Citizens Commission on Human Rights Premieres New Documentary in Nashville

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Nashville (CCHR Nashville) recently held the premiere of the brand-new documentary ECT: Therapy or Torture.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights Nashville Chapter (CCHR Nashville) recently held the premiere of the new gripping documentary ECT: Therapy or Torture, in which victims of ECT tell of the irreparable damage of blasting a person’s brain with as much as 640 volts of electricity. One victim can’t remember her name or address, another lost 50 points of IQ, a third, given the treatment for depression after the birth of her baby, says, “they literally raped my soul.”

CCHR has long been an advocate for human rights, especially as relates to patients’ rights in the field of mental health. Per the international CCHR website, cchr.org, “CCHR has long fought to restore basic inalienable human rights to the field of mental health, including, but not limited to, full informed consent regarding the medical legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis, the risks of psychiatric treatments, the right to all available medical alternatives and the right to refuse any treatment considered harmful.”

Rev. Brian Fesler, who serves on the board of CCHR Nashville, said, “We are working to get the word out about ECT and its dangers. People are getting hurt every day at the hands of psychiatrists, and it’s time that this out-dated excuse for treatment is banned.”

CCHR is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious mental health watchdog. Its mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. CCHR receives reports about abuses in the field of mental health and is especially interested in situations where persons experienced abuse or damage due to a false diagnosis or unwanted and harmful psychiatric treatments, such as psychiatric drugs, electroshock (ECT) and electronic or magnetic brain stimulation (TMS). CCHR is often able to assist with filing complaints, and can work with a person’s attorney to further investigate the case. To contact CCHR Nashville for more information, visit cchrnashville.org.  

CCHR Nashville Joins Protest in New York Against Electroshocking of Children

Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Nashville (CCHR Nashville) wants Tennessee law amended to outlaw electroshock, especially on children

When members of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) arrived in New York for their annual meeting recently, they faced hundreds of human rights activists marching against the use of electroshock treatment (ECT)—up to 460 volts of electricity sent through the brain—especially on children, some younger than five years old.   While Tennessee law partially prohibits the use of electroshock on a child younger than 18 years of age, under specified circumstances, the brain-damaging procedure can be administered to a child labeled with “mania” or “severe depression” when all other treatments have been exhausted.

Psychiatric watchdog, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) marched against the APA to highlight that Tennessee needs to ban all use of ECT. Supporters marched from Time Square to the Javits Center, where the APA was meeting, with several marchers dressed as Grim Reapers, the age-old symbol of death, to make the point that American kids are at risk when electroshocked or drugged.   The Tennessee Code 33-8-302 allows children to be subjected to ECT if their life is at risk, including the potential suicide.

However, CCHR points out that there are no clinical trials proving ECT is life-saving.  On the contrary, experts such as psychologist John Read, professor of clinical psychology at the University of East London confirmed from a comprehensive review of research on ECT that there is “no evidence that ECT is more effective than placebo for depression reduction or suicide prevention.” He and a colleague concluded, “Given the well-documented high risk of persistent memory dysfunction, the cost-benefit analysis for ECT remains so poor that its use cannot be scientifically, or ethically, justified.”

Electroshock, or electroconvulsive treatment, sends vast quantities of electricity into the brain to induce a grand mal seizure. Documented adverse effects include short- and long-term memory loss, cognitive problems, unwanted personality changes, manic symptoms, prolonged seizures, heart problems and even death. There is nothing new about this treatment or its effects, the protesters state.  And since 2005, the World Health Organization’s Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation has informed governments that there are “no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this should be prohibited through legislation.”

The protest was prompted by the APA requesting the FDA to permit more ECT on kids that psychiatrists label as “treatment resistant.” The APA’s request is particularly serious, says CCHR, because kids they are calling “treatment resistant” are those who experience no improvement from drugs the FDA has already said should not be used on children. These drugs also have a long list of side effects, some of them very alarming, such as increased depression and suicidal thoughts. Protesters say this could open the door for millions of children who have no positive outcome from these drugs or experience their side effects to be reclassified as “resistant.” They could then be forced to submit to electroshock.  As young children have no rights to consent to treatment, any electroshock is forcibly given and violates recommendations from Juan E. Méndez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, who said that forced electroshock could be tantamount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. He called for an “absolute ban on all forced and non-consensual medical interventions against persons with disabilities,” including “electroshock.

