Trending...
- New book, "High-Tech Heroes," redefines billionaire as someone who improves a billion lives
- Mensa Foundation Prize Awarded to Neuroscientist-Pianist
- Anti-war groups protest vs US-NATO actions in Gaza, Iran, the Global South
Mental health industry watchdog CCHR opposes forced community-based psychiatric treatment orders. Right now, patients who refuse this may face criminal penalties, more forced drugging, or re-institutionalization, raising international human rights concerns.
LOS ANGELES - AussieJournal -- The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog, is calling for an overhaul of psychiatric hospitalization and community treatment laws. With 54% of U.S. psychiatric patients held involuntarily, CCHR warns the system has normalized coercion. Most U.S. states authorize Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) laws that compel individuals in the community to receive psychiatric treatment—typically drug-based—under threat of court orders or rehospitalization. Critics say the laws criminalize noncompliance and medicalize dissent. A Pennsylvania source reported that under AOT, "noncompliance is pathologized, autonomy is dismissed…Treatment ceases to be chosen; it becomes imposed."[1]
A 2021 NIH-funded study published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology found that 70% of youth aged 16–27 who were involuntarily hospitalized reported long-lasting distrust of clinicians—even when they remained in therapy. Meanwhile, a Cochrane Review concluded that AOT laws showed no consistent benefit over voluntary care.[2]
Many mental health consumers are also forced to accept involuntary treatment in the community by being made subject to community treatment orders (CTOs), under threat that non-compliance can result in them being detained against their will in inpatient facilities and institutions.[3]
A broader 2016 systematic review published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry analyzed more than 80 studies on CTOs, including three randomized controlled trials and multiple meta-analyses. The result: "No evidence of patient benefit." CTOs did not reduce hospitalizations or improve quality of life—but did result in patients spending significantly more time under coercive state psychiatric control.[4]
Patients are often forced onto antipsychotic drugs. Bioethicist Carl Elliott says such neuroleptics cause "tardive dyskinesia, a writhing, twitching motion of the mouth and tongue that can be permanent." Psychotropic drug side effects can include violent behavior, aggression, paranoia, psychosis, dangerously high body temperatures, irregular heartbeat, and heart conditions, disorientation, delusion, lack of coordination, suicidal tendencies, and numerous physical problems.[5]
More on Aussie Journal
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International says, "Ironically, the very side effects of antipsychotic drugs—such as agitation and aggression—are the same behaviors often cited to justify forced hospitalization and involuntary treatment in the first place."
Yet, under AOT regimes, complaints about side effects or treatment refusals are used against patients as evidence of illness. The term "anosognosia"—defined as an inability to recognize one's illness—is routinely invoked to override consent, framing resistance as delusional and justifying further force.
As one media source put it: "It casts resistance as malfunction... Instead of seeing dissent as meaningful or contextual, it reframes it as a symptom of a broken brain. This framing is not just misguided—it's dangerous."[6]
Amalia Gamio, Vice Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, helped open CCHR's Traveling Exhibit, Psychiatry: An Industry of Death in Los Angeles on May 17, denounced global psychiatric coercion: "Involuntary medication, electroshock, even sterilization—these are inhuman practices. Under international law, they constitute torture. There is an urgent need to ban all coercive and non-consensual measures in psychiatric settings."
Rev. Frederick Shaw, Jr., President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Inglewood-South Bay Branch, condemned how psychiatry disproportionately targets African Americans. "More than 27% of Black youth—already impacted by racism—are pathologized with labels like 'Oppositional Defiant Disorder,' which has no medical test," he said.
"This mirrors how Black civil rights leaders in the 1960s were once labeled with 'protest psychosis' to justify drugging them with antipsychotics," he added. "Psychiatry didn't just participate in suppressing Black voices—it orchestrated it. And they're still doing it."
Psychiatric diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) are not discovered through scientific testing but are voted into existence by APA committees. CCHR says despite the absence of objective medical proof for these labels, they can create lifelong patients to be drugged and subjected to involuntary interventions.
