug solutions that address the root causes of the emotional distress people experience,” Goedeke said.

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CCHR Supports Legislation to Protect Troubled Youth in Maryland from Abusive Transport to For-Profit Residential Behavioral Treatment Programs

Posted on March 3, 2025 by cchrstl

Maryland legislators take action after receiving reports of abuse during the largely unregulated transport of young people to private residential behavioral programs. The programs themselves have been the subject of investigations that found rampant physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of the children and teens residing there.

by CCHR National Affairs Office 

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) has provided testimony in support of a bill in the Maryland legislature intended to prevent the trauma inflicted by the use of blindfolds, zip ties, and leather straps on young people being transported to private residential behavioral health programs by for-profit youth transport services.  Paris Hilton, who also provided testimony in support of the bill, has been active in exposing the harm from youth transport services after reportedly having suffered during a transport incident as a teen.

Maryland House Bill 497, the Preventing Abduction in Youth Transport Act, would restrict visual impairment, as with blindfolds and hoods, and physical restraint, as with handcuffs, belts, leather straps, and zip ties, of youth during transport.  The bill also prohibits picking up the youth overnight between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

The bill further prohibits the use of physical restraints for punishment or for the convenience of the transporting staff.  It enables the state attorney general to take legal action against companies found to have violated the law and enables those harmed during transport to sue for civil damages.  An identical bill has been introduced in the Maryland Senate.

The private residential youth programs referred to in the bill include wilderness and boot camp programs, behavioral modification schools, and other residential treatment facilities to which young people with behavioral or substance abuse problems may be sent by their parents.

Paris Hilton, who has been a strong advocate of reforms in the largely unregulated troubled teen industry, testified before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee about her experience at age 16 of being grabbed in the middle of the night by two large men who handcuffed her, shoved her in the back seat of a car, refused to answer her questions, and delivered her to a program where she says she endured further abuse.

Youth residential treatment programs have come under increasing scrutiny due to reports of rampant physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of youth in the programs. 

A 2007 investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which resulted in death.  However, the GAO was unable to determine the scope of abuse, reporting that “GAO could not identify a more concrete number of allegations because it could not locate a single Web site, federal agency, or other entity that collects comprehensive nationwide data.”  

More recently, a 2022 report from the National Disability Rights Network detailed extensive abuse of youth in for-profit residential treatment facilities that is “current, ongoing, and is not limited to any one corporation or geographic region.” 

Yet, reports of abuse in youth residential treatment facilities and programs continue.  “What is truly troubling is that, despite the mounting evidence of pervasive and systematic mistreatment, the troubled teen industry continues to perpetrate these harms, collect profits, and evade comprehensive oversight,” according to The Regulatory Review, a publication of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania.

“The Maryland bill is an important first step in protecting emotionally stressed young people by reining in the traumatic experience of being forcibly transported to youth residential treatment programs,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office. 

“But much more needs to be done to protect troubled children and teens from harmful practices and abuse in programs that claim to be providing treatment for their mental health issues,” she added.  “We need to uphold the human right to dignity and safety of these young people and ensure they are getting real help.”

In addition to providing supportive written and oral testimony for committee hearings on the proposed Maryland legislation, CCHR called for an amendment to add the prohibition of chemical restraint, as young people have reported being injected with psychiatric drugs during transport to residential programs.

For the identical Maryland House and Senate bills to advance, they must get favorable reports from the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Finance Committee, respectively, before moving on to votes by the whole House and Senate.

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CCHR Calls on Healthcare Providers to Stop Promoting Scientifically Unsupported Theory of Brain Chemical Imbalance Causing Depression

Posted on February 17, 2025 by cchrstl

New research finds healthcare providers are prime promoters of the unproven theory, which influences the prescribing of antidepressants as treatment for depressed people.  Citizens Commission on Human Rights calls for an end to the continuing use of this misinformation.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

A new study reveals healthcare providers’ prime role in promoting and perpetuating the scientifically unsupported notion that a chemical imbalance in the brain causes depression.  This misinformation can interfere with treatment decisions for depressed people by encouraging a preference for antidepressants to fix the supposed imbalance instead of non-drug treatments that may be just as effective for many people, the researchers say.

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) calls on healthcare providers to stop promoting the theory which, while lacking scientific validity, continues to fuel the rampant prescribing of antidepressants in the U.S.  Some 45 million Americans are currently prescribed antidepressants.

To find out where the chemical imbalance beliefs come from, a team of academic researchers surveyed over 1,200 students at three U.S. universities about where they had heard the chemical imbalance explanation.  Most had heard about it from the classroom, Internet/media, other people, and healthcare providers.  However, only hearing about it from healthcare providers (primarily doctors and therapists) was associated with the students believing that explanation.

