During “Mental Illness Awareness Week” starting October 2, CCHR, a mental health industry watchdog, issues “FACTS TO KNOW ABOUT PSYCHIATRY” as a resource for consumers, media and politicians, detailing restraint homicides of children in behavioral facilities, and millions of Americans facing addiction, violence and suicide from psychotropic drug use.

By Jan Eastgate
President CCHR International
September 30, 2022

The theme of Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) in 2022 (2-8 October) is “What I Wish I Had Known,” but because information is skewed by pharmaceutical-company-funded “mental health” groups, CCHR compiled “Facts to Know About Psychiatry” that are not otherwise addressed during the week. U.S. authorities need to know about the abysmal failure of psychiatric treatments in preventing or “curing” mental ill-health and how these cause physical harm and deaths.  Highlighting this is the tragic and shocking death of Ja’Ceon Terry, a 7-year-old foster care child who was restrained and killed at Brooklawn psychiatric residential center in Louisville, Kentucky on July 17, 2022. In September, the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, finding he had been suffocated.[1]

It is the second high-profile death of an African American foster child in psychiatric institutions in recent years. In April 2020, 16-year-old Cornelius Frederick was restrained at a behavioral center in Michigan, which led to his death. A medical examiner also ruled it a homicide resulting in criminal charges filed against three staff, with one already sentenced.[2]

Ja’Ceon’s grandfather wants the staffers involved in his death to face jail time. “He’s 7 years old. He couldn’t have been too strong for two adults to handle,” George Terry told media.[3] CCHR has filed complaints with the Kentucky governor, Attorney General and health authorities calling for justice for the boy.  

In 1990, Congress decreed the first week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week. World Mental Health Day on October 10 was started by the pharmaceutical-company-funded World Federation for Mental Health. WFMH was formed in 1948, arising from WWII and the need to protect psychiatry’s reputation after Nazi psychiatry’s euthanasia program and 50 years of eugenics. The organization asserted itself as “leaders in the planned development of a new kind of human being,” in the words of WFMH co-founder and Canadian military psychiatrist G. Brock Chisholm.[4] One of the WFMH’s first reports espoused Chisholm’s beliefs: “…[T]he family is now one of the major obstacles to improved mental health, and hence should be weakened, if possible, so as to free individuals and especially children from the coercion of family life.”^[5] 

As such, the information imparted in the name of mental illness awareness is often biased in favor of biological psychiatry and increasing funds to psychiatric practices that have a history of being coercive and harmful. 

Governments keep investing billions of dollars into psychiatry to improve conditions that psychiatrists admit they cannot cure. Promises are repeatedly made to improve the mental health of the country, including for its children, but the opposite has occurred. The rate of mental illness keeps soaring, and with it, demands for a blank check for more funding.

What to Know:

• Some 37.5% of child or adolescent inpatients in mental health facilities in the U.S. have been secluded or restrained.[6]

• In 82% of 61 restraint deaths reported in the National Review of Restraint-Related Deaths, restraint either directly or indirectly contributed to the person’s death.[7]

• Involuntary hospitalizations are estimated to account for about 54% of admissions to U.S. psychiatric inpatient settings.[8] This is despite United Nations Human Rights bodies and the World Health Organization condemning coercive psychiatric practices and calling for an end to involuntary detainment, and treatment or restraints without consent, as such practices constitute torture.

Know About Psychiatric Treatment Causes Deaths

• During a 40-year period (1950-1990), nearly twice as many Americans died in government psychiatric hospitals as American soldiers killed in battle in all wars the U.S. has fought in since 1776, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

• In 2021, Brown University’s “Costs of War” report revealed more veterans in the wars against terrorism have killed themselves than those who died in combat—30,177 active-duty personnel and post-9/11 veterans have died by suicide, significantly more than the 7,057 service members killed in post-9/11 war operations.[9]  

• Psychotropic drugs can make people nearly six times more likely to kill themselves. And having spent time in the previous year in a psychiatric hospital can make individuals over 44 times more likely to kill themselves.[10]

• In the general population, those taking antidepressants have a 33% higher risk of dying prematurely than people who are not taking the drugs.[11]

• Serotonin syndrome is an increasingly common adverse drug reaction in SSRI antidepressants, which can be fatal. This can occur within 6 to 8 hours of initiating or increasing the dosage.[12]Moderate symptoms include agitation, restlessness and in severe cases, confusion, disorientation, delirium, and rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, and seizures.[13] 

• A majority of antidepressant prescriptions are written by general practitioners.[14] Per one survey, 85% of GPS were not even familiar serotonin syndrome as a risk.[15]

• It is a well-guarded secret how many people are killed by psychiatric drugs. This has been obscured in many ways. Only about half the suicides and other deaths that occur in psychiatric drug trials are published, according to researcher Peter Gøtzsche, M.D., author of Deadly Medicines and Organized Crime: How big pharma has corrupted healthcare.[16]

• Neuroleptics (meaning “nerve-seizing”) such as antipsychotics, are very toxic and likely the deadliest of all psychiatric drugs.[17]

• A potentially fatal effect of antipsychotics is “neuroleptic malignant syndrome” (NMS), a toxic reaction where patients break into fevers and become confused, agitated and extremely rigid. An estimated 100,000 Americans have died from this.[18] 

• Today, there is an estimated 10 to 20% mortality rate in those taking antipsychotics experiencing NMS. It can occur after a single dose or after treatment at the same dose for many years. [19]

No Science to Psychiatric Diagnosing

• Underpinning psychiatrists, psychologists, and even general practitioners screening for mental disorders and prescribing psychotropic drugs is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. The fifth revision published in 2013 raked in $20 million in sales in its first year—more than double the entire sales for the third edition in 1990, which was $9.3 million.[20] What is clear is that these have not advanced any understanding of “mental illness.” 

