Legislators call for a ban on seclusion rooms and restraint use on schoolchildren, but CCHR says it must extend to all physical and chemical restraint use in psychiatric facilities, as children are assaulted and die.

By Jan Eastgate
President CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
January 28, 2020

Illinois lawmakers have called for a nationwide ban on the use of seclusion and physical restraints on students. The lawmakers are two U.S. senators and 10 members of the House of Representatives, all but one are from Illinois. They’ve asked Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to issue federal guidance to prohibit physical restraints for dealing with challenging behavior.  This followed a Chicago Tribune-ProPublica Illinois investigation that found public schools put children in seclusion that violated the law. Most of the children who were secluded had intellectual or behavioral disabilities. Reporters also found that school employees were physically restraining children—sometimes face down on the floor—when there was not an emergency safety risk.[1]

The situation is grave and the ban is necessary; however, why is this is limited to schools, when teens across the country are being restrained in behavioral facilities, being assaulted or abused by staff and have even died from restraints. Add to this, the chemical restraint of students in schools and behavioral facilities with psychotropic drugs and there is a need for a massive investigation into the state of behavioral “care” for children and teens.

As far back as 2002, Charles G. Curie, former administrator of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration called for the elimination of both restraints and seclusion in psychiatric hospitals and stated: “Seclusion and restraint – with their inherent physical force, chemical or physical bodily immobilization and isolation – do not alleviate human suffering. They do not change behavior…. They can serve to re-traumatize people who already have had far too much trauma in their lives.”

This followed a series of articles by The Hartford Courant that found up to 150 restraint deaths occurred each year in the U.S, of which nearly 10% were children, some as young as six.[2]

Roshelle Clayborne, 16, died while being restrained at Laurel Ridge Treatment Center.

One of them was 16-year-old Roshelle Clayborne while at the Laurel Ridge psychiatric treatment center in Texas, now owned by a subsidiary of Universal Health Services (UHS). Slammed face-down on the floor, a mental health aide yanked Roshelle’s arms across her chest and gripped her wrists from behind her. “I can’t breathe,” she pleaded. She became suddenly still, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth as she lost control of her bodily functions. Her limp body was rolled into a blanket and dumped in a seclusion room. No one watched her die, the Courant reported.[3]

In April 1999, a Federal Hearing was held into the “alarming number of deaths resulting from physical restraints in psychiatric facilities. It is impossible to say how many there are because there is no requirement for reporting of deaths from physical restraints, in a field which is largely left unregulated.” The Hearing heard that 33% of the victims that died from restraint had been suffocated. More than 26% of those killed were children under 17, a rate that was nearly twice the proportion of that age category in mental health institutions.[4] A U.S. government report “found conclusively that children are especially targeted by facility staff for this unsafe practice (restraints), and are at greater risk of injury and death.” [5] Reports also suggested that 37.5% of child or adolescent inpatients may be secluded or restrained in some manner in psychiatric settings.[6] Further, the potential for adverse effects during restraint can increase for patients receiving psychotropic or other drugs as well as street drugs.[7]

Federal regulations were passed that were to restrict the use of physical and chemical (mind-altering drug) restraints to discipline patients in hospitals receiving federal funding. The regulations also ordered a “national reporting system” to be implemented and for government funding to be cut to any facility that did not comply.[8] A Rule by the Health Care Finance Administration on 22 January 2001 noted that a General Accounting Office (GAO) report had “specifically recommended that we mandate that any hospital or residential facility that treats persons with mental illness or mental retardation, as a requirement for receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds, report promptly to the State licensing body and the appropriate State Protection and Advocacy (P&A) system, all patient deaths and serious injuries among persons with mental illness or mental retardation, and to indicate whether restraint or seclusion was used during or immediately prior to the death or injury.”[9]

Little good this has done and with the lack of oversight of psychiatric facilities—especially in the for-profit/private area—there has been continuing use of violent restraints with children dying. Yet now, there is a call for a ban on school use only of restraints and seclusion when it should be universal. Any patient death from restraints should also be prosecuted.

In 2010, a report on the adverse effects of restraints showed restraint use was still not being effectively monitored.[10] The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) database does not include restraint with sedatives and is limited to psychiatric patients in general hospitals and freestanding psychiatric hospitals and, therefore, not for-profit facilities.[11]

With the call now to ban school seclusion and restraint use emanating from Illinois, CCHR said it would behoove the legislators championing this to protect all children, not just students.

In April, 2015, Rock River Academy in Rockford, Illinois closed after the Department of Children and Family Services stopped placing juvenile wards there.[12] From July 2014 through November, the facility had the highest rate of youths manually restrained by staff among the 52 residential treatment centers measured by state authorities—nearly eight times the median for all Illinois facilities.[13]

A sample of but some of the restraint abuses uncovered include:

• 2010: A 16-year-old foster child died after being injected with a sedative and restrained in a SSM Health Care, Louis company-owned psychiatric ward, ruled a homicide. Less than two years earlier, a death at the same hospital had led to a state inquiry that uncovered instances of improperly secluding and restraining patients and failing to report deaths to authorities.[14]

• July 2011: Federal authorities cited UHS’s Millwood Hospital in Denton County, Texas over a 6-year old boy who was physically restrained while placed in seclusion. Video surveillance showed a staff member sitting on the bed with his legs wrapped around the boy while he struggled. Due to the incorrect hold, the boy fell face down and sustained a nasal fracture.[15]

• 2012: A lawsuit was filed against UHS-owned River Oaks Hospital in Louisiana that involved a patient’s death at the facility in July 2009. The boy’s mother alleged her son, Craven, was physically restrained by hospital staff, placed in restraints, shot up with sedatives and had a staff member sitting on his chest. Craven was not breathing, his lips had turned blue and vomit was dripping from his mouth. Upon the discovery of Craven’s condition CPR was utilized unsuccessfully and Craven died.[16]

• 2013: An employee at the UHS-owned Milton Girls Juvenile Residential Facility, Florida, was sentenced to jail after being caught on camera slamming a young girl at the facility into a wall.[17] The same year, a mental health technician with UHS-owned The Vines Hospital in Florida, was charged with felony abuse of a 13-year old resident he twisted the arm of causing a spiral fracture. [18]

• October 2015: Strategic Behavioral Health’s Rock Prairie Behavioral Health got five immediate jeopardy citations that included nurses failing to properly assess patients for medical issues before and after using physical or chemical restraints. Two patients were restrained or put in seclusion without proper explanation. Another patient injured her finger in a seclusion room, requiring six stitches.[19]

• 2016: Federal records indicated that Park Ridge Health hospital in North Carolina, owned by Adventist Health System, restrained psychiatric patients 800 hours out of every 1,000 hours with a restraint rate of more than 800 times the national average.[20]

• 2018: A 15-year old boy died after being restrained at North Spring Behavioral Healthcare in North Virginia, owned by UHS.[21]

• 2017: UHS’s Shadow Mountain Behavioral Health in Oklahoma was investigated by health authorities after children as young as five were separated from their parents and held in dangerous situations. Internal surveillance videos also showed children being repeatedly physically restrained, including a 9-year-old boy that a mental health technician grabbed by the neck, pushed against a wall, then slammed to the ground.[22] The facility has since closed.

• 2019: Acadia’s Lake View behavioral hospital in Peachtree Corners in Georgia came under official scrutiny and there were whistleblowers “coming forward about patients who were attacked, restrained and overmedicated.”[23]

• 2019: A 10-year old boy was held in restraints for an hour at Acadia Healthcare’s now closed Desert Hills psychiatric facility and then injected with and overdosed on the antipsychotic, Haldol.[24] Desert Hills of New Mexico was “shut down amid egregious abuse allegations, multiple lawsuits and losing its certification from state regulators,” according to The Nashville Post.  It cited seven lawsuits against the facility which included excessive use of restraints on children—more than 30 times in 60 days.[25]

• November 2019: Sequel Pomegranate in Columbus, Ohio, owned by Sequel Youth & Family Services, came under scrutiny when video footage showed a nurse attempting to restrain a patient wrapped her left arm around a patient’s neck,” “took the patient to the floor,” “kicked,” and “appeared to strike the patient five times with a closed fist in the face/head region.” The child had sustained a concussion a month prior.[26]

• December 2019: The New York Times reported that Acadia Healthcare’s Piney Ridge Treatment Center in Fayetteville, Arizona was using chemical injections to restrain young people in seclusion, a violation of federal rules.[27] Disability Rights Arkansas alleged that the facility used restraints excessively. “They restrain people left and right… grab them and take them in the time-out room and give them shots,” one unnamed patient said, according to inspectors.[28] In January the facility claimed to have stopped chemical restraint use.[29]

• 2019: UHS and Acadia-owned facilities in the UK also show a pattern of restraint use. UK’s Cygnet Health care, owned by UHS, closed a psychiatric hospital, Whorlton Hall, after the BBC’s Panorama reporters went undercover and filmed staff abusing patients.[xxx] In one restraint, a patient was held on the ground for nearly 10 minutes with the staff member who was restraining him handing out chewing gum to colleagues. A police investigation was launched and 16 staffs were suspended.[31]

• January 2020: It was reported that The Cygnet Health Care-owned Chesterholme hospital in Hexham, England, was temporarily closed after the UK Care Quality Commission (CQC), an oversight agency, inspected it and found a high use of physical restraint at Cygnet hospitals owned by UHS compared to other mental health providers.[32]

Patient restraint, assaults and deaths are occurring across the country in for-profit behavioral facilities—chains of psychiatric hospitals reported to State and Federal legislators and agencies since 2008. Federal regulations have failed to curb these requiring stronger intervention. In summary, State legislatures and Congress need to enact effective and accountable state- and federal-oversight systems, ban the use of physical and chemical restraints and facilities and treating doctors violating this accountable both civilly and criminally.

References:

[1] “Illinois Lawmakers Are Calling for a Nationwide Ban on Isolated Timeouts of Students,” ProPublica Illinois, 15 Jan. 2020, https://www.propublica.org/article/illinois-lawmakers-letter-nationwide-ban-isolated-timeouts-students

[2] “For The Record: 11 Months, 23 Dead,” Hartford Courant, 11 Oct. 1998

[3] Eric M. Weiss, “A Nationwide Pattern of Death,” The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com/news/special/restraint/day1.stm

[4] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-106shrg57118/html/CHRG-106shrg57118.htm

[5] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674370304800509

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] “Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Hospital Conditions of Participation: Patients’ Rights; Interim Final Rule,” Federal Register, Department of Health and Human Services, 2 July 1999,  These bills were incorporated into the enactment of the Children’s Health Act of 2000, which was signed by the President on October 17, 2000, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/01/22/01-1649/medicaid-program-use-of-restraint-and-seclusion-in-psychiatric-residential-treatment-facilities

[9] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/01/22/01-1649/medicaid-program-use-of-restraint-and-seclusion-in-psychiatric-residential-treatment-facilities

[10] https://www.crisisprevention.com/Blog/October-2010/Adverse-Effects-Associated-With-Physical-Restraint

[11] “Psych Patients at This Hospital Were Tied Down and Ignored, Records Show,” Vice News, 2 Mar. 2016, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbn54n/psych-patients-at-this-hospital-were-tied-down-and-ignored-records-show

[12] Letter from Dieter Waizenegger, Executive Director of CtW Investments to Mr. John H. Herrell, Lead Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee Universal Health Services, Inc., 8 May 2015, http://ctwinvestmentgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/CtW-to-John-Herrell-UHS-5-4-15-final.pdf

[13] “Center for troubled girls will close, cites decision by DCFS,” Chicago Tribune, 28 Jan. 2015, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/rtc/chi-youth-treatment-rock-river-20150128-story.html.

[14] http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/girl-dies-during-restraint-at-an-already-troubled-hospital/article_4a10ccdd-5d08-52bd-bfc5-c435014aa09b.html

[15] “Millwood Hospital Cited for Failing to Provide Safe Environment for Pediatric & Adolescent Patients,” UHS Behind Closed Doors, 28 Jul 2011, http://uhsbehindcloseddoors.org/complaint_type/millwood-hospital-cited-for-failing-to-provide-safe-environment-for-pediatric-adolescent-patients/; http://uhsbehindcloseddoors.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/TX-Millwood-Hospital-2011.07.28.pdf.

[16] “River Oaks Hospital sued over restraint death of psychiatric patient,” Louisiana Record, 14 Sept, 2012, https://louisianarecord.com/stories/510582330-river-oaks-hospital-sued-over-restraint-death-of-psychiatric-patient

[17] Kaitlyn Ross, “Local family says they lived health care nightmare,” First Coast News, 2 May 2013, http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/2014/01/17/4600179/.

[18] Statement of Deficiencies and Plan of Correction, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, The Vines, 20 Feb 2013; April Warren, “The Vines Hospital faces challenges,” OcalaStarBanner, 31 Jan 2015, http://www.ocala.com/article/20150131/ARTICLES/150139951?template=printpicart.

[19] “Strategic Behavioral Health’s sanctions in five states,” State Journal, Wisconsin, 8 Apr. 2018, https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/health-med-fit/strategic-behavioral-health-s-sanctions-in-five-states/article_7fcf1fd8-9f0c-546b-be0a-4d353623cd52.html

[20] “Psych Patients at This Hospital Were Tied Down and Ignored, Records Show,” Vice News, 2 Mar. 2016, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbn54n/psych-patients-at-this-hospital-were-tied-down-and-ignored-records-show; ownership https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/09/22/park-ridge-whistleblowers-cause-115m-settlement/72614522/

[21] “‘He didn’t deserve the way he died’: Mother of teen restrained at behavioral health facility speaks out,” The Washington Post, 27 Jan. 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/he-didnt-deserve-the-way-he-died-mother-of-teen-restrained-at-behavioral-health-facility-speaks-out/2018/01/26/92428f5e-fd47-11e7-a46b-a3614530bd87_story.html?utm_term=.622b17ddc49a

[24] Roslind Adams, “Videos Show The Dark Side Of Shadow Mountain Youth Psych Facility,” Buzz Feed News, 11 April 2017, https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosalindadams/shadow-mountain?utm_term=.ynvnN5okY#.kwyRK1wNE

[23] Transcript, WSB-ATL (ABC) 11 Nov. 2019, http://mms.tveyes.com/PlaybackPortal.aspx?SavedEditID=eea773f6-1a00-4d26-87cf-185aa2e5e219 and http://mms.tveyes.com/PlaybackPortal.aspx?SavedEditID=affa655c-9115-41f8-8b6a-edad76dfbee8

[24] “Desert Hills staff used ‘booty juice’ to control children,” KOB4 News, 13 Aug. 2019, https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/lawsuit-desert-hills-staff-used-booty-juice-to-control-children/5456440/

[25] Kara Hartnett, “Acadia facility closes amid abuse allegations,” Nashville Post, 5 Apr. 2019, https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/area-stocks/article/21063192/acadia-facility-closes-amid-abuse-allegations

[26] “State threatens to revoke Sequel Pomegranate’s license after staff restrains, hits child,” WBNS 10 News, 8 Nov. 2019, https://www.10tv.com/article/state-threatens-revoke-sequel-pomegranates-license-after-staff-restrains-hits-child-2019-nov

[28] “Records: Arkansas Youth Treatment Center Broke Federal Rules,” The New York Times, 1 Dec 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/12/01/us/ap-us-youth-center-investigation.html

[28] “Records: Northwest Arkansas child site violated U.S. rules,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 1 Dec. 2019, https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/dec/01/records-child-site-violated-u-s-rules-2/?news

[29] https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/jan/26/repairs-underway-at-treatment-center-20/

[30] “US corporations expand across NHS mental healthcare: One in eight inpatient beds in England provided by American companies,” The Financial Times, 7 Nov. 2019, https://www.ft.com/content/4f428fc8-fefe-11e9-b7bc-f3fa4e77dd47

[31] “Whorlton Hall: Hospital ‘abused’ vulnerable adults,” BBC, 22 May 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48367071

[32] “‘Inadequate’ hospital in Hexham closes after Care Quality Commission criticism,” HC 16 Jan. 2020, https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/18165693.inadequate-hospital-hexham-closes-care-quality-commission-criticism/

Current research into psychedelic drugs in the treatment of mental disorders is heading in a dangerous “Brave New World” direction. With a history of psychiatric-intelligence abuse, the drugs should have no role in treating Americans today, watchdog says.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
February 5, 2020

A psychiatric drugs side effects online database may soon add hallucinogenic drugs to warn consumers of the drugs’ mind-manipulative history and risk of inducing violent and psychotic behavior. The mental health industry watchdog group, Citizens Commission on Human Rights International’s (CCHR) online side effects database already contains hundreds of psychotropic drugs that have amassed over 400,000 adverse effects reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), yet one-in-four Americans, including 7.2 children, are still taking them.[1]

CCHR says that even if psychedelic drugs are administered to consenting subjects, such research demonstrates a fundamental disregard for human life because of the drugs’ mind-altering properties, born out by the psychiatric-intelligence community’s past research of LSD, psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and amphetamines.

Despite the risks of LSD, the FDA has now granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to a Europe-based company for its psilocybin therapy for “treatment-resistant depression.”[2]  The company is running a 216-patient clinical trial and has made enough synthetic doses of the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms to supply more than 30,000 patients. [3]

The European company has raised $58 million in venture funding, including from Thomas Insel, former Director of The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), who, along with Paul Summergrad, former head of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), sits on the company’s board of advisers.[4]

The FDA, National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also support research into psychedelic drugs.[5]

Harvard University boasts a Harvard Science of Psychedelics Club.[6] In the 1950s Harvard received substantial funds from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for mind-control experiments using LSD.[7] NIMH also received CIA funding in the 60s.[8]

The research into LSD and amphetamines as documented by Tom O’ Neill in Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties should begs questions about hallucinogenic drug research today. The extensively researched book is based around Charles Manson and the Family who, after many months of LSD use, gruesomely murdered 9-month pregnant actress, Sharon Tate (Valley of the Dolls) and four others in August 1969.[9]

In less than a year of starting to take LSD, “Manson turned a group of peaceful hippies, mainly young women, into savage, unrepentant killers.” Their grisly crimes “have now inspired Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. But little is known about how Manson became Manson,” O’Neill said.[10]

While not excusing the crimes committed, Manson was dropping acid on a daily basis when he lived in Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco from late Spring of 1967 to June 1968.[11]  At the time, two researchers had an influence on his life: Roger Smith, his parole officer and Dr. David Smith (not related).[12]

Chaos provides information about their LSD and amphetamine research:

• Roger Smith led a study on amphetamines and their role in the violent behavior of the Haight-Ashbury hippies. NIMH funded this.[13] His Amphetamine Research Project hoped to learn why some people, but not others, became psychotically violent on amphetamines—and to see if this violence could be controlled. [14]  It was run out of Smith’s Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic (HAFMC), which Manson and the Family members regularly attended. [15]

• David Smith injected mice with amphetamines and within 24 hours, “they transformed from docile animals into frantic combatants, fighting one another until they died…The violence was unremitting: Smith described ‘frenzied attacks of unrelenting rage.’”[16]

• Eugene Schoenfeld, who was involved in the study, said the rats were also injected with LSD in hopes of making them more suggestible before they were given amphetamines.[17]

• Smith wrote that in “people with prepsychotic personalities,” LSD precipitated “a long-term psychological disorder, usually a manic depressive reaction of a schizophrenic process.”[18]

• In 1966, psychiatrist Louis Jolyn (“Jolly”) West was in Haight-Ashbury to study hippies and LSD. In a 1967 psychiatry textbook, West wrote that LSD was known to leave users “unusually susceptible and emotionally labile.” Now deceased, his project was funded by the Foundations Fund for Research in Psychiatry, Inc., a front for the CIA.[19]

CCHR says the facts show LSD and/or amphetamines cause “unrelenting rage,” can trigger “violent behavior,” “frenzied attacks,” “aggressive and assaultive,” behavior and “precipitates mental disorders.”   Whether given in a clinical setting or abused, the drugs can have harmful outcomes and, arguably, have no use in the mental health field.

References:

[1] https://www.cchrint.org/issues/watchdog-announces-psychiatric-drug-side-effects-search-engine/

[2] “FDA Gives Stamp of Approval for Clinical Psilocybin Trials,” Psychedelic Times, 13 Nov. 2018, https://psychedelictimes.com/fda-approves-clinical-psilocybin-trials/

[3] “Shroom-Therapy Startup Edges Toward FDA Approval: The feds have designated Compass Pathways’ experimental psilocybin treatment for depression a ‘breakthrough therapy,’” Bloomberg Businessweek, 6 Jan. 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-07/psychedelic-mushroom-therapy-startup-edges-toward-fda-approval

[4] Ibid.

[5] https://www.marijuanamoment.net/federal-health-agencies-acknowledge-therapeutic-potential-of-psychedelics/; https://newatlas.com/science/darpa-remove-hallucinatory-side-effects-psychedelic-medicines/

[6] https://www.harvardindependent.com/2019/02/the-harvard-science-of-psychedelics-club/

[7] https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1977/9/28/cia-papers-link-harvard-to-mind-control/

[8] Tom O’ Neill, Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, (Little, Brown & Co. New York, June 2019), pp. 300-301

[9] https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/a-20-year-search-for-the-truth-behind-the-manson-family-murders/2019/08/01/db355496-92d1-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html

[10] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/charles-manson-murders-cia-conspiracy-theory-lsd-labs-truth/

[11] Op. cit. Tom O’ Neill, pp. 284, 290

[12] Ibid., pp. 285-286

[13] Ibid., p. 300

[14] Ibid., pp. 300-301

[15] Ibid., p. 302

[16] Ibid., pp. 312-313

[17] Ibid., p. 314

[19] Ibid., p. 319

[19] https://theintercept.com/2019/11/24/cia-mkultra-louis-jolyon-west/

Legislation is needed to curb the placement of foster youths in for-profit psychiatric facilities while lack of Medicaid oversight of them being drugged and chemically restrained creates a nation of child neglect, watchdog accuses

By Jan Eastgate,
President CCHR International
February 11, 2020

Legislation introduced in Oregon calls for better oversight of for-profit behavioral hospitals where foster children have been chemically and physically restrained.[1] It’s a measure that Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog applauds and has argued for since 2015 when it discovered that private psychiatric hospital chains were profiting from Medicaid-covered children being admitted to their facilities, including those in foster care.

In October 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that foster children in Oregon were sent to privately run group homes out of state.[2] An Oregon state memorandum said facilities were owned by Acadia Healthcare, Universal Health Services (UHS) and Sequel Youth and Family Services (Sequel).[3]

Other states as well as various tribal governments, sent kids, including foster youths, to Acadia Montana for treatment.[4] Acadia Montana closed last year after a 9-year-old Oregon girl who was placed there there was found chemically restrained and frequently put in seclusion. Annette Smith, a public defender who represented the girl, contacted state Oregon Senator Sara Gelser, who chaired the Senate Committee on Human Services about the injections being given the child.[5] Children aged 5 to 18 were treated for “behavioral” issues that included hyperactivity and so-called “oppositional defiant disorder,”[6] conditions CCHR says are highly subjectively based.

