Psychiatric Watchdog Group Calls for Investigation into Antidepressants for Survivors of Suicide Day

CLEARWATER, Fla., Nov. 03, 2016 -- The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog organization established by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz in 1969 and dedicated to the eradication of abuses committed under the guise of mental health, is calling for an investigation into the connection between antidepressants and suicides in honor of International Survivors of Suicide Day.

According to a study released this year by the National Center for Health Statistics, from 1999 through 2014, suicide rates in the United States reached a 30-year high showing increases in every age group with the exception of older adults. The Center for Disease Control stated in a 2015 report that based on data about suicides in 16 National Violent Death Reporting System states in 2010, 23.8% of suicide decedents tested positive for antidepressants.

One in ten Americans now take an antidepressant drug and the figures are even higher for women in their 40s and 50s – for this age group one in four takes an antidepressant.  It is not coincidental that the sharpest rise in suicides is among women and middle-aged Americans as they are the most drugged segment of the American population.

“So much attention is being put into more programs and funding to prevent suicide, yet the leading cause of the increase in suicides is psychiatric treatment, especially treatment with anti-depressants,” said Diane Stein, President of CCHR Florida. “The link between psychiatric treatment and suicide needs to be investigated and made known so that lives can be saved.”

To learn more, please call 727-442-8820 or visit www.cchrflorida.org for more information.

About CCHR

CCHR’s formation was inspired by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health.’” For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org

International Survivors of Suicide Day

International Survivors of Suicide Day will be celebrated this year on November 19, 2016.  Started in 1999 by Senator Harry Reid, a survivor of his father’s suicide, the purpose of the Suicide Survivors Day is to unite survivors of suicide loss in gatherings to remember their loved ones and offer each other support.

Contact Info:
Name: Diane Stein
Email: [email protected]
Organization: Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida
Address: 109 N. Fort Harrison Ave 
Phone: (727) 442-8820