• The fact is, all mental disorders contained within DSM are decided by psychiatrists voting on what is, or is not, considered a disorder. The system is fraught with risks because of its subjectivity, unreliability and lack of science. Thomas Insel, former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) dispensed with DSM when he stated: “The weakness is its lack of validity. Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma, or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure.”[21]

• Based on an unproven biological premise to “mental disorder,” the number of prescriptions for psychiatric drugs (i.e., sedatives, antidepressants, psychostimulants, and antipsychotics) increased 210% between 1999 (197,247,557 prescriptions) and 2018 (611,780,251 prescriptions) at a cost of over $29 billion.[22] Yet, during the same period, America’s population increased by only 17%.[23]

• Today, more than 24% of Americans are taking prescription psychiatric drugs —1 out of every 4 people over the age of 18.[24]

Children Targeted for Psychotropic Drugs

• 6.1 million 0-17 year-olds are prescribed potentially dangerous psychiatric drugs, of which 418,425 are aged five or younger.
• 3,155,441: Prescribed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) drugs such as stimulants and amphetamines (0-5: 58,091)
• 2,154,118: Antidepressants (0-5: 35,216)
• 1,153,351: Anti-Anxiety drugs (sedatives, benzodiazepines; 0-5: 233,125)
• 829,372: Antipsychotics (0-5: 30,632)
• 794,715: Mood stabilizers (0-5: 100,233)[25]

• With one in five high school boys and one in 11 girls now labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)—despite no medical tests to confirm the diagnosis—the U.S. accounts for about 92% of worldwide expenditures for drugs used to treat this.[26]

• The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says methylphenidate (Ritalin, etc.) prescribed to treat ADHD can lead to addiction and that “psychotic episodes, violent behavior and bizarre mannerisms have been reported” with its use. The manufacturer of Ritalin admits it is a drug of dependency.[27]  It has a mechanism of action similar to cocaine.[28]

• The DEA classifies Ritalin and other ADHD drugs in the same class of highly addictive drugs as cocaine, morphine and opium—they are listed as Schedule II drugs, which have the highest potential for abuse. Ritalin is also  referred to as “Kiddy Cocaine.” There are 31 drug regulatory agency warnings and at least 20 studies that confirm that such drugs, which include Adderall and Concerta, can cause heart problems, stunted growth, seizures, anxiety, suicide, violence, depression, mania, psychosis, hallucinations and death.[29]

• The rate of ADHD in the U.S. tripled to a ridiculously inflated 11%. Sales of ADHD drugs approached an “obscenely profitable $10 billion a year,” according to Allen Frances, DSM-IV Task Force chairman and professor emeritus of psychiatry. Yet, “There are no objective tests in psychiatry—no X-ray, laboratory or exam finding that says definitively that someone does or does not have a mental disorder…,” he said.[30]

• A Western Australian study, the world’s first long-term data review of those taking psychostimulants found they were 10.5 times more likely to fail to reach an age-appropriate educational standard than children diagnosed with ADHD but never medicated.[31]

Psychotropic Drugs Create Violence & Suicide

• Worldwide over 100 million people take antidepressants, with around 1 in every 100, or 1 million, ​becoming violent or suicidal.[32]
• Of 634 drug regulatory agency warnings about psychiatric drugs:
  • 70 report self-harm or suicide/suicidal ideation
  • 49 warn of violence, mania, psychosis or homicide
  • 31 are for aggression and hostility
  • 37 are for addiction or withdrawal effects
  • 28 are linked to Serotonin Syndrome with antidepressant use and marked by symptoms that include agitation, restlessness and confusion
  • 51 warn of death or increased risk of death 
  • 129 are for cardiovascular disorders or other heart problems.

• 15 courts of law around the world have attributed homicidal behavior to a defendant’s use of antidepressants.[33]

• Between 2015 and 2020, suicide attempts using chemicals, including antipsychotics, soared by 28% among those aged 6 to 9 years old.[34]

• 11 million Americans (of which over 829,000 are aged 0-17) take antipsychotics, of which 20%-50% (2.2 – 5.5 million) could develop an iatrogenic, drug-induced movement disorder, tardive dyskinesia, TD (tardive, meaning “late” and dyskinesia meaning, “abnormal movement of muscles”).[35]TD has also been linked to antidepressants, mood stabilizers and stimulants.[36]

• Withdrawal: Around 56% of people experience withdrawal effects after discontinuing antidepressants.[37] Side effects include: include insomnia, stomach problems, headaches, panic attacks, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, mania, depersonalization and depression.[38] Persistent withdrawal effects can occur six weeks after cessation of taking SSRI antidepressants, but “may last several months to years.”[39]

Mental Health Screening: Misdiagnosis and Conduit for Drugs

• Mental health screening is now embedded in many sectors in society, becoming a cultural phenomenon despite how arbitrary it is. According to Peter Gøtzsche, M.D. “…the sure way of making us all crazy is to screen for mental disorders,” because “The science related to screening for depression is of appallingly poor quality.”[40]

• A psychiatrist who studied the Sandy Hook shooter and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting stated: “It really means we can’t rely on prediction and identifying the bad guys. Because we’ll misidentify some who aren’t bad guys, and we’ll fail to identify others who may become bad guys.’”[41]

