The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) has opened a traveling exhibit in Austin, Texas, exposing what it describes as a history of human rights violations in psychiatry. The exhibit, which includes graphic panels and video excerpts from the documentary Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, is part of the nonprofit’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness about psychiatric abuses, from lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapy to the widespread prescription of psychotropic drugs.
‘Knowing history is supposed to be the best protection against history repeating itself,’ said Lee Spiller, Director of the Texas chapter of CCHR. ‘Ironically, and in spite of global efforts to reduce force and coercion in psychiatric treatment, psychiatry seems bent on repeating such history.’
The exhibit has drawn support from local civil rights leaders, including Nelson Linder, President of the Austin NAACP. ‘There has never been a more important time to promote human rights,’ Linder said. ‘Working together, we can and should protect the rights of those accused of being mentally ill.’ He added, ‘There is absolutely no reason that someone should lose basic human rights because of a label.’
Spiller highlighted the long-standing collaboration between CCHR and the NAACP, recalling a protest from less than 30 years ago against a psychiatrist who claimed that foster children, predominantly Black and Brown, were heavily drugged due to ‘bad gene pools.’ ‘Psychiatry should have dispensed with these ideas centuries ago,’ Spiller said.
Other speakers at the opening addressed parental rights in school mental health programs and the importance of rights education. One attendee shared how information from CCHR helped his family after a loved one was placed under emergency psychiatric detention. ‘The information we received from CCHR helped us to get through this and come out the other side,’ he said. ‘I’m not happy about it, but the information from CCHR, and their calming influence made it bearable.’
The exhibit is part of a series of 14 identical traveling exhibits worldwide, with this one touring major cities in the Western United States. CCHR issues a warning that ‘psychiatric treatments kill’ and encourages parents and community members to stay informed. For more information, visit the CCHR website or watch documentaries on the work of CCHR volunteers and the film Psychiatry: An Industry of Death on the Scientology Network.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, who urged Scientologists to expose and help abolish damaging practices in mental health and bring about an atmosphere of safety and security by eradicating abuses and brutality.
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