Forced psychiatric practices have been condemned by the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO), which have repeatedly called for an end to forced institutionalization, electroshock, drugging, and community-based coercive measures.[7]
More on Aussie Journal
In the U.S., over 37% of children and youth in psychiatric facilities are subjected to seclusion or restraint.[8] Some—as young as 7—have died under these conditions. In multiple cases, medical examiners ruled the deaths homicides, yet prosecutions have been rare.[9] "This is not mental healthcare. This is systemic cruelty and homicide," adds Eastgate.
CCHR and its global network are demanding regulations that prohibit coercive psychiatric treatment. "These are abuses. Forced treatment is torture passed off as mental health 'care,'" CCHR says.
About CCHR: The group was co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist and author Prof. Thomas Szasz. CCHR has exposed and helped bring accountability for psychiatric abuses globally. Its advocacy now echoes international calls by the UN and WHO to end coercive mental health practices.
Sources:
[1] "Brave New Pittsburgh: Forced Use of Psychotropic Pharmaceuticals is Coming," Popular Rationalism, 16 May 2025, popularrationalism.substack.com/p/brave-new-pittsburgh-forced-use-of
[2] popularrationalism.substack.com/p/brave-new-pittsburgh-forced-use-of
[3] "Ensuring compulsory treatment is used as a last resort: a narrative review of the knowledge about Community Treatment Orders," Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 6 Jan 2025, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13218719.2024.2421168#d1e194
[4] popularrationalism.substack.com/p/brave-new-pittsburgh-forced-use-of
[5] www.cchrint.org/2022/04/04/cmhc-programs-can-harm-and-increase-the-homeless/; Susan Perry, "Recruitment of homeless people for drug trials raises serious ethical issues, U bioethicist says," MinnPost, 11 Aug. 2014, www.minnpost.com/second-opinion/2014/08/recruitment-homeless-people-drug-trials-raises-serious-ethical-issues-u-bioet/; medium.com/matter/did-big-pharma-test-your-meds-on-homeless-people-a6d8d3fc7dfe
[6] "Not Broken, Not Sick: A Rebellion Against the Anosognosia Frame," Underground Transmissions, 13 May 2025, undergroundtransmissions.substack.com/p/not-broken-not-sick-a-rebellion-against
[7] World Health Organization, "Guidance on mental health policy and strategic action plans," Module 1, pp 3-4, 2025
[8] www.cchrint.org/2025/05/17/apa-faces-outrage-child-deaths-mental-health-failure/; Mohr, W, "Adverse Effects Associated With Physical Restraint," The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry—Review Paper, June 2003, journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674370304800509
[9] Deborah Yetter, "7-year-old died at Kentucky youth treatment center due to suffocation, autopsy finds; 2 workers fired," USA Today, 19 Sept. 2022, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/19/death-child-jaceon-terry-brooklawn-kentucky-youth-center/10428004002/; Taylor Johnston, "'He didn't deserve that': Remembering young people who've died from restraint and seclusion," CT Insider, 31 Oct. 2022, www.ctinsider.com/projects/2022/child-deaths-school-restraint-seclusion/
A 2021 NIH-funded study published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology found that 70% of youth aged 16–27 who were involuntarily hospitalized reported long-lasting distrust of clinicians—even when they remained in therapy. Meanwhile, a Cochrane Review concluded that AOT laws showed no consistent benefit over voluntary care.[2]
Many mental health consumers are also forced to accept involuntary treatment in the community by being made subject to community treatment orders (CTOs), under threat that non-compliance can result in them being detained against their will in inpatient facilities and institutions.[3]
A broader 2016 systematic review published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry analyzed more than 80 studies on CTOs, including three randomized controlled trials and multiple meta-analyses. The result: "No evidence of patient benefit." CTOs did not reduce hospitalizations or improve quality of life—but did result in patients spending significantly more time under coercive state psychiatric control.[4]
Patients are often forced onto antipsychotic drugs. Bioethicist Carl Elliott says such neuroleptics cause "tardive dyskinesia, a writhing, twitching motion of the mouth and tongue that can be permanent." Psychotropic drug side effects can include violent behavior, aggression, paranoia, psychosis, dangerously high body temperatures, irregular heartbeat, and heart conditions, disorientation, delusion, lack of coordination, suicidal tendencies, and numerous physical problems.[5]
More on Aussie Journal
- Shop American Made Goods: New Online Marketplace My American Goods Curates the Best of U.S. Made
- Investor Spotlight: Cycurion, Inc. (N A S D A Q: CYCU) Secures $69M in Contracts Amid Surging Demand for AI-Powered Cybersecurity Solutions
- $328 Million Global Stroke Rehab Market Opportunity Awaits AI Telehealth Leader Following Selection for NIH Funded Phase 3 Clinical Study: VSee Health
- Ascent Solar Technologies Enters Collaborative Agreement Notice with NASA to Advance Development of Thin-Film PV Power Beaming Capabilities: ASTI
- VoodooSoft Unveils SiriusLLM: The World's First ChatGPT-Like AI Malware Detection Engine
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International says, "Ironically, the very side effects of antipsychotic drugs—such as agitation and aggression—are the same behaviors often cited to justify forced hospitalization and involuntary treatment in the first place."