• Congressman Ron Paul repeatedly warned that “Mandatory depression screening will endanger people’s health by increasing the use of psychotropic drugs. These drugs often have dangerous side effects…another good reason to oppose any policy that will increase reliance on these medicines.”[42]

• An estimated 59% of patients screening positive for depression are incorrectly identified as depressed.[43] The Teen Screen depression screening questionnaire yielded an 84% false positive, resulting in teens being prescribed antidepressants that have the potential to induce suicide.[44]

• Researchers published the findings of their studies in the BC Medical Journal that there is insufficient evidence to show that the various short questionnaires doctors use to ask about symptoms of depression in children and adolescents accurately screen 6- to 18-year-olds for this, leading to misdiagnosis.[45]

• Screening for “Pre-Psychosis Risk Syndrome” had a false positive rate in predicting psychosis of between 70-90%, which could mean 90 out of every 100 persons could prescribed antipsychotics as the drugs used to “pre-treat” this, when the drugs actually cause psychosis.[46]

• There are no blood tests or scans or any type of online screener to accurately diagnose Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or any mental disorder.[47] Five studies conclude that symptoms of ADHD are so subjective they can be readily feigned, particularly when symptoms are assessed with checklists. When given the ADHD Behavior Checklist and the College ADHD Response Evaluation, feigners were able to simulate ADHD outcomes on 77 and 93% of items, respectively.[48]

• Even the American Psychiatric Association admits: “There are no laboratory tests, neurological assessments, or attentional assessments that have been established as diagnostic in the clinical assessment” of ADHD.[49]

• Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), developed by a Melbourne University, Australia psychiatrist and his depressed wife is a patient recruitment tool masquerading as educating people in “mental health literacy.”[50] In the U.S., it has been given more than $348.5 million to train hundreds of thousands of police officers, educators, government officials, pharmacists, employees, students, parents and more.[51]

• Patrick Hahn, a professor of biology at Loyola University, found that the training seemed geared toward pushing more young people toward more psychiatric drugs without regard for scientific evidence.[52]

• Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting $15 million in funding was given to MHFA to train teachers in detecting and responding to mental illness in adolescents.[53]  Yet, the shooter, Adam Lanza had been subjected to mental health assessments since the age of three and they had only spawned his contempt.  He recorded himself speaking about taking checklist mental illness questionnaires online, ridiculing them, saying it leads to “medication” being prescribed to “cure your affliction so that you can become more like me” [i.e. psychiatrists].[54] As for therapy, it “didn’t help” him. Further, “Children are…labeled as horribly damaged victims and are subject to the will of psychiatrists who treat them into believing that they can overcome their abuse.”[55]

• Jan Nadine Defehr of the University of Winnipeg who evaluated the program found, “Rooted in psychiatry, MHFA trains citizens to pathologize human suffering rather than critique the consequences of unjust social structures and power relations.”[56]

• In June 2022 Carolyn D. Gorman wrote about “Mental Health First Aid Assessing the Evidence for a Public Health Approach to Mental Illness” for the Manhattan Institute. She found that the evidence is lacking to show it can achieve a goal to “identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders.”[57]

• Despite its failure, in 2022, Congress included $120 million for MHFA training in its budget and another $64 million for 2023. [58]

Suicide “Prevention”/School Awareness Programs

• Federal allocations to youth suicide prevention programs were $41.91 million in 2018 and increased to $45.29 million in 2022—for a total of nearly $213 million over five years.[59] Another $35 million was added in 2022 to expand community mental health services and suicide prevention programs for children and young adults.[60]

• Yet, despite massive funding increases, Federal data reported that among those 10 to 24 years old, the overall rates of deaths by suicide increased 57% from 2000 to 2018. From 2015 to 2020, suicide attempts by ingesting toxic substances or overdosing on medications soared by 26% among those aged 6 to 19.[61]

• According to a 2019 study on youth suicide prevention, “In the area of suicide prevention among youth, in particular, there also has been no review and often little mention of the possibilities of unanticipated adverse consequences associated with interventions.” A “systematic evaluation of potential unanticipated negative consequences is warranted.”

• In a sample of 32 school shootings/acts of senseless violence between 1997 and February 2018—when the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida left 17 dead and 17 injured and the perpetrator was taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs—it was found that 20 of the perpetrators (63%) were taking antidepressants, sometimes in combination with other prescription psychotropics. Another five were indicated as being on medication for “depression,” which, if antidepressants, would constitute a total of 78%.[62]

Psychiatric Drug Overdoses/Poisoning

• In 2014, 10,574 people died of a heroin overdose while 15,778 died from an overdose of psychiatric drugs, nearly 50% more. The biggest killers are sedatives (benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Z-drugs such as Ambien), antidepressants, psychostimulants (Ritalin, amphetamine, and methamphetamine), and antipsychotics, in that order.[63]

• From April–June 2019 to April–June 2020, prescription and illicit benzodiazepine-involved overdose deaths increased by 21.8% and 519.6%, respectively.[64]

• Drug overdose deaths involving antidepressants have risen steadily from 1,749 in 1999 to 5,269 in 2017. In 2020, there were 5,597 overdose deaths.[65]

Predicted Further Harm with Psychedelics

• With the high failure rate of antidepressants, psychiatrists are looking towards psychedelics as the latest chemical “fix,” despite their past failures. But the psychedelics industry is lucrative—predicted to soon reach $7 billion a year, adding significant profits to the already $80 billion a year spent on psychiatric drug sales worldwide. [66]

• A 2022 survey (funded by a company promoting psychedelic drugs) claimed that 65% of Americans with anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) believe that psychedelic drugs should be made available to them.[67] Based on psychiatric statistics that an estimated 84.5 million adolescents and adults in the U.S. have these disorders, this represents a potential 55 million prospects for psychedelics.

