CCHR Supports Call to End Coercive Psychiatry at World Mental Health Congress
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LOS ANGELES - eTravelWire -- By CCHR International

A powerful appeal to end coercive psychiatric practices—such as forced electroshock and drugging—was made at the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) World Mental Health Congress in Barcelos, Portugal. The address urged global alignment with the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (W.H.O.) mandates to abolish these violations of human rights. U.S. human-rights advocate of more than 30 years, Bruce Wiseman, told delegates that the congress theme—"Mental Health and Social Sustainability: A Whole Society and Community-Based Approach"—reinforces the urgent need to ensure that coercion currently seen in psychiatric hospitals does not simply migrate into the community. Supporting the call was the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental-health industry watchdog that has long campaigned for a ban on coercive treatment.

Wiseman emphasized the necessity of abolishing coercive psychiatric practices in alignment with UN and W.H.O. mental-health guidance, which affirms that such measures violate fundamental human rights and can amount to torture. Yet, he warned, many nations remain out of step with these international standards.

ECT and Child Abuse Concerns

Wiseman cited alarming statistics showing that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) continues to be administered to minors and those committed involuntarily. The highest use among 10- to 18-year-olds occurs in the Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden, where children as young as six have been electroshocked. In the United States, five-year-olds have been subjected to ECT.[1] Some U.S. states—California and Texas—along with Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, have banned ECT on minors in accordance with W.H.O. recommendations.[2]

In a recent U.S. Appeals Court decision involving a Nebraska man who challenged the safety of electroshock devices, the court acknowledged evidence that ECT causes brain damage and permanent memory loss. Testimony from respected medical experts confirmed that the seizures induced by ECT are manifestations of brain injury and the efficacy of ECT in treating severe mental conditions has not been proven. Most importantly, the court recognized that permanent memory loss constitutes brain damage—an encouraging step toward achieving a global ban on this practice.

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Drugging, Institutionalization, and Restraint Deaths

"Equally alarming is the escalating use of prescription psychotropic drugs on children, including antipsychotics," Wiseman said. He cited evidence presented in August to a Geneva meeting of the UN Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR). The watchdog reported that children are being warehoused in psychiatric institutions, with documented cases of restraint deaths—some in the United States involving children as young as seven. "These children died in terror, gasping for air; some of their deaths were ruled homicides," according to CCHR.[3]

Forced psychiatric drugging, Wiseman noted, has been linked to a sixfold increase in suicide, while psychiatric hospitalization within the prior year raises suicide risk forty-fourfold. Across the United States[4], about 1.2 million people are involuntarily hospitalized each year—roughly two every minute.[5]

Warning Against Coercive Legal Frameworks

Wiseman also warned that the Council of Europe is advancing a punitive Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention, which, if adopted, would entrench involuntary commitment and forced treatment—the very abuses condemned under international law. An estimated 38% of those involuntarily admitted to institutions in Europe are subjected to forced drugging, seclusion, or restraint within four weeks of admission.[6] He called on WFMH to formally oppose the Protocol.

Wiseman concurred with CCHR that "Forced ECT, drugging, seclusion, restraint, and involuntary institutionalization constitute potential torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. These are not medical interventions—they are sanctioned abuse. In any other field, such acts would be prosecuted as criminal."

Survivors are often left physically harmed, cognitively impaired, and deeply traumatized. "Upholding autonomy, dignity, and liberty is non-negotiable. Rights-based alternatives that respect individual choice must urgently replace outdated, violent psychiatric practices."

A Global Call to Action

Wiseman urged WFMH to seize this World Congress as a historic opportunity—and moral obligation—to publicly condemn coercive psychiatric practices and support the U.N.'s call for their abolition worldwide.

A longtime supporter of CCHR and other rights-based organizations, Wiseman has exposed psychiatric abuses in U.S. mental hospitals, prompting government reforms. He also helped CCHR secure a 2004 federal law that provides parents with information about psychiatric drug risks and prohibits schools from forcing children to take such drugs as a condition of education.

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Founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz, CCHR is a global mental-health watchdog dedicated to eradicating abuse and upholding human dignity in the field of mental health.

Sources:

[1] Olaf Rask, et al., "Electroconvulsive therapy in children and adolescents: results from a population‑based study utilising the Swedish National Quality Register," Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 13 Dec. 2022, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10682289/; Christiane Licht, et al., "Electroconvulsive therapy in children and adolescents in Europe‑a  systematic review of the literature complemented by expert information and guideline recommendations," Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 27 Jan 2023, doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02248-y

[2] John Read, Ph.D., "Is It Time to Ban Electroconvulsive Therapy for Children? Research suggests that using electricity on developing brains is a bad idea," Psychology Today, 17 Dec, 2023, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychiatry-through-the-looking-glass/202311/is-it-time-to-ban-electroconvulsive-therapy-for; Western Australia Mental Health Act 2014, S 194, p. 145; Geraden Cann, "Thousands of Australians are receiving ECT without consent every year," ABC News, 8 June 2025, www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-09/electroconvulsive-therapy-consent-depression/105302318; Australian Capital Territory Mental Health Act 2015, S 147 178178, classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/act/consol_act/mha2015128/s157.html

[3] Jasmine Demers, "Fatal failures: What happened in the final hours of Ja'Ceon Terry's life," Louisville Public Media, 19 July 2023, www.lpm.org/residential-foster-care

[4] Matthew M. Large, Christopher J. Ryan, "Disturbing findings about the risk of suicide and psychiatric hospitals," Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiology (2014), 49: 1353-1355, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-014-0912-2

[5] https://www.cchrint.org/2025/09/12/involuntary-commitment-americas-eugenics-past-repackaged-as-mental-health-care/; Natalia Emanuel, et al., "A Danger to Self and Others: Health and Criminal Consequences of Involuntary Hospitalization," Federal Reserve Bank of New York, staff reports, July 2025, www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr1158.pdf?sc_lang=en

[6] www.cchrint.org/2025/09/12/involuntary-commitment-americas-eugenics-past-repackaged-as-mental-health-care/, citing Gérard Niveau, et al., "Psychiatric Commitment: Sixty Years Under the Scrutiny of the European Court of Human Rights," Frontiers in Psychiatry, 4 May 2021, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34017274/ and S P Sashidharan, Roberto Mezzina, Dainius Puras, "Reducing coercion in mental healthcare," Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci, 9 July 2019, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7032511/