by CCHR Florida | Feb 20, 2016 | Baker Act, Children and Teens, DSM, Fraud, Legislation, Mental Health Screening, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs, Rights
The newest version of the DSM (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual – the psychiatric “bible” of invented mental disorders) would be laughable were it not so dangerous. For instance, when a person is involuntarily committed for mental evaluation under...
by CCHR Florida | Feb 12, 2016 | Baker Act, Children and Teens, DSM, Legislation, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs, Rights
With new bills proposing some scary, expansive changes to the Baker Act here in Florida, it’s time for citizens and Florida State Legislators to take a good look at what is going on here. The Baker Act allows the involuntary institutionalization and examination...
by CCHR Florida | Feb 5, 2016 | Alternatives, Baker Act, Mass Violence, Mental Health Screening, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs
The idea that antidepressants cause violent behavior has been a concern for years. A study published late last year in Sweden found convincing evidence that this concern is warranted. The evidence showed that young adults from 15 to 24 years old who were currently on...
by CCHR Florida | Jan 20, 2016 | Baker Act, ECT, Fraud, Legislation, Mass Violence, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Drugs, Rights
In June of 2014, twenty-seven year old Tuarus McNair, a mental patient at Treasure Coast Forensic Treatment Center, was punched repeatedly in the head by another patient during a fight. The hospital workers’ response to this brutal attack was unbelievable. Instead of...
by CCHR Florida | Nov 11, 2015 | Baker Act, Children and Teens, Mental Health Screening, Psychiatric Abuse, Rights
The Baker Act (Translation) John Eddy Sarmiento, Reporter: Since 1971 in the State of Florida there is a law that considers the possibility that any person could be mentally ill. Rosa Prieto, Spokesperson for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR): The...
by CCHR Florida | Oct 26, 2015 | Baker Act, ECT, Elderly, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Disorders, Rights
When 5 mental health institutions in California were investigated recently, a scathing 900 page report resulted. This voluminous release exposed sexual, physical, mental and emotional damage to patients. In short, not a lot has changed from the days when reporter...
by CCHR Florida | Oct 8, 2015 | Baker Act, ECT, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs, Rights
During WWII volunteer service in state mental institutions was a requirement for some conscientious objectors. Warren Sawyer, who was a 23 year old pacifist, was appointed to Philadelphia State Hospital (also known as Byberry) to work as an attendant. He was one of...
by CCHR Florida | Oct 1, 2015 | Baker Act, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Rights
Nellie Bly risked her life when she feigned insanity and had herself committed to a New York mental institution in 1887. She was a reporter, and her purpose was to expose the true conditions, including brutality and murder, that reigned in Blackwell’s Island Asylum....
by CCHR Florida | Apr 4, 2015 | Baker Act, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Drugs
Part 1 of a 2 Part Series On March 19th, 2015 psychiatric drug trials at the University of Minnesota were finally halted over a case that began in May of 2004 when Dan Makingson, participating in a test of a schizophrenia drug, committed suicide. The Minnesota State...
by CCHR Florida | Mar 31, 2015 | Baker Act, ECT, Elderly, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Disorders, Rights
ECT seems to be enjoying a renaissance of use. Perhaps those in the “mental health” industry are hedging their bets for the future, when outraged adults (having been assaulted with psychiatric pharmaceuticals during childhood) choose to sue for damages. After all,...
by CCHR Florida | Mar 24, 2015 | Baker Act, Children and Teens, Mental Health Screening, Psychiatric Abuse, Rights
Parents never quite know what might happen when they send their child off for a routine day of public schooling here in Florida. Alishia Montelongo went off to classes at Wolfson High School in the Duval County School District in Jacksonville, Fl. on Monday, March...
by CCHR Florida | Feb 6, 2015 | Alternatives, Baker Act, Children and Teens, Mental Health Screening, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs, Rights
The Baker Act is the name of the mental health law in Florida and it covers all aspects of mental health including involuntary examination and commitment. Â This is the law that is initiated to send a person against their will for involuntary examination at a...
by CCHR Florida | Jan 19, 2015 | Alternatives, Baker Act, Elderly, Fraud, Mental Health Screening, Psychiatric Drugs
It is very common to hear about someone getting on in years and developing dementia or going senile. Many say the mind is the first thing to go. It’s long been considered just to be a part of aging. Though this can be true in some cases, these days there are...
by CCHR Florida | Jan 19, 2015 | Baker Act, Elderly, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs, Rights
The Dec 17th issue of “The Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry” (JAMA Psychiatry) contained a paper describing the over prescribing of a class of sedatives or tranquilizers called benzodiazepines. “Benzos” are all related in chemical...
by CCHR Florida | Oct 23, 2014 | Alternatives, Baker Act, Children and Teens, Fraud, Mental Health Screening, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Drugs, Rights
As November approaches, sheriffs and medical doctors all over the state have been coming out strongly against Florida Constitutional Amendment 2 that would establish medical marijuana in Florida. Dr. Alan B. Pillersdorf, president of The Florida Medical Association...