• The hallucinogenic drug, ketamine—approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1970 for use as an anesthetic—is being widely used for unapproved “mental health” conditions and administered in hundreds of unregulated ketamine clinics across the U.S. for costs ranging from $300 up to $2000 per infusion.[68]

• Ketamine is used in executions of convicted criminals on death row in Nevada[69] and as a “date rape” drug to facilitate sexual assaults.[70]

• According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ketamine makes the user feel disconnected and not in control and may also cause agitation, depression, cognitive difficulties, unconsciousness, and amnesia.[71]

• In 2020, an article published in the American Psychiatric Association’s Psychiatric Services magazine said psychiatrists needed to take the lead in the psychedelic movement:

• “Because of the potential for psychedelic drugs to disrupt the logic of one’s thought process, patients may lose the capacity to understand information provided to them or to rationally manipulate information to make a medical decision during a session. Therefore, the informed consent procedure conducted before the session must establish a patient’s wishes in certain scenarios that may arise.”
  • “Patients should understand that they may become a risk of harm to themselves or others (e.g., because of paranoia, agitation, or efforts to move while disoriented). Patients should know that, in such cases, they may not have the capacity to refuse efforts to reduce the risk of harm (e.g., restraint or, less likely, the application of a sedative). Establishing the patient’s preferences and educating the patient about the risk of adverse events before the session are necessary to reduce the risk of unexpected outcomes and claims of malpractice or battery.”[72] [Emphasis added]

• In preparation for widescale psychedelic use, a biotechnology company has developed a Psychedelics Genetic Test Kit, now on sale in the U.S. for $89. The kit analyzes DNA biomarkers along with pre-screening mental health surveys—arbitrary, subjective, not scientific-based questions—in order to allegedly provide insights into the potential of adverse or non-reactions to the use of hallucinogenic drugs.

Electroshock “Treatment” Causes Death

• At least 100,000 Americans a year, including children—some aged 5 or younger—are given electroshock treatment each year.

• There is an astounding rate of suicide death for those who receive ECT: 137.34 deaths per 10,000 within 30 days of receiving it and 804.39 per 10,000 within a year following ECT.[73]

• Data from the Department of Veterans Affairs health system between 2000 and 2017 included 5,157 index courses of ECT therapy, along with 10,097 matched controls who did not receive ECT. Index ECT usually refers to the initial phase of treatment in a hospital to induce a maximum response. The typical number of treatments is 6–12. In the cohort, suicide deaths were: 138.65 per 10,000 in 30 days and 564.52 per 10,000 in 1 year. “ECT does not appear to have a greater effect on decreasing the risk for suicide than other types of mental health treatment provided to patients with similar risk,” researchers wrote.[74]

• In a 2020 study, over 14,800 ECT patients were 16 times more likely to try to commit suicide than a control group of 58,369.[75]

• A review of 82 studies found that one in 39 ECT patients (25.8 per 1000) experience ‘major adverse cardiac events,’ the leading cause of ECT-related deaths.[76]

• ECT can cause brain damage, the exact incidence of which remains unknown. If brain damage is defined as memory loss persisting at least six months after the last ECT, researchers found a range from 12% to 55%.  Some psychiatrists claim that ECT doesn’t cause brain damage but a manufacturer of ECT machines includes “permanent brain damage” as a risk.[77]

• Bennet Omalu, MPH, a neuropathologist who identified chronic traumatic encephalopathy (altered brain function) in National Football League players, also stated that functional injuries resulting from ECT must be considered as both repetitive brain injury and repetitive electrical trauma.[78]

Know About Psychiatry’s Failure: In Their Own Words

CCHR has always maintained that there needs to be accountability for the funds invested in mental health programs, which means, all the statistics listed above should have been declining, not increasing. Despite many billions of dollars expended on mental health, as a psychologist writing in Psychology Today wrote in April 2022: “[P]sychiatry has failed to solve the puzzles posed by the gravest illnesses: schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and acute depression.”[79]

A European Psychiatry journal article expressed concerns about what the entire profession faces—that “Unlike other medical specialties, psychiatry has often been seen as unscientific, touchy-feely and without proper scientific basis.”[80]

A debate was held in the Royal Geographic Society, UK, on the topic “We’ve Overdosed. Psychiatrists and the Pharmaceutical Industry are to blame for the current ‘epidemic’ of mental disorders.” The argument put forward was: “Drug pushers. We tend to associate them with the bleak underworld of criminality. But some would argue that there’s another class of drug pushers, just as unscrupulous, who work in the highly respectable fields of psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry. And they deserve the same moral scrutiny that we apply to the drug peddler on the street corner.”[81]

PsychCentral, an independent mental health information website, overseen by mental health professionals points out: “Doctors do not lock up those who neglect to take their heart medications, who keep smoking even with cancer, or are addicted to alcohol. We might bemoan these situations, but we are not ready to deprive such individuals of their liberty, privacy, and bodily integrity despite their ‘poor’ judgment. People who suffer from mental illness also are due the respect and freedoms enjoyed by other human beings.[82] 

As CCHR consistently documents, “mental illness patients” are not given such respect and freedoms.