The Center for Health Journalism pointed out some kids taken into state custody are admitted to “treatment foster care” facilities managed and overseen entirely by for-profit and nonprofit companies. Kids—especially teens—are “disproportionately placed in treatment programs for behavior not uncommon for their age, like smoking pot or sneaking out at night with friends.” According to the July 2018 article, “It’s time to start asking hard questions about treatment foster care near you.”[7]

Starting in 2015, CCHR’s reports to legislators in every state asked such questions—pointing to children being a lucrative market for for-profit psychiatric facilities. According to Acadia’s 10-K SEC filing, “Management believes that children and adolescents are a patient class that is less susceptible to reductions in reimbursement rates.”[8]  It estimated that the Child and Adolescent Behavioral Healthcare market alone would have reached $11 billion in 2014.[9] Acadia’s 2018 Annual Report recorded total revenue of $3.01 billion, up 6.2% compared with $2.84 billion in 2017.[10]

Utah state regulators recently criticized Sequel’s Red Rock Canyon School that closed in August 2019 after “numerous accounts of mistreatment, abuse, acts of violence and overall disrespect toward residents[11]” According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the closure was “amid intense scrutiny following [an] April riot and revelations about the number of staffers accused of assaulting students.”[12] Caleb La Chance, a former resident of the facility, who was in foster care from the age of 5, told Oregon legislators in February that he had been assaulted twice by staff members and had been a part of a riot that left several teens injured. He now wants to help change the way foster children are treated.[13]

Sequel’s Mount Pleasant Academy in central Utah was also shut down, due, the company said, to low enrollment. But Senator Sara Gelser told The Salt Lake Tribune she was concerned the foster children from her state were not safe, at Red Rock and other Sequel facilities.[14]

The Oregon Department of Human Services also vowed that it will no longer send kids to any other facility run by Acadia Healthcare.[15]

The chemical restraint of foster youth continues despite in 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stating its concern about the use of psychotropic drugs among children in foster care. Foster children represented 3% of children covered by Medicaid, yet, based on a study of pharmacy claims in 16 States, they were enrolled in Medicaid and prescribed antipsychotic drugs at nearly nine times the rate of other children receiving Medicaid.[16]

As exposed in 2019, one in four children in foster care between ages 6 and 17 are administered at least one psychotropic drug. A significant number of children are given a combination of two, three, or four drugs at the same time.[17] Nearly one-quarter (24%) of children eligible for child welfare assistance used a psychotropic drug, almost five times the rate of children eligible on a basis other than disability or child welfare assistance (5%), according to Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC).[18]

Reported in March 2018, a Medicaid statewide quality improvement (QI) collaborative was developed to improve antipsychotic prescribing practices for children. Despite known safety concerns, antipsychotic use among youths, particularly those insured by Medicaid, had increased dramatically over 20 years. Analysis of 2007–2009 data from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that antipsychotic use by Medicaid-insured youths increased at over twice the rate among privately insured youths. Furthermore, despite lack of supporting evidence and increased risk of adverse effects, use of multiple antipsychotics for youths was a common practice, with estimates ranging from 4.2% to 9.9%.[19]

Dangerous antipsychotics are not the only drugs administered foster children.  CCHR International recently filed Freedom of Information requests for state information on the number of 0-17 Medicaid recipients was prescribed psychotropic drugs. To date, 11 states have responded reporting stimulants are the top class of drugs prescribed in 10 of these states. Between 2013 and 2017 (the latest figures available), a total 616,594 Medicaid covered children and adolescents in 11 states alone were prescribed psychiatric drugs, of which 73,523 were aged 0-5.

A September 2017 retrospective, cross-sectional study of 3, 271 081 Medicaid-enrolled children also revealed that stimulants (amphetamine-type) accounted for both the highest proportion of expenditures (20.6%) and days of prescription drug use (14.0%) among all medication classes; antipsychotics represented 9.4% and antidepressants 5%.[20]

The Oregon bill is a step in the right direction, but all states should have regulations that prohibit the use of chemical and physical restraints on any child—foster youth or not.

Almost weekly, media report heinous abuses being committed in for-profit psychiatric hospitals, requiring greater government vigilance that could reverse the child neglect crisis that is putting profit before child safety.

But governments are not learning from this pattern of abuse that has been occurring for decades. Penalties for abuse and fraud clearly is not a deterrent.

In the 1990s, CCHR was instrumental in exposing abuse, fraud and excessive drugging of patients in the for-profit psychiatric industry, namely in a chain of hospitals owned by Psychiatric Institutes of America and National Medical Enterprises. In 1991, The New York Times reported that investigators, looking into psychiatric hospitals that were operated for-profit, uncovered evidence of fraud and abuse.[21] The in-depth article addressed the following:

• Children were a target. The number of Americans between the ages of 10 and 19 who were committed to psychiatric units, at public as well as private hospitals, ballooned between 1980 and 1987 by 43% to 180,000 from 126,000, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. A study of 20,000 hospitalized children, conducted by Ira M. Schwartz, a social worker at the University of Michigan, found that up to 75% of the admissions were unnecessary.[22]

• One father said Psychiatric Institute’s Fair Oaks Hospital held his three children, ages 9, 8, and 3, against his will for more than five weeks at a cost of more than $70,000. This was during a custody battle with his wife. They were held unnecessarily as an insurance company found in a later review.

• Walter E. Afield, the president of the Mental Health Programs Corporation, a company that monitored mental health claims for more than 36 leading insurance companies, said the overuse of tests, services or drugs was extremely widespread at private psychiatric hospitals across the nation. Another form of overuse, he said, is keeping patients in hospitals longer than necessary.

• Dozens of patients complained to investigators and a Congressional subcommittee looking into the markups of drugs and supplies often by more than 10 times the cost.

• Robert F. Stuckey, the medical director of the Alcoholism Unit at Fair Oaks Hospital in Summit, N.J., from 1975 until 1985, told New Jersey state insurance investigators that the hospital frequently gave patients the diagnoses that matched the highest insurance coverage.[23] 

Nothing much has changed other than the names of for-profit hospital chains—further evidence that oversight has failed to identify abuses and bring them to account. Consider the following since December 2019. 

• In December, the Associated Press reported that Acadia Healthcare’s Piney Ridge Treatment Center in Fayetteville, Arizona was using chemical injections to restrain young people in seclusion, a violation of federal rules.[24] Under scrutiny, in January 2020 it said it would stop the use of chemical restraints.[25]

• The same month lawsuits were filed against Acadia Montana. In one case, a former patient alleged negligence and assault and battery during his time there seven years ago; in the other, a group of 30 former employees allege Acadia’s sudden closure with just a month’s notice to employees violated federal employee protection laws. [26]

• The Federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services terminated its agreement with Signature Healthcare’s Chicago Lakeshore Hospital on December 23.[27] The hospital cited the loss of federal funding as the reason for the layoffs, according to The Chicago Tribune. Hospital officials told a judge in late December that without access to federal funding it will “undoubtedly close.” A Cook County public guardian sued the hospital in December, alleging youth patients were physically and sexually abused by staff and fellow patients.[28]

• A staff member at a Universal Health Services youth behavioral hospital, Provo Canyon Behavioral Hospital, was charged on February 6, 2020 with first-degree felony sodomy on a child and second-degree felony enticing a minor. Gabriel Michael Lima is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl he met at work at the hospital. The girl told police that days after she left the facility last September, Lima sent her messages on social media, including photos of his genitals and of himself shirtless. They arranged to meet up at a parking lot in Sandy on September 29, and Lima allegedly drove the girl to a nearby park and forced her to perform a sex act. Bail was set at $500,000.[29]

• A Boulder, Colorado woman is suing Clear View Behavioral Health owned by Strategic Behavioral Health. According to reporterherald.com, the suit, filed late January 2020, alleges that the facility committed negligence, false imprisonment and organized crime violations during its treatment of Lisa Sun who alleges she was kept against her will for eight days. Clear View has 21 days from when Sun’s complaint was filed to respond. The suit is seeking financial compensation for Sun and is requesting a jury trial in the 20th Judicial District.[30] A Denver attorney accused Clear View of “racketeering, fraud, negligence, false imprisonment and outrageous conduct.” Five state and federal investigations and a criminal investigation by the Colorado Attorney General’s office are ongoing. A year-long reporting by “Contact7 Investigates” also occurred into serious accusations against the 92-bed psych hospital. Last June, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), announced it was moving to revoke the hospital’s license. An administrative law judge is scheduled to rule on CDPHE’s request in May.[31]

• WBNS reported Sequel Pomegranate reached a settlement with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services after facing a license revocation due to use of improper restraints and sexual abuse of patients and violence in the facility. One teen was kicked, punched and improperly restrained by a nurse and mental health aide. Both employees were fired but not prosecuted. Part of the agreement is the facility must reduce its patient population to zero and suspend admissions for 120 days. The state still reserves the discretion to begin the process to suspend or revoke Sequel Pomegranate’s license if the facility is found to not be in compliance. [32]

Because Medicaid is a pipeline for the for-profit mental health system and the excessive drug prescribing within it, CMS should also be curbing the mass psychotropic drugging of Medicaid-eligible children and teens while those psychiatrists prescribing the drugs require closer scrutiny of their practices and action taken where abuse is found.

References:

[1] https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2020R1/Measures/Overview/SB1566

[2] “After Abuse Allegations, Oregon Brings Back Foster Kids Sent Out of State: Struggling with the most challenging cases, state sent children to privately run homes with little oversight,” Wall Street Journal, 14 Oct. 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-abuse-allegations-oregon-brings-back-foster-kids-sent-out-of-state-11571045404

[3] https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/CommitteeMeetingDocument/190449

[4] “Acadia Montana: Use of injected medication, tolerated for years in state, draws Oregon outrage,” Montana Standard, 21 Apr. 2019, https://mtstandard.com/news/local/acadia-montana-use-of-injected-medication-tolerated-for-years-in/article_d94f659c-d479-5a6d-979a-305c2d1b9bdf.html

[5] “Advocates Say Oregon Foster Child Abandoned, Drugged Out Of State,” Oregon Public Broadcasting, 10 Apr. 2019, https://www.opb.org/news/article/advocates-say-oregon-foster-child-abandoned-drugged-out-of-state/

[6] Op. cit., Montana Standard, 21 Apr. 2019

[7] https://www.centerforhealthjournalism.org/2018/06/18/it-s-time-start-asking-hard-questions-about-treatment-foster-care-near-you

[8] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1520697/000119312515069793/d854534d10k.htm

[9] Acadia Healthcare, Investor Presentation, 2015, p. 13

[10] http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/NASDAQ_ACHC_2018.pdf

[11] “Violence, sex abuse and mistreatment: Utah officials threaten to pull the license of this St. George school for troubled youth,” The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 May 2019, https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/05/17/violence-sex-abuse/

[12] “He was abused by staff at Red Rock Canyon School. Now, this Oregon teen wants to change the foster system that sent him to Utah,” The Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Feb. 2020, https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/02/07/he-was-abused-by-staff/

[13] Ibid.

[14] “Second Utah facility for troubled teens to close in a month,” KUTV, 16 July 2019, https://kutv.com/news/local/second-utah-facility-for-trouble-teens-to-close-in-a-month

[15] https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/04/oregon-foster-care-scandal-draws-attention-to-use-of-chemical-restraint-in-montana.html

[16] https://www.medicaid.gov/sites/default/files/Federal-Policy-Guidance/downloads/SMD-11-23-11.pdf

[17] “Ensuring Foster Youth Are Only Prescribed Psychotropic Medication When in Their Best Interest,” Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, https://www.pcori.org/research-results/2019/ensuring-foster-youth-are-only-prescribed-psychotropic-medication-when-their

[18] https://www.macpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Use-of-Psychotropic-Medications-among-Medicaid-Beneficiaries.pdf

[19] “A Medicaid Quality Improvement Collaborative on Psychotropic Medication Prescribing for Children,” Psychiatric Services, 1 Mar. 2018, https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.201700547

[20] https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/140/3/e20171095

[21] Peter Kerr, “Paying for Fraud/A special report; Mental Hospital Chains Accused of Much Cheating on Insurance,” The New York Times, 24 Nov. 1991.

[22] Ibid.

[23]Ibid..

[24] “Records: Arkansas Youth Treatment Center Broke Federal Rules,” The New York Times, 1 Dec 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/12/01/us/ap-us-youth-center-investigation.html

[25]  https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/jan/26/repairs-underway-at-treatment-center-20/

[26] https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/fallout-continues-after-acadia-montana-s-sudden-closure/article_750bc689-7157-533c-91a1-1e78023b2114.html

[27] https://www.newsbreak.com/illinois/chicago/news/0NmUDIAp/layoffs-at-chicago-lakeshore-abbott-gets-ok-for-less-invasive-heart-pump-technique

[28] “Chicago psych hospital to lay off 275 after federal funding ended,” Becker’s Hospital Review, 8 Jan. 2020, https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/chicago-psych-hospital-to-lay-off-275-after-federal-funding-ended.html

[29] “Staffer at Utah youth hospital accused of forcing sex on 12-year-old former patient,” The Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Feb 2020, https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/02/06/staffer-utah-youth/; “Charges: Staffer at Utah behavior hospital charged with sexually abusing girl,” Deseret News, 6 Feb 2020, https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/2/6/21126482/charges-staffer-at-utah-behavior-hospital-charged-with-sexually-abusing-girl

[30] “Johnstown psychiatric hospital facing false imprisonment allegations,”KFKA, 7 Feb. 2020, http://www.1310kfka.com/news/02/johnstown-psychiatric-hospital-facing-false-imprisonment-allegations/

[31] “Denver attorney accuses Johnstown mental health hospital of “racketeering” in lawsuit,” The Denver Post, 20 Jan. 2020, https://www.denverpost.com/2020/01/20/clear-view-behavioral-health-racketeering-lawsuit/

[32]“Ohio reaches settlement with Sequel Pomegranate after threatening to revoke license,” WBNS, ABC TV news, 5 Feb. 2020, https://www.10tv.com/article/ohio-reaches-settlement-sequel-pomegranate-after-threatening-revoke-license-2020-feb

Education is under attack from “mental health” agendas, with children as young as 6 removed from classrooms and incarcerated, fueling the 6.7 million American 0-17 year olds on psychotropic drugs and billions of dollars in drug sales.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Watchdog
February 25, 2020

A 6-year-old girl was removed from a Florida school for being disruptive and committed to a behavioral health center for a psychiatric evaluation without her parent’s knowledge.  She was held for two days and allegedly injected with an antipsychotic. Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, a 50-year mental health industry watchdog, warns that the U.S. education system and parental rights are being usurped with psychiatric and psychological practices. Schools, they assert, are used as feeder lines into a mental health system, which profits from this.  CCHR was responding to an incident where a licensed counselor with the school determined that Nadia, aged 6, was a candidate for involuntary detention under Florida’s Baker Act.

The special needs child reportedly threw some chairs in a tantrum.[1] But according to the Atlanta Black Star, a police body camera video, the girl behaved calmly as she was escorted from school by police. At one point, she asked officers if she was going to jail and was assured, no. The officer seemed skeptical of the school’s reason for calling 911. “She’s been actually very pleasant,” she noted. “I think it’s more of them not wanting to deal with it,” said another officer.[2]

Martina Falk, Nadia’s mother, was alerted only after her daughter was committed and said the nearly two-day mandatory stay at the psychiatric facility did more harm than good.[3]

It’s a common practice. Between July 2017 and June 2018, there were 36,078 involuntary examinations initiated under the Baker Act for individuals under the age of 18 in Florida.[4]

In another case, police picked up 6-year-old Nicholas, who’d thrown a tantrum at school and deposited him at River Point Behavioral Health in Florida. There Nicholas was allegedly given a bloody nose by another child and was locked in a “seclusion” room at 3 a.m. Nicholas was released only after a lawyer intervened.[5]

Schools are bowing to psychiatric and psychological “advice” that mental health screening, referrals for committal and institutionalization are a way of protecting students. CCHR reminds schools of comments from the president of History of Education Society, who in 1982, said, “Few intellectual and social movements of this century have had so deep and pervasive an influence on the theory and practice of American education as the mental hygiene movement.”[6]  It’s only gotten worse.

In 2003, the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health recommended that all American schoolchildren be screened for “mental illness,” claiming—without proof—that “early detection, assessment, and links with treatment” could “prevent mental health problems from worsening.”[vii] But it hasn’t.   Today, schools are expected to invoke state laws to have their students involuntarily committed and “treated.” That adds to the kids on psychiatric drugs crisis we now see, CCHR says.

IQVia Total Patient Tracker Database for 2019 reports 6,726,189 0-17 year olds had taken psychotropic drugs in 2019, of which 530,169 were aged 0-5.[8]

The drugs can cause aggressive, suicidal and disruptive behavior leading to children being incarcerated, where they are at risk of being further drugged and sexually abused.  For example, last December, a Federal lawsuit was filed by the Cook County public guardian alleging that children as young as 7 were sexually abused, while others were injected with sedatives to control them and physically attacked at a Chicago private psychiatric hospital.[9]

February 17 marked 10 years since 11-year-old Ariana from Detroit, Michigan was prescribed an antipsychotic that caused debilitating effects. Coordinated with a local doctor, her mother, Maryanne, weaned her off the drug. Child Protective Services, accompanied by police, swooped on her home—without a proper warrant or order from a judge—to remove Ariana to incarcerate and forcibly drug her. International news covered Maryanne’s heroic 10-hour standoff with Detroit police, S.W.A.T. team and a military tank, when she refused to hand over her child to be drugged. Eventually, Ariana was taken to a psychiatric hospital and forced back onto antipsychotics—drugged so heavily that she was drooling when attorney Allison Folmar arrived with a court order to cease the drug.  Maryanne was jailed following the standoff but then released and all child neglect charges—because she chose not to drug Ariana—were dismissed.[10]  Sadly, in 2017, the mom who fought so courageously for her daughter’s life, died after suffering a brain aneurism.[1]

CCHR obtained 2019 drug statistics from IQVia. Of those aged 0-17, 3,396,066 were on “ADHD” drugs; 2,148,971 on antidepressants, despite the potential to induce suicidal behavior in this age group; 1,022,918 on antipsychotics, 1,303,095 on anti-anxiety drugs; 877,083 were taking mood stabilizers and 756,652 were on newer generation psychotherapeutics.[12]

Age Breakdown:
0-1 Years                106,678
2-3 Years                184,256
4-5 Years                263,363
6-12 Years              2,963,924
13-17 Years            3,335,146             

States need to seriously look at the harm being committed in the name of mental health care and the detrimental effects on both children and our education system.

References:

[1] “Florida: Police took a 6-year-old girl to a mental health facility because she was ‘out of control’ at school,” The Mercury News, 17 Feb. 2020, https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/16/florida-police-took-a-6-year-old-girl-to-a-mental-health-facility-because-she-was-out-of-control-at-school/

[2] “‘They’re Using This…As a Way To Get Rid of Children’: Attorney Speaks Out After Police Escorts Six-Year-Old Girl to Mental Health Facility Following In-School Tantrum,” Atlanta Black Star, 17 Feb. 2020, https://atlantablackstar.com/2020/02/17/theyre-using-this-as-a-way-to-get-rid-of-children-attorney-speaks-out-after-police-escorts-six-year-old-girl-to-mental-health-facility-following-in-school-tantrum/

[3] “6-year-old Florida girl “traumatized” after being involuntarily sent to mental health facility,” CBS News, 13 Feb. 2020, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-baker-act-6-year-old-girl-sent-to-mental-health-facility-by-school/; “‘They’re Using This…As a Way To Get Rid of Children’: Attorney Speaks Out After Police Escorts Six-Year-Old Girl to Mental Health Facility Following In-School Tantrum,” Atlanta Black Star, 17 Feb. 2020,  https://atlantablackstar.com/2020/02/17/theyre-using-this-as-a-way-to-get-rid-of-children-attorney-speaks-out-after-police-escorts-six-year-old-girl-to-mental-health-facility-following-in-school-tantrum/

[4] “Florida: Police took a 6-year-old girl to a mental health facility because she was ‘out of control’ at school,” The Mercury News, 17 Feb. 2020, https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/16/florida-police-took-a-6-year-old-girl-to-a-mental-health-facility-because-she-was-out-of-control-at-school/

[5] “How A 6-Year-Old Got Locked On A Psych Ward,” BuzzFeed News, 30 Dec. 2016, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosalindadams/how-a-6-year-old-got-locked-on-a-psych-ward

[6] CCHR Int’s first education booklet

[7] “Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America,” The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health Report, 22 July 2003, pp. 57-58.

[8] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/children-on-psychiatric-drugs/

[9] “A Chicago Psychiatric Hospital Is Under Fire After Child Abuse Allegations. Again,” ProPublica Illinois,  18 Dec. 2019.

[10] https://www.cchrint.org/issues/maryanne-godboldo/

[11] https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/10/13/maryanne-godboldo-dies/106588120/

[12] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/children-on-psychiatric-drugs/

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
March 2, 2020

On 13 February 2020, U.S. Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents and police raided the home and office of former North Shore, Massachusetts psychiatrist and television personality, Dr. Keith Ablow, taking several cardboard evidence boxes and computers. The DEA said the raid was executed with a court authorized federal search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation.[1]

Ablow, a former Fox News contributor and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine graduate,[2] had his Massachusetts license to practice suspended in May 2019 after four women accused him of sexual misconduct and harassment. New York has also suspended his license.[3]

The MA Board of Registration in Medicine alleged Ablow had also been “improperly prescribing medications to his office staff for years and sometimes asked the workers to share the drugs with him,” the Boston Globe reported.[4] Ablow’s controlled substances included the controversial drug, Ketamine and benzodiazepines. [5] The Board also ruled that Ablow practiced “in violation of law, regulations and/or good and accepted medical practice.”[6]

His authority to prescribe controlled substances regulated by the DEA was rescinded when the MA Board of Registration in Medicine suspended his license.[7]

Pro-Publica reports that Ablow had billed $50,200 in 2016 for Medicare Part D prescriptions, with 61% of these subsidized claims for low-income patients. This was more than double what he billed in 2014 ($20,600) and 15% of his prescriptions were for the benzodiazepine, clonazepam (generic of Klonopin).[8]

According to a Daily Mail article dated 22 February 2019, Ablow allegedly used Ketamine treatment on his patients.[9] In March 2019, Ablow, founder of the Mind-Brain Institute in New England[10], promoted that he was among the first psychiatrists in the nation to treat patients with ketamine and wanted the FDA to coordinate with the Veteran’s Administration and Department of Health and Human Services to approve and fund access to generic ketamine nasal spray and ketamine infusions for combat veterans with major depression or PTSD.[11]

Ketamine has been abused as a “date rape” drug where victims are slipped the drug and due to its strong side effect of confusion and/or amnesia, they are unable to remember and report who assaulted them. It can also induce violent behavior and is used as a street drug that can cause powerful visual hallucinations and produce an “out-of-body” or “near-death” hallucinogenic experience, often reported as terrifying.[12]

One former patient alleged that at age 25, her mother took her to see Ablow having heard about his Ketamine treatment for depression. In her affidavit, the Ohio woman said Ablow became increasingly controlling over time. She moved away from her family and friends to be closer to Ablow. She says he told her he was planning to leave his wife, and he showered her with gifts, including a pricey Canada Goose jacket, jewelry, and cash.  As The Daily News reported in February 2019, “As the months passed, she said he made demands, telling her he wanted them to be in a ‘master/slave’ relationship, asking her to get a tattoo of his name on her thigh and a piercing. Sometimes he beat her with a belt with a metal skull buckle, she says, and said he thought about tying her to a ladder and abandoning her.” Still, she continued to see him, saying she had grown dependent on the unorthodox regimen of medicines he had prescribed for her, including Ketamine.[13]

Ablow was once praised for his stand against the American Psychiatric Association (APA), when he resigned from it in 2011 stating, “[T]he APA has a history of getting into bed with the pharmaceutical companies,” later adding, “This is what’s wrong with American healthcare.”[14]  He also correctly lambasted them over their Diagnostic & Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, DSM5, for “making up, then retracting, new diagnoses that their committees generate and debate. It’s as if those committees have some sort of microscope trained on humanity, identifying new pathologies and yelling, ‘Voila! We have found another illness!” [15]

All true, but the anomalies in the man are now coming to light.

