The mental health watchdog, established to uphold the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reports that decades after the declaration’s adoption, significant concerns persist over treatment practices.
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The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog founded in 1969 to support the principles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), reports that patients continue to face non-consensual and involuntary psychiatric interventions despite the U.S. having helped draft the declaration in 1948. This includes concerns over Article 5 of the declaration, which protects individuals from “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” In recognition of Human Rights Day on December 10, CCHR urged Americans to download its Resolution against Coercive Psychiatric Practices and share it with their legislative representatives to advocate for rights-based approaches in mental health care.
The prohibition against such treatment is further supported in Article 7 of the United Nations’ “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” and the “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.”
Despite these international commitments, challenges persist within the U.S. mental health system regarding involuntary psychiatric hospitalization and treatments. Rates of individuals required to undergo mental health evaluations or involuntary confinement have risen significantly. Research from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs shows that by 2020, the rate of involuntary detentions had increased far faster than population growth—by an average ratio of 3 to 1 over the previous decade.[1] Lead researcher Professor David Cohen described this intervention as highly controversial due to its impact on personal freedoms and its potential for stigma and trauma.
An estimated 57% of psychiatric admissions in the U.S. are involuntary. In 2023, the rates of individuals subjected to such detentions in the U.S. and Canada were significantly higher than those in European countries like the U.K., Germany, and France.[2]
Studies have also raised concerns about outcomes related to involuntary treatment. For example, The Los Angeles Times editorialized that “forced treatment for substance abuse or mental illness is not effective.”[3] Research indicates that individuals hospitalized for psychiatric care within the past year face a 44-fold increased risk of suicide, while those prescribed psychotropic medications without consent face a nearly six-fold increased risk.[4]
Investigative journalist Rob Wipond’s 2023 book, "Your Consent Is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions, Forced Treatment, and Abusive Guardianships," explores the system’s shortcomings. A Psychology Today review described it as exposing practices with “poor-to-dreadful outcomes, lax oversight, and protocols that undermine the well-being of vulnerable populations.”[5]
The experience of involuntary hospitalization is often deeply distressing. A 2007 review of patient perspectives found recurring themes of feeling powerless, dominated by rules, and physically violated, with many viewing their treatment as inappropriate or punitive.[6]
Once institutionalized, individuals may receive psychiatric drugs or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)—procedures sometimes administered without full consent. According to a December 2022 report, individuals detained involuntarily are often medicated immediately, leaving them with little recourse to challenge the interventions.[7]
International bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations, have consistently called for the reduction and eventual elimination of coercive practices in mental health care. The WHO asserts, “There is a growing consensus that all forms of restraint and seclusion in mental health services should be eliminated.”[8] Nevertheless, an estimated 37.5% of child and adolescent inpatients in U.S. facilities are still subjected to seclusion or restraint, which can result in serious harm or fatalities.[9]
The continued use of ECT has also sparked concern. A 2020 study questioned the practice: “In conjunction with the high risk of brain damage from ECT, [the] absence of efficacy evidence means that the cost benefit ratio is so appalling that there is no place for ECT in evidence-based medicine.”[10]
In 1969, the Church of Scientology founded CCHR in alignment with the UDHR and the Nuremberg Code, principles established to safeguard individual rights and autonomy in medical care. CCHR co-founder and professor of psychiatry Thomas Szasz stated, “The most important deprivation of human and constitutional rights inflicted upon persons said to be mentally ill is involuntary mental hospitalization….” He further explained, “On both moral and practical grounds, I advocate the abolition of all involuntary psychiatry.”
CCHR remains committed to ensuring mental health practices respect patient rights and align with international human rights standards.
Sources:
[1] newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/involuntary-psychiatric-detentions-on-the-rise
[2] www.psychologytoday.com/u s/blog/side-effects/202303/when-psychiatric-treatment-isnt-voluntary
[3] “www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-28/homeless-people-mental-health-treatment-homelessness
[4] link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-014-0912-2
[5] www.psychologytoday.com/u s/blog/side-effects/202303/when-psychiatric-treatment-isnt-voluntary
[6] www.psychologytoday.com/u s/blog/side-effects/202303/when-psychiatric-treatment-isnt-voluntary
[7] www.madinamerica.com/2022/12/unhoused-expand-involuntary-treatment/
[8] www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/WHO-OHCHR-Mental-health-human-rights-and-legislation_web.pdf
[9] www.crisisprevention.com/blog/health-care/adverse-effects-associated-with-physical-restraint/
[10] www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-advances/article/electroconvulsive-therapy-for-depression-a-review-of-the-quality-of-ect-versus-sham-ect-trials-and-metaanalyses/8B8A6FBE2A609D43DFC77ED778F8F935
Contact Info:
Name: Amber Rauscher
Email: Send Email
Organization: Citizens Commission on Human Rights International
Address: 6616 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90028, United States
Phone: +1-323-467-4242
Website: https://www.cchrint.org
Source: PressCable
Release ID: 89148741
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