A 2022 Harvard Law School Project on Disability report, “When Does Mental Coercion Constitute Torture?” points to the dreadful state of psychiatric institutions that continues, with incalculable damaged lives lying in their wake. “Institutional mental health settings, such as state-run psychiatric hospitals, routinely employ coercive forms of ‘treatment’ that are intolerable in other settings,” it said. Mental health workers “apply electroconvulsive therapies without safeguards, use prolonged mechanical restraints, or administer psychotropic medications without therapeutic justification.”[83]

However, as further stated: “This focus on the torturous nature of chemical restraints coincides with a broader movement away from using coercive measures in mental health settings, regardless of the purported therapeutic aims of mental health workers.” More recently, “the Special Rapporteur has signaled that coercive practices, including ‘psychiatric intervention on the grounds of ‘medical necessity’ or the ‘best interests’ of the patient…may well amount to torture” because they “generally involve highly discriminatory and coercive attempts at controlling or ‘correcting’ the victim’s personality, behavior or choices and almost always inflict severe pain or suffering.”

Children are at even greater risk. Peter Gøtzsche states: “It is cruel that most psychiatric leaders say—even on national TV—that depression pills can be given safely to children because there wasn’t a statistically significant increase in suicides in the trials, only in suicidal thoughts and behavior, as if there is no relation between the two. The psychiatrists reward the companies for their fraud while they sacrifice the children.”[84]

He concludes that “biological psychiatry has not led to anything of use, and that psychiatry as a medical specialty is so harmful that it should be disbanded. People should not get drugs, apart from some acute situations, but psychotherapy and other psychosocial interventions.”[85]

These are points Mental Illness Awareness Week does not include under its “What I Wish I Had Known” mantra, yet such facts are vital for informed consent decisions. Many of the groups promoting the week are heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies that do not want “the other side” of the story—that of psychiatric failures, unworkable treatments and patient harms and deaths—told or known.

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[1] Deborah Yetter, “7-year-old died at Kentucky youth treatment center due to suffocation, autopsy finds; 2 workers fired,” Louisville Courier Journal, 19 Sept. 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/19/death-child-jaceon-terry-brooklawn-kentucky-youth-center/10428004002/

[2] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/02/17/utah-state-law-curbing-behavioral-restraint-use-on-children-youths-is-applauded-but-unconditional-ban-is-needed-nationwide/ citing: “Michigan House announces Adoption and Foster Care Task Force,” WoodTV.com, 4 Feb 2021, https://www.woodtv.com/news/michigan/michigan-house-to-announce-adoption-and-foster-care-task-force/; Justin Carissimo and Li Cohen, “Three charged in death of black teen who died after being restrained at youth facility,” CBS News, 27 June 2020, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cornelius-fredericks-death-lakeside-academy-staffers-charged-kalamazoo-michigan/; Mike Krafcik, “Former Lakeside nurse sentenced to probation for teen restraint death,” WWMT News Channel 3, 27 Sept. 2021, https://wwmt.com/news/local/former-lakeside-nurse-sentenced-to-probation-for-teen-restraint-death; https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2022/04/lakeside-academy-buildings-demolished-as-kalamazoo-county-club-plans-expansion.html

[3] Marlene Lenthang, “Death of 7-year-old Kentucky boy in foster care is ruled a homicide; 2 workers fired,” NBC News, 20 Sept. 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/death-7-year-old-kentucky-boy-foster-care-ruled-homicide-2-workers-fir-rcna48515

[4] Brock Chisholm, “The Future of Psychiatry and the Human Race,” The Humanist, Vol. VII, No. 4., Mar. 1948, pp. 161-162

[5] “Proceedings of the International Conference on Mental Hygiene,” International Congress on Mental Health, London, 1948, ed. J.C. Flugel, D.Sc. (Columbia University Press, New York, 1949), Vol. 4, 16-21, Aug. 1949, p. 259

[6] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/06/29/us-could-learn-from-reform-of-coercive-mental-health-practices/; Wanda K Mohr, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, et al., “Adverse Effects Associated with Physical Restraint,” Can J Psychiatry, Vol 48, No 5, June 2003, https://www.crisisprevention.com/CPI/media/Media/Blogs/adverse-effects-associated-with-physical-restraint.pdf

[7] “National Review of Restraint Related Deaths of Children and Adults with Disabilities: The Lethal Consequences of Restraint,” Equip for Equality, 2011, https://www.equipforequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/National-Review-of-Restraint-Related-Deaths-of-Adults-and-Children-with-Disabilities-The-Lethal-Consequences-of-Restraint.pdf

[8] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/07/11/end-coercive-psychiatric-practices-against-african-americans/ “Involuntary Commitments: Billing Patients for Forced Psychiatric Care,” The American Journ. of Psychiatry, 1 Dec. 2020, https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20030319

[9] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/09/13/cchrs-foia-request-to-veteran-health-administration-reveals-4-2-million-vets-prescribed-dangerous-drugs-costing-2-4-billion/; Ken Silva, “America’s Veterans Are Killing Themselves at an Alarming Rate: Report,” The Epoch Times, 26 July 2021, https://www.theepochtimes.com/americas-veterans-are-killing-themselves-at-an-alarming-rate_3918982.html?utm_source=sharenewsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-07-26-2

[10] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/06/03/suicide-attempts-increasing-in-children-including-28-in-6-to-9-year-olds-is-preventable/; Matthew M. Large, Christopher J. Ryan, “Disturbing findings about the risk of suicide and psychiatric hospitals,” Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiology (2014), 49: 1353-1355, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-014-0912-2

[11] “Antidepressants may raise death risk by a third: A new study suggests that common antidepressants may pose a serious risk to health; they drastically raise the risk of mortality,” Medical News Today, 19 Sept. 2017, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319462; Study: Maslej M.M. et al., “The Mortality and Myocardial Effects of Antidepressants Are Moderated by Preexisting Cardiovascular Disease: A Meta-Analysis,” Psychother Psychosom 2017, https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/477940