Ironically, in 1993—while DSM-IV was being developed—Ablow  wrote and published the book Anatomy of a Psychiatric Illness for the APA.[16]

In 2013 pharmaceutical company, Forest Laboratories paid him $3,850 in speaking fees.[17]

While science is also clearly lacking—if non-existent—in the DSM, Ablow devised a theoretical “disorder” to explain men killing their pregnant wives, which he called “Male Pre-Partum Homicidal Syndrome.”[18] In his book, Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, Ablow claims to provide answers behind the mindset of Scott Peterson who was convicted of the 2002 murder of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.[19] Ablow says he relied on contacts at the FBI and hired private investigators and researchers to gather his data.[20] But he never interviewed Scott Peterson.[21]

Some of the symptoms are supposedly all men have issues with pregnant women, “it brings up primal feelings” of being ignored and “…men who are vulnerable to doing bad things are more likely to do it [when they’re wives are pregnant].” [22]

In the mid-1990s, Ablow was interviewed for a book, In Session: The Bond Between Women and Their Therapists. The author, Deborah Lott, had met him at a gathering of clinicians and found him to be “insightful” on the subject of professional-patient boundaries and thought of him “as one of the good guys,’’ she said, “an advocate for women.”[23]

That’s an image in strong contrast to his alleged actions involving female patients who accused Ablow of using his position as a therapist to pressure them into degrading sexual relationships.[24]

In 2012, one of Ablow’s former patients, identified as “Monique” in The New York Times, filed a complaint with the New York medical board alleging Ablow had crossed multiple boundaries.

She paid $350 an hour twice weekly for his treatment. By the time Monique left his care, her new marriage had fallen apart and she had developed a dependency on the benzodiazepines, Valium, Xanax and the stimulant, Adderall. She also said she had drained her savings of $30,000 to pay for the treatment. [25]

According to The Boston Globe, a New York woman, in a sworn affidavit filed with her lawsuit, alleged, “He began to hit me when we engaged in sexual activ

ities. “ Further, “He would have me on my knees and begin to beat me with his hands on my breasts…occasionally saying, ‘I own you,’ or ‘You are my slave.’” The malpractice lawsuits, two of them filed in Essex Superior Court and a third filed in 2018, “paint a picture of a therapist who encouraged women to trust and rely on him, then coaxed them into humiliating sexual activities, often during treatment sessions for which they were charged. When the New York woman had trouble paying her therapy bills, she alleged, Ablow advised her to work as an escort or stripper because the work was lucrative.”[26]

Three former employees of the doctor also filed affidavits of being sexual harassed by him along with three patient lawsuits.[27] Another former employee, Janna McCarthy, claimed the psychiatrist would request that she schedule attractive women who were “sad, lonely” and struggling with past trauma. [28]

Ablow has denied all of the allegations.[29]  In fact, in March 2019, lawyers for Ablow responded to a pair of malpractice lawsuits filed against him arguing that the former patients were more negligent than the doctor, barring them from obtaining damages! They also argued that Ablow had no legal responsibility for the women, that they consented to the treatment provided, and that their alleged injuries were not the result of the treatment they received.[30]

Two months later, Ablow’s medical license was suspended in MA.[31] And on 21 May, the New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct issued an Interim Order of Conditions, which Ablow signed. The Board stated that it was investigating allegations of misconduct against Ablow and that he was prohibited from practicing medicine in the state of New York until the Board had concluded its investigation.[32]

Shortly afterward, in June 2019, The Salem News reported that court records showed a series of “lawsuits alleging that celebrity Newburyport psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow had taken advantage of patients, including engaging in sexual behavior with them, inappropriately prescribing drugs and other ‘boundary violations,’” had been settled.  As such, lawyers for the women and Ablow and his practice, Baystate Psychiatry, filed a joint request that the case be dismissed. Under Massachusetts rules, parties in a civil action who reach a settlement are not required to disclose the terms of the settlement. All four women were represented by Clyde Bergstresser, an attorney who specializes in malpractice cases involving psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health providers who have allegedly engaged in boundary violations with patients.[33]

In three separate instances in which his medical license came up for renewal in Massachusetts, between 2013 and 2017, he failed to notify the state that he was, at the time, under investigation in New York. During a licensing renewal process, an applicant is asked specifically if he or she is under investigation in a different state. Dr. Ablow said that he wasn’t.[34]

Since 2018, CCHR has tracked Ablow’s actions, filing their own complaints about his practices in 2019 to medical and government agencies. [35]

License suspensions seem to do very little other than potentially hit the pocketbook—unable to bill Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance for medical practices. But that means the practitioner can simply set up shop and continue practicing. In the case of Ablow, he boldly issued a PR wire, saying he is “heralded as America’s Psychiatrist for 25 years” and “recently stopped practicing psychiatry and founded The Ablow Center, offering “life coaching,” “counseling” and use of innocuous “natural supplements” to treat “clients.”[36]

A PR wire dated 20 July 2018 also described him as one of the “five most influential psychiatrists alive” and “one of the 35 most famous psychiatrists to ever live.”[37] He pointed to him being the founder of Blue Water Wellness—the first “medspa” that offers everything from Brainsway transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to defeat depression to weightless float therapy to reduce stress and to “enhance insight.”[38]

All of which amounts to a colorful but disturbing picture—that there’s apparently one law for women who are sexually abused by those abusing their power, as in the Harvey Weinstein case, and another if the women happen to be “patients.” The fact is that Ablow’s licenses are suspended only over the allegations reported here came to light, but it means they can be reinstated at any time. He continues to practice as a counselor, promoting himself as a 25 year psychiatrist who “recently stopped practicing psychiatry,” when the reality is he had his licenses to practice taken away from him.

To paraphrase a common saying, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but let’s hope they grind exceedingly fine in not just the Ablow case but in all cases of psychiatrists and psychologists accused of patient sexual abuse.

In general, it is imperative to stop using such terms such as “boundary violations” that lessens what is essentially sexual abuse or assault of patients—a term unlikely to have been heard in the Harvey Weinstein case to explain his sexual abuse.

If you know anyone whose mother, wife, sister or father, brother, son, child or friend has been abused by a psychiatrist or psychologist, please fill out this form.

References:

[1] “DEA agents raid office of Port psychiatrist,” The Daily News, 14 Feb. 2020, https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/dea-agents-raid-office-of-port-psychiatrist/article_93e249d5-036d-55d7-8dd5-b01a9140aa2f.html

[2] https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2006-11-08-0611080063-story.html

[3] “DEA raids home of former North Shore psychiatrist Keith Ablow,” WCVB Boston, 13 Feb. 2020, https://www.wcvb.com/article/dea-raids-home-of-former-north-shore-psychiatrist-keith-ablow/30915682; Julie Manganis, “Ablow hearing delayed; New York also suspends license,” The Salem News, 21 May 2019, https://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/ablow-hearing-delayed-new-york-also-suspends-license/article_f69ba8ab-d526-5847-9a3a-1d78a4244e63.html

[4] “Former Fox Doctor has his home raided by DEA amid sexual assault lawsuits,” Media Matters, 14 Feb. 2020, https://www.mediamatters.org/keith-ablow/former-fox-doctor-has-his-home-raided-dea-amid-sexual-assault-lawsuits

[5] “What it Took for a Fox News Psychiatrist to Finally Lose His License,” The New York Times, 20 Dec. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/nyregion/fox-news-keith-ablow-psychiatrist.html

[6] Ibid.

[7] Op. cit., Media Matters

[8] https://projects.propublica.org/checkup/providers/1245423615

[9]  “Leading psychiatrist and former Fox News contributor Dr Keith Ablow is accused of sexually exploiting three women he was treating for depression,” Daily Mail, 22 Feb 2019, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6733969/Renowned-psychiatrist-facing-malpractice-lawsuits.html

[10] https://npidb.org/organizations/allopathic_osteopathic_physicians/psychiatry_2084p0800x/1093200537.aspx

[11] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/psychiatrist-keith-ablow-md-calls-on-fda-to-approve-generic-ketamine-nasal-spray-and-ketamine-intravenous-therapy-for-combat-veterans-300811906.html

[12] https://www.drugs.com/illicit/ketamine.html

[13] “Pattern alleged in suits against Newburyport psychiatrist Keith Ablow,” The Daily News, 23 Feb. 2019, https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/pattern-alleged-in-suits-against-newburyport-psychiatrist-keith-ablow/article_865d5086-5850-5335-b3d9-601fb160d3d4.html

[14] “Database may uncover conflicts of interest for TV doctors,” Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 2015, https://archives.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/tv_doctor_perks.php

[15] Keith Ablow, M.D., “Be wary of the American Psychiatric Association.” Foxnews.com, 14 May 2012, https://www.foxnews.com/health/be-wary-of-the-american-psychiatric-association

[16] “Famed Psychiatrist Keith Ablow Learns Natural Supplements Are Powerful Mood Enhancers and Anxiety Reducers,” PR Newswire, 28 Jan.2020, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/famed-psychiatrist-keith-ablow-learns-natural-supplements-are-powerful-mood-enhancers-and-anxiety-reducers-300993795.html

[17] “Database may uncover conflicts of interest for TV doctors,” Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 2015, https://archives.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/tv_doctor_perks.php

[18] “Forensic Psychiatrist Keith Ablow, MD Identifies New Syndrome in Killers: Male Pre-Partum Homicidal Syndrome (MPHS),” PR Newswire, 20 Aug. 2018, https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/forensic-psychiatrist-keith-ablow-md-identifies-new-syndrome-in-killers-male-pre-partum-homicidal-syndrome-mphs-/

[19] https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/15/us/scott-peterson-trial-fast-facts/index.html; https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Scott-Peterson-Keith-Russell-ebook/dp/B003G93ZHM

[20] https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Scott-Peterson-Keith-Russell-ebook/dp/B003G93ZHM

[21] “Between the Lines With Keith Ablow,” TIME, 15 Sept. 2005, http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1105341,00.html

[22] Transcript, “Scott Peterson’s Sister: 33 Reasons Why My Brother is Guilty…” Oprah Winfrey Show, 3 March 2005

[23] “What it Took for a Fox News Psychiatrist to Finally Lose His License,” The New York Times, 20 Dec. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/nyregion/fox-news-keith-ablow-psychiatrist.html

[24]  Op. cit., Daily Mail, 22 Feb 2019

[25] Op. cit., The New York Times

[26] “‘I own you’: Prominent psychiatrist accused of sexually exploiting patients,” The Boston Globe, 25 Feb. 2019, https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/21/own-you-psychiatrist-keith-ablow-accused-sexually-exploiting-patients/kL9rl6ti7eFFeMPRPAMZvJ/story.html

[27]  Op. cit., Daily Mail, 22 Feb 2019

[28]  Ibid.

[29]  Ibid.

[30] https://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/ablow-lawyers-argue-patients-were-negligent/article_49d80a6a-c7dd-5aff-ba63-4165d82267c7.html

[31] Op. cit., Media Matters

[32] Interim Order of Conditions in the Matter of Keith Ablow, M.D., BPMC No. 19-122, NY State Dept. of Health State Board for Professional Medical Conduct, May 21, 2019.

[33] “Keith Ablow settles sexual misconduct lawsuits,” The Salem News, 26 Jun. 2019, https://www.salemnews.com/news/keith-ablow-settles-sexual-misconduct-lawsuits/article_80d3bbea-9831-11e9-a0d4-a72d2fa45d6c.html

[34] Op. cit., The New York Times

[35] http://www.psychcrime.org/news/index.php?vd=2834&t=Psychiatrist+Keith+Ablow+Accused+of+Sexual+Contact+and+Boundary+Violations+with+Patient

[36] Op. cit., PR Newswire, 28 Jan.2020

[37] “Keith Ablow, MD, Boston And New York Psychiatrist, Expands His Mind-Body Medspa,” PR Newswire, 20 July 2020, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/keith-ablow-md-boston-and-new-york-psychiatrist-expands-his-mind-body-medspa-300684282.html

[38] Ibid.

CCHR says ECT studies showing memory loss and brain damage should be made publicly available; calls on Congress to investigate FDA’s biased research that allows 5-year-old children and the elderly to be electroshocked

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Watchdog
March 2, 2020

A Southern District of New York federal judge has ruled that drug companies, device manufacturers, and universities must turn over missing data from hundreds of clinical trials conducted in the United States from 2007–17. Government agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for years have misinterpreted a law requiring them to collect and post data to ClinicalTrials.gov, a publicly accessible government database. If it is upheld, the ruling would make it harder for companies to keep unfavorable results from the public.[1] Mental health watchdog group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) said this studies showing negative outcomes of electroconvulsive therapy, also known as electroshock or ECT, be made public.

CCHR believes the FDA relied upon biased studies to reduce the risk classification of the ECT device in its Final Rule in December 2018 to make electroshock widely available. It says that the studies were a conflict of interest based on a biased, false premise that electroshock is “safe and effective,” despite not a single clinical trial submitted by the ECT manufacturers supporting this. CCHR wants Congress to investigate the FDA’s reliance upon these studies and the potential failure to demand all study data showing long term risk. The recent federal judge’s decision has reinforced CCHR’s resolve.

The investigation should include how those aged five and younger and frail elderly are being electroshocked when no clinical trials support this, it says. Research shows that senior citizens who received ECT died at over six times the rate of those who did not undergo it.[2]

CCHR’s latest documentary, “Electroshock—Therapy or Torture,” belies the study outcomes the FDA cited in defense of ECT. The documentary has already surprised many who thought ECT was banned in the 1970s following Jack Nicholson’s character in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest being subjected to it and psychosurgery. Psychiatrists today want to divorce public opinion from that depiction, but Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International, says despite apparent trappings to reduce electroshock’s damage—such as anesthetic and muscle relaxants—“ECT is just as harmful today as it was when it was invented in 1938 to make pigs more docile before they were slaughtered.”

Electroshock involves shooting up to 460 volts of electricity through the skull and body to create a grand mal seizure that can last up to half an hour. The potential voltage in a single shock treatment uses 2,300 times the electricity the brain uses to function.[3]

The documentary reveals through depositions that psychiatrists often have little knowledge of the electricity they use or the mechanics of how ECT works. As shown, one psychiatrist who has administered 1,800 ECTs, could not define electrical terms and when asked in deposition, “Do you tell your patients about your level of understanding of the resistance of the brain to the electricity you’re sending through it?” answered, “No.” He was further questioned, “Do you think they may want to know before they lay their head down on the operating table to have you give them shock treatment?” Answer: “No one’s ever asked.”[4]

Eastgate testified before a FDA public hearing on ECT in 2011. She states, “The FDA asked a panel of experts to determine how to ‘mitigate’—not ‘eliminate’—the risks of ECT, which included cardiovascular and pulmonary complications, physical trauma, prolonged seizures, skin burns, stroke, and death.” She reported that one psychiatrist was relieved to hear that they only needed to “lessen in force or intensity or moderate” the damage, not get rid of it. [5] In the Final Rule, the FDA claims that informing patients of selective adverse effects—but not all risks, such as brain damage—and obtaining their consent is a form of mitigation.

Patients have complained of brain damage, irreversible memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. However, FDA has dismissed this as “anecdotal.” In its Final Rule on ECT, it stated, “FDA acknowledges receiving comments from patients and other individuals about their experience with the device…however, FDA does not consider such comments to be valid scientific evidence.”

North America represents nearly half of the global ECT device sales market estimated at around $14 million per annum. However, with hospitalization and costs for psychiatrists and anesthetists administering the ECT, the electroshock market is a lucrative $5 billion a year in the U.S. alone.

With the FDA reducing the risk classification of the device, opening the door for its wider use, as one psychiatrist put it to the FDA in 2011, ECT could be a recommended treatment for 4.6 million Americans—a 4,500% increase in patients currently receiving it and a commensurate percent in increased revenue.

What is also disturbing, CCHR says, is that neurologists do everything they can to prevent seizures in epileptics to prevent brain damage, but psychiatrists are paid to induce these with ECT. Neurologist Ken Sharlin points out in CCHR’s documentary that “Having recurrent seizures potentially reduces the life span of that individual. It has an impact on mortality.”

CCHR adds that with such serious risks, Congress should question how the FDA has allowed ECT to remain on the market without clinical trials and its reliance upon biased studies. It should also compel NIMH and universities that have conducted studies on ECT using federal funds to turn over any unpublished studies with negative outcomes.

Sign CCHR’s petition in support of banning ECT which already has more than 114,000 signatures.

References:

[1] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/missing-clinical-trial-data-must-be-made-public-federal-judge-says

[2] David Krossler, M.D. and Barry S. Fogel, “Electroconvulsive Therapy for Major Depression in the Oldest Old,” The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Vol. 1, No. 1, Winter 1993.

[3] http://yearofthebrain2015.com/fact-sheets/fun-brain-facts/.

[4]  Akkerman v. Joseph Johnson, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Santa Barbara, Case No. 01069713, Testimony of Joseph Johnson, 3 May 2004

[5] Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Medical Devices Advisory Committee, Neurological Devices Panel, FDA, 27 Jan. 2011, Transcript of Proceedings

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Watchdog
March 6, 2020

Fairhope, Alabama psychiatrist James Henry Edwards III, indicted last year for allegedly writing illegal prescriptions is now facing another 87 federal counts of distribution of a controlled substance, according to a superseding indictment against the doctor. The superseding indictment replaces a three-count federal indictment against Dr. Edwards in July 2019 that alleged he prescribed several controlled substances, including opioids, from January 2011 to July 2019. Edwards’ trial is scheduled to be continued July 13.[1]

According to the indictment, other drugs included the benzodiazepines alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin), lorazepam (Ativan), and diazepam (Valium) and the stimulants amphetamine, dexmethylphenidate (Focalin), dextroamphetamine-amphetamine (Adderall) and methylphenidate (Ritalin); lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) and tramadol (pain killer).[2]

In July 2019, federal agents executed search warrants and raided his offices in Opelika and Gulf Shores. Edwards’ arrest came after a complaint was filed for allegedly issuing prescriptions for controlled substances without a legitimate medical reason.[3]

In May of 2018, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners (BME) issued an Order to Show Cause that alleged Dr. Edwards “excessively dispensed controlled substances,” and ordered him to prove why his Alabama Controlled Substances Certificate, or ACSC “should not be revoked.” A 21-page document from the BME shone some light on the Board’s issues with Dr. Edwards’ medical practices. A consent order from the BME indicated Dr. Edwards was interviewed in early 2018 “regarding his prescribing of controlled substances.”

The Board opened an investigation in which its expert reviewed twelve patient records and found probable cause that Dr. Edwards had been “dispensing excessive dosages and amounts of stimulants medications (controlled substances) to all twelve…”, that he’d been “dispensing controlled substances in amounts not reasonably related to the proper medical management” for eight of the patients, and that he had been “dispensing controlled substances for no legitimate medical purpose” to ten of the patients.[4]

During the investigation that reviewed the medical charts of 12 patients, the Board found probable cause that he committed several violations of Alabama Law.[5]

Dr. Edwards, has had a medical license with the State of Alabama since 2011, and denied the allegations against him but reached a settlement with the Board, foregoing a hearing which could result in disciplinary action which could include license revocation.[6] In January, 2019, Edwards entered into a Consent Order with the BME to resolve those allegations.[7]

He agreed that he was dispensing excessive amounts of stimulants and prescribed hazardous excessive doses of medications. Thereafter, Edwards agreed to having his authority revoked to order, manufacture, distribute, possess, dispense, administer, or prescribe controlled substances.[8]

The BME agreed to suspend the revocation of his Alabama Controlled Substances Certificate (ACSC) and put him on probation for at least 24 months and he was fined a mere $11,500. Dr. Edwards’ medical license became “active-conditional” following the settlement.[9]

But then in September 2019, U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin Sr.’s Office issued a superseding indictment to Dr. James Henry Edwards III, 72, of Fairhope, charging him with two additional counts unlawfully distributing controlled substance by writing medically illegitimate prescriptions. The two new charges claim Edwards unlawfully distributed clonazepam and alprazolam.

Edwards pleaded not guilty to the two new counts. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment on each of the three original counts if convicted. He also faces monetary penalties and restitution.[10]

References:

[1] “Indicted Fairhope psychiatrist facing 87 new federal drug charges,” Al.com, 25 Feb 2020, https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2020/02/indicted-fairhope-psychiatrist-facing-87-new-federal-drug-charges.html

[2]  Edwards v. the United States, CR. No. 3:19-CR-301-SLB-WC, 12 Feb. 2020, https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2020/02/indicted-fairhope-psychiatrist-facing-87-new-federal-drug-charges.html

[3] “DEA raids Gulf Shores doctor’s office,” UTV 44, 11 July 2019, http://utv44.com/news/local/dea-raids-gulf-shores-doctors-office

[4] “Alabama doctor arrested by federal agents will remain in custody,” WSFA News, 11 July 2019, https://www.wsfa.com/2019/07/11/alabama-doctor-arrested-by-federal-agents/

[5] Op. cit., UTV 44

[6] Op. cit., WSFA News

[7] Op. cit., UTV 44

[8] Op. cit., WSFA News

[9] Ibid.; Op. cit., UTV 44

[10] “Opelika psychiatrist facing additional federal drug charges,” oanow.com, 18 Sept, 2019, https://www.oanow.com/news/crime_courts/opelika-psychiatrist-facing-additional-federal-drug-charges/article_1d389190-da40-11e9-953c-bf9633d31f4b.html

The FDA has banned the use of a painful and harmful “aversion therapy” device on the intellectually disabled but keeps a damaging electroshock device on the market that shocks and harms 5 to 95 year olds. It took over 20 years for the FDA to do the right thing. Let’s not wait another 20 years for them to figure out that electroshock ‘treatment’ is far, far worse.

By Jan Eastgate
President, CCHR International
The Mental Health Watchdog
March 9, 2020

After decades of controversy and United Nations allegations of torture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned a shock device used on individuals with intellectual disabilities, largely at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts. On March 4, the FDA issued a Final Rule banning the use of electrical stimulation devices (ESDs) for use in aversive practices, which involves inflicting pain to condition behavior. After 25 years, the FDA finally admitted that the device they had approved in 1994 could cause pain, skin burns, trauma, and tissue damage among other serious risks, warranting a ban.[1]

A victory for patients’ rights and for the many disabilities rights groups and legislators that have fought hard to ban the practice, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) says the FDA’s handling of this was appalling: It took over 20 years for the FDA to do the right thing. Let’s not wait another two more decades for them to figure out that electroshock ‘treatment,’ used on 100,000 Americans, including children and the elderly, is far, far worse.

The Judge Rotenburg Center’s (JRC) ESD, called a Graduated Electronic Decelerator (GED) was classified by the FDA as an Aversive Conditioning Device.[2] As FDA states, researchers considered pain or discomfort to be an indicator of “effectiveness.”[3]  This rationale is as absurd as the idea that inducing a grand mal seizure through electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, is ‘effective’ treatment for mental disorder

With ESD, electrodes are attached to the arms, legs, or stomachs of students that emit 60 volts and 15 milliamps of electricity in two-second bursts—sometimes up to 77 times a day. It was refined and patented by Matthew Israel, a Harvard-educated psychologist, and co-founder of JRC and the milliamps were increased to 41 and the voltage to 66.[4] Neither the revised GED-3A nor the GED-4 were ever cleared or approved by FDA.[5]  This is testimony to the FDA’s lack of oversight.