Yet, under AOT regimes, complaints about side effects or treatment refusals are used against patients as evidence of illness. The term "anosognosia"—defined as an inability to recognize one's illness—is routinely invoked to override consent, framing resistance as delusional and justifying further force.
As one media source put it: "It casts resistance as malfunction... Instead of seeing dissent as meaningful or contextual, it reframes it as a symptom of a broken brain. This framing is not just misguided—it's dangerous."[6]
Amalia Gamio, Vice Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, helped open CCHR's Traveling Exhibit, Psychiatry: An Industry of Death in Los Angeles on May 17, denounced global psychiatric coercion: "Involuntary medication, electroshock, even sterilization—these are inhuman practices. Under international law, they constitute torture. There is an urgent need to ban all coercive and non-consensual measures in psychiatric settings."
Rev. Frederick Shaw, Jr., President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Inglewood-South Bay Branch, condemned how psychiatry disproportionately targets African Americans. "More than 27% of Black youth—already impacted by racism—are pathologized with labels like 'Oppositional Defiant Disorder,' which has no medical test," he said.
"This mirrors how Black civil rights leaders in the 1960s were once labeled with 'protest psychosis' to justify drugging them with antipsychotics," he added. "Psychiatry didn't just participate in suppressing Black voices—it orchestrated it. And they're still doing it."
Psychiatric diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) are not discovered through scientific testing but are voted into existence by APA committees. CCHR says despite the absence of objective medical proof for these labels, they can create lifelong patients to be drugged and subjected to involuntary interventions.
Forced psychiatric practices have been condemned by the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO), which have repeatedly called for an end to forced institutionalization, electroshock, drugging, and community-based coercive measures.[7]
More on Aussie Journal
- This Ain't Press. This Is Pressure — Star Command by RansomXX is Out Now
- An Exclusive VIP Reception Honoring Vocal Prodigy Alliana Lili Yang's Remarkable Achievements and Magazine Cover Spotlight
- Joyce Carol Oates Returns to Hard Case Crime With DOUBLE TROUBLE
- New AI Academy Helps Therapists Embrace Tech Without Losing Their Humanity
- IQSTEL Surges Toward $400M Run Rate with $101.5M in Revenue—Reinforces Billion-Dollar Vision Backed by Fintech, AI, and Cybersecurity
In the U.S., over 37% of children and youth in psychiatric facilities are subjected to seclusion or restraint.[8] Some—as young as 7—have died under these conditions. In multiple cases, medical examiners ruled the deaths homicides, yet prosecutions have been rare.[9] "This is not mental healthcare. This is systemic cruelty and homicide," adds Eastgate.
CCHR and its global network are demanding regulations that prohibit coercive psychiatric treatment. "These are abuses. Forced treatment is torture passed off as mental health 'care,'" CCHR says.
About CCHR: The group was co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist and author Prof. Thomas Szasz. CCHR has exposed and helped bring accountability for psychiatric abuses globally. Its advocacy now echoes international calls by the UN and WHO to end coercive mental health practices.