[12] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17687-serotonin-syndrome

[13] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17687-serotonin-syndrome

[14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5473964/

[15] William J. Scotton, Bottom of Form

“Serotonin Syndrome: Pathophysiology, Clinical Features, Management, and Potential Future Directions,” International Journal of Tryptophan Research, Sage Journals, 9 Sept. 2019, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1178646919873925

[16] https://www.madinamerica.com/2021/03/mental-health-survival-kit-chapter-2-part-4/

[17] https://www.madinamerica.com/2021/03/mental-health-survival-kit-chapter-2-part-4/

[18] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/10/11/consumers-beware-of-antipsychotics-long-term-debilitating-effects/; Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill, (Perseus Publishing, New York, 2002), pp. 207-208

[19] Eelco FM Wijdicks, MD, “Neuroleptic malignant syndrome,” UpToDate, Aug. 2022, https://www.uptodate.com/contents/neuroleptic-malignant-syndrome

[20] Andrew Skull, “Scientific Nightmare”: The Backstory of the ‘DSM,’” Los Angeles Review of Books, 25 Oct. 2021, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/scientific-nightmare-the-backstory-of-the-dsm/

[21] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-disorders/psychiatristsphysicians-on-lack-of-any-medicalscientific-tests/ Christopher Lane, “The NIMH Withdraws Support for DSM-5: The latest development is a humiliating blow to the APA,” Psychology Today, 4 May 2013, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/side-effects/201305/the-nimh-withdraws-support-dsm-5

[22] https://rehabs.com/pro-talk/psychiatric-medications-kill-more-americans-than-heroin/; “Top 25 Psychiatric Medications for 2018,” https://psychcentral.com/blog/top-25-psychiatric-medications-for-2018

[23] July 2018 326.69 million; July 1999 279.04 million- 17% increase

[24] https://quotewizard.com/news/mental-health-prescriptions

[25] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/children-on-psychiatric-drugs/

[26] Glenn C. Altschuler Ph.D., “Is Psychiatry Facing an Existential Crisis?: Have the field’s dominant paradigms failed?” Psychology Today, 20 Apr. 2022, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/is-america/202204/is-psychiatry-facing-existential-crisis

[27] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/11/22/100000-americans-die-in-overdose-epidemic-psychostimulants-third-in-abuse-list/; “Methylphenidate [A Background Paper],” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Oct. 1995, p. 16; https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2013/010187s077lbl.pdf

[28] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3390453/

[29] https://www.cchrint.org/2012/09/06/kiddiecocaine-ritalin/; https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/stimulantsideeffects/ritalinsideeffects/

[30] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/02/14/new-diagnostic-manual-with-adhd-listed-could-turn-childhood-into-a-mental-disorder/; Allen Frances, “Most Active Kids Don’t Have ADHD,” Psychology Today, 11 Mar. 2014, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/saving-normal/201403/most-active-kids-don-t-have-adhd; Allen Frances, “Psychiatric Fads and Overdiagnosis,” Psychology Today, 2 June 2010, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201006/psychiatric-fads-and-overdiagnosis

[31] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/11/22/100000-americans-die-in-overdose-epidemic-psychostimulants-third-in-abuse-list/; Martin Whitely, “World’s First Long Term Data on ADHD Drugs From Raine Study Review,” Speed Up and Sit Still, 17 Feb. 2010, http://www.speedupsitstill.com/raine_study_press_release/

[32] https://www.antidepressantrisks.org/, citing: David Healy, MD; Chris Whitaker, MSc, “Antidepressants and suicide: risk-benefit conundrums” Psychiatry Neurosci 2003128(5)

[33] https://www.antidepressantrisks.org/

[34] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/06/03/suicide-attempts-increasing-in-children-including-28-in-6-to-9-year-olds-is-preventable/; Jeffrey Fluger, “A Growing Number of Young People Are Attempting Suicide by Self-Poisoning,” Time, 1 June 2022, https://time.com/6183226/suicide-poisoning-young-people/

[35] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/10/11/consumers-beware-of-antipsychotics-long-term-debilitating-effects/; Elyse M. Cornett, Ph.D., “Medication-Induced Tardive Dyskinesia: A Review and Update,” The Ochsner Journal, Summer 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5472076/; George Crane, “Tardive Dyskinesia in Patients Treated with Major Neuroleptics: A Review of the Literature,” American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 124, Supplement, 1968, pp. 40-47.

[36] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/10/11/consumers-beware-of-antipsychotics-long-term-debilitating-effects/; Elyse M. Cornett, Ph.D., “Medication-Induced Tardive Dyskinesia: A Review and Update,” The Ochsner Journal, Summer 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5472076/

[37] https://truthaboutect.org/new-study-tells-consumers-the-truth-of-potential-lethal-electroshock-and-antidepressant-risks/ citing: John Read, Ph.D., Joanna Moncrief, M.D., “Depression: why drugs and electricity are not the answer,” Psychological Medicine, Cambridge University Press, 1 Feb. 2022, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/depression-why-drugs-and-electricity-are-not-the-answer/3197739131D795E326AE6913720E6E37

[38] https://www.antidepressantrisks.org/ citing: Michael P. Hengartner, James Davies and John Read, “Antidepressant withdrawal – the tide is finally turning,” Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 29, e52, 1–3, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000465