A member of an FDA advisory panel looking into the GED in 2014 noted that a 20-milliamps shock can cause first-degree burns.[6] In comparison, electroshock treatment (ECT) uses up to 460 volts and about 900 milliamps—nearly 22 times the amps used by ESDs.[7] While any amount of current over 10 milliamps is capable of producing painful to severe shock, currents between 100 and 200 milliamps can be lethal.[8]

Egregiously, this is what passes as ‘mental health care’ today. CCHR calls for Congressional intervention into how, under the guise of ‘science,’ the FDA can repeatedly ignore victims, their families, experts, legislators and the United Nations that were opposed to both ESDs and ECT devices and kept them on the market.

ESDs pose risks such as suicidality, chronic and acute stress, nightmares, flashbacks of panic and rage, insensitivity to fatigue or pain, changes in sleep patterns, loss of interest and difficulty concentrating. [9] “Trauma becomes more likely, for example, when the recipient does not have control over the shock or has developed a fear of future shocks, neither of which is an electrical parameter of the shock,” the FDA’s Final Rule states.[10]

But ECT has the same effect on patients who are forced to undergo it and the FDA allows it this draconian and brutal practice to continue.  FDA recognizes ECT can cause pain/somatic discomfort; skin burns; physical trauma (including fractures, contusions, injury from falls, dental and oral injury); prolonged or delayed seizures; pulmonary complications; cardiac arrhythmias; heart attack; blood pressure problems, stroke; memory loss; and death.[xi]  Permanent brain damage is also a risk.[12]

FDA said it considered approximately 300 comments about ESD that included “parents of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” “The overwhelming majority of comments supported” a ban. [13]

There were over 3,000 comments in response to a proposal FDA made about reducing the risk classification of the ECT device—despite no clinical trials proving safety and efficacy. Nearly 80% were opposed the proposal—more than 2,300 individuals or nearly eight times the opposition expressed regarding ECDs. Many also recommended electroshock to be banned but FDA ignored this as “anecdotal” and reduced the risk category in December 2018.

In 2011, Israel was indicted on two counts of criminal behavior related to the repeated, painful application of electric skin shocks to two children and a subsequent attempt to cover it up. He was forced to resign and serve five years’ probation.[14]

In 2013, the UN Committee against Torture wrote that the use of “skin shocks” to “treat” people with mental disorders or developmental disabilities was “torture.”[15] It called on the US Department of Justice to investigate possible violations of civil rights laws.[16]

Dr. Israel had developed a variety of methods to punish children before inventing the shock device, including spraying kids in the face with water, shoving ammonia under their noses, pinching the soles of their feet, smacking them with a spatula and forcing them to wear a ‘white-noise helmet’ that assaulted them with static.[17] That alone should have been a warning bell for the FDA when they approved the GED.

In January this year, CCHR wrote to the FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn seeking his help to execute a ban on ESDs.[18] In February, eight senators signed a letter sent Dr. Hahn also requesting immediate action. One of the signatories, US Senator Patty Murray stated: “It is unconscionable that in 2020, it is still legal to shock children and adults with disabilities to control behavior.”[19]

Add to this the opposition to the GED for more than a decade by Disability Rights International, hundreds to thousands of petition signatures supporting the ban, and the FDA’s neglect is unfathomable. Laurie Ahern, president of Disability Rights said in response to the ban, “Finally, the residents there might find some freedom from horrific pain and fear and live the rest of their lives in peace.”[20]

Susan Mizner, director of the ACLU’s Disability Rights Program, had the following reaction: “Using what are essentially human cattle prods to shock people with disabilities into compliance is simply barbaric. For over 40 years, the disability rights movement has fought to ban the use of abusive ‘behavioral treatment’ methods such as these ESDs. The FDA’s decision today banning their use should be seen as a necessary and important first step to securing a broader prohibition on the use of aversive interventions.”[21]

Clearly something was wrong within the FDA which has not been corrected, as it allows electroshock to be given to children, some aged five or younger, despite massive opposition to the ECT device and a United Nations condemnation of involuntary or coercive ECT as torture.

The FDA has only banned two other products in more than 40 years of regulating medical devices―powdered surgical gloves, which can cause allergic reactions, and fake hair implants, which caused infections and didn’t work.[22] Yet ECT that can cause permanent brain and cognitive damage and memory loss remains on the market.

CCHR urges people to sign the petition to ban electroshock.

CCHR is the mental health watchdog responsible for more than 180 laws that now protect patients from damaging practices. DONATE to support its work.

References:

[1] “Banned Devices; Electrical Stimulation Devices for Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior,” Food and Drug Administration Final Rule, 6 March 2020, Federal Register, 85 FR 13312, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/03/06/2020-04328/banned-devices-electrical-stimulation-devices-for-self-injurious-or-aggressive-behavior

[2] Op. cit., http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

[3]  Op. cit., Federal Register, 85 FR 13312

[4] Paul Kix, “The Shocking Truth,” Boston Magazine, 18 June 2008, http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2008/06/the-shocking-truth/; “Founder of electric shock autism treatment school forced to quit: Institute uses punishment machine to discipline severely autistic and emotionally disturbed children by giving them electric shocks,” The Guardian, 25 May 2011, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/25/electric-shock-autism-treatment-school

[5] “Banned Devices; Proposal To Ban Electrical Stimulation Devices Used To Treat Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior,” Food and Drug Administration Proposed Rule, 25 April 2016, Federal Register, 81 FR 24385, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/04/25/2016-09433/banned-devices-proposal-to-ban-electrical-stimulation-devices-used-to-treat-self-injurious-or

[6] Op. cit., Federal Register, 85 FR 13312

[7] “Voltage of Electroshock Therapy,” Physics Fact Book, https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/GinaCastellano.shtml; Somatics Thymatron System IV Promotion

[8] https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/physics/p616/safety/fatal_current.html

[ix] Op. cit., Federal Register, 85 FR 13312

[10] Ibid.

[11] https://www.wrcbtv.com/story/41216667/cchr-urges-overhaul-of-fda-charging-approval-of-electroshock-device-creates-harm

[12] http://www.thymatron.com/downloads/system_iv_regulatory_update.pdf

[13] Op. cit., Federal Register, 85 FR 13312

[14]  Op. cit., The Guardian; https://psychcentral.com/blog/matthew-israel-founder-of-judge-rotenberg-steps-down-in-disgrace

[15] Emily Willingham, “Autism Shock Therapy Practiced in US Is Torture, Says UN Official,” Forbes, 8 Mar. 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/03/08/autism-shock-therapy-is-torture-says-un-official/#388d11c64fc2

[16] Human Rights Council Twenty-second session, Agenda item 3, “Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development,” Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, Addendum, 4 March 2013, A/HRC/22/53/Add.4, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.53.Add.4_Advance_version.pdf

[17] Jennifer Gonnerman, “The School of Shock,” Mother Jones, 20 Aug. 2007, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/school-shock/

[18] https://www.cchrint.org/pdfs/cchr-letter-to-fda-commissioner_13jan2020.pdf

[19] https://www.help.senate.gov/ranking/newsroom/press/murray-murphy-democrats-urge-fda-to-immediately-ban-the-use-of-electrical-shock-devices-on-children-and-adults-with-disabilities-?fbclid=IwAR10GyT7BpfBwHPAteiXL5OIXt_qz1lT6a6yqPEFO-6630cW_cFdvz7HSnw 

[20] “US bans shock ‘treatment’ on children with special needs at Boston-area school,” The Guardian, 5 Mar. 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/05/us-bans-electric-shock-treatment-children-boston-area

[21] https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-comment-fdas-final-rule-ban-electrical-stimulation-devices

[22] “FDA Bans Shock Devices Used On Patients With Mental Disabilities,” Huffington Post, 5 Mar. 2020, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fda-shock-device-ban_n_5e60be96c5b62d548c9d9029

By Jan Eastgate
President, CCHR International
The Mental Health Watchdog
March 10, 2020

Only a month ago, CCHR reported abuse of foster care children in for-profit psychiatric facilities and the need for greater government oversight.[1] Several of the largest owners of these are Acadia Healthcare and Universal Health Services (UHS). Media exposure of abuses alleged in for-profit behavioral hospitals is almost a weekly event and CCHR tracks the pattern of abuses that are being uncovered. See CCHR’s report here.

On 25 February, Acadia Healthcare, which describes itself as “the leading publicly traded pure-play provider of behavioral healthcare services,”[2] was under fire again, this time in Massachusetts over its Southcoast Behavioral Health Hospital (SCBH) in Dartmouth, having an unusual high amount of complaints filed with the state. These include a “laundry list of allegations,” Dartmouth Week found from the state’s Departments of Mental Health and Public Health. These showed that at least 53 official complaints were filed against the facility from 2015 until mid-2019. This is the second-highest number of complaints out of eight other psychiatric hospitals with more than 100 beds in the Commonwealth. [3]

Southcoast Behavioral is a 144-bed psychiatric hospital run in a partnership between for-profit Acadia and the not-for-profit Southcoast Health and has an additional adolescent unit. Acadia Healthcare runs the day-to-day operations of the hospital.

Of the South Coast Behavioral complaints, 12 were substantiated following an investigation by the Department of Mental Health, meaning that a violation of some kind was found to have occurred. The number of substantiated complaints is also the second-highest among similar facilities in Massachusetts.

One patient alleged in a complaint filed in 2016 that the admitting doctor “threatened if I didn’t sign myself in he would commit me for six months.” “I told him I was under duress,” she stated. According to the same complaint, the doctor prescribed medication without consulting with the patient’s private physician. Upon discharge, the patient alleged she found out the medication was for conditions that she did not have. [4]

In a Florida case, a woman who received emergency mental health treatment at Acadia’s Park Royal Hospital filed a lawsuit in February that an employee of the psychiatric facility groped her and offered to pay her for sex. The woman, named in the lawsuit as “Samantha Doe” to protect her identity, said an unidentified male employee touched her breasts over and under her clothes during her stay in June 2018 and “further sexually assaulted and battered” her, according to the lawsuit filed in Lee Circuit Court. The woman, 33, also claims that the employee gave her a razor blade and tweezers and watched her shave her genital area. And, she said, he asked her how much he could pay her for sex and what kinds of drugs she wanted.

According to a News Press report on the case, “The woman reported the incident to other hospital staff, which prompted a state Department of Children and Families investigation. State law prohibits the release of their report to the public because it involves a ‘vulnerable adult.’”[5]

Acadia is not the only for-profit behavioral chain in trouble this month. Reported February 26, 2020, police are investigating an allegation of sexual assault at Universal Health Services’ (UHS) Newport News Behavioral Health Center in Newport News, Virginia. The alleged incident happened on February 21 and 22. A mother claims her 9-year-old daughter was assaulted by a juvenile patient. Local news, 10 On Your Side, reported it had first begun investigating the Newport News Behavioral Health Center in July 2018 after 17-year-old Raven Keffer died while in the facility’s care.  A former employee told them that a staffer said that Raven complained that she was sick in the days leading up to her death, but her pleas for help were ignored by staff. As 10 On Your Side reported, “The staff member’s account of Raven’s death was backed up by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health. Their investigation found that the Newport News Behavioral Health Center violated more than a dozen standards of care in Raven’s death, including depriving her of appropriate services and treatment, failing to document her significant medical concerns, and failing to note her health complaints.” Raven’s sister, Haley Keffer, filed a $20 million lawsuit against the facility and its parent company, Universal Health Services, in January. The suit claims the center knew Raven’s medical history before she arrived, and that the facility was “legally bound” to protect her.[6]

UHS has 324 behavioral inpatient facilities (of which 133 are in the UK and two in Puerto Rico) and 21 outpatient ones (2 in the UK) according to its 2019 Annual report. Its behavioral facilities in the UK generated net revenues of approximately $505 million in 2018, $429 million in 2017 and $241 million in 2016.[7] Its total net income before taxes for all its healthcare areas was $1.03 billion during 2018.[8]

According to its SEC 10-K report for fiscal year, 2019, for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, Acadia’s U.S. operations generated revenue of $2.0 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively—of which 50% of its revenue came from Medicaid, 28% from commercial payors, 15% from Medicare and 7% from other payors. At December 31, 2019, it operated 585 behavioral healthcare facilities with approximately 18,200 beds in 40 states, the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) and Puerto Rico.

For both the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, their U.K. operations generated revenue of $1.1 billion primarily through the operation and management of inpatient behavioral health facilities.[9] The mental health hospitals market in the U.K. was estimated at £15.2 billion (US $19.2 billion) for 2018-2019. As a result of government budget constraints and an increased focus on quality, the independent mental health hospitals market has witnessed significant expansion in the last decade, making it one of the fastest growing sectors in the U.K. healthcare industry.[10] In 2019, UK police arrested 10 workers from UHS-owned Cygnet Healthcare’s Whorlton Hall hospital following allegations of ‘physical and psychological’ abuse at the facility, which has since closed.[11]

Despite the lucrative profits, Acadia had been described by UK media as “scandal hit.”[12] In January 2020, the company launched a formal process regarding the sale of its U.K. business.[13]  The potential sale came after an ITV documentary showed how a teenager spent weeks wearing just a blanket at The Priory clinic in Ticehurst, East Sussex, owned by Acadia. A reporter – from program maker Hardcash Productions – in a three-month period also witnessed or heard of at least five occasions when patients used ligatures to harm themselves. [14]

On March 9, the Financial Times reported Acadia confirmed the Priory Group was sent to be sold for £1 billion ($1.29 billion) after receiving multiple offers. It had bought the Priory in 2016 for £1.28 billion ($1.6 billion). “Priory and rival Cygnet Health Care, which is owned by the NYSE-listed Universal Health Services, have come under pressure from industry regulator the Care Quality Commission after failures exposed in television documentaries,” the Times reported.[15]

CCHR will continue to report on the abuses that seem rampant in the for-profit psychiatric hospital industry until tougher penalties for the abuses are implemented at government and law enforcement level, including hospital closure for incidents of repeated patient assault and endangerment.

References:

[1] https://www.cchrint.org/2020/02/11/the-risky-business-of-foster-youth-drugged-in-for-profit-behavioral-hospitals/

[2] Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., SEC Form 10-K, For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, p. 4, https://acadiahealthcare.gcs-web.com/static-files/54376334-7e69-475f-846e-534abfb9f918

[3] “Faunce Corner psychiatric facility second in state for complaints,” Dartmouth Week, 25 Feb, 2020, https://dartmouth.theweektoday.com/article/faunce-corner-psychiatric-facility-second-state-complaints/46604

[4] Ibid.

[5] “Park Royal Hospital patient claims staffer groped her, tried to pay her for sex,” News Press, 28 Feb. 2020, https://www.news-press.com/story/news/local/2020/02/28/park-royal-hospital-patient-accuses-staffer-sex-assault/4870513002/

[6] “Police investigating alleged sexual assault of child at NN Behavioral Health Center,” WATV 10 News, 26 Feb 2020, https://www.wavy.com/news/police-investigating-alleged-sexual-assault-of-child-at-nn-behavioral-health-center/

[7] UHS Annual Report, 2018, p. 42. https://ir.uhsinc.com/static-files/c921b88d-f35c-46f5-a27b-5e52ecbcd523

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid., p. 6

[10] Ibid. p. 4

[11] “Whorlton Hall investigation: 10 arrested over care home ‘abuse’ of patients with learning disabilities,” The Independent, 24 May 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/whorlton-hall-investigation-arrests-abuse-learning-disability-latest-a8928811.html; Rachel Conner-Hill, “Whorlton Hall hospital closes as Panorama screens abuse allegationsm” The Northern Echo, 22 May 2019, https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/17657520.whorlton-hall-hospital-closes-panorama-screens-abuse-allegations/

[12] “Owner of scandal-hit mental healthcare giant The Priory Group to test market for a £1billion sale,” This is Money, 20 Apr. 2019, https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-6943209/Owner-scandal-hit-mental-healthcare-giant-Priory-Group-test-market-1billion-sale.html

[13] Op. cit., Acadia Healthcare SEC Form 10-K, p. 4

[14] Op. cit., This is Money

[15] “Priory mental healthcare chain set to be sold for £1bn,” The Financial Times, 9 Mar. 2020, https://www.ft.com/content/f58dc962-5f96-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4

Nursing home residents are at risk of Covid-19 yet are prescribed antipsychotics that researchers say may adversely affect their immune system that fights off infections. Mental health industry watchdog, CCHR, warns governments not to lessen oversight of antipsychotic use in nursing homes.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
March 17, 2020

Mental health industry watchdog, Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) has cautioned against loosening federal oversight of nursing homes, as proposed by the Administration. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which regulates nursing homes, could loosen strict federal oversight of the industry and has already reduced the fines paid by homes that violate rules.[1] But CCHR says that the elderly in nursing homes are excessively drugged with antipsychotics and cites researchers at the University of New England recently finding these drugs may impact elderly immune systems, making it difficult for them to fight off infections.[2] CCHR wants greater not less vigilance over the care of this vulnerable population. As a recent Stat News article reported, “The new coronavirus is not an equal-opportunity killer: Being elderly and having other illnesses, greatly increases the risk of dying from the disease the virus causes, Covid-19.”[3]

CCHR says there should be stringent monitoring of antipsychotics prescribed the elderly to ensure they are not put at further risk of the virus.  A 2018 Human Rights Watch report said more than 179,000 people, mostly with dementia, in American nursing homes receive potentially dangerous antipsychotics.[4]

The Center for Medicare Advocacy reports, “Sadly, and too often, nursing homes use these drugs as a way of chemically restraining residents exhibiting the behavioral symptoms of dementia, despite the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ‘black box’ warning against using antipsychotic drugs on elderly patients with dementia.”[5]

In contrast to loosening regulations that may monitor the use of antipsychotics in the elderly and protect them, CMS said it is ordering health officials to focus on infection-control practices at nursing homes, particularly those where coronavirus infections have been identified among patients or in the community. This comes after the deaths of five people who had lived at Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington. They all had contracted COVID-19, a respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.[6]

Of the 17 deaths confirmed by King County officials, 16 were linked to center.[7]

It is unknown whether any of these people were taking antipsychotics or other psychotropic drugs. But the much needed oversight of infection control practices should also include whether antipsychotics are making the elderly more susceptible to such infections.

In the recent study, researchers showed that an antipsychotic infiltrated bone marrow in concentrations higher than found in the bloodstream. The bone marrow is where most of the immune system cells are born, develop and mature and, thus, the immune system may get compromised.[8]

In February 2020 in a first-of-its-kind study using advanced brain imaging techniques, a commonly used antipsychotic drug was also associated with potentially adverse changes in brain structure. The study, conducted across several North American centers, and published in JAMA Psychiatry, reported: “With the increased off-label prescribing of antipsychotic medications, especially in children and the elderly, our findings support a reexamination of the risks and benefits.”[9]

Already, nursing homes have received more than 7,000 citations for violations of the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 related to antipsychotic drugs over more than three years.[10] But this could be compromised by proposed less oversight. CCHR says the last thing needed is to loosen controls, especially in light of the drugs’ potential impact on immune systems.[11] Federal law prohibits the use of antipsychotics and other psychoactive drugs for the convenience of staff, often called “chemical restraint,”[12] another reason CCHR wants to ensure no leniency in elderly treatment oversight. Watch CCHR’s video “Psychiatric Abuse of the Elderly” here.

CCHR is also concerned by figures released by Medicare, the primary source of insurance coverage for individuals over the age of 65 that show more than 128,000 electroshock treatments were delivered in one year. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry reported “ECT is especially devastating to the vulnerable brain and body of the elderly….As would be predicted based on the fragility of the older brain, ECT causes more severe brain dysfunction in the elderly.”[13] The group has an online petition calling for a ban on electroshock.

Powerful antipsychotic drugs, acting alone and in interaction with other drugs or combined with ECT, have a long list of common side effects—including tremors, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, immobility, delirium, kidney and heart failure, and violent behavior. Another common effect, over-sedation, often greatly increases the risks of falls and fractures. In some diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia, psychoactive drugs can even cause death.[14]

Older generations face a potentially life-threatening risk if infected with the novel coronavirus, which has caused deaths of 60-plus-year-olds stretching across the cities of China, Italy and now the U.S.[15] CCHR wants to ensure that they are not further predisposed to this with weakened immune systems that antipsychotics may cause. Any health oversight of nursing homes should also take this into account, it says.

References:

[1] “Feds Would Expand Use of Drugs Criticized in Vermont Eldercare Lawsuit,” Seven Days, 3 Dec. 2019, https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2019/12/03/feds-would-expand-use-of-drugs-criticized-in-vermont-eldercare-lawsuit

[2] “New study shows antipsychotic drugs can suppress the immune system,” UNE News (University of New England), 14 Aug. 2019, https://www.une.edu/news/2019/new-study-shows-antipsychotic-drugs-can-suppress-immune-system

[3] Sharon Begley, “Who is getting sick, and how sick? A breakdown of coronavirus risk by demographic factors,” Stat News, 3 Mar. 2020, https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/03/who-is-getting-sick-and-how-sick-a-breakdown-of-coronavirus-risk-by-demographic-factors/

[4] https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/02/05/they-want-docile/how-nursing-homes-united-states-overmedicate-people-dementia

[5] https://www.medicareadvocacy.org/stop-drugging-nursing-home-residents-without-their-written-consent/

[6] “Trump Administration Announces New Scrutiny of Nursing Homes,” NPR, 5 Mar. 2020, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/05/812359226/trump-administration-announces-new-scrutiny-of-nursing-homes

[7] https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/feds-investigating-kirkland-nursing-facility-center-coronavirus-outbreak/TZZKNZ5CZVCAVHXF5WT5P6JO6A/

[8] Op. cit., UNE News

[9] “Anti-psychotic Drugs Linked to Adverse Brain Structure Changes,” Neuroscience News & Research, 27 Feb. 2020, https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/anti-psychotic-drugs-linked-to-adverse-brain-structure-changes-331402

[10] “Nursing Homes in the U.S. Are Drugging Elderly Residents with Dangerous Antipsychotics,” Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2018, https://www.newsweek.com/nursing-homes-drugging-elderly-residents-dangerous-antipsychotics-799680

[11] “The antipsychotic medication, risperidone, causes global immunosuppression in healthy mice,”PLoS One, 2019; 14(6): e0218937, 26 Jun. 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6594635/

[12] https://www.cchrint.org/2017/06/21/protectelderyfromdrugsandelectroshock/#_edn5 citing: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/12/08/368524824/old-and-overmedicated-the-real-drug-problem-in-nursing-homes; 42 C.F.R. PART 483—REQUIREMENTS FOR STATES AND LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES Title 42 – Public Health

[13] “The FDA Should Test the Safety of ECT Machines,” Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, Volume 12, Number 2, 2010, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/springer/ehpp/2010/00000012/00000002/
art00007?crawler=true

[14] “Nursing Home Residents With Alzheimer’s: Drugged to Death?,” Senior Care Advice, 4 Nov. 2016, https://seniorcareadvice.com/nursing-home-residents-with-alzheimers-drugged-to-death.htm.

[15] “Seniors are the most vulnerable to coronavirus. You can help protect them,” Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/11/coronavirus-seniors-help/

CCHR’s 50 years of monitoring psychotropic drug marketing in times of social upheaval prompts call for resilience, unity and the American Spirit rather than costly and damaging mind-altering drugs.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
March 23, 2020

With the alarming news regarding the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and restrictions on our daily living, the mental health watchdog, Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is reminding people that CDC prevention guidelines are a safer option than anti-anxiety pills, antidepressants or other potentially mind-altering drugs. With 50 years’ experience, CCHR has tracked and documented the push for people to take psychotropic drugs when facing social tragedy and chaos. Sales of these, especially antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs often soar in times of major health or terrorism threats and long-term use can carry significant risks.

