News

Six-year-old Allegedly Forcibly Drugged in Psychiatric Facility: CCHR Demanding Answers
With all the media coverage and outrage over six-year-old Nadia Falk’s forced stay and alleged drugging in a Florida psychiatric facility this February, a deeper question is raised. What is the justification for the psychiatric drugging of children, and especially the...

Baker Act Reform Continues to Leave Parents Out of the Solution
The mental health law in Florida, commonly called the Baker Act, allows for anyone, no matter their age, to be taken into custody for an involuntary psychiatric examination. This includes children and during 2017-2018 there were a staggering 36,078 involuntary...

Electroshock: Therapy or Torture? Exhibit Held in Tallahassee Rotunda
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog that investigates and exposes abuses in the mental health industry, held a two-day exhibit on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as electroshock, in the Florida...

CCHR Encourages the Public to Report Psychiatric Abuse and Fraud
With the recent passage of the federal stimulus package, which allocated $425 million for mental health services and an additional $1.32 billion for community mental health centers, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International announced that they will be...

The Unworkability of Suicide Risk Assessments
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death in young people in the US today and suicide risk assessment is often touted as the answer but experts in the field have repeatedly concluded that there is not any one scale that can predict who will commit suicide to any...

Parental Rights
Introduction On July 1, 2021, Florida's Parents' Bill of Rights became law. As a parent, you need to know and understand these rights. CCHR has created a series of 15-30 second videos to help explain some of these rights as well as a simple booklet that can be...

Mental Health Watchdog Hosts Legal Symposium Highlighting Baker Act Abuse Prevention
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) hosted its fifth conference on the Baker Act which has been notoriously featured in the headlines for the past few months due to very young children being taken into custody. The symposium, held at...

CCHR Calls Involuntary Psychiatric Examination of Children in Florida a Human Rights Abuse
Over the past two weeks there has been a viral reporting of the tragic involuntary psychiatric examination of a 6-year-old girl in Jacksonville, Florida. Called a Baker Act, involuntary psychiatric examination is part of the Florida mental health law and it applies to...

Watchdog Calling for an Investigation into the Baker Acting of Children in Florida
In 2018 an astounding 36,078 involuntary psychiatric examinations were initiated on children in Florida, an almost 19% increase over the past four years. [1] Called a Baker Act, an involuntary examination of a minor allows for a child to be taken into custody and...

CCHR Warns: Baker Acting the Elderly Can be Fatal Due to ‘Transfer Trauma’
Transfer trauma, also known as relocation stress syndrome, has been studied since the 1960s and according to controlled studies the mortality rate for elderly that are transferred is 2-4 times higher than those that are not subjected to this type of stress. [1] All...

CCHR Kicks Off 2020 Campaign with an Open House to Raise Awareness on Abuse of Mental Health Laws
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit watchdog organization that exposes and eradicates abuses in the mental health industry, will be hosting a series of Open House events starting January 4th 2020 to kick off its 2020...

Surge in Children on Dangerous Psychiatric Drugs Not Just a U.S. Problem
Today in the United States approximately 7.2 million children between the ages of 0 to 17 are using prescription psychiatric drugs, and almost half of them are on drugs due to being labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This epidemic of...

Debunking the Myths Surrounding Suicide Assessments and Suicide Rates
Each year an average of 44,965 people commit suicide in the United States making it the 10th leading cause of death for Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide deaths were more than double those due to homicides in 2015,...

Shooter killed, at least 11 hurt at Pensacola Navy base
Authorities say an active shooter is dead after opening fire on multiple people Friday at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, and at least 11 people were hospitalized.Military Acts of Violence Linked to Psychiatric Drugs Marine Lance Corporal Delano Holmes (22), New...

CCHR Humanitarian Award Presented to Attorney Dedicated to Restoring Human Rights
Attended by hundreds of guests, the 4th Annual Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) Humanitarian Awards Banquet once again honored the many dedicated volunteers and supporters of CCHR for their work help restore rights and dignity to the field of mental health....