Raising awareness that in New South Wales, children and vulnerable adults are still administered potentially damaging drugs and electroshock despite UN and WHO direction

The Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Exhibit, produced by Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, was held at Embassy Conference Centre on George Street in Sydney as one of the first phases of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights Psychiatry: An Industry of Death 2024 World Tour. Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is an international mental health watchdog founded in 1969 by psychiatrist Thomas Szasz and the Church of Scientology.

A chilling exhibit on the violation of human rights in the psychiatric industry, Psychiatry: An Industry of Death highlights little-known facts about potentially harmful side effects of psychiatric drugs, restraint, seclusion and electroshock and their use without informed consent — even on children.     

 

Despite dozens of psychiatric drug warnings issued by the Australian Government, 44.4 million prescriptions were dispensed for mental health-related medications (both subsidized and under co-payment) in Australia, to 4.7 million Australians according to the 2021/22 report and 1,371,095 New South Wales (NSW) adults and children consumed these drugs that year.

The NSW exhibit raised awareness of continued abuse in the psychiatric industry despite UN and WHO guidelines of October 2023 calling for an end to coercive psychiatry.

One such abuse is electroshock (ECT). This is the application of hundreds of volts of electricity applied to the head, creating the equivalent of a grand mal seizure. It can cause brain damage, heart attacks, memory loss — even death.

United Nations and World Health Organization guidance called electroshock an “irreversible intervention,” and stated, “ECT is not recommended for children, and this should be prohibited through legislation.” Yet Medicare continues to fund ECT in Australia. What’s more, there is no ban in place to prevent the use of ECT on children. It can also be forcibly given to involuntarily detained NSW patients without their consent.

In 2021/22 there were 804 Tribunal Hearings in NSW to consider application of forced ECT on involuntary patients, nearly 90 percent of which were approved. These hearings included five applications to give ECT to girls under age 16, three of which were approved.

Those touring the exhibit were encouraged to sign a petition calling for a ban on the use of electroshock in the state.

This exhibit features 10 display panels incorporating audio-visual presentations depicting key concerns and topics of human rights abuses in the mental health system with statements from psychiatrists, doctors, lawyers, legal and human rights experts, and victims of psychiatric brutalities.

CCHR NSW states: “With NSW’s record spending on mental health reaching a staggering $2.9 billion in 2022/23, (up more than 52% since 2017/18) psychiatry is not being held accountable to produce results. If the NSW mental health system were working, the numbers of children and adults needing assistance would be decreasing as people got better. Instead, the lives of vulnerable children and adults are continually being placed at risk with electroshock, psychiatric restraint and potentially dangerous psychiatric drugs which can be forced on patients, potentially setting up patients for life and a recurring revenue stream for psychiatry with poor and harmful results.”

In addition to exposing abuse, Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Exhibit provides practical guidance for lawmakers, doctors, lawyers, human rights advocates, parents and the general public to take action to help protect themselves, their families and others from rampant abuse in the mental health system as well as advocate for changes to bring dignity and human rights to the field of mental health.

The work of Citizens Commission on Human Rights is inspired by visionary, humanitarian and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard who urged Scientologists to expose and help abolish any and all physically damaging practices in the field of mental health, help clean up and keep clean the field of mental health, and bring about an atmosphere of safety and security in the field of mental health by eradicating its abuses and brutality.

For more information, visit the website of CCHR NSW Australia National Office.