A recent study, showed that antipsychotics may lower the elderly’s immune systems, making it difficult for them to fight off infections.[1]

In December 2001, two months after the 9/11 devastation, the Food and Drug Administration approved the antidepressant paroxetine for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). About $1.8 billion of the drug was sold in the U.S. that year, despite it triggering suicidal thoughts and severe withdrawal problems in some patients, experts said.[2]

Sales of antidepressants, sleeping aids and other medications to address mental health concerns skyrocketed.[3] A Time article advised that no one should be “wandering off into [antidepressant]-induced forgetfulness.”[4] It’s a recommendation that CCHR says should be taken to heart during the COVID-19 outbreak.

CCHR offers a free online psychiatric drugs side effects database to ensure people are properly informed of the risks and dangers of these drugs.

A Behavioral Health Business article recently said that the behavioral health market is poised to make a profit out of COVID-19: “The viral outbreak shouldn’t hurt the behavioral health industry long-term and could even lead to a higher demand for mental health services.”[5]

Psychology Today already has reported that COVID-19 is likely to increase the emergence of anxiety and treatment may include anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants.[6]

Taking advantage of 9/11, a survey was conducted during the six days immediately following the terrorist attack, when Americans were still in a state of shock and TV-bound watching it repeatedly on the news and experiencing predictable reactions to the horrific occurrences. “The survey sampled only 1,200 people, and by some quantum semantic leap, concluded that 71% of Americans had been harmed,” CCHR says. Within days of the 9/11 attacks, psychiatrists were predicting that as many as 30% of people affected by the attacks would develop PTSD.[7]

We already see signs of this today. In a Psychiatric Times article, “The Role of Psychiatrists During the Coronavirus Outbreak,” Dr. Joshua C. Morganstein, Chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s “Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster,” predicts that those put in isolation are “more likely to develop PTSD or increase substance use.”[8]

Psychiatry Advisor added that Chinese citizens have shown “acute” PTSD during the outbreak of COVID-19, according to study results published in medRxiv. This was determined from an online survey in mainland China after the COVID-19 outbreak (between January 30 and February 3).[9]

Psychiatric Times was also quick to report “it is anticipated that COVID-19 will have rippling effects.” For example, the required excessive cleaning of hands could lead to compulsions. Such compulsions are a core feature of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and “can easily be exacerbated by the threat of infectious pandemics.”[10]

Lancet, a British medical journal just published a study recommending: “Timely mental health care needs to be developed urgently” in light of the virus. This includes establishing mental health teams at regional and national levels that include psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health workers. Specialized psychiatric treatments and appropriate mental health services and facilities are recommended.[11]

CCHR reminds people that Americans’ resilience and unity has kept it on track before without resorting to mind-altering drugs to get through it. In June 2017, Nick Mueller, CEO of The National WWII Museum addressed a Junior Achievement Hall of Fame banquet telling them: “We don’t have to look back too far—to 9/11, 2001, when America was subject to a sneak kamikaze attack on the Twin Towers. We all remember the shock, the fear, the anger—and then the overwhelming sense of national unity.

“A common sense of the American Spirit brought us together against a new enemy that attacked us with the intent of undermining our system of beliefs, our economic and democratic way of life.”[12]

Psychiatric funding usually soars when governments are advised that the nation’s mental health needs a financial boost.  It would be better put towards food, reimbursing those at risk because of unemployment and anything that can help lessen the concerns during these unusual and unparalleled times.

Add to this one Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (ECS) firm recommending 20 minutes of self-shocking “in the comfort of your own home.” The device uses a fraction of the electricity used in an electroshock treatment (ECT) device, but it’s still electricity, but marketed as “a tiny current of electricity is passed through two electrodes that clip onto your earlobes, restoring balance to your brainwaves and making you feel better.” They also claim it is safe for children.[13] Even though touted as “safe and effective,” there are company-acknowledged risks of dizziness or nausea that can last for hours to days; skin irritation; electrode burns, headaches and “potent” reactions such as “increased anxiety.”[14] Sign CCHR’s Petition to Ban ECT.

Epidemics take a significant toll, also creating uncertainties and worries about the future. But as Dr. Sally Satel of New York warned following 9/11, “sensationalizing mental health professionals” were spreading gloom and doom about the American people’s alleged lack of resilience. She stated: “What we need—and thankfully seem to have—is a morally galvanized and focused citizenry, not a population turned inward on its alleged psychological fragility.”[15]

CCHR wants to ensure that one of the legacies of the Coronavirus is not minds damaged by psychotropic drugs and electrical interventions that can carry with them long-term risks.

References:

[1] “New study shows antipsychotic drugs can suppress the immune system,” UNE News (University of New England), 14 Aug. 2019, https://www.une.edu/news/2019/new-study-shows-antipsychotic-drugs-can-suppress-immune-system

[2] “DARKER SIDE TO THE 9/11 ‘WONDER’ PILL,” New York Post, 20 Oct. 2002, https://nypost.com/2002/10/20/darker-side-to-the-911-wonder-pill/

[3] https://www.pfnyc.org/reports/2001_11_ImpactStudy.pdf

[4] Lance Morrow, “The Case for Rage and Retribution,” TIME, Sep. 12, 2001, http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,174641,00.html

[5] https://bhbusiness.com/2020/03/10/coronavirus-concerns-shake-up-behavioral-industry-could-boost-demand-for-services/

[6]“How COVID-19 May Impact Mental Health: When anxiety about a coronavirus becomes a problem,” Psychology Today, 2 Mar. 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-future-brain/202003/how-covid-19-may-impact-mental-health

[7] Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Hearing on “Psychological Trauma and Terrorism,” Capitol Hearing Testimony, Federal Document Clearinghouse, 26 Sept. 2001, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000048694704&view=1up&seq=5

[8] https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/sites/default/files/legacy/mm/digital/media/
03Mar_PTMorganstein_Coronavirus_PDF_V2.pdf

[9] https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/anxiety/ptsd-trauma-and-stressor-related/in-china-covid-19-outbreak-leads-to-posttraumatic-stress-symptoms/

[10] “Psychiatrists Beware! The Impact of COVID-19 and Pandemics on Mental Health,” Psychiatric Times, 28 Feb. 2020, https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/psychiatrists-beware-impact-coronavirus-pandemics-mental-health

[11] “Timely mental health care for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is urgently needed,” Lancet, Volume 7, ISSUE 3, P228-229, March 01, 2020, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30046-8/fulltext

[12] https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/american-spirit-what-does-it-mean

[13] https://www.alpha-stim.com/2020/03/covid-19-and-anxiety-coping-with-the-emotional-fallout-of-isolation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=covid-19-and-anxiety-coping-with-the-emotional-fallout-of-isolation

[14] https://www.alpha-stim.com/risk/

[15] Sally Satel, “Good Grief: Don’t Get Taken by the Trauma Industry,” Wall Street Journal, 15 Oct. 2001, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100309452173501960

With $1.7 billion allocated to mental health programs in response to COVID-19 fears and concerns, CCHR anticipates increase in telepsychiatry fraud and abuse. It offers tips for consumers on detecting online scams and avoiding psychotropic drug risks.

BY CCHR International
The Mental Health Watchdog
March 31, 2020

Staff at Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, while operating remotely from their homes during the Coronavirus pandemic, is still servicing patients that are experiencing, and need to report, abuse in the mental health system. CCHR is increasing its oversight of the industry in light of the recent federal stimulus package that has allocated $425 million for mental health services and an additional $1.32 billion for community mental health centers (CMHCs).[1]

CCHR is very mindful of the fears and uncertainties that many are facing with the COVID-19 crisis and the need to communicate those concerns with someone. However, it says that, in what it thinks is an altruistic, but misguided action, the Federal government has loosened the regulations surrounding “telepsychiatry” (also known as digital psychiatry) to access psychiatric treatment via the Internet. While psychiatrists and psychologists were limited to practicing telepsychiatry in rural areas in their own state, a special waiver will now allow them to treat across the entire nation.[2] A psychiatrist could hold a group therapy session with patients in five different states.[3]

“It is wide open to abuse,” Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR says. A recent American Psychiatric Association survey of 1,004 Americans deduced that over 40% of the nation is anxious about dying or becoming seriously ill from COVID-19, which CCHR says could send consumers thinking they need online “telepsychiatry” services, running the risk of being prescribed mind-altering drugs.

One incentive is that psychiatrists would get paid the same rate as they do for seeing a patient in person. Telepsychiatry averages $68 and $107, whereas an in-person consultation can be up to $500.

Another waiver allows them to prescribe controlled substances (highly addictive psychotropic drugs) via the Internet. The drugs come with serious risks and side effects.[4]

This makes oversight of telepsychiatry fraud and prescription abuse difficult. In a national survey of 48 state medical boards the most common physician violations online were inappropriate patient communication online, e.g., sexual misconduct, and prescribing without an established clinical relationship.[5]

The psychiatric invented disorder, “health-” or “illness anxiety” is already seeping into COVID-19 nomenclature, described as an irrational and obsessive worry with having a serious medical condition. It is allegedly marked by a person’s imagination of physical symptoms of illness. Like all mental disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5), experts do not know the exact causes, according to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.[6]

Psychiatrist Alan Frances, former head of the DSM-IV Task Force wrote, “Adding to the woes of the medically ill could be one of the biggest problems caused by DSM5. It will do this in two ways: 1) by encouraging a quick jump to the erroneous conclusion that someone’s physical symptoms are ‘all in the head’; and 2) by mislabeling as mental disorders what are really just the normal emotional reactions that people understandably have in response to a medical illness.”[7]

Eastgate says that while CCHR supports the need for more funded healthcare, in the mental health field, this could be a recipe for greed and fraud. The Justice Department has already needed to crack down on telehealth fraud.[8] Last year, five telemedicine companies were criminally charged over fraud schemes involving more than $1.2 billion in losses.[9]

Medical Guardian advises on how to spot a telemedicine scam.

1. They ONLY suggest talking to you virtually.
2. They reassure you that your health insurance will cover the payments.
3. A big red flag for Medicare fraud is any type of physician who will write you a prescription for pharmaceuticals without meeting with you in person first.[10] While meeting in person is waived under new regulations because of COVID-19, CCHR says to be alert to multiple “psychotropic drug prescriptions” as a potential sign of fraud.

Investment into mental health technology has already boomed, reaching $769 million in 2019. Research shows an almost five-fold increase in mental health tech investment in the last six years, rising from $200.9 million in 2014.[11]

The American Medical Association (AMA) reports that according to one study, younger children are good prospects for telepsychiatry as they appear to be less inhibited when using it and those with significant behavior and conduct problems may be more “expressive” in that venue.[12] CCHR says America has more than 6.7 million children and adolescents already taking psychotropic drugs,[13] which telepsychiatry will only add to. UK health advocate, Suzy Chapman, who closely monitored every step in the development of DSM-5, wrote about health anxiety: “These are inherently unreliable and untrustworthy judgments that will open the floodgates to the overdiagnosis of mental disorder and promote the missed diagnosis of medical disorder.”[14]

CCHR urges people to use its service and report abuse and to access its psychiatric drugs side effects database to become better informed about these drugs risks, especially when taken during a time when we need to remain alert.

References:

[1] “APA Praises Mental Health Provisions in COVID-19 Stimulus Aid Package,” APA release, 27 Mar. 2020, https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/news-releases/apa-praises-mental-health-provisions-in-covid-19-stimulus-aid-package

[2] “COVID-19: Dramatic Changes to Telepsychiatry Rules and Regs,” Medscape, 26 Mar. 2020, https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/927556

[3] Daphne C. Ferrer, MD and Peter M. Yellowlees, MBBS, MD, “Telepsychiatry: Licensing and Professional Boundary Concerns,” AMA Journal of Ethics, Jun 2012, https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/telepsychiatry-licensing-and-professional-boundary-concerns/2012-06

[4] “Understanding hypochondria in this time of Covid-19,” CDN, 24 Mar. 2020, https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/296714/understanding-hypochondria-in-this-time-of-covid-19#ixzz6HdmWZBGV

[5] Op. cit., AMA Journal of Ethics

[6] Op. cit., CDN

[7] Allen Frances, M.D., “Mislabeling Medical Illness As Mental Disorder: The eleventh DSM 5 mistake needs an eleventh hour correction,” Psychology Today, 12 Dec. 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201212/mislabeling-medical-illness-mental-disorder

[8] https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/telehealth-in-the-spotlight-as-justice-cracks-down-on-medicare-fraud

[9] https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/telehealth-two-steps-forward-for-22452/

[10] https://www.medicalguardian.com/medical-alert-blog/current-events/the-difference-between-real-telemedicine-services-vs-scams

[11] “Global investment in mental health technology surges above half a billion pounds,” Mobile Health News, 3 Feb. 2020, https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/europe/global-investment-mental-health-technology-surges-above-half-billion-pounds

[12] Op. cit., AMA Journal of Ethics

[13] https://www.fightforkids.org/

[14] Op. cit., Psychology Today

Mental health industry watchdog stays alert to scammers profiting from COVID-19 fears. Concerned about patients being defrauded when seeking mental health treatment, CCHR launches newsletter to inform law enforcement and health officials about mental healthcare fraud.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
April 6, 2020

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), that has spent 50 years investigating psychiatric fraud and abuse, launched a newsletter this week for law enforcement, Medicaid and Medicare healthcare fraud units and health officials about potential mental health industry fraud with loosened regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. CCHR is increasing its oversight of the field in light of mental health professionals now able to use telepsychiatry across all states at potential rates of five times what they charge for in-person office consultations.

“We want to ensure that healthcare dollars needed to fight COVID-19 are not defrauded or squandered by those in the mental health industry that put profit above patients. Fraud scams can use video chats, excessive billing over the Internet with psychiatrists writing a large number of prescriptions,” said Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International.

Fears over COVID-19 are being used to create a market for more psychotropic drugs. “Suicide” is promoted as a risk of fears of the virus while a poll released in March 2020, claimed the Corona virus has affected the mental health of nearly half of all people in the United States.[1] The antidepressant market is already valued at $13.69 billion a year.[2] Real Money reported the astounding idea that “As crisis turns into one of mental health as well as physical health, some firms are experimenting with use of LSD and ‘magic mushroom’ compounds.”[3]

On March 24, the Department of Justice issued a statement that it is remaining vigilant in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting wrongdoing related to the COVID-19 crisis. In a memo to U.S. Attorneys, Attorney General Barr said, “The pandemic is dangerous enough without wrongdoers seeking to profit from public panic and this sort of conduct cannot be tolerated.”[4] In 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Department of Justice and, in some cases, the FBI, busted at least five health care fraud schemes that involved telemedicine.[5]

CCHR says that based on billions of dollars already defrauded in the mental system, this could escalate with less government oversight during COVID-19 pandemic. This includes a potential massive increase in psychiatric and controlled substances prescriptions—areas already a breeding ground for fraud, CCHR adds.

Improper billing for telemedicine services is also a top trigger for federal fraud and abuse scrutiny. In 2018, an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report found that 31% of a sample of 100 telehealth claims did not meet Medicare conditions for payment, with an estimated $3.7 million wasted on improper claims between 2014 and 2015.[6]

CCHR has found for-profit behavioral facilities have systemic fraud, including detaining patients against their will. Inspections of the facilities are now compromised because of COVID-19 so abuse is “out of sight, out of mind,” CCHR says.

Last year, a now-closed Texas psychiatric hospital, Sundance Behavioral Healthcare System pleaded guilty to a criminal indictment of kidnapping patients and illegally detaining a female patient against her will for 21 days. Another female patient was held for 11 days and forcibly drugged. The facility agreed to pay a $200,000 fine. Criminal District Attorney Sharen Wilson, pointed out, “This is a groundbreaking conviction. Not just because a corporation has been found guilty of a criminal offense, but for the severity of their conduct – holding people at a mental health facility against their will for financial gain.”[7]

In 2014, Richard Kusserow, who served for eleven years as the U.S. HHS Inspector General, pointed to psychiatry and psychology as key areas of fraud, stating: “Many health care fraud investigators believe mental health caregivers, such as psychiatrists and psychologists, have the worst fraud record of all medical disciplines.”

CCHR receives scores of complaints and evidence of prescription and hospital fraud, including prescribing drugs in exchange for sex. Taking a sample of 10 indictments and prosecutions since the beginning of 2019, seven psychiatrists were convicted and jailed for a combined total of over 20 years for fraud-related crimes. These included:

• March 2020: Kentucky psychiatrist Peter Steiner pled guilty to distributing controlled substances without a medical reason. Steiner prescribed thousands of units of buprenorphine and distributed opiates, filled early refills for patients, prescribed “dangerous combinations” of drugs and drugs in exchange for “sexually graphic photos and videos.” “This is a crystal clear example of the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuting a doctor turned drug dealer….,” said U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman.[8] Steiner was sentenced to four years of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release.[9]

• February 2020: A federal jury found a west Tennessee psychiatrist Dr. Richard Farmer, 83, guilty of unlawfully distributing opioids to purported patients and to others who were never his patients.[10] In April 2019, Farmer was one of three Memphis-area doctors and two nurses indicted as part of one of the country’s largest federal drug busts for illegal distribution of prescription opioids. He also prescribed drugs “often in exchange for sexual favors or companionship,” according to the indictment.[11] Farmer’s sentencing is scheduled for May 22.[12]

• February 2020: James Henry Edwards III from Fairhope, Alabama, faced 87 federal counts of distribution of controlled substances. He was indicted in 2019 for allegedly writing illegal prescriptions, including for several controlled substances, such as opioids “outside the usual course of professional medical practice and for no legitimate medical purpose, unlawfully, and for non-medical reasons,” according to the latest indictment.[13]

• February, 2020: A federal grand jury said Dr. Roy Monsour, a psychiatrist in his mid-60s, conspired with others to illegally dispense diethylpropion (stimulant similar to an amphetamine) and phentermine hydrochloride (stimulant and appetite depressant). Both drugs are used to treat obesity. A grand jury handed up the indictment on January 16, 2020 under seal but the case was unsealed in February.[14] Monsour appeared in federal court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of Monsour’s medical license.[15]

• January 2020: Virginia psychiatrist Udaya K. Shetty, 64, was sentenced to two years, three months prison over a healthcare fraud scheme. He also agreed to pay over $1 million to settle related claims. According to court documents, Shetty practiced at his own practice, Behavioral & Neuropsychiatric Group. Beginning in 2013, he created a scheme by which he could overbill healthcare benefit programs by seeing patients for only five to 10 minutes, but then billing for services that were on average 41 to 63 minutes long. Shetty instructed his staff to often double, triple, or even quadruple book appointment times. The fraud became apparent when investigators discovered that on dozens of instances Shetty would have needed more than 24 hours a day of working to perform the services for which he billed. In 2017, Shetty closed his practice and joined another psychiatric practice, Quietly Radiant Psychiatric Services. While there Shetty, and one of his former employees, Mary Otto, engaged in a similar scheme. Shetty directed Otto to access the billing system and change all of his billing data to a higher billing rate. As a result of their actions, Shetty and Otto defrauded various healthcare benefit programs of more than $450,000. Otto pled guilty for her role in the scheme and was sentenced to 15 months in prison on January 10, 2020.[16]

• December 2019: Paul J. Mathieu, a 54-year-old Morristown, New Jersey psychiatrist was sentenced to four years in prison for his participation in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of $30 million dollars, according to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman. Between 2007 and 2013, Mathieu falsely posed as the owner of three medical clinics, which were actually owned by a corrupt businessman, and falsely claimed that he had examined and treated thousands of patients whom he had not in fact seen. For the last 3½ years of the scheme, Mathieu saw no patients at all, simply falsifying enormous stacks of phony medical records falsely stating that he had seen and treated such patients. Mathieu was convicted in May 2019, following a six-week trial, on charges of health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit those offenses, and conspiracy to make false statements in connection with a federal health care program. “Corrupt doctors and therapists who defraud Medicare and Medicaid betray their medical training, their professions, their patients, and the taxpayers. These taxpayer-funded programs are designed to provide essential medical services to the elderly and the needy, not to enrich corrupt doctors and other fraudsters,” Berman said. “Paul Mathieu’s sentence sends a clear message that those who cheat Medicare and Medicaid will be held accountable.”[17]

• July 2019: Dr. Xingjia Cui of Pittsford, New York, who worked at the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center, was convicted of billing health insurance companies for services he did not provide to his patients. Cui, a 56-year-old who also had a private practice in Canandaigua, was also ordered to pay $597,823 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford, according to a release by the U.S. attorney’s office. According to law enforcement, Cui failed to report $381,447 received from his patients on federal income tax returns from 2010-14. He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for health care and tax fraud.[18]

• June 2019: A Santa Ana psychiatrist, Robert Tinoco Perez, 57, was sentenced to four years, three months in federal prison for accepting cash to write prescriptions for addictive narcotics like opioid oxycodone to a drug dealer to sell on the streets, the United States Attorney’s Office in California said. He was sentenced after pleading guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in February. The doctor wrote prescriptions for patients he had never met or examined, and created fake medical records for customers to provide justification for their prescriptions, the Attorney’s Office said. In his plea agreement, the doctor admitted to writing prescriptions for 240 pills of Adderall, 300 pills of Roxicodone (opioid) and 250 pills of Norco (opioid) for fictitious patients between December 2017 and January 2018, authorities said. One of the customers was an undercover officer. Perez sold the prescriptions with the fake names to co-defendant William Jason Plumley for at least $1,400, officials said, citing Perez’s plea agreement.[19]

• April 2019: South Florida psychiatrist, Arthur John Kranz, was sentenced to over four years in prison for disability fraud and tax evasion on over $1.6 million in income earned. Beginning in 2002, Kranz made a claim on his private disability policy that he was unable to work, and began receiving disability payments from his insurance company. In December 2003, Kranz submitted an application to the Social Security Administration (SSA) for disability benefits. The SSA approved his application. Kranz then began receiving SSA disability payments, in addition to the private disability insurance payments. Kranz was required to notify his insurance company and the SSA if he returned to work. From January 2006 to March 2013, Kranz worked as a psychiatrist at a hospital in Pennsylvania and earned over $1.6 million in income but did not report his employment to either the SSA or his insurance company. He took steps to conceal his income from the insurance company, the SSA and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He directed that his income be paid to nominee individuals and sham corporations he had created to receive his payments. Kranz also filed false personal tax returns that did not report the income from his work as a psychiatrist, and provided fraudulent documentation to his insurance company that falsely stated that he was not working. In addition to the term of imprisonment imposed, Kranz was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution of $1,013,284.[20]

• January 2019: Psychiatrist Alfredo Cervantes, 61, from Lebanon, Virginia, previously pled guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of wire fraud. As a condition of his guilty plea, Cervantes, whose medical license and DEA registration were revoked in 2015, agreed never to practice medicine again. Cervantes was employed by Mountain States Medical Group and Russell County Medical Center as a psychiatrist. In February 2012, he began a sexual relationship with one of his patients, which continued until February 18, 2014, when Cervantes ended the relationship and the patient attempted suicide. While that relationship was ongoing, Cervantes purchased alcohol for the patient and encouraged her to drink with him, while prescribing her drugs for which alcohol is contraindicated. Cervantes fraudulently billed United Healthcare $1,508 for psychiatric care of that patient and caused Virginia Medicaid to be fraudulently billed $9,313 for prescription drugs he wrote for that patient, when no legitimate medical care of the patient was occurring. He was sentenced to seven months imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of $25,000.00 and restitution in the amount of $3,131.20.[21]

CCHR urges people to report abuse and fraud in the mental health system, here.