Sources:
[1] "Brave New Pittsburgh: Forced Use of Psychotropic Pharmaceuticals is Coming," Popular Rationalism, 16 May 2025, popularrationalism.substack.com/p/brave-new-pittsburgh-forced-use-of
[2] popularrationalism.substack.com/p/brave-new-pittsburgh-forced-use-of
[3] "Ensuring compulsory treatment is used as a last resort: a narrative review of the knowledge about Community Treatment Orders," Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 6 Jan 2025, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13218719.2024.2421168#d1e194
[4] popularrationalism.substack.com/p/brave-new-pittsburgh-forced-use-of
[5] www.cchrint.org/2022/04/04/cmhc-programs-can-harm-and-increase-the-homeless/; Susan Perry, "Recruitment of homeless people for drug trials raises serious ethical issues, U bioethicist says," MinnPost, 11 Aug. 2014, www.minnpost.com/second-opinion/2014/08/recruitment-homeless-people-drug-trials-raises-serious-ethical-issues-u-bioet/; medium.com/matter/did-big-pharma-test-your-meds-on-homeless-people-a6d8d3fc7dfe
[6] "Not Broken, Not Sick: A Rebellion Against the Anosognosia Frame," Underground Transmissions, 13 May 2025, undergroundtransmissions.substack.com/p/not-broken-not-sick-a-rebellion-against
[7] World Health Organization, "Guidance on mental health policy and strategic action plans," Module 1, pp 3-4, 2025
[8] www.cchrint.org/2025/05/17/apa-faces-outrage-child-deaths-mental-health-failure/; Mohr, W, "Adverse Effects Associated With Physical Restraint," The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry—Review Paper, June 2003, journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674370304800509
[9] Deborah Yetter, "7-year-old died at Kentucky youth treatment center due to suffocation, autopsy finds; 2 workers fired," USA Today, 19 Sept. 2022, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/19/death-child-jaceon-terry-brooklawn-kentucky-youth-center/10428004002/; Taylor Johnston, "'He didn't deserve that': Remembering young people who've died from restraint and seclusion," CT Insider, 31 Oct. 2022, www.ctinsider.com/projects/2022/child-deaths-school-restraint-seclusion/
Source: Citizens Commission on Human Rights International
0 Comments
Latest on Aussie Journal
- Luxurious Estate in Keenes Pointe Hits the Market at $2.9 Million
- CredHub and ManageAmerica Partner to Empower Residents Through Seamless Rent Reporting Integration
- Winter Storms Trigger Rise in Water Damage Across Melbourne: Victoria Hygiene Urges Early Action
- TKSoftware Inc. Unveils ICONIC Pro: The All‑In‑One Medical Billing & Clearinghouse Solution
- Barista Masterclass Sets the Standard for Professional Coffee Training in Melbourne
- MultiTorque Expands Brisbane Operations to Power Australia's Pump Industry
- Baker Rights and Coercive Psychiatry: The Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida Hosts Monthly Mental Health Law and Human Rights Seminars
- Venardi Zurada LLP Offers Legal Support to Families After Deadly Lake Tahoe Boat Capsizing
- Elevated Healing Treatment Centers: Redefining Mental Health Care with Compassionate, Evidence-Based, and Accessible Services
- Carlonoscopen Launches Base-Zero Number System — A New Mathematical Language for Tomorrow's Tech
- New Study Reveals Nearly Half Of TikTok Shop Stores Generate Zero Sales Despite Platform's $100 Million Black Friday Success
- Speranza Dental Implant Centers Opens Their First Location
- WWSG Announces Exclusive Speaking Partnership with Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
- Aidaptive and BizCor Expand Inhabit Partnership with Native Enterprise-Grade Search for Streamline Customers
- Pikmykid Partners with Vivi to Enhance School Emergency Communication and Safety
- AI Meets Cybersecurity: IQSTEL and Cycurion Take Aim at $500 Billion Market Opportunity
- N A S D A Q Compliance Achieved Following Active Trading and Financing, UAE Acquisition & Major Brand Events: Lottery.com Inc., (N A S D A Q: LTRY)
- New Frontier Aerospace Successfully Tests Its Revolutionary Mjölnir Rocket Engine
- Profiting from Elder Harm: The Push to End Psychiatric Drugging in Nursing Homes
- LET Mining launches zero-cost cloud mining, daily rewards + referral double benefits