Citizens Commission on Human Rights
CCHR: Psychiatric Treatment Fails to Protect Communities, Often Fuels Tragedy
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — When violent tragedies like mass shootings strike, media have quoted family members or friends who assert perpetrators were “schizophrenic” or “off medication.” The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) says this inadvertently implies that psychiatric intervention could have prevented the acts, but psychiatrists themselves admit they cannot predict violent behavior….
CCHR Addresses UN to End Coercive Psychiatry and Protect Children from Abuse
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) addressed the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on August 11, urging the global abolition of electroshock treatment (ECT), forced drugging, psychosurgery, and other coercive psychiatric practices-especially when used on children….
CCHR Cautions Veterans: Psychedelics Reflect a Dark History of Exploitation, Harm and Failed Science
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is warning Congress and the public that new legislation to legalize psychedelic drugs for U.S. veterans is a dangerous repeat of history-when defenders of the nation were used as test subjects in unethical psychiatric experiments….
CCHR Warns Troubled Teen Camps Must Be Banned as Deaths Spur Closures
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Despite dozens of closures of abusive “troubled teen” programs in behavioral and psychiatric centers, including wilderness camps in recent years, a leading mental health industry watchdog warns that children’s lives remain at risk unless stronger laws ban the worst offenders and the secretive youth transport practices that feed them. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) says that while public outrage and media exposure have forced some notorious facilities to close, the underlying problems that enable these abusive programs still persist….
CCHR wants electroshocking children prohibited under child abuse laws
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Child and adolescent psychiatrists have issued a policy statement urging broader access to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for children and adolescents despite growing international condemnation of the practice on minors. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Human Rights Office have called for an outright ban on ECT for children. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog, condemned the statement as “medically reckless, legally dangerous, and morally indefensible.”…
CCHR Demands Nursing Home Chemical Restraint Ban and Full Accountability
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Federal health authorities are sounding the alarm over the chronic use of antipsychotic and psychotropic drugs in America’s nursing homes. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has prioritized enforcement actions to reduce psychotropic prescribing-especially among seniors with dementia. With over 15,000 facilities nationwide housing more than 1.2 million elderly residents, mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) warns the unchecked drugging of seniors constitutes systemic elder abuse….
CCHR Urges U.S. Reform as Global Court Momentum Builds Against Forced Psychiatry
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — In what is being widely reported as a landmark human rights decision, Italy’s Constitutional Court in May 2025 struck down part of the country’s decades-old psychiatric law-Article 35 of Law 833/1978-declaring some of its provisions for involuntary detainment unconstitutional. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), based in Los Angeles, hailed the decision as an essential step towards achieving human rights in the mental health field….
CCHR Demands Urgent Reform to Stop Child Abuse in Youth Behavioral Facilities
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Amid a surge of reported abuse and deaths in psychiatric and behavioral residential programs for youth, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is urging immediate and sweeping federal intervention. CCHR warns that continued inaction by state and federal agencies endangers lives and enables a mental health system where vulnerable children and adolescents are subjected to trauma, neglect, and avoidable harm….
CCHR Warns: Millions of Children Exposed to Risky Psychiatric Drugs
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A federal assessment of children’s health has identified the widespread prescribing of psychotropic drugs to U.S. youth as a “public crisis” driven by industry profit motives, flawed science, and systemic conflicts of interest. According to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog, this is fueling a psychotropic drug market that reaps $22.6 billion annually….