References:

[1] https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/psychologists-warn-coronavirus-crisis-has-created-a-looming-mental-health-disaster/

[2] “Psychedelics May Find Legit Place in Pharma as Pandemic Takes Toll,” Real Money, 2 Apr. 2020, https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/psychedelics-may-find-legit-place-in-pharma-as-pandemic-takes-toll-15283246

[3] “Psychedelics May Find Legit Place in Pharma as Pandemic Takes Toll,” Real Money, 2 Apr. 2020,https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/psychedelics-may-find-legit-place-in-pharma-as-pandemic-takes-toll-15283246

[4] https://www.justice.gov/usao-edok/pr/department-justice-requests-citizens-be-aware-and-report-covid-19-fraud

[5] https://khn.org/news/medicare-fraud-telemedicine-medical-equipment-scams/

[6] “Telemedicine: Three fraud and abuse triggers,” Clinical Neurology News, 10 Sept. 2018, https://www.mdedge.com/clinicalneurologynews/article/174301/business-medicine/telemedicine-three-fraud-and-abuse-triggers

[7] “Sundance Behavioral Health Convicted of Criminal Violations Against Patients: “A nightmare right out of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest'” Tarrant County District Attorney says,” NBC DFW, 30 Aug. 2020, https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/sundance-behavioral-health-convicted-of-criminal-violations-against-patients/207301/

[8] “Kentucky doctor faces potential prison time after pleading guilty to dealing drugs,” Courier Journal, 11 Mar. 2020, https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2020/03/11/kentucky-psychiatrist-pleads-guilty-dealing-drugs/5023531002/

[9] “Louisville Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty To Distributing Controlled Substances Without A Medical Purpose,” DoJ, U.S. Attorney’s Western District of Kentucky press release, 11 Mar. 2020, https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdky/pr/louisville-psychiatrist-pleads-guilty-distributing-controlled-substances-without

[10] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/west-tennessee-psychiatrist-found-guilty-unlawfully-distributing-opioids

[11] https://www.insurancefraud.org/IFNS-detail.htm?key=31303

[12] “Tennessee doctor convicted in region’s first ‘Opioid Strike Force Takedown,’” Fox News, 23 Feb. 2020, https://www.foxnews.com/us/tennessee-doctor-convicted-opioids

[13] “Indicted Fairhope psychiatrist facing 87 new federal drug charges,” Mobile Real Time News, 25 Feb. 2020, https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2020/02/indicted-fairhope-psychiatrist-facing-87-new-federal-drug-charges.html

[14] “Ligonier psychiatrist indicted in drug conspiracy case,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7 February 2020, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2020/02/07/dr-roy-monsour-ligonier-indicted-drug-conspiracy-case-monsour-medical-center-jeannette/stories/202002070097

[15] https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/ligonier-township-physician-indicted-in-alleged-drug-conspiracy/

[16] “Virginia Beach psychiatrist sentenced to prison for healthcare fraud scheme,” WTKR, 16 Jan. 2020, https://wtkr.com/2020/01/16/virginia-beach-psychiatrist-sentenced-to-prison-for-healthcare-fraud-scheme/; https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/psychiatrist-sentenced-prison-healthcare-fraud-scheme

[17] https://patch.com/new-jersey/morristown/morristown-doctor-sentenced-prison-medicare-fraud-scheme

[18] “Canandaigua doctor sentenced to 366 days in prison in health care-tax fraud case,” Democrat and Chronicle, 23 Jul 2019, https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2019/07/22/xingjia-cui-pittsford-man-psychiatrist-canandaigua-sentenced-fraud-veterans-affairs/1800610001/

[19] “Santa Ana Psychiatrist Sentenced to More than 4 Years in Prison for Writing Illegal Opioid Prescriptions to Drug Dealer,” KTLA5 News, 18 Jun. 2020, https://ktla.com/news/local-news/santa-ana-psychiatrist-sentenced-to-more-than-4-years-in-prison-for-writing-illegal-opioid-prescriptions-to-drug-dealer/

[20] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-florida-doctor-sentenced-prison-tax-evasion-and-disability-fraud

[21] https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/psychiatrist-pleads-guilty-healthcare-fraud-and-wire-fraud; https://wcyb.com/news/local/former-russell-county-psychiatrist-sentenced-to-seven-months-for-health-care-fraud

As psychiatric hospitals report COVID-19 deaths, CCHR is concerned about psychotropic drugs that lower the immune system potentially predisposing patients to viruses and death. Meanwhile, antidepressants are being researched as treatment for COVID-19, with claims they may reduce the onset of a second phase of COVID-19 infection: a life-threatening overreaction of the immune system. Add to this, psychedelic drug treatment research is being advocated for pandemic-caused “depression.”

By Jan Eastgate
President CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
April 14, 2020

It is undeniable that we are all facing stresses navigating through the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges facing organizations, employees, and individuals are staggering. But juxtaposed against the positive mantra, “We’ll get through this together,” is the chaos-mongering that people across the globe “will battle psychological scars for years,”[1] requiring psychiatric or psychological treatment. However, it would be a tragedy if the natural “fears” of COVID-19 are redefined as “mental disorders” to be treated by unregulated psychiatric and psychological practices.

This includes treatment such as physically damaging psychotropics that can adversely impact the immune system, potentially predisposing patients to contracting COVID-19.  Astonishingly, during the virus concerns there has been media on psychiatrists calling for research into psychedelics drugs, like LSD and psilocybin to treat “depression” which is predicted to arise from the pandemic.

Mirsad Serdarevic Ph.D. writing in Psychology Today, noted the psychiatric healthcare package offered patients during this pandemic is likely to be psychotropic drugs. “Over the past several decades, psychiatric practice has been almost exclusively reduced to psychopharmaceutical practice, which either leads to or contributes to physical deterioration of the population it purports to be treating.” This includes the larger population being prescribed antidepressants which can cause weight gain and could “contribute, if not lead, to development of obesity, one of the risk factors associated with COVID-19 disease complications and mortality.”[2]

With COVID deaths being reported as greater in those with underlying diseases, it begs the question whether the drug practices used in psychiatric hospitals can predispose patients to COVID-19. Cleveland Clinic reports that when people are immunocompromised (impaired immune system), their body has a reduced ability to fight off and recover from infections. This could be because they have a certain chronic condition that affects the immune system, or because of certain medications they are taking. According to the clinic’s infectious disease specialist Alan Taege, M.D., “serious complications of COVID-19 are most likely to develop in elderly people, as well as those who have weakened immune systems, or are immunocompromised.”[3]

Antipsychotics are frequently relied upon in psychiatric hospitals. Clinical reports indicate that patients treated with atypical antipsychotics are more susceptible to infections.[4] The antipsychotic clozapine poses a risk of lowering immune system function.[5] Taking neuroleptics, lithium, psychostimulants and tranquilizers can weaken the immune system.[6] The FDA warns that lamotrigine prescribed as a mood stabilizer “can cause a rare but very serious reaction” to the immune system which “can cause severe inflammation throughout the body and lead to hospitalization and death.”[7]

New Jersey recently reported four patients died from COIVID in psychiatric hospitals.[8] St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric institution in Washington, D.C., has reported four patient deaths.[9] Thirteen patients tested positive at Western State Hospital in Kentucky.[10]

However, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis announced they are launching a clinical trial in patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 but who are not sick enough to be hospitalized. The trial is investigating whether the antidepressant fluvoxamine (Luvox)—a drug linked to the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 (see below)—can be repurposed for COVID-19. The drug is thought to reduce the onset of a second phase of COVID-19 infection: a life-threatening overreaction of the immune system that leads to what’s called a “cytokine storm.”[11]  

Immune cells use cytokines, which are a group of proteins secreted by cells of the immune system that act as chemical messengers.[12] A cytokine storm is a severe immune reaction in which the body releases too many cytokines into the blood too quickly. Having a large amount of them released in the body all at once can be harmful.[13]

In one of many unproved psychiatric theories to explain “mental disorder,” it is theorized that cytokines are implicated in the pathology of depression.[14] That inflammatory cytokines contribute to the development of depression and that antidepressants can reverse this.[15] The Washington University researchers believe fluvoxamine, which is one of the selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) antidepressants interacts with a protein important to the body’s inflammatory response.[16]

On April 1, The New York Times described it this way: when the body first encounters a virus or a bacterium, the immune system ramps up and begins to fight the invader. The foot soldiers in this fight are molecules called cytokines that set off a cascade of signals to cells to marshal a response. Usually, the stronger this immune response, the stronger the chance of vanquishing the infection. But in some cases, the immune system keeps raging long after the virus is no longer a threat. It continues to release cytokines that keep the body on an exhausting full alert. In their misguided bid to keep the body safe, these cytokines attack multiple organs including the lungs and liver, and may eventually lead to death.[17]

“Everyone’s talking about cytokine storm as if it were a well-recognized phenomenon, but you could have asked medics two weeks ago and they wouldn’t have heard of it,” said Dr. Jessica Manson, an immunologist at University College London Hospital. [18]

Luvox was linked to the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado in 1999. Teen shooter Eric Harris was one of the assailants. His autopsy revealed a therapeutic level of Luvox in his system.[19] A cousin of Prozac, patients may experience adverse effects such as mania, bouts of irritability, aggression and hostility.[20]

So, in theory, patients may be prescribed antipsychotics or other psychotropics that may lead to a compromised immune system and predisposing them to viruses, at which point antidepressants could be prescribed to reverse this.  Either way, this is risky business.

Antidepressants and Suicide

Add to that psychiatrists are warning that suicide—which antidepressants can induce—is likely to be an outcome of the COVID-19 threat.

Recently a New York psychiatrist told ABC News that “It is certainly reasonable to expect the risk of suicide increasing secondary to the economic and social fallout” of COVID-19,[21] instilling fears of a potential suicide outbreak. With already one in six American adults taking a psychiatric drug, the impact of increasing this is foreboding. According to a researcher at Boulder County Public Health and the Colorado School of Public Health, “A majority of suicide attempts involve the use of medication.” The main exposure was individuals in the sample study who filled a psychotropic drug prescription within 90 days before the suicide attempt.[22]

Antidepressants top the list of psychotropics Americans take, followed by sedatives, hypnotics and anti-anxiety drugs, then antipsychotics.[23] Another 6.7 million 0-17-year-olds are prescribed psychotropic drugs, of which 2.1 million are taking antidepressants that the FDA warns against prescribing to because of the risk of suicide.[24]

The FDA warns against antidepressant prescribing to this age group because of the risk of suicide. Other recognized side effects include anxiety, agitation and nervousness, vivid dreaming and withdrawal effects.[25] Not effects people should be experiencing during an epidemic.

Yet, it could now be anticipated that these dangerous drugs will be promoted as a prevention or treatment for COVID-19. And while the risk of death from COVID-19 is bad enough, it is also a legitimate risk of taking antidepressants.

According to a researcher at Boulder County Public Health and the Colorado School of Public Health, “A majority of suicide attempts involve the use of medication,” The main exposure was individuals who filled a psychotropic drug prescription within 90 days before the suicide attempt.”[26]

An April 2020 Psychology Today article warns of potential overprescribing of SSRI antidepressants “due in part to coronavirus-related stress and anxiety on a scale felt worldwide,” but that it is especially important to be reminded that COVID-19 is not a mental health crisis. As Dr. Lucy Johnstone explains, “It’s healthy to be afraid in a crisis” and “wrong to view our natural fears as mental health disorders.“[27]

CCHR is tracking the increased volume of psychiatric promotion through the media and to government that “depression,” “anxiety” and suicide are likely to soar because of COVID-19 and we question the potential conflicts of interests behind some of these assertions.

A psychiatrist representing the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry has warned that the “real mental health crisis” is yet to come and “I think we’re on the precipice of [an increase in demand].”[28] This psychiatrist has conflicts of interest with five psychotropic drug manufacturers, including stock holdings in a company that makes antipsychotics.[29]

COVID-19 and Hallucinogenic Drugs

Like antidepressants, psychedelic drugs are theorized to have an “anti-inflammatory effect” and can help reverse mental disorders such as depression. In November 2019, Psychedelic Science Review claimed “One recently identified therapeutic characteristic of psychedelics that holds notable promise is their anti-inflammatory effect.”[30]

A Real Money article headlined “Psychedelics May Find Legit Place in Pharma as Pandemic Takes Toll” reported the obvious: “The coronavirus pandemic has tested the psychological state of many. Social distancing and staying isolated, as well as general fear of the virus, has wreaked havoc on even those with the strongest mindsets.” But then followed with the astounding idea that some firms are now “experimenting with use of LSD and ‘magic mushroom’ compounds.”[31]

Newsweek reported that psychedelic drugs could soon be commonly used to treat mental health patients. A study being conducted at the Imperial College London will soon finish a trial comparing psilocybin with the antidepressant drug escitalopram (Lexapro) on patients with depression.[32]

The lead researcher, Professor David Nutt, has strong ties to at least seven psychiatric drug companies and has received grants or clinical trial payments from P1vital (clinical research company for CNS treatment development and mental health), which he also has share options in.[33]

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) was quick to blog in March that a “new review study concludes” that “psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), show promise for treating conditions including treatment-resistant depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” The four drugs being researched are currently classified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as Schedule 1 substances—controlled substances with no currently accepted medical use in the United States and a high potential for abuse. The research team included the APA Work Group on Biomarkers and Novel treatments and at least four psychiatrists with strong financial ties to psychotropic drug makers—one a psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Nemeroff who came under federal investigation for his failure to declare $1 million he took from pharmaceutical companies.[34]

Add to this that this is promoted by the APA, an organization that thinks sending 460 volts of electricity through the brain to damage it with the use of electroshock treatment is therapeutic, even on five-year-old children. Sign CCHR’s Petition to Ban ECT here.

Neuropsychopharmacology reports that a hallucinogenic drug like LSD, that can transiently but powerfully alter human perception, behavior, and mood even at extremely low doses. Certain aspects of the behavior elicited by acute doses of LSD closely resemble symptoms of mental disorders such as schizophrenia.[35] The drug binds to serotonin receptors in your brain, essentially locking into position. “Once LSD gets in the receptor, you can think of it as a hole in the ground. LSD jumps into it and then pulls a lid down over the top,” said a study co-author, a pharmacologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.  “Basically, from the structure we could tell that once LSD gets in there it can’t get out. That’s why it lasts so long.” A very small dose could still have an effect.[36]

Today, Americans are illicitly “microdosing” using LSD, using a system developed by a psychologist.[37] “It is said to be a term that refers to the practice of taking small, non-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelic drugs.[38] While not endorsing taking LSD, one article recently discussed microdosing: “On the plus side: dosing seems like a good way to shave six or eight or 12 hours off the self-quarantine.”  Further, “Using the time alone to experiment with psychedelics and explore your own interiority seems like a handy idea during this bizarre period of consensual social lockdown.”[39]

In the 60s, the media, notably LIFE magazine, whose publisher Henry Luce took LSD, ran articles promoting the hallucinogen. Yet medical studies showed the drug could induce a “psychotic psychedelic experience characterized by intense fear to the point of panic, paranoid delusions of suspicion or grandeur, toxic confusion, depersonalization” and all of these could “be of powerful magnitude.”[40] As Medical News Today reported in 2017, after LSD was banned in 1967 and classified as a Schedule 1 drug “with no acceptable medical use.” It is used illicitly and can trigger the onset of schizophrenia on those predisposed to it.[41]

In 2018, an estimated 5.6 million people in the U.S. aged 12 or older were past year users of hallucinogens and an estimated 376,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17 were past year users of hallucinogens, which corresponded to 1.5 percent of adolescents.[42] With the psychedelic research now being conducted for COVID-19 inspired fears and depressions, LSD could turn from illicit to “legitimate” use…and abuse.

The reliance upon dangerous psychotropic substances begs investigation as well as how psychiatrists use disasters to advocate for these and demand more funds to deliver them. It would also behoove the media to inspect the risks of these drugs being promoted and who profits from them. Certainly, the Food and Drug Administration is not going to regulate their use if they approve them, nor their “off-label” prescription.

In 2019, FDA regulators green lit a drug inspired by ketamine made by pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson for severe forms of depression.[43] Ketamine is also known as a “club” and “date rape” drug that can cause disassociation, meaning victims enter a state in which they feel as if their mind and body aren’t connected.[44] J&J is renowned for using a potential carcinogen-causing asbestos ingredient in its talc powder and in February 2020 agreed to pay $750 million in punitive damages to four people who said their use of the company’s talcum powders caused a rare cancer. The verdict “was a loud repudiation of J&J’s decades of excuses,” said Moshe Maimon, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.[45] It has also paid out millions of dollars over risks and damage from its antipsychotic, Risperdal and a court finding J&J and its Janssen unit committed more than 238,000 violations of the state’s Medicaid fraud laws by illegally marketing Risperdal over an almost four-year period starting in 2002.[46] And in October 2019, J&J proposed a $4 billion cash payment to settle accusations from around 2,600 lawsuits claiming it holds partial blame for the opioid epidemic in the US.[47]

Federal regulators have also assigned “breakthrough therapy” status to ecstasy or MDMA, which could hasten its approval as a prescription drug for patients with PTSD.[48] Street names for ecstacy include Molly, Ecstasy, X, Superman, and XTC, among many others. MDMA can also be addictive, and research suggests that long-term cognitive problems may develop in some users.[49] MDMA can also produce involuntary jaw clenching, depersonalization and illogical or disorganized thoughts, according to National Institute of Drug Abuse.[50]

These are dangerous trends and in the proffered help for people concerned about virus threats, deaths and economic disadvantage—which, in turn, threaten individual and family survival—the last thing needed is to add mind-altering substances that can cause unhealthy and debilitating effects.

CCHR wants consumers to better informed of psychotropic drug risks if recommended during or because of concerns over COVID-19 epidemic. It offers a free online psychiatric drugs side effects database to ensure people are properly informed of the risks and dangers of these drugs.

References:

[1] “Unemployment, isolation: COVID-19’s mental health impact: The current pandemic is not just a medical tragedy,” ABC News, 7 Apr. 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/unemployment-isolation-covid-19s-mental-health-impact/story?id=69939700

[2] Mirsad Serdarevic Ph.D., “When Medications Hurt: How the COVID-19 crisis highlights serious problems with psychiatric treatment,” Psychology Today, 11 Apr. 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sound-bell/202004/when-medications-hurt

[3] https://health.clevelandclinic.org/faqs-what-you-should-know-about-covid-19-and-chronic-medical-conditions/

[4] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218937

[5] “The most serious side effect associated with CLOZARIL is called agranulocytosis. This occurs when your white blood cell count is significantly lowered and your body’s immune system becomes highly vulnerable to infection,” http://clozaril.com/?page_id=31

[6] http://www.peter-lehmann-publishing.com/articles/lehmann/for_against.htm; https://www.une.edu/news/2019/new-study-shows-antipsychotic-drugs-can-suppress-immune-system

[7] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-drug-safety-communication-fda-warns-serious-immune-system-reaction-seizure-and-mental-health

[8] https://www.trentonian.com/news/nj-health-officials-four-patients-dead-dozens-sickened-by-covid-19-at-psych-hospitals-trenton/article_0268deb2-78f4-11ea-a69a-2b863cbf6d78.html

[9] “Four Patients At St. Elizabeths Psychiatric Hospital Have Died Of COVID-19,” https://dcist.com/story/20/04/14/four-patients-at-st-elizabeths-psychiatric-hospital-have-died-of-covid-19/

[10] https://hoptownchronicle.org/covid-19-cases-up-to-29-at-western-state-hospital-16-employees-among-those-testing-positive

[11] “Study to evaluate antidepressant as potential COVID-19 treatment,” Washington State School of Medicine in St. Louis, 13 April 2020, https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/study-to-evaluate-antidepressant-as-potential-covid-19-treatment/

[12] https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-are-cytokines-definition-types-function.html

[13] https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/797584

[14] “Cytokine Research in Depression: Principles, Challenges, and Open Questions,” Frontier Psychiatry, 7 Feb. 2019, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00030/full

[15] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3741070/; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12466038

[16] “Study to evaluate antidepressant as potential COVID-19 treatment,” Washington State School of Medicine in St. Louis, 13 April 2020, https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/study-to-evaluate-antidepressant-as-potential-covid-19-treatment/

[17] “The Coronavirus Patients Betrayed by Their Own Immune Systems,” The New York Times, 1 Apr. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/health/coronavirus-cytokine-storm-immune-system.html

[18] Ibid.

[19] https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/14655-prescription-for-murder

[20] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/drug_warnings_on_violence/guns-doses-drugging-kids/

[21] “Unemployment, isolation: COVID-19’s mental health impact: The current pandemic is not just a medical tragedy,” ABC News, 7 Apr. 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/unemployment-isolation-covid-19s-mental-health-impact/story?id=69939700

[22] “Prescribed access to psychotropic drugs linked to suicide method choice,” Brown TL, et al. J Clin Psychiatry. 2018; doi:10.4088/JCP.17m11982. Healio Psychiatry, 20 Nov. 2018, https://www.healio.com/psychiatry/suicide/news/online/%7B50b36f43-f617-4d1c-beea-4d5d48b9c05a%7D/prescribed-access-to-psychotropic-drugs-linked-to-suicide-method-choice

[23] “1 in 6 Americans Takes a Psychiatric Drug: Antidepressants were most common, followed by anxiety relievers and antipsychotics,” Scientific American, 13 Dec. 2016, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/1-in-6-americans-takes-a-psychiatric-drug/

[24] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/children-on-psychiatric-drugs/

[25] https://www.drugwatch.com/ssri/prozac/; https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/going-off-antidepressants

[26] Op. cit., Brown TL, et al. J Clin Psychiatry

[27]Christopher Lane, Ph.D., “Antidepressants and Online Misinformation: A study of medical websites finds widespread misreporting,” Psychology Today, 13 Apr. 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/side-effects/202004/antidepressants-and-online-misinformation

[28] https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/psych-units-coronavirus-covid-19-980461/; Alexza Pharmaceuticals (researching alprazolam), Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly and Wyeth Ayerst and has stock holdings, in with Johnson & Johnson

[29] Alexza Pharmaceuticals (researching alprazolam), Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly and Wyeth Ayerst and has stock holdings, in with Johnson & Johnson

[30] https://psychedelicreview.com/psychedelics-as-anti-inflammatory-agents/

[31] “Psychedelics May Find Legit Place in Pharma as Pandemic Takes Toll,” Real Money, 2 Apr. 2020, https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/psychedelics-may-find-legit-place-in-pharma-as-pandemic-takes-toll-15283246

[32] “We Could Be Taking Psychedelics to Help Treat Mental Illness in Just Five Years,” Newsweek, 7 Apr. 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/we-could-taking-psychedelics-help-treat-mental-illness-just-five-years-1495030

[33] https://www.nature.com/articles/npp2016289; Bristol Myers Squibb, Otuska, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Servier

[34] “Could Psychedelics be Used to Treat Mental Illness?” APA blog, 17 Mar. 2020,

https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2020/03/could-psychedelics-be-used-to-treat-mental-illness; https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19010035

[35] “A Single Dose of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Influences Gene Expression Patterns within the Mammalian Brain,” Neuropsychopharmacology, 6 Nov. 2001, republished Nature.com, https://www.nature.com/articles/1395848

[36] “Ever Had a Really Long Acid Trip? Now Science Knows Why,” Wired, 36 Jan. 2017, https://www.wired.com/2017/01/ever-really-long-acid-trip-now-science-knows/

[37] “Some Use LSD As Brain Boost, But Dangers Remain,” Web MD, 6 Dec. 2017,

https://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20171206/some-use-lsd-as-brain-boost-but-dangers-remain; “The Psychologist Leading a Psychedelic Research Revolution: James Fadiman is legitimizing research into psychedelic microdosing,” Vice, 29 Nov. 2019, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pazeab/james-fadiman-lsd-microdosing-research

[38] https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2020/04/01/this-new-york-city-pharma-startup-wants-to-turn-lsd-into-an-fda-approved-medicine-for-anxiety-disorder/#1f4a06643293

[39] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7kzjne/youre-socially-isolating-is-now-a-good-time-to-trip-on-psychedelics

[40] http://www.cchr.org.uk/downloads/Harming%20Artists.pdf, citing Wayne O. Evans and Nathan S. Kline, Psychotropic Drugs in the Year 2000: Use By Normal Humans (Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1971), p. 89

[41] “The effects and hazards of LSD,” Medical News Today, 22 Jun. 2017, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295966

[42] https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/cbhsq-reports/NSDUHNationalFindingsReport2018/NSDUHNationalFindingsReport2018.pdf

[43] https://www.forbes.com/sites/elliekincaid/2019/03/05/fda-approves-johnson–johnsons-ketamine-derived-drug-for-treatment-resistant-depression/#42bf80763e03

[44] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320409.php; https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-02-05/ketamine-could-soon-be-used-to-treat-suicidal-ideation

[45] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jj-ordered-to-pay-750m-in-baby-powder-verdict-2020-02-06

[46] https://bangordailynews.com/2012/04/13/health/jj-to-pay-1-1b-for-misleading-doctors-on-antipsychotic-drug/

[47] http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/j_and_j_proposes_$4bn_in_cash_to_settle_opioid_crisis_allegations_1313672

[48] https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/mb3bqb/canada-moves-closer-to-legalizing-medicinal-use-of-mdma

[49] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/297064#what-is-mdma

[50] https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/mdma-ecstasy-abuse/what-are-effects-mdma

CCHR is speeding up its research on drug agency warnings and studies showing drug risks to add to its free online psychiatric drugs side effects database, in response to antidepressant and anti-anxiety drug scripts increasing.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
April 21, 2020

Mental health watchdog group, Citizens Commission on Human Rights International is updating its online Psychiatric Drugs Side Effects Database with new studies and adverse drug reactions so that consumers are better informed. They’ve increased research in light of an analysis by Express Scripts which found that prescriptions per week for antidepressants, anti-anxiety and anti-insomnia drugs increased by 21% between February 16 and March 15, peaking the week of March 15 when the Coronavirus was deemed a pandemic. CCHR expects this rise has continued during COVID-19 regulations and recent claims of “Americans are turning to medications for relief.”

