CCHR was founded in 1969
by the Church of Scientology
and the internationally acclaimed author, Dr. Thomas Szasz,
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of
New York, Syracuse. At that time, the victims of psychiatry
were a forgotten minority group, warehoused under terrifying
conditions in institutions around the world. Because of this,
CCHR penned a Mental Health Declaration
of Human Rights that has served as its guide for mental
health reform. |
Dr. Thomas Szasz
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Acknowledged by the Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human
Rights Commission as responsible for “many great reforms”
that protect people from psychiatric abuse, CCHR has documented
thousands of individual cases that demonstrate psychiatric drugs
and often-brutal psychiatric practices create insanity and cause
violence. A major cause of the drug problem worldwide is the psychiatrist,
who for decades has used his influence as a medical doctor to push
extremely dangerous and addictive mind-altering drugs on persons
of all ages—some as young as one year old.
Since 1969, CCHR’s work has helped to save
the lives of millions and prevented needless suffering for millions
more. Many countries have now mandated informed consent for psychiatric
treatment and the right to legal representation, advocacy, recourse
and compensation for patients. In some countries, the use of psychosurgery
and electroshock on children is banned.
While CCHR does not provide medical or legal advice,
it works closely with attorneys and medical doctors and supports
medical, but not psychiatric, practices.
One of CCHR’s primarily concerns with psychiatry
is its unscientific diagnostic system. Unlike medical diagnosis,
psychiatrists categorize symptoms only, not disease. Jeffrey A.
Schaler, Ph.D., says, “The notion of scientific validity,
though not an act, is related to fraud. Validity refers to the extent
to which something represents or measures what it purports to represent
or measure. When diagnostic measures do not represent what they
purport to represent, we say that the measures lack validity...The
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) published by the
American Psychiatric Association…is notorious for low scientific
validity.”
Understanding this fraudulent diagnostic premise,
we can see why psychiatry and psychology, entrusted with billions
of dollars to eradicate the problems of the mind, have created and
perpetuated them. Their drug panaceas cause senseless acts of violence,
suicide, sexual dysfunction, irreversible nervous system damage,
hallucinations, apathy, irritability, anxiousness, psychosis and
death. And with virtually unrestrained psychiatric drugging of so
many of our schoolchildren, it is no surprise that the largest age
group of murderers today are our 15-to-19-year-olds.
CCHR’s members include prominent doctors,
lawyers, artists, educators, civil and human rights representatives
and professionals who see it as their duty to “expose and
help abolish any and all physically damaging practices in the field
of mental healing.” They work to accomplish these clearly
stated aims with many like-minded individuals and groups, including
politicians, teachers, health professionals, government and law
enforcement officers and media.
Today, 133
chapters strong in 34 countries, CCHR has established itself
as a powerful human rights advocacy group and each year presents
its Human Rights Awards to individuals who display exemplary courage
in the worldwide fight for the restoration of basic human rights
in the mental health area.
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