[39] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/side-effects-can-persist/; Carlotta Belaise, Alessia Gatti, Virginie-Anne Chouinard, Guy Chouinard, “Patient Online Report of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor-Induced Persistent Post withdrawal Anxiety and Mood Disorders,” Psychother Psychosom 2012;81:386–388

[40] Peter Gøtzsche, M.D. Deadly Medicines and Organized Crime: How big pharma has corrupted healthcare, CRC Press, 2017, p. 201, citing B.D. Thombs et. al., “Risk of bias from inclusion of patients who already have diagnosis of or are undergoing treatment for depression in diagnostic accuracy studies of screening tools for depression: systematic review,” BMJ, 2011, 343, https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4825

[41] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/06/20/cchr-continues-to-warn-of-childhood-mental-health-screening-risks-and-violence/

[42] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/04/18/parents-rights-form-provides-opt-out-for-school-mental-health-screening/, http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2016/february/07/mandatory-depression-screening-is-a-depressing-thought/

[43] “Screening for depression in medical research: ethical challenges and recommendations,” BMC Medical Ethics, 8 Jan. 2013, https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6939-14-4

[44] https://www.cchrint.org/2012/11/27/teenscreen-shuts-down/

[45] “Depression screening tools not accurate for children and adolescents,” MC Medical Journal, originally “Accuracy of depression screening tools to detect major depression in children and adolescents: A systematic review,” is published in the May 2016 issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, https://bcmj.org/news/depression-screening-tools-not-accurate-children-and-adolescents

[46] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/06/06/brave-new-world-australian-psychiatrists-mcgorry-and-hickey-want-criticism-of-psychiatry-silenced/; Allen Frances, M.D., “DSM5 ‘Psychosis Risk Syndrome’–Far Too Risky,” Psychology Today, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201003/dsm5-psychosis-risk-syndrome-far-too-risky.

[47] https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/adhd-diagnosis

[48] Randy A. Sansone, et al., “Faking Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” Innov Clin Neurosci, Aug. 2011, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3173757/

[49] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/03/21/adhd-marketing-brands-children-to-hook-them-on-psychostimulants/; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), (American Psychiatric Association, Washington D.C. 1994), p. 88

[50] https://mhfa.com.au/

[51] http://www.peteearley.com/2022/07/14/criticism-of-mental-health-first-aid-is-misguided-national-council-responds-to-scathing-study/; https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/

[52] “Drug companies prey on children,” The Baltimore Sun, 25 Dec. 2016, https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-youth-overmedication-20161225-story.html

[53] Carolyn D. Gorman, “Mental Health First Aid Assessing the Evidence for a Public Health Approach to Mental Illness” for the Manhattan Institute, 16 Jun. 2022, https://www.manhattan-institute.org/mental-health-first-aid

[54] “Adam Lanza’s Audio Recordings,” Edited and annotated by Peter Langman, Ph.D., p. 24, https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/lanza_recordings_1.1_1.pdf

[55] “Adam Lanza’s Audio Recordings,” Edited and annotated by Peter Langman, Ph.D., pp. 23, 48, https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/lanza_recordings_1.1_1.pdf

[56] Jan Nadine DeFehr, “Inventing Mental Health First Aid: The Problem of Psychocentrism,” Studies in Social Justice, Vol 10, Issue 1, 2016, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Inventing-Mental-Health-First-Aid%3A-The-Problem-of-DeFehr/d41a6031f672de844e5ef068c722aed7b048051b

[57] Carolyn D. Gorman, “Mental Health First Aid Assessing the Evidence for a Public Health Approach to Mental Illness” for the Manhattan Institute, 16 Jun. 2022, https://www.manhattan-institute.org/mental-health-first-aid

[58] http://www.peteearley.com/2022/07/14/criticism-of-mental-health-first-aid-is-misguided-national-council-responds-to-scathing-study/

[59] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/08/12/global-youth-day-neglects-to-address-6-million-us-children-on-risky-psychiatric-drugs/, citing: https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/2022-federal-spending-deal-children-families/63482

[60] https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/20220309/hhs-announces-35-million-strengthen-mental-health

[61] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/06/03/suicide-attempts-increasing-in-children-including-28-in-6-to-9-year-olds-is-preventable/ Jeffrey Fluger, “A Growing Number of Young People Are Attempting Suicide by Self-Poisoning,” Time, 1 June 2022, https://time.com/6183226/suicide-poisoning-young-people/

[62] https://www.cchrint.org/school-shooters/

[63] https://rehabs.com/pro-talk/psychiatric-medications-kill-more-americans-than-heroin/

[64] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7034a2.htm

[65] “Overdose Death Rates,” National Institute of Drug Abuse, https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

[66] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/01/09/cchr-warns-against-psychedelic-trips-potentially-planned-for-55m-americans/, citing: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/psychedelic-drugs-market-projected-to-reach-6-85-billion-by-2027–301082594.html

[67] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/01/09/cchr-warns-against-psychedelic-trips-potentially-planned-for-55m-americans/ citing: “Study Finds 65% Of Americans With Mental Health Conditions Want Access To Psychedelics,” Forbes, 18 Jan 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/lindseybartlett/2022/01/18/study-finds-65-of-americans-with-mental-health-conditions-want-access-to-psychedelics/?sh=ce17c7810f48

[68] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/04/07/psychiatrys-future-legalized-psychedelic-drug-mainlining-clinics/ citing: https://ketamineclinicsdirectory.com/; https://harrisbricken.com/cannalawblog/the-ketamine-clinic-craze-legalities-and-possibilities/

