The Drugging of Children and Veterans is the Focus of this Burbank Exhibition 

A crowd gathered in Burbank this week for the opening of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) traveling exhibit, Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, which examines the history of psychiatry and exposes psychiatric human rights abuse. 

“Over 8 million American children are prescribed psychiatric drugs, in many cases ruining their lives,” said Hagit Raviv Ron who coordinates the work of CCHR in the Valley. 

This is particularly alarming given that these drugs bear “black box warnings”—the strictest Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning, placed in the labeling of prescription drugs when there is reasonable evidence of an association of a serious hazard with the drug. Many of these black box statements specifically warn against the use of these drugs on children.

Nationally, more than one million children ages 0-5 are on a psychiatric drug as are one in seven adolescents and teens age 12-17, according to IMS Health, a leading global information and technology services company.

Also included in the age bracket covered by these warnings is the bulk of American servicemen and women and many veterans—a population among whom prescriptions for psychiatric substances have skyrocketed. Coincident with this increase in prescriptions is the alarming spike in veteran suicides: Every 65 minutes, a veteran takes his or her own life—more than 20 every day. According to Dr. Bart Billings, retired colonel and Medical Service Corps Officer in the U.S. Army, “many of those suicides are directly linked to psychotropic medications.”

One veteran who toured the exhibit thanked the CCHR volunteers for bringing the Exhibit to Burbank. “Thank you so much for exposing these facts,” he said. “I have more hope after seeing the exhibit.”

The exhibit is built around the feature-length Psychiatry: An Industry of Death documentary, featuring rare historical and contemporary footage and interviews with more than 160 doctors, attorneys, educators, survivors and experts on the mental health industry and its abuses.

CCHR was co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry Dr. Thomas Szasz. Alerted to the brutality of psychiatric treatment by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard who wrote extensively about the abuses of psychiatric patients, CCHR today stands as a powerful voice of reason for those abused and continues its advocacy for reforms. For more information visit the CCHR website.