Citizens Commission on Human Rights International | Mental Health Watchdog

By reducing human thought and behavior to colorful images of excited neurons, neuroscientists have turned brain scans into brain scams, write psychiatrist Satel and psychologist Lilienfeld. The argument that thinking involves more than brain activity is not new, but the authors give it an up-to-date, provocative treatment.Satel and Lilienfeld take aim at functional MRI scans that have been used by researchers and media to claim that specific brain areas represent the seats of love, hate and other human experiences. At best, the authors say, these scans detect a fraction of brain activity that occurs when people perform mental tasks. Such brain measures can neither fully predict nor explain people’s thoughts and feelings, they assert. More »

COERCIVE psychiatric practices have been linked to numerous deaths, hundreds of patient and nurse injuries and countless episodes of lasting mental trauma, an investigation by The Australian shows. More »

Given the enormous potential for great harm, one has to wonder how the Food and Drug Administration, FDA, gets away with giving its stamp of approval on a new "brain wave test," that allegedly will "help confirm an ADHD diagnosis," when there is no scientific or medical proof that any physical abnormality exists. More »

The Government is planning to end the practice of administering electro-convulsive treatment (ECT) to patients who are unwilling to give consent to treatment. The Mental Health Act 2001 will be amended to ensure that those who do not wish to receive ECT - which is used to treat specific types of major mental illnesses - will not be forced to do so in future. More »

LIFE is arduous, no doubt. And for some all the effort steers only a course to the doldrums. But do we suffer more now than in previous times? Are we more depressed or just more diagnosed? Many critical thinkers, within the medical industry and without, are incredulous of the notion that, in fact, we do suffer more. For centuries people have believed themselves to be living in stressful times - indeed, heaving away on Hamlet's "sea of troubles". More »

WHENEVER the media writes on the subject of disruptive, inattentive or boisterous children who have been labelled ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), there seems to be an assumption the reader accepts the psychiatric label is real, and that "experts" can treat it. This could not be further from the truth. While there is no question children and adolescents can be argumentative, impulsive, and that some can be more active than others, psychiatry has packaged up these and other behaviour characteristics and categorised them as the so-called mental illness ADHD. More »

Amy's ordeal began when she simply fell out with a clique of girls. The situation steadily worsened and she faced constant online bullying as well as being physically attacked in class. Gangs started to follow her home, and the family house and car were damaged. Neither the police nor school seemed able to do anything. More »

For decades, ADHD drugs, like Ritalin and Adderall, have been called "kiddie cocaine" because the drugs produce similar effects as cocaine. Now, finally, research proves that just like cocaine doesn't make a genius, the prescription psychiatric drugs prescribed to "treat" ADHD don't make children smart. More »

From an above average sailor, to prescription drug addict, to madness, to suicide: That's the horrifying tale (see Fox News video here) of Kelli Grese, as told by her twin sister, Darla Grese, and court records of the civil lawsuit Darla filed against the VA on her sister's behalf. Darla - a fierce and passionate advocate for her sister - was a diligent scrivener, a tireless crusader on her sister's behalf, a woman who was torn apart watching her high-functioning twin sister become addicted to prescription drugs, drugs by the handful, prescribed by the VA to treat what began for Kelli as a mild case of PTSD. "I felt like I was watching my sister die in front of me," said Darla. "And I was." More »

During the May 2013 annual conference of the American Psychiatric Association, APA, a study was presented, alleging that Electroconvulsive Therapy, ECT, (formerly known as Electroshock) for adolescents "is a safe, reasonably well-tolerated, and effective treatment." Unfortunately, like all psychiatric diagnosing, these claims are dependent upon the psychiatrist's interpretation - not scientific fact. Keeping in mind that the APA cannot provide any science to support that even one of its alleged psychiatric disorders is a real medical condition, it is difficult to accept this new study with any level of credibility. More »