[69] https://www.cchrint.org/2022/09/09/junk-science-in-our-courts-and-forced-drug-treatment-are-a-recipe-for-disaster/, citing: Rio Lacanlale, “Nevada will not execute Zane Floyd this month before ketamine supply expires,” Reno Gazette Journal, 14 Feb 2022, https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2022/02/14/nevada-not-execute-zane-floyd-before-ketamine-supply-expires/6785862001/

[70] Ketamine fact sheet, Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/Ketamine-2020.pdf

[71] Ketamine fact sheet, Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/Ketamine-2020.pdf

[72] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/11/08/psychiatrists-and-the-hallucinogenic-drug-industry-are-seeking-to-replace-failed-antidepressants/ citing: Brian Holoyda, M.D., M.P.H., “Psychedelic Psychiatry: Preparing for Novel Treatments Involving Altered States of Consciousness,” Psychiatric Services, 14 Oct. 2020, https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.202000213

[73] https://truthaboutect.org/new-study-shows-high-number-of-suicides-after-electroshock/; Bradley V. Watts, MD, MPH, Talya Peltzman, MPH, and Brian Shiner, MD, MPH, “Electroconvulsive Therapy and Death by Suicide,” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Apr. 2022, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35421285/; “ECT did not decrease risk for death by suicide compared with other mental health care,” Helio, 20 Jul. 2022, https://www.healio.com/news/psychiatry/20220720/ect-did-not-decrease-risk-for-death-by-suicide-compared-with-other-mental-health-care

[74] https://truthaboutect.org/new-study-shows-high-number-of-suicides-after-electroshock/ citing: https://www.medscape.com/answers/1525957-198808/what-is-index-electroconvulsive-therapy-ect; “ECT did not decrease risk for death by suicide compared with other mental health care,” Helio, 20 Jul. 2022, https://www.healio.com/news/psychiatry/20220720/ect-did-not-decrease-risk-for-death-by-suicide-compared-with-other-mental-health-care

[75] https://truthaboutect.org/new-study-tells-consumers-the-truth-of-potential-lethal-electroshock-and-antidepressant-risks/; John Read, Ph.D., Joanna Moncrief, M.D., “Depression: why drugs and electricity are not the answer,” Psychological Medicine, Cambridge University Press, 1 Feb. 2022, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/depression-why-drugs-and-electricity-are-not-the-answer/3197739131D795E326AE6913720E6E37

[76] https://truthaboutect.org/new-study-tells-consumers-the-truth-of-potential-lethal-electroshock-and-antidepressant-risks/; John Read, Ph.D., Joanna Moncrief, M.D., “Depression: why drugs and electricity are not the answer,” Psychological Medicine, Cambridge University Press, 1 Feb. 2022, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/depression-why-drugs-and-electricity-are-not-the-answer/3197739131D795E326AE6913720E6E37

[77] https://truthaboutect.org/mental-health-month-is-time-to-end-drug-and-electroshock-use-in-children/#_edn10; John Read, Ph.D., et al., “ECT: Dangerous on Either Side of the Pond,” Psychiatric Times, Vol 38, Issue 4, 5 Apr. 2021, https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/ect-dangerous-either-side-pond

[78] https://truthaboutect.org/mental-health-month-is-time-to-end-drug-and-electroshock-use-in-children/#_edn10; John Read, Ph.D., et al., “ECT: Dangerous on Either Side of the Pond,” Psychiatric Times, Vol 38, Issue 4, 5 Apr. 2021, https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/ect-dangerous-either-side-pond citing: Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board meeting minutes. California Department of Rehabilitation, August 26, 2019, Accessed February 12, 2021, https://www.dor.ca.gov/Content/DorIncludes/documents/TBI/TBI Full Committee Meeting Minutes 8-26-19.docx

[79] Glenn C. Altschuler Ph.D., “Is Psychiatry Facing an Existential Crisis?: Have the field’s dominant paradigms failed?” Psychology Today, 20 Apr. 2022, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/is-america/202204/is-psychiatry-facing-existential-crisis

[80] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/03/08/resource-on-why-psychiatry-is-upset-about-its-failures-and-critics/ “EPA guidance on how to improve the image of psychiatry and of the psychiatrist,” European Psychiatry, 2015, https://www.behaviorismandmentalhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/EPA-guidance-on-image-of-psychiatrists-2015.pdf

[81] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/03/08/resource-on-why-psychiatry-is-upset-about-its-failures-and-critics/; “We’ve overdosed. Psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry are to blame for the current ‘epidemic’ of mental disorders,” Intelligence Squared (supported by Vanity Fair), 12 Nov. 2014, http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/psychiatrists-and-the-pharmaceutical-industry-are-to-blame-for-the-current-epidemic-of-mental-disorders/

[82] https://www.cchrint.org/2021/03/08/resource-on-why-psychiatry-is-upset-about-its-failures-and-critics/; Thea Amidov, “Uncivil Commitment: Mental Illness May Deprive You of Civil Rights,” PsychCentral, 4 Mar. 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/20201128184712/https://psychcentral.com/blog/uncivil-commitment-mental-illness-may-deprive-you-of-civil-rights/

[83] Matthew S. Smith & Michael Ashley Stein, “WHEN DOES MENTAL HEALTH COERCION CONSTITUTE TORTURE?: IMPLICATIONS OF UNPUBLISHED U.S. IMMIGRATION JUDGE DECISIONS DENYING NON-REFOULEMENT PROTECTION,” FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL, Vol 45:5, 2022, https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj/vol45/iss5/2/, pp. 785, 818

[84] https://www.madinamerica.com/2021/04/mental-health-survival-kit-chapter-2-part-5/

[85] https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/08/psychiatry-textbooks-propaganda/