There was a 39.6% increase in anti-anxiety drugs given women, compared to 22.7% to men. Between 2015 and 2019, for people between the ages of 13 and 19, antidepressant use also increased by 38.3%.[1] Yet, the Food and Drug Administration warns that for this age group the drugs can induce suicidal behavior.[2]

CCHR says the increase is alarming because some psychotropic drug prescriptions had been declining, helping to safeguard patients against serious drug risks. Between 2015 and 2019, use of anti-anxiety drugs decreased by 12.1% among 21 million people in employer-sponsored health plans.[3]

CCHR Int’s side effects database already reports more than 150 drug regulatory agency warnings about antidepressants alone causing cardiovascular and other heart problems, hostility, aggression, agitation, insomnia, anxiety, sexual dysfunction and suicide.[4]

Researchers Martin Plöderl, Ph.D. and Michael P. Hengartner, PD. warned: “If you look at the past 10 years, antidepressant rates are associated with increased suicide rates,” the drugs “most likely cause suicidal behavior in young people” and “data strongly suggest that antidepressants can cause suicides and aggressive behavior.[5] CCHR says that with concerns about suicide in relation to COVID-19, the last thing needed is the population on drugs that can induce suicide.

More studies are emerging on antidepressant dangers. On April 8, The Pharmaceutical Journal reported that “antidepressant withdrawal can be a horrible experience.” A systematic review found that around 56% of people experience antidepressant withdrawal. James Davies, reader in social anthropology and mental health at the University of Roehampton, and the lead author of the review, worries that the lack of recognition of withdrawal risks “leads many doctors to misdiagnose withdrawal symptoms as relapse,” and unnecessarily and harmfully prescribe antidepressants for the long term.[6]

The journal BMC Psychiatry published a study which found that all SSRI antidepressant trials were “at high risk of bias and the clinical significance seems questionable. SSRIs significantly increase the risk of both serious and non-serious adverse events. The potential small beneficial effects seem to be outweighed by harmful effects.”[7]

A just-published study in the International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine reports that nearly every medical website and resource on antidepressant drug side effects have hugely downplayed the drugs’ risks. Researchers applied a checklist of 14 criteria to prominent websites from 10 different countries in which antidepressants are widely prescribed. As reported in Psychology Today, “They found a pattern both consistent and global, especially concerning antidepressant withdrawal, suicidality, and sexual and other side effects. Due in part to drug company sponsorship and related commercial pressures, the websites’ listing of the benefits and harms of antidepressants was found repeatedly to ‘conflict with the scientific evidence.’”[8]

Twenty-nine (74%) of the websites attributed depression to a “chemical imbalance,” a notion debunked more than a decade ago, but one that websites continue to suggest can be fixed and corrected, Psychology Today reported.[9] CCHR says such a claim should constitute consumer fraud.

Joanna Moncrieff, MD, Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London and works as a consultant in community psychiatry says that “more than 50 years of intense research efforts have failed to identify depression in the brain.”[10]

Psychiatrists, such as Ronald Pies, writing in Medscape, even admitted “…the ‘chemical imbalance theory’ was never a real theory, nor was it widely propounded by responsible practitioners in the field of psychiatry.”[11] Yet the American Psychiatric Association still has on its website, “Psychiatric medications can help correct imbalances in brain chemistry that are thought to be involved in some mental disorders.”[12]

In an April 2020 Psychiatric Times interview with Dr. Moncrief, she said, “Assuming that drugs work by acting on the underlying biological mechanisms of mental symptoms (the disease-centered model) has obscured the fact that the drugs we use in psychiatry are psychoactive drugs—that is, drugs that change the brain in ways we do not fully understand….” Further, “The idea that we can pin down the biological mechanisms of complex human thoughts, feelings and behaviors is part of the problem with our thinking in my view. We cannot do this now, and we have no indication that we will be able to do so in the future—a view put forward in critical neuroscience too….”[13]

Dr. Moncrief’s comments are poignant considering the COVID-19 virus has led to less restrictions on psychiatrists prescribing psychoactive drugs over the internet. She stated: “…I believe psychiatry is a fundamentally political activity. It is one of the informal social control apparatus that society has delegated to manage behavior that is socially problematic. Calling it a medical specialty disguises this fact and deprives people of the level of oversight and scrutiny that would be considered necessary if this was acknowledged.”[14]

CCHR wants people to be better informed if advised to take psychotropic drugs during these current times when they are most vulnerable. As these drugs don’t cure, and the temporary “relief” people may feel subsides, it can lead to the recommendation of adding an antipsychotic to an antidepressant.  Long-term use of antipsychotics can permanently damage the nervous system. Or electroshock treatment—the passage of 460 volts of electricity through the brain can be prescribed, further damaging the brain and body. All this can make recovery hard, if not impossible. Sign CCHR’s Petition to Ban ECT.

References:

[1] “Americans are taking more anti-anxiety medication and antidepressants during coronavirus pandemic: report,” The Hill, 16 Apr. 2020, https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/mental-health/493125-increase-in-anti-anxiety-medication-antidepressants; “Prescriptions for antidepressants, anti-anxiety, anti-insomnia drugs jumps 21% post COVID-19,” Fierce Healthcare, 16 Apr. 2020, https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/express-scripts-covid-19-driving-up-use-behavioral-health-medications

[2] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/suicidality-children-and-adolescents-being-treated-antidepressant-medications

[3] Op. cit., Fierce Healthcare, 16 Apr. 2020

[4] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/antidepressantsideeffects/

[5] Martin Plöderl, PhD & Michael P. Hengartner, Ph.D., “Suicides Are Increasing – And So Are Antidepressant Prescriptions,” MAD, 23 Aug. 2018, https://www.madinamerica.com/2018/08/suicides-are-increasing-and-so-are-antidepressant-prescriptions/

[6] “Antidepressant withdrawal can be a horrible experience — are tapering strips a potential solution?,” The Pharmaceutical Journal, 8  Apr. 2020, https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/opinion/insight/antidepressant-withdrawal-can-be-a-horrible-experience-are-tapering-strips-a-potential-solution/20207867.article?firstPass=false

[7] Phil Hickey, “SSRIs:  Minimal Effectiveness and High Risk,” Behaviorism and Mental Health, 9 Mar. 2017, http://behaviorismandmentalhealth.com/2017/03/09/ssris-minimal-effectiveness-and-high-risk/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+
BehaviorismAndMentalHealth+%28Behaviorism+and+Mental+Health%29

[8] “Antidepressants and Online Misinformation: A study of medical websites finds widespread misreporting,” Psychology Today, 13 Apr. 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/side-effects/202004/antidepressants-and-online-misinformation

[9] Ibid.

[10] https://joannamoncrieff.com/2014/05/01/the-chemical-imbalance-theory-of-depression-still-promoted-but-still-unfounded/

[11] https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/823368

[12] https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-psychiatry

[13] “Psychiatry and the Human Condition: Joanna Moncrieff, MD,” Psychiatric Times, 10 Apr. 2020, https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/qas/psychiatry-and-human-condition-joanna-moncrieff-md

[14] Ibid.

Oversight of psychiatric facilities during COVID-19 is being reduced, putting patients at risk of treatment death, watchdog warns. CCHR says electroshock and other psychiatric treatments cause damage and tighter but safer controls need to be restored.

By Jan Eastgate
President, CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
April 27, 2020

A patient of Stepping Stones for Living, a for-profit group home in Hermantown, Minnesota died earlier this year after undergoing electroshock treatment (ECT). A Department of Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General’s report noted the group home had failed to inform the patient’s guardian that the person “had been having seizures,” which was not something the person had previously experienced. ECT, the passage of up to 460 volts of electricity sent through the brain, causes a grand mal seizure and prolonged seizures. The guardian had expressed concerns to the State that the ECT treatments “were doing more harm than good for the (person).”[1] The death shows the need to increase, not reduce oversight of mental health services.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), prolonged seizures are a risk of ECT, as well as physical trauma and death.[2] A coroner in one patient inquest said that that the seizure from ECT caused irreparable brain damage, leading to a death.[3]

HHS instigated a maltreatment investigation into the death, finding two staff members had failed to check on the person who was dead for hours. On February 21, 2020, the person was electroshocked at a specialized clinic and was told to expect to be groggy and sleepy. According to the Duluth News Tribune, following this, “the person went to bed and never left it, and was declared dead almost 24 hours later.”

The OIG found: “The (person) was largely unresponsive during most, if not every, check, and even when (staff) was shaking the (person’s) shoulder.” Further, “during the almost 24 hours that the (person) remained in his/her bed…never got up to use the bathroom, never spoke a word, never opened his/her eyes, and missed all of his/her meals and scheduled medications.” One staffer went their entire shift on the day of the person’s death without checking on the person, and documentation for safety checks was not filled out.

The person’s diagnoses included schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder,[4] yet in the FDA’s Final Rule on ECT in December 2018, FDA said: “There were insufficient clinical data to support effectiveness for treating schizophrenia” and “schizoaffective disorder,” which implies the person was administered ECT off-label.[5]

The facility was given a “correction order” but complying with this was waived due to the coronavirus pandemic. While this is understandable, it means oversight of potential abuse in behavioral or psychiatric facilities generally may be virtually non-existent, putting patients at risk, not from COVID-19, but, potentially from psychiatric treatment administered to them. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which sets and enforces essential quality and safety standards for the nation’s healthcare system, has suspended non-emergency inspections across the country, allowing inspectors to turn their focus on threats like infectious diseases and abuse.[6]

The OIG report does not cite a cause of death involving ECT nor does it determine “whether more thorough checks of the (person) would have prevented the (person’s) death.”[7]

FDA does not monitor or regulate the use of ECT. And it also says that it cannot “completely eliminate risks” of ECT, only mitigate them.[8] In a 2011 FDA Expert advisory committee hearing into ECT, an FDA official told the panel that “mitigation does not mean elimination of the risk.”[9]

• Texas is the only state that reports a death within 14 days of ECT being administered. Based on the deaths recorded for 2013, 2015 and 2016, there was a 0.069% average death when applied to 100,000 Americans reported to undergo ECT every year, represents about 69 deaths every year.[10]

• A 2017 Scandinavian review of 15 studies with data from 32 countries reported 16 cases of ECT-related death yielding an ECT-related mortality rate of 2.1 per 100,000 treatments.[11]

• In 2016, a coroner in a death inquest in the UK said that that the seizure from ECT caused irreparable brain damage in an elderly woman. Her brain was completely starved of oxygen during the prolonged fit that the ECT she underwent produced.[12] According to a review of ECT studies published in Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale in 2010, there’s an estimated death rate of 1 in 1,000 that for the general (non-elderly) patient population.[13] In another inquest, in Australia, a coroner determined that involuntary ECT did not prevent but may have led to a patient’s suicide.[14]

CCHR, a non-profit watchdog, has remained open, with staff working remotely, to ensure patients in psychiatric facilities not being monitored, can report abuses.

People can also help by signing the online petition to ban ECT.

Risks also include brain damage. In October of 2018, in Riera v. Somatics, LLC, the United States District Court for the Central District of California ruled that there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find that the prominent manufacturer of ECT devices, Somatics, LLC, caused brain injury.[15] Somatics settled the case, avoiding a trial and posted a warning on its website for the potential of ECT to cause “permanent brain damage.”[16]

CCHR is responsible for more than 180 laws that now protect patients from damaging practices. DONATE to support its work here: https://www.cchrint.org/cchrint-donate/

References:

[1] “Duluth group home avoids penalty for resident’s death,” Duluth News Tribune, 22 Apr. 2020, https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/newsmd/health-news/5921381-Duluth-group-home-avoids-penalty-for-residents-death

[2] Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Devices for Class II Intended Uses Draft Guidance for Industry, Clinicians and Food and Drug Administration Staff,” p. 18, 29 Dec. 2015, https://www.fdanews.com/ext/resources/files/2016/01/01-16-FDA-ECT.pdf?1451949526, pp. 13-14

[3] “Woman died after NHS electric shock therapy was given without consent or second opinion,”, A coroner has expressed concern after the death of Elsie Tindle, who was mentally ill and given the treatment as a ‘last resort’,” Daily Mirror, 11 Mar. 2016, https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-died-after-nhs-electric-7540901

[4] “Duluth group home avoids penalty for resident’s death,” Duluth News Tribune, 22 Apr. 2020, https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/newsmd/health-news/5921381-Duluth-group-home-avoids-penalty-for-residents-death

[5] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/12/26/2018-27809/neurological-devices-reclassification-of-electroconvulsive-therapy-devices-effective-date-of

[6] https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-12-allpdf.pdf-1

[7] “Duluth group home avoids penalty for resident’s death,” Duluth News Tribune, 22 Apr. 2020, https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/newsmd/health-news/5921381-Duluth-group-home-avoids-penalty-for-residents-death

[8] Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Devices for Class II Intended Uses Draft Guidance for Industry, Clinicians and Food and Drug Administration Staff,” p. 18, 29 Dec. 2015, https://www.fdanews.com/ext/resources/files/2016/01/01-16-FDA-ECT.pdf?1451949526

[9] FDA Hearing on ECT, “CENTER FOR DEVICES AND RADIOLOGICAL HEALTH MEDICAL DEVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE, NEUROLOGICAL DEVICES PANEL,” 28 Jan. 2011, p. 454.

[10] https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1176/appi.ps.52.8.1095; Texas Department of State Health Services. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Reports, 2013, 2015 and 2016, http://www.dshs.texas.gov/mhsa/bhmd/ect/

[11] “The mortality rate of electroconvulsive therapy: a systematic review and pooled analysis,” Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2017 May;135(5):388-397. doi: 10.1111/acps.12721. Epub 2017 Mar 23, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28332236

[12] “Woman died after NHS electric shock therapy was given without consent or second opinion” Daily Mirror, 11 Mar. 2016, https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-died-after-nhs-electric-7540901

[13] John Read and Richard Bentall, “The effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy: A literature review,” Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale, 2010, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21322506

[14] Niall McLaren, M.D., “No Psychiatrist Needs to Use ECT,” 27 June 2017, https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/grandfather-forced-to-undergo-ect-before-preventable-death-20180418-p4zacy.html

[15] http://www.dk4law.com/blog/dk-law-group-news/ect-shock-treatment-litigation-case-update-june-2019/

[16] http://www.thymatron.com/catalog_cautions.asp

CCHR launches information letters for members and others about new psychiatric research that could harm youths by subjectively predicting mental disorders and pre-drugging them to “prevent” their onset. The psychotropic drugs used can induce psychosis and suicide.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
May 5, 2020

Citizens Commission on Human Rights International recently launched a series of information letters to alert supporters and the general public about the pharmaceutical-psychiatric industry classifying people’s normal reactions to COVID-19 concerns as a “mental health pandemic fallout.” CCHR is concerned that new psychiatric research also includes studying youths and others, trying to predict psychosis or depression to prescribe drugs to supposedly prevent the onset of them—a theory that is unproven and has been compared to Aldous Huxley’s utopian society in Brave New World.

CCHR says the normal reactions—fears and anxieties—to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 are already leading to higher prescription rates of psychotropic drugs. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) states, “It is quite normal to be feeling this way in the current situation.” CCHR, a 50-year mental health industry watchdog, has documented a history of disasters that were used to take advantage of vulnerabilities to re-define them as “mental illness” and drug.

Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International, said: “We saw this following the Columbine high school shooting and the 9/11 terrorism attack. Already, we see polls promoting that nearly half (45%) of all adults in the U.S. have had their mental health negatively impacted over the virus,” Eastgate added. “That’s about 115 million people and a lucrative market for new prescriptions. It was based on a political survey of a random telephone sample of only 1,226 adults.”  The poll was about how government administrators are handling COVID-19. It’s not until page 15 that there’s a question about whether the person surveyed “worries” about their mental health.  “Everyone is understandably worried but that doesn’t mean you are mentally ill,” Eastgate said.

CCHR says that psychiatric predictions of greater mental illness only add to the fears about the current situation. Australian psychiatrist Patrick McGorry recently told ABC News that “the massive social and economic effects that we’re expecting over the next year or two” are “going to really drive down the mental health of the population…We know from previous disasters that at least 20% of the population will be at risk of that.”

Prof. McGorry has come under criticism for his theories and youth programs. Allen Francis, emeritus professor at Duke University, condemned McGorry’s “pre-psychosis risk syndrome” (PRS), also known as “attenuated psychosis syndrome”—a diagnosis based on a theory that drugging adolescents and adults with antipsychotics before the onset of psychosis could prevent it.  Frances, who headed the task force to update the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic & Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM4) called PRS an “extremely inaccurate diagnosis [that] would lead to widespread treatment with an ineffective but dangerous medication [antipsychotics].”[1] Neither the DSM5 nor the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) ended up including “attenuated psychosis syndrome” as a diagnosable entity. But that hasn’t stopped research into it.

Side effects of antipsychotics include psychosis, hallucinations, hostility, and suicide.[2] Other adverse effects are an irreversible neurological effect called Tardive Dyskinesia that manifests in uncontrollable twitching of the muscles and extremities and tongue movements and Neuroleptic malignant syndrome, which can cause sudden death.[3] All youths and consumers prescribed these to “prevent” psychosis are at risk of developing them.

Prof. McGorry’s youth mental health program in Australia has also been linked to high antidepressant usage.[4] An analysis of medical records from his Orygen Youth Health program found a majority of the 15 to 25-year-olds it treated were given antidepressants and before they had received adequate counselling.[5]  Antidepressants are not recommended for children and young adults because they are at risk of committing antidepressant-induced suicide.

CCHR Int’s side effects database reports more than 150 drug regulatory agency warnings about antidepressants alone causing cardiovascular and other heart problems, hostility, aggression, agitation, insomnia, anxiety, sexual dysfunction and suicide.[6]

There are concerns about how screening people during these challenging times could be used to market mental disorders, which sets up a potential feeder line for more psychotropic drug treatment.

On April 22, 2020, a study of 25 million American and British students’ emotional responses to COVID-19, called “Class of COVID-19,” was launched. Thomas Insel, a psychiatrist and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is helping oversee it. The study will aggregate user data to provide insights into the emotional wellbeing of students. It’s how information gleaned from the study could be misused that is worrying.

Insel also co-founded a company, Mindstrong Health, that delivers online/mobile app mental health services, part of the now growing and profitable “telepsychiatry” industry emerging as a result of COVID-19.

He has been a strong supporter of Prof. McGorry.  It’s not surprising, then, that Insel praised researchers for “looking for a biomarker to predict which clinically high-risk youth would convert to psychosis over a two- to three-year follow up period from an initial interview.” Insel pointed to researchers who use a “big data approach to analyze the speech from the initial interview” in order to predict psychosis. Data analytics, which can be collected by smartphones, are used to map “semantic coherence and speech complexity as a window into the earliest stages of disorganized thought.”[7] In theory, a person’s smartphone usage responses are used to detect and diagnose the potential onset of a mental disorder, with Insel writing that treatment can then “be delivered or extended by smartphones and tablets.” Insel further stated: “In the future, when we think of the private sector and health research, we may be thinking of Apple and IBM more than Lilly and Pfizer.”[8]

Insel has investments in a company that is developing the hallucinogenic drug, psilocybin, for “treatment-resistant depression.”[9]

CCHR warns that people can be quizzed through smartphones or online surveys to find potential candidates for psychiatric treatment.  Often, it’s based on highly subjective questions that suggest to the person filling out the survey that he is at risk of mental illness.  In his 1932 novel, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley depicted a “utopian” but totalitarian, controlled civilization, using the “technique of suggestion—through infant conditioning and, later, with the aid of drugs.” The idea that today, psychiatrists suggest they can predict mental illness and drug patients to prevent it should be sounding alarm bells but isn’t, Eastgate says.

On April 30, 2020, new research at Keele University in Staffordshire, UK, claimed that depression can potentially be prevented using antidepressants in people who are at high risk of it. The report, based on 28 analyzed studies, purports that antidepressants are a pre-emptive measure to prevent depression.[10] The lead researcher, Dr. Saeed Farooq, stressed that funding agencies need to prioritize research using pharmacological agents in preventing rather than treating depression.[11]

Like McGorry, Farooq has also conducted studies on the prodromal (at risk or prior) symptoms of psychosis in patients aged 16-45.[12] He was part of the working group that developed the classification of psychotic disorders for ICD-11.[13] The ICD and DSM5 share many similarities.[14]

Experts say the DSM and mental health section of the ICD are unscientific, arbitrary and so unreliable that anyone surveyed about their mental health using these would be diagnosed positive for a mental disorder. This adds weight to CCHR’s concerns about broad screening or smartphone diagnosing of people’s mental or emotional outlook, especially during times of disasters.

CCHR’s research will be used for a White Paper for legislators about the risks of relying upon and issuing carte-blanche checks to psychiatric programs that may be more dangerous to mental health than helpful.

References:

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201007/psychosis-risk-syndrome-just-risky-new-name

[2] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/antipsychoticsideeffects/

[3] https://www.cchrint.org/2010/07/08/new-dawn-magazine-the-brave-new-world-of-pre-drugging-kidspatrick-mcgorry-psychosis-risk-syndrome-by-jan-eastgate/

[4] www.pm.gov.au/media/support-headspace-boosts-youth-mental-health; www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/47-million-for-headspace-to-support-youth-mental-health

[5] https://www.theage.com.au/national/youth-mental-health-team-too-free-with-drugs-audit-20120707-21o29.html

[6] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/antidepressantsideeffects/

[7] Thomas Insel, “Post by Former NIMH Director Thomas Insel: Look who is getting into mental health research,” NIMH, 31 Aug. 2015, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/directors/thomas-insel/blog/2015/look-who-is-getting-into-mental-health-research.shtml

[8] Ibid.

