After 76 Years, Patients Are Still Denied Human Rights in U.S. Psychiatry
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LOS ANGELES - JerseyDesk -- The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog founded in 1969 to support the principles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), reports that patients continue to be subjected to coercive psychiatric practices despite the U.S. helping draft the declaration in 1948. This includes the violation of Article 5 of the declaration, which protects against "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." In commemoration of Human Rights Day on December 10, CCHR urged Americans to download its Resolution against Coercive Psychiatric Practices and send it to their legislative representatives to seek support for human rights-based approaches in the field of mental health and encourage them to prioritize this important issue.

The ban on cruel and inhuman treatment is also enshrined in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Despite these commitments to human rights, serious concerns remain about the treatment of individuals within the U.S. mental health system. Involuntary commitment to psychiatric facilities, where individuals can be subjected to treatments with severe side effects—including irreversible physical damage—continues to rise. In 2020, the rate at which Americans were involuntarily held and forced to undergo mental health evaluations or even state-ordered confinement, increased sharply over the past decade, outpacing population growth by an average rate of 3 to 1, according to researchers at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.[1] "This is the most controversial intervention in mental health—you're deprived of liberty, can be traumatized and then stigmatized," said Professor David Cohen, lead researcher.

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This rise in involuntary commitment is reflected in alarming statistics: An estimated 57% of admissions to all psychiatric facilities in the U.S. are involuntary. In 2023, the number of Americans and Canadians detained involuntarily for psychiatric treatment were more than double and triple those in the U.K., Sweden, Finland, Germany, and France.[2]

Furthermore, the practice persists despite its extremely poor, arguably nonexistent, positive results. An editorial in The Los Angeles Times pointed out "Forced treatment for substance abuse or mental illness is not effective."[3] Spending time in a psychiatric hospital within the previous year increases the likelihood of suicide by over 44 times, while those only prescribed psychotropic drugs—which can be forced on hospitalized patients without their consent—are nearly six times more likely to kill themselves, according to studies.[4]

The 2023 book, Your Consent Is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions, Forced Treatment, and Abusive Guardianships by investigative journalist Rob Wipond underscores these issues. Psychology Today noted that Wipond's analysis "unearths health and social services replete with poor-to-dreadful outcomes, lax oversight, and protocols seemingly rigged against those most in need: the vulnerable, destitute, and marginalized."[5]

The system of involuntary psychiatric commitment inflicts a profound toll on those subjected to it. A 2007 review of studies of people's experiences of involuntary hospitalization by University of London psychiatrists "identified many negative themes: views and voices ignored, feeling dominated under strict rules, physical violations, frustration, and powerlessness. People often felt the treatment they received was meaningless, not appropriate, and more like punishment."[6]

Once institutionalized, patients are drugged, brutally restrained and electroshocked. A December 2022 article reported, "A lot of people get put away involuntarily. They get medicated immediately. And they can't even fight back because they get medicated."[7]

Under psychiatric detention, Wipond cautions, "You do not have the right to remain silent. Refusing to answer a psychiatrist's questions, even about your most intimate inner experiences, can be and often is considered evidence of a mental disorder."

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This lack of personal autonomy under psychiatric detention contrasts sharply with the growing international call to eliminate coercive practices in mental health care. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations are consistently calling for an end to coercive practices: "There is a growing consensus that all forms of restraint and seclusion in mental health services should be eliminated."[8] However, some 37.5% of child or adolescent inpatients in U.S. mental health facilities are secluded or restrained—with children dying as a result.[9]

Electroshock, which delivers massive volts of electricity to induce a grand mal seizure, is often administered without consent and forced on individuals. A 2020 study strongly condemned the practice: "In conjunction with the high risk of brain damage from ECT, [the] absence of efficacy evidence means that the cost benefit ratio is so appalling that there is no place for ECT in evidence-based medicine."[10]

In 1969, the Church of Scientology founded CCHR in alignment with the Declaration of Human Rights and the Nuremberg Code. CCHR co-founder and professor of psychiatry, Thomas Szasz, stated, "The most important deprivation of human and constitutional rights inflicted upon persons said to be mentally ill is involuntary mental hospitalization…." He further explained, "On both moral and practical grounds, I advocate the abolition of all involuntary psychiatry."

CCHR remains dedicated to ending coercive psychiatric detention and treatment, ensuring that patients' human rights are protected in line with the Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention against Torture.

Sources:

[1] newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/involuntary-psychiatric-detentions-on-the-rise

[2] www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/side-effects/202303/when-psychiatric-treatment-isnt-voluntary

[3] "www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-28/homeless-people-mental-health-treatment-homelessness

[4] link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-014-0912-2

[5] www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/side-effects/202303/when-psychiatric-treatment-isnt-voluntary

[6] www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/side-effects/202303/when-psychiatric-treatment-isnt-voluntary

[7] www.madinamerica.com/2022/12/unhoused-expand-involuntary-treatment/

[8] www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/WHO-OHCHR-Mental-health-human-rights-and-legislation_web.pdf

[9] www.crisisprevention.com/blog/health-care/adverse-effects-associated-with-physical-restraint/

[10] www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-advances/article/electroconvulsive-therapy-for-depression-a-review-of-the-quality-of-ect-versus-sham-ect-trials-and-metaanalyses/8B8A6FBE2A609D43DFC77ED778F8F935