“No one should be subject to such torture,” says CCHR Nashville board member, Brian Fesler, “We are here defending our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, and helping to give them a voice.  Tennessee must ban the use of all electroshock treatment as it is torture.”

CCHR is also demanding that states be required to document and provide records of how many children are electroshocked each year. State Medicaid records, obtained by CCHR through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, reveal 16 states where electroshock is administered to children, including those younger than one year old.

CCHR is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious mental health watchdog. Its mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. To learn more or contact CCHR Nashville for more information, visit cchrnashville.org.

References:

[1] John Read, Chelsea Arnold, “Is Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression More Effective Than Placebo? A Systematic Review of Studies Since 2009,” Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry Volume 19, Number 1, 2017, pp. 5-23(19), http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/springer/ehpp/2017/00000019/00000001/art00002

[2] A/HRC/22/53, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez,” United Nations, General Assembly, Human Rights Council, Twenty-second Session, Agenda Item 3, 1 Feb. 2013, p. 21, para 85, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.53_English.pdf.

[3] https://www.lawserver.com/law/state/tennessee/tn-code/tennessee_code_33-8-302

Diverse Organizations Call for Ban on Electroshocking Children

Anticipation mounted as hundreds of activists, clergy, civil rights advocates and supporters lined up to march in protest of electroshock on children during the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association. But no one could foresee what would happen next.

One would expect the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, the international mental health watchdog, to take a stand against electroshocking of children.  But when CCHR takes that message to the heart of Atlanta during the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association (APA)—and is joined by representatives of the NAACP, the Nation of Islam, 10,000 Fearless Men, Black Lives Matter and Concerned Black Clergy—one has to look deeper.

“Electroconvulsive Therapy,” otherwise known as “ECT” or electroshock treatment, is a controversial and “archaic technique invented in the 1930s, [which] sends jolts of electricity into the brain, inducing a seizure. It’s associated with numerous side-effects, including short and long-term memory loss, cognitive problems, unwanted personality changes, manic symptoms, prolonged seizures, heart problems and death,” reports Natural News.

Participants in the protest reported that bystanders were “shocked” to learn this practice is still common, stunned to learn that the APA is currently pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to expand its use against children.  “You mean they still do that?” responded one of the march viewers, a security guard on the property where the APA event took place.  “I thought that went out in the ‘40s!”

Not so, says Mental Health America, reporting that “ECT is administered to an estimated 100,000 people a year, primarily in general hospital psychiatric units and in psychiatric hospitals.”  And this while FDA agencies are already aware it is a dangerous procedure.  In fact, the FDA’s Office of Device Evaluation, a part of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, issued a draft guidance in early 2016 recommending a “prominently placed” warning on ECT devices to include “The long-term safety and effectiveness of ECT treatment has not been demonstrated.” 

The same report lists effects known to be associated with ECT, ranging from long-term problems with “autobiographical memory” (knowledge about one’s own life), to pain and skin burns, to “insufficient, or lack of breathing” and heart attack, stroke and death.

So as the march led to a panel discussion on ECT, and the panel discussion into a symposium the following day, attendees asked, “Why on Earth would anyone in their right mind push to use this against children?”  Especially when one speaker, an ECT survivor who received “30 rounds of electroshock” in one year, at age 21, described how he had not one memory from his high school years, and broke into tears while recounting “sitting there, and my father having to teach me how to tie my shoes again.”

One participant seemed to have the answer.  “This is unconscionable to even consider doing this to a child,” said Dr. Linda Lagemann, a clinical psychologist who retired after 23 years in practice. “Someone’s getting rich and someone’s getting hurt. This really must be stopped.”

Long-term Georgia State Senator Donzella James, speaking during the panel, called for state legislation to ban the use of ECT on children. She said Georgia’s provisions to protect children and others from ECT were grossly insufficient and cited a World Health Organization recommendation to governments that: “There are no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this should be prohibited through legislation.”

The unanimous, resounding and spontaneous support for James’ proposal, a proposal so natural it should have long since been law, suddenly explained what brought together this particular mix of political persuasions, religious affiliations and socioeconomic delineations, and gave hope that, at least when it comes to our children, we can find unity amongst diversity.