Florida Joins National Protest in New York Against Use of ECT on Children

The American Psychiatric Association’s continual push to drug America’s children, along with their recent recommendations to the U.S. FDA that electroshock treatment (ECT) be used on children and teens that are “unresponsive” to psychiatric drugs, spurred a protest calling for a ban on ECT.

Clearwater, United States – May 6, 2018 /PressCable/ —

Florida representatives joined a large Manhattan rally and protest march against increased use of psychiatric electroshock on young children.

The mental health watchdog group – Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) New York – sponsored the rally on May 5th to coincide with the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association in New York.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recently asked the FDA for increased access to electroshock children who are judged not to respond to psychotropic drugs as mental treatment.

But such drugs are known and labeled to have extensive and widely varying side effects. This new push by the APA opens the door for millions of children experiencing such side effects to be reclassified as ‘resistant’ and be forced into electroshock.

Ms. Diane Stein, President of CCHR Florida, came with other members to join the New York street rally and protest, where marchers from across the country were represented. “We feel this situation very acutely in Florida,” said Ms. Stein. “Our local psychiatric centers are active in promoting the use of electroshock and a set of 12 administrations typically earns $12,000, all covered by the victim’s insurance.”

The group is protesting the American Psychiatric Association’s continual push to drug America’s children, along with their recent recommendations to the U.S. FDA that electroshock treatment (ECT) be used on children and teens that are “unresponsive” to psychiatric drugs.

In a letter to the FDA, the APA asserted that fast access to ECT is “especially meaningful in children and adolescents.”

“We are asking Florida’s lawmakers to introduce and pass legislation this year that will ban the use of ECT on children in this state,” said Ms. Stein. “ECT is an unnecessary and harmful treatment, especially to the developing brain of young children.”

Currently, 8 million children in the U.S. are being prescribed psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, antianxiety drugs and ADHD drugs. Nearly 800,000 of these children are between the ages of 0 to 5 years old. The drugs children are being prescribed carry more than 409 international drug regulatory warnings including side effects of agitation, mania, psychosis, depersonalization, hallucinations, drug dependence, hostility, aggression and more.

According to CCHR, children are being drugged simply because psychiatry has pathologized normal childhood behaviors, and repackaged them as “mental disorders.” As a result millions of children are being drugged for behaviors reclassified by psychiatry as “disease.”

Electroshock therapy, or electroconvulsive therapy, was invented in the 1930s to sends jolts of electricity into the brain, inducing a grand mal seizure. It is associated with numerous side effects, including short and long-term memory loss, cognitive problems, unwanted personality changes, manic symptoms, prolonged seizures, heart problems and even death.

Some psychiatrists have claimed electroshocking of children to be “infrequent”, but no state or federal agency is documenting how many children are currently being electroshocked each year. State Medicaid records obtained solely through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by CCHR have revealed 16 states are electroshocking children, including 0-5 year olds.

For more information about the march in New York City, call CCHR NY at 929-344-2247.

CCHR is a non-profit mental health watchdog group dedicated to eliminating abuses committed under the guise of mental health. CCHR works to ensure patient and consumer protections are enacted and upheld as there is rampant abuse in the field of mental health. In this role, CCHR has helped to enact more than 180 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive mental health practices since it was formed over 49 years ago.

Contact Info:
Name: Diane Stein
Email: publicaffairs@cchrflorida.org
Organization: Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida
Address: 109 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clearwater, Florida 33755, United States
Phone: +1-727-442-8820

For more information, please visit http://www.cchrflorida.org/

Source: PressCable

Release ID: 341269