“These results suggest that healthcare providers play an important role in the dissemination of the chemical imbalance message, which is an oversimplified, scientifically controversial, and potentially treatment-interfering narrative,” wrote Hans Schroder, PhD, a clinical assistant professor in the psychiatry department at the University of Michigan Medical School and lead author of the study.

The findings suggest that “providers may have shared/implied that a chemical imbalance is a reasonable, scientifically legitimate way of understanding depression,” Schroder wrote, rather than more accurately conveying that “this is an outdated, unsupported, and far too simplistic explanation of depression, or offering a more nuanced explanation of depression.” The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychology.

A landmark study published in 2022 established that the theory of a low level of a brain chemical (serotonin) causing depression has no scientific basis.

“The serotonin theory of depression has been one of the most influential and extensively researched biological theories of the origins of depression,” the researchers reported. “Our study shows that this view is not supported by scientific evidence. It also calls into question the basis for the use of antidepressants.”

Taking antidepressants exposes the users to the potential risks of side effects that include emotional blunting, sexual dysfunction that may be long-lasting or even permanent, stroke, heart disease, suicidal thoughts and actions, and violence.

When quitting antidepressants, patients may experience withdrawal symptoms that can be debilitating and long-lasting.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights calls on healthcare providers to stop promoting the misinformation of a chemical imbalance causing depression.  CCHR encourages patients to discuss any concerns about antidepressants with their prescribers, as well as to discuss potential evidence-based alternatives.

Anyone wishing to discontinue or change the dose of an antidepressant is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a physician because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms or other complications.

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New Research Links Antidepressants to Lower Levels of Nutrients in Mothers’ Milk

Posted on February 10, 2025 by cchrstl

The new study adds to the medical literature linking pregnant women’s use of antidepressants to possible harm to their newborns. Citizens Commission on Human Rights encourages women to discuss any concerns with their prescribers.

by CCHR National Affairs Office

A new study has linked mothers’ use of antidepressants with lower levels of nutrients in their maternal milk, which could negatively affect infant growth and present health risks for breastfed infants, according to the researchers conducting the study. The study found that while the mothers’ average nutrient levels were still within normal range, some individual samples had much lower levels of some nutrients. 

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) says the new research adds to the medical literature indicating the possible harm of antidepressants to pregnant women and their babies and encourages patients to discuss any concerns with their prescribers.

Noting that breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of an infant’s life because of the protein and other nutrients in mother’s milk, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, collected and analyzed milk samples to determine if the mothers’ use of antidepressants or other prescription drugs altered the nutrient levels in maternal milk. Researchers wrote that the study, published in JAMA Network Open, was the first to investigate the association of prescription drugs with the composition of human milk.

In samples of maternal milk collected from 63 mothers using SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressants and 20 mothers using other types of antidepressants, researchers found that protein levels on average were 15% and 21% lower, respectively, than in samples from mothers not using the drugs.  The average levels of carbohydrates, fats, and total energy in the milk indicated less effect.

The researchers reported that nutrient levels were still within a normal range, though some individual samples had “concerningly low levels” of some nutrients.  They advised that further research was needed to rule out other factors that could impact nutrient levels. 

The study adds to other research indicating potentially increased risks from the use of antidepressants during pregnancy. Recent research has indicated that pregnant women’s use of antidepressants is significantly associated with a higher risk of adverse birth outcomes, such as pre-term delivery, low birth weight, and admissions to neonatal intensive care units, irrespective of the type of antidepressant prescribed and the duration and trimester of use of the drug. Prenatal exposure to antidepressants is also associated with newborns experiencing neonatal withdrawal syndrome, which one study found to occur in 30% of newborns exposed to SSRI antidepressants in the womb.

The rationale for prescribing antidepressants – to correct a supposed chemical imbalance in the brain – has been questioned by researchers who conducted a comprehensive review, which for the first time integrated all relevant research, to evaluate whether scientific evidence supported the theory that a low level of the brain chemical serotonin caused depression. They concluded it did not.

“The serotonin theory of depression has been one of the most influential and extensively researched biological theories of the origins of depression,” the researchers reported. “Our study shows that this view is not supported by scientific evidence. It also calls into question the basis for the use of antidepressants.” 

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights encourages patients to discuss any concerns about the risks of antidepressants with their prescribers, as well as to discuss potential evidence-based alternatives.

Anyone wishing to discontinue or change the dose of an antidepressant is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a physician because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms or other complications.

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