CLEARWATER, Fla., July 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog organization co-founded by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz is calling for an investigation into the link between the increasing number of suicides and the ever increasing use of psychiatric drugs by college students.
According the Suicide Resource Prevention Center, suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students and a significant number of students have seriously considered taking their own lives.i The statistics being promoted are alarming with more than 1,000 suicides on college campuses each year, which equates to 2-3 suicide deaths every day.ii
But what is not being as widely promoted is the number of college students taking psychiatric drugs with many students arriving to campus already on an antidepressant. An article in the New York Times highlighted this fact when they reported that from 1994 to 2006, the percentage of students treated at college counseling centers who were using antidepressants nearly tripled, from 9 percent to over 23 percent.iii
Suicide is a proven side effect of antidepressants and it is also known that the more drugs prescribed and the more psychiatric “treatment” made available the more suicides occur.iv v vi Yet the solutions that are being pushed to stem the tide of college suicides are access to more mental health programs, funding for such programs and drugs.
“An investigation needs to be held on the continual push for more money to fund mental health programs in our schools and the psychiatric drugging of students in this country and in our state,” said Diane Stein, President of the Florida chapter of CCHR. “A good hard look needs to be taken at who is benefiting from this push as it certainly is not our children.”
As a public service, CCHR makes available information on the dangers of psychiatric drugs while exposing the profitable relationship between psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry via booklets and videos. A documentary uncovering the profit-driven marketing of harmful psychotropic drugs at the expense of patients, families and communities, The Marketing of Madness, is shown regularly and free of charge at the CCHR center located at 109 N. Fort Harrison Ave in Clearwater, Florida. To learn more, please call 727-442-8820 or visit the website for more information.
About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. It was 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
Media Contact:
Diane Stein
President, CCHR Florida
727-442-8820
diane@cchrflorida.org
www.cchrflorida.org
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i Suicide Prevention Resource Center (2014) Suicide Among College and University Students in the United States, http://www.sprc.org/sites/default/files/migrate/library/SuicideAmongCollegeStudentsInUS.pdf
ii The College Mental Health Crisis: Focus on Suicide (2017) Gene Beresin https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-college-mental-health-crisis-focus-on-suicide_us_58b47017e4b0658fc20f987c
iii The Antidepressant Generation (2014) Doris Iarovici, M.D. https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/17/the-antidepressant-generation/
iv Do Antidepressants Increase Suicide Attempts? http://www.center4research.org/antidepressants-increase-suicide-attempts-risks/
v The Relationship Between General Population Suicide Rates and Mental Health Funding, Service Provision and National Policy: a Cross-National Study
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26713983_The_Relationship_Between_General_Population_Suicide_Rates_and_Mental_Health_Funding_Service_Provision_and_National_Policy_a_Cross-National_Study
vi National suicide rates and mental health system indicators: An ecological study of 191 countries http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160252713000587