Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida Joins National Protest Against the Electroshocking of Children

CLEARWATER, Fla., May 08, 2018 -- On May 5^th, members of the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog organization founded by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, participated in a rally and protest march in Manhattan against the use of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) on young children.  The event coincided with the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association in New York.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recently asked the FDA for increased access to ECT on children who are judged not to respond to psychotropic drugs as mental treatment. This push by the APA opens the door  to the millions of children experiencing widely varying side effects of psychotropics to be reclassified as ‘resistant’ and be forced to get ECT.

At the march, Diane Stein, President of CCHR Florida, said, “Our local psychiatric centers are active in promoting electroshock for children and also for our seniors, who may have no real defense. A set of 12 brief treatments typically costs $12,000, all covered by the victim’s insurance.” [1]

In a letter to the FDA, the APA asserted that fast access to ECT is “especially meaningful in children and adolescents.” [2]

“We are asking Florida’s lawmakers to introduce and pass legislation this year that will ban the use of ECT on children in this state,” said Ms. Stein. “ECT is an unnecessary and harmful treatment, especially to the developing brain of young children.”

Currently, 8 million children in the U.S. are being prescribed psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, antianxiety drugs and ADHD drugs.  Nearly 800,000 of these children are between the ages of 0 to 5 years old. The drugs children are being prescribed carry more than 409 international drug regulatory warnings including side effects of agitation, mania, psychosis, depersonalization, hallucinations, drug dependence, hostility and aggression. [3]

ECT was invented in the 1930s to sends jolts of electricity into the brain, inducing a grand mal seizure. It is associated with numerous side effects, including short and long-term memory loss, cognitive problems, unwanted personality changes, manic symptoms, prolonged seizures, heart problems and even death. [4]

Some psychiatrists have claimed electroshocking of children to be “infrequent”, but no state or federal agency is documenting how many children are currently being electroshocked each year. State Medicaid records obtained solely through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by CCHR have revealed 16 states are electroshocking children, including 0-5 year olds. [5]

About CCHR: CCHR is a non-profit mental health watchdog group dedicated to eliminating abuses committed under the guise of mental health. CCHR works to ensure patient and consumer protections are enacted and upheld as there is rampant abuse in the field of mental health.  In this role, CCHR has helped to enact more than 180 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive mental health practices since it was formed over 49 years ago. [6]  It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world.  In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed.  All in the name of ‘mental health.’” For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org

Sources:

[1] ECT SUGAR COATED AND PROMOTED TO THE UNINFORMED http://www.cchrflorida.org/ect-sugar-coated-and-promoted-to-the-uninformed/

[2] Ban Electroshock (ECT) Device Being Used on Children, the Elderly and Vulnerable Patients https://www.change.org/p/ban-electroshock-ect-device-being-used-on-children-the-elderly-and-vulnerable-patients

[3] Psychiatric Drugs—Just the Facts https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/

[4] How Electroshock Treatment (ECT) “Works” https://www.cchrint.org/ect-basics/

[5] 10 Facts You May Not Know About Electroshock (ECT) https://www.cchrint.org/2017/05/12/10-facts-about-electroshock/

[6] CCHR Accomplishments https://www.cchrint.org/about-us/cchr-accomplishments/

For More Information
Contact:  Diane Stein
[email protected]
www.cchrflorida.org