[9] https://www.cchrint.org/2020/02/05/renewed-psychedelic-drug-research-is-a-bad-trip-for-mental-health/ citing: “Shroom-Therapy Startup Edges Toward FDA Approval: The feds have designated Compass Pathways’ experimental psilocybin treatment for depression a ‘breakthrough therapy,’” Bloomberg Businessweek, 6 Jan. 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-07/psychedelic-mushroom-therapy-startup-edges-toward-fda-approval

[10] “Antidepressants could be used to prevent people at high risk from developing depression,” Keele University, 30 Apr. 2020, https://www.keele.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/april/antidepressants-research/depression-healthcare-research.php?utm_content=1588446157&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter

[11] “Antidepressants can potentially prevent depression in people at high risk,” News Medical Sciences, 29 Apr. 2020, https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200429/Antidepressants-can-potentially-prevent-depression-in-people-at-high-risk.aspx

[12] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337749879_Patterns_of_symptoms_
before_a_diagnosis_of_first_episode_psychosis_a_latent_class_analysis_of_UK_
primary_care_electronic_health_records

[13] https://www.keele.ac.uk/pcsc/ourpeople/saeedfarooq/

[14] https://www.verywellmind.com/overview-of-the-icd-11-4589392

By Jan Eastgate
President, CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
May 7, 2020

New Zealand police announced that a fresh inquiry into child torture using electroshock at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital in the 1970s could lead to criminal charges and extradition of psychiatrist responsible, Selwyn Leeks.[1] Despite 40 years since the abuses occurred, a December 2019 damning report from the United Nations Committee on Torture promoted police to reopen the case. The NZ government reported, “Police consider the allegations of ECT applied to the patients’ genitals could reach the threshold of an indecent assault under the Crimes Act 1961.”[2]

Additionally, the highest form of government inquiry called a Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care is scheduled to hold public hearings about Lake Alice’s child and adolescent unit later in the year, at which police will give evidence. New Zealand’s Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft has said Lake Alice remains a “damning indictment on New Zealand’s past care and protection practices”, and further investigation into the abusive practices at the former psychiatric hospital was clearly required.[3]

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) investigated the hospital in the 1970s finding Leeks was electrocuting boys’ genitals for behavior modification using an electroconvulsive therapy (electroshock) device. The children were not anesthetized but punitively shocked directly to various body parts.  CCHR was instrumental in obtaining a magisterial inquiry at the time and forced the closure of the shock ward.[4]  Leeks was not prosecuted and moved to Australia where CCHR persisted in filing complaints with a medical licensing board against him practicing. The psychiatrist eventually surrendered his license over charges of unprofessional conduct. Separately, an Australian court ordered him to pay $55,000 in damages to a female patient he’d sexually abused.[5]

CCHR sees the NZ case as a test for prosecuting other instances where ECT devices were used to torture patients, regardless of how long ago.

In the 1990s CCHR joined surviving Lake Alice victims in demanding compensation for them and in 2001, the government finally apologized, paying out a mere NZ$10 million (US$6.7 million).[6]  CCHR also supported a former torture patient, Paul Zentveld, in filing complaints to the United Nations Committee on Torture. Zentveld was admitted to Lake Alice in 1974 for three years when he was aged 13.[7]

Subsequently in 2012, the UN Committee put the NZ government on notice and raised concerns over an earlier police decision to end its criminal investigation in 2009 without prosecuting Leeks or any Lake Alice staff.[8]

In December 2019, the UN further criticized the police inquiry. Police are now re-investigating the claims and have suggested prosecution could still happen. Lake Alice victim Malcolm Richards says: “It would be massive for so many people to have Leeks locked up.”[9] The Government’s response to the UN says that police will also consider approaching former patients who believe the ECT they received was given as a punishment. Subsequent interviews could form the basis for further action.

The police investigation occurs in several stages:

• In the first stage, a police team are assessing the allegations, and searching for documentation from agencies such as the Ministry of Health. “This phase will include examining statements on file from former Lake Alice staff to determine who it may be appropriate to approach to further assist the investigation.”

• In phase two, police detectives and a specialist analyst will conduct interviews – “from any person that steps forward” – and analyze evidence. Eleven former Lake Alice patients have alleged ECT was used on their genitals, police say. Three are dead, “leaving eight individuals to be located.”

• Leeks will be “a person of interest” in phase three of the investigation. He would be contacted “to gauge his preparedness to engage with police detectives.” Then, the accumulated evidence will be sent to Crown Law for assessment and advice.

• “The Crown Law office will be asked whether the relevant threshold for criminal charges is reached, and whether extradition of Dr Leeks from Australia would be an available option.”

Electroshock is a form of torture whether mitigated by anesthetics and muscle relaxants and it should be prosecuted as an assault. The ultimate solution to protecting patients from this assault is to ban it. Click here to support a ban on electroshock.

References:

[1] “Extradition possible for Lake Alice torture,” Newsroom NZ, 30 Apr. 2020, https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/04/30/1150797/extradition-possible-for-lake-alice-torture

[2] “Extradition possible for Lake Alice torture,” Newsroom NZ, 30 Apr. 2020, https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/04/30/1150797/extradition-possible-for-lake-alice-torture

[3] “Extradition possible for Lake Alice torture,” Newsroom NZ, 30 Apr. 2020, https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/04/30/1150797/extradition-possible-for-lake-alice-torture

[4] https://www.cchrint.org/2020/01/06/un-demands-child-electroshock-torture-investigation-in-nz-fda-fails-to-ban-it-in-us/

[5] https://www.cchrint.org/2020/01/06/un-demands-child-electroshock-torture-investigation-in-nz-fda-fails-to-ban-it-in-us/; http://www.lakealicehospital.com/news-articles.html

[6] http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3548365/Justice-remains-to-be-done-over-Lake-Alice

[7] “Extradition possible for Lake Alice torture,” Newsroom NZ, 30 Apr. 2020, https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/04/30/1150797/extradition-possible-for-lake-alice-torture

[8] http://www.lakealicehospital.com/news-articles.html

[9] “Extradition possible for Lake Alice torture,” Newsroom NZ, 30 Apr. 2020, https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/04/30/1150797/extradition-possible-for-lake-alice-torture

CCHR, a 50-year mental health industry watchdog says its research into toxic psychiatric drug effects has expanded again recently because of recent announcements that psychiatric drugs are being repurposed during CV19

Jan Eastgate
President CCHR International

Psychotropic drugs with debilitating, potentially lethal toxic side effects are being repurposed for treating COVID-19. Still in their testing stage, The New York Times reported that the antipsychotic, chlorpromazine (Thorazine)—known as a “chemical lobotomy”—is one of two antipsychotics being considered.[1] The other is haloperidol (Haldol).[2] Antidepressants, Prozac and Luvox are also both being studied. Citizens Commission on Human Rights International is expanding its research into how psychotropic drugs are being repurposed and who may be profiting from this at risk of patients’ lives. CCHR reiterates that consumers should use its online psychiatric drugs side effects search engine to become better informed.

Chlorpromazine was Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved in 1954, promising to “revolutionize the treatment of mental disease.”[3] But the drug was so sedating, it gave rise to the term “Thorazine shuffle.”[4] Patients become sluggish, apathetic and spoke in “slow monotones.”[5] By the 1990s, 100,000 Americans had died from the drug’s fatal side effect, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome.[6] Thorazine and other antipsychotics also cause tardive dyskinesia (TD), which irreversibly damages the nervous system and is marked by uncontrolled muscle movements in the face (chewing, lip smacking, frowning, tongue movement, blinking or eye movement). National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) investigators found a 100% increase of incidence of drug-induced TD between 1960 and 1980.[7] Today, up to 30% of those taking older or atypical (new) antipsychotics long-term can develop TD.[8]

When drug patents ran out and the adverse effects were so widespread, newer (atypical) antipsychotics were approved in the 1990s.  By 2003, The New York Times warned that these antipsychotics were as bad as those they replaced. They cause obesity, diabetes, stroke, cardiac events, respiratory problems, delusional thinking and psychosis; studies also say they could cause brain atrophy (shrinkage).[9] Despite this, over 1 million Americans ages 0-17 are prescribed antipsychotics.[10]

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) reports that patients treated with another antipsychotic, clozapine, are highly vulnerable to influenza or its complications if they catch it, including pneumonia. The risk is so high that patients taking it are strongly advised to have the flu-vaccination.[11] Clozapine can cause severe neutropenia, which is a condition where there are insufficient white blood cells that fight infections and can lead to fatal infections. Because of this risk, clozapine in the U.S. is available only through a restricted program under a Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (REMS) called the Clozapine REMS Program.[12]

As early as 1999, The Journal of Toxicology reported that the atypical antipsychotics “will soon account for the majority of poisonings from antipsychotic agents that present to health care facilities in the U.S.”[13]

As for antidepressants now being repurposed, Dr. Cheryl McCullumsmith at the University of Toledo believes fluoxetine can decrease inflammation evident in the later stages of COVID-19. Researchers are investigating whether “as soon as they think they have COVID-19, have the symptoms or have tested positive to give fluoxetine early on and try and prevent problems,” McCullumsmith said.[14]

The list of antidepressant adverse reactions is lengthy: suicidality, mania, psychosis, depression, hallucinations, abnormal dreams, abnormal thinking, depersonalization, paranoid reaction, delusions, confusion and violent behavior to name a few.[15] SSRIs can also cause life-threatening serotonin (main active ingredient) syndrome and has been documented in all age groups.[16] The U.S. Toxic Exposure Surveillance System consistently reports tens of thousands of exposures to SSRIs, many of which involve serotonin syndrome. This manifests in agitation; slow, continuous, horizontal eye movements; akathisia (drug-induced movement disorder); tremor and muscle rigidity.[17]

Fourteen years after Prozac came on the market, studies showed that up to 65% of the millions who had taken SSRI antidepressants had not been helped. People experienced emotional numbing, restlessness, and memory lapses.[18] Sexual dysfunction affected 60% of the patients.[19] Withdrawal effects can also be serious.

Repurposing drugs serves a lucrative psychiatric-pharmaceutical industry that has lost money when drug patents run out and they don’t want to bear the costs of developing new drugs. Instead, they repurpose existing ones for new indications and, potentially, new patents. According to Harry Tracy, whose newsletter NeuroPerspective tracks developments in drug treatments for psychiatric problems: “In general the larger companies have walked away from psychiatry.” Further, “There are a few companies who have maintained efforts in the area but 70% tells you it’s been a pretty remarkable departure.”[20]

Today, 11 U.S. labs are running clinical trials to test the theory that MDMA, better known as the street drug, ecstasy, can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.[21] Yet, the National Institute of Drug Abuse warns that the drug causes involuntary jaw clenching, illogical or disorganized thoughts, panic attacks and in severe cases, a loss of consciousness and seizures.[22] MDMA is also addictive, can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate temperature, and can raise heart rate to a dangerous level.[23]

None of these drugs have historically solved, nor or are they currently solving, any mental dilemma or disorder:

• Post WWII, American Psychiatric Association (APA) president Karl Bowman cautioned: “It is perhaps well to call public attention to the fact that we have not yet solved the problem of mental disease….” In 1998, the American Journal of Psychiatry, confirmed: “Our diagnoses are nowhere near the precision of the diagnostic processes in the rest of medicine.”[24] Nearly a decade later, a National Institutes of Health’ Biological Sciences Curriculum Study confirmed that scientists did not know the causes of any mental illnesses.[25] This was later reinforced by psychiatrist Thomas Insel, director of the NIMH, who said the APA’s latest version of it Diagnostic & Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders was “at best, a dictionary, creating a set of labels and defining each….The weakness is its lack of validity… the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure.”[26]

• In 2010, Insel called on his fellow psychiatrists to “clean up our act,” and remove the “culture of influence” created by the money flow between pharmaceutical companies and psychiatrists.[27] Today, he is an investor in a company developing the hallucinogenic drug, psilocybin for “treatment-resistant depression.” The company, Compass, is running a 216-patient Phase 2B ­clinical trial—typically the second-to-last stage before a drug gets the FDA’s nod—and has made enough synthetic doses of the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms to supply more than 30,000 patients, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.[28]

• In the 1960s, the Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) program promised these were the solution to all institutional problems. Under the direction of Dr. Jack R. Ewalt, then chairman of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a Federal commission spent six years drawing up a 300-page report that became the blueprint for deinstitutionalization, and involved emptying psychiatric institutions, largely resting upon the use of Thorazine.[29] Ewalt claimed: “The program should serve the troubled, the disturbed, the slow, the ill, and the healthy of all age groups….” It failed and the centers simply became psychotropic drug agencies, where, as author Peter Shrag said, enough neuroleptic drugs and antidepressants “were being prescribed outside hospitals to keep some three to four million people medicated full-time—roughly 10 times the number who, according to the [psychiatrists’] own arguments, are so crazy that they would have to be locked up in hospitals if there were no drugs.”[30] Indeed, Dr. Robert H. Felix, another director of the NIMH and an architect of the policy of CMHCs, admitted, “There was some overselling of drugs as a panacea.”[31]

• As part of the recent Federal stimulus package, $4 billion was allocated for community health centers, which is $1.32 billion over current fiscal year 2020 funding levels.[32] This is on top of the National Institutes of Health, the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, spending $2.7 billion overall on studying mental health, as reported in 2018.[33] Yet psychiatrists are no further ahead in understanding “mental illness” than they were in WWII.

Today’s Federal and State legislators are unlikely briefed on how increased mental health funding, without accountability, and the repurposing of mind-altering drugs spells only profits for the psychiatric-pharmaceutical industry while delivering more harm rather than legitimate help to people suffering.

References:

[1] “Old Drugs May Find a New Purpose: Fighting the Coronavirus,” New York Times, 30 April 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/health/coronavirus-antiviral-drugs.html

[2] “At least 10 existing drugs could weaken Covid-19, study says,” https://www.france24.com/en/20200501-covid-19-coronavirus-nature-pharmaceuticals-antipsychotics-clemastine-haloperidol

[3] Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill, (Perseus Publishing, 2002), pp. 152-153.

[4] https://www.cchrint.org/2014/12/23/how-big-pharma-made-antipsychotics-everyday-drugs/

[5] Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill,  p. 143.

[6] Ibid, p. 208, citing Estimates of incidence rates for NMS vary from 0.2% to 1.4%.  At a rate of 0.8%, that would mean approx. 24,000 cases annually from the 1960s to the 1980s (with 3 million Americans on the drugs), with total deaths of 5,280 (24,000 x 22% mortality rate) annually.  Over a 22 year period, that would lead to more than 100,000 deaths.  At 4%, the number would be 20,000.

[7] Vera Hassner Sharav, MLS, “Children in Clinical Research: A Conflict of Moral Values,” The American Journal of Bioethics 3 (1): InFocus, 2003.

[8] “Tardive dyskinesia: What you need to know,” Medical News Today, 29 Nov. 2017, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320175

[9] Erica Goode, “Leading Drugs for Psychosis Come Under New Scrutiny,” The New York Times, 20 May 2003, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/20/us/leading-drugs-for-psychosis-come-under-new-scrutiny.html; https://www.fightforkids.org/drug-side-effects-posts/antipsychotic-drugs

[10] https://www.fightforkids.org/drug-side-effects-posts/antipsychotic-drugs

[11] “Covid-19: outbreak could last until spring 2021 and see 7.9 million hospitalised in the UK,” BMJ 2020, https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m1071/rr

[12] https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/mayne-pharma-launches-clozapine-tablets-in-the-united-states/

[13] Michael J. Burns, “The Pharmacology and Toxicology of Atypical Antipsychotic Agents,” Journal of Toxicology, 1 Jan. 2001.

[14] https://www.wtol.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/could-antidepressant-medication-reduce-coronavirus-symptoms/512-b588456e-1066-4f0c-b32c-9d6a7b2ddca1

[15] https://www.cchrint.org/2017/02/27/experts-expose-troubling-facts-about-the-psycho-pharma-industry/

[16] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865832/

[17] https://www.uptodate.com/contents/serotonin-syndrome-serotonin-toxicity

[18] “Antidepressants Lift Clouds, But Lose ‘Miracle Drug’ Label,” The New York Times, 30 June 2002.

[19] Joseph Glenmullen, Prozac Backlash (Simon & Schuster, 2000), p. 8.

[20] “Why ‘big pharma’ stopped searching for the next Prozac,” The Guardian, 27. Jan 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/27/prozac-next-psychiatric-wonder-drug-research-medicine-mental-illness

[21] “Shroom-Therapy Startup Edges Toward FDA Approval: The feds have designated Compass Pathways’ experimental psilocybin treatment for depression a ‘breakthrough therapy,’” Bloomberg Businessweek, 6 Jan. 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-07/psychedelic-mushroom-therapy-startup-edges-toward-fda-approval

[22] https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/mdma-ecstasy-abuse/what-are-effects-mdma

[23] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/297064#fast-facts-on-mdma

[25] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK20369/

[26] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/directors/thomas-insel/blog/2013/transforming-diagnosis.shtml

[27] https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/nimh-chief-wants-psychiatry-to-clean-up

[28] “Shroom-Therapy Startup Edges Toward FDA Approval: The feds have designated Compass Pathways’ experimental psilocybin treatment for depression a ‘breakthrough therapy,’” Bloomberg Businessweek, 6 Jan. 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-07/psychedelic-mushroom-therapy-startup-edges-toward-fda-approval

[29] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/05/12/emptying-the-wards/befbf2a0-c19b-4cd3-b4bc-d19ed681162c/

[30] Peter Schrag, Mind Control (Pantheon Books, New York, 1978), p. 45.

[31] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/05/12/emptying-the-wards/befbf2a0-c19b-4cd3-b4bc-d19ed681162c/

[32] https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/news-releases/apa-praises-mental-health-provisions-in-covid-19-stimulus-aid-package

[33] https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/surviving-suicide/2018/11/28/suicide-prevention-suicidal-thoughts-research-funding/971336002/

Mental Health Watchdog raises the bar on alerting parents during Mental Health Month about psychotropic drug adverse effects, concerned by 6.7 American children on psychiatric drugs and rising.

By CCHR International
The Mental Health Industry Watchdog
May 18, 2020

Citizens Commission on Human Rights International advises parents during Mental Health Month in May to take advantage of its FightForKids website to obtain information about current mental health treatments given children, especially antidepressants offered that may induce suicidal behavior. CCHR was inspired by a father whose teen son died by suicide who wants parents to research and ask questions about antidepressants prescribed to their children.[1] Many parents believe they’ve been under- or mis-informed about these risks.

CCHR produced the FightForKids.org website to provide information not generally provided by those prescribing antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs to children and adolescents.

Of the 6.7 million children and teens aged 0-17 prescribed psychotropic drugs in the U.S., 2.1 million are taking antidepressants. A further 1 million are prescribed powerful antipsychotics, some potentially in combination with the antidepressant.[2] In a recent Frontiers in Psychiatry article, researchers defended the 2004 decision of the FDA to issue a Black Box warning on the potential risk of suicidality in youth being administered antidepressants.[3]

In 2007, the FDA ordered a review, expanded the directive to include anyone 24 years old or younger and added warnings to the black box about the higher risk of suicidality during the first 1 to 2 months of treatment.[4]

A Lancet study also warned that the vast majority of antidepressants given to children and teens are ineffective and potentially dangerous. Dr. Jon Jureidini, a child psychiatrist at the Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide in Australia, stated: “What we’re up against is the marketing enterprise of the pharmaceutical industry….”[5]

According to Professor Peter Gotzsche, a lead author of a study published in the British Medical Journal, “antidepressants don’t work in children, that is pretty clear, in the randomized trials children say that they don’t work for them, but they increase their risk of suicide.” After reviewing and analyzing 70 antidepressant clinical trials, including reading patient narratives and appendices of more than 18,000 participants, he also concluded that antidepressants doubled the risk of aggression and suicide in children and teens.[6]

Yet another study published in PLOS Medicine found young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 were nearly fifty percent more likely to be convicted of a homicide, assault, robbery, arson, kidnapping, sexual offense or other violent crimes when taking antidepressants than when they were not taking the psychiatric drugs.[7]

The marketing of antidepressants in the U.S. is currently on the rise.  In many medical facilities in the country today, when patients come for a service, they are required to fill out a lengthy survey inquiring about their emotional states so that they can be offered more psychiatric drugs, including especially antidepressants.[8]

In April 2020, a study published also reported the risks of antidepressants to children not yet born. Children whose mothers that took SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy have an increased risk of deficits in language and cognition, compared to children of mothers who did not take antidepressants, according to findings in a new University of Manitoba study in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study is one of the world’s first population level investigations into the relationship between maternal antidepressant use during pregnancy and children’s neurodevelopment outcomes in kindergarten.

“Our findings raise a concern that these medications are not benign to the developing fetus. This study highlights the importance of presenting a broader approach to managing maternal mental health, especially the consideration of non-pharmacologic approaches,” said Dr. Deepa Singal, an adjunct researcher at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy.[9]

CCHR is concerned that antidepressants are now being recommended for treating viral inflammation. Dr. Moira Dolan, author of Boneheads & Brainiacs: Heroes and Scoundrels of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, says that there are attempts to use antidepressants to treat an over-vigorous immune response, but a 2017 report by researchers in Canada described how people with chronic lung disease are adversely affected by psychiatric drugs that are marketed as SSRIs or as SNRI antidepressants.  Community-dwelling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients on the psychiatric drugs had significantly higher rates of hospitalization for COPD or pneumonia, significantly higher rates of emergency room visits for these and significantly higher death rates from them.[10]

“The mental health industry is not going to be left out of the money grab on the wave of this pandemic…psychotropic drug makers are leveraging the general agitation to jump in with a dangerous approach by proposing that a psychiatric drug can fight the disease,” Dr. Dolan said.

Antidepressants, which can double the risk of aggression and suicide in children, are shown to be ineffective and may cause physical disabilities and birth defects, should not, by anyone’s standards, be called safe treatment for youngsters. Parents need to weigh up the facts, including seeking information on non-harmful and educational solutions to children’s behavioral or educational concerns. 

The first step is to become informed; FightForKids and CCHR’s psychiatric drugs side effects database are resources that can assist in providing information that is often withheld from parents, CCHR say. A section on alternatives is also available for parents wanting information on sound medical care, good nutrition, a healthy, safe environment and workable educational solutions that can be far more helpful to children.

References:

[1] https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/local/teens-and-antidepressants-what-parents-need-know-about-suicide-warnings/R0m9XBOp5rXsRG1wUBWUcP/

[2] https://www.fightforkids.org/number-of-children-taking-psychiatric-drugs

[3] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00363/full

[4] https://www.verywellmind.com/fluoxetine-learn-how-prozac-works-2671743

[5] https://www.statnews.com/2016/06/08/antidepressants-teens-kids/

[6] Tarang Sharma, et al., “Suicidality and aggression during antidepressant treatment: systematic review and meta-analyses based on clinical study reports,” The British Medical Journal, 2016, http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i65; https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/76388990/antidepressants-raise-risk-of-suicide—study

[7] Yasmina Molero, Paul Lichtenstein, et al., “Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and Violent Crime: A Cohort Study,” PLOS Medicine, Sept. 15, 2015, http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001875.

[8] https://patch.com/massachusetts/backbay/antidepressants-side-effects-individuals-our-civilization

[9] https://news.umanitoba.ca/um-study-one-of-first-to-explore-link-between-antidepressants-during-pregnancy-and-child-development-in-kindergarten/

[10] https://moiradolan.com/cashing-in-on-covid-part-1-pretending-psychiatric-drugs-treat-disease/