by CCHR Florida | Feb 20, 2012 | Alternatives, Mental Health Screening, Mental Illness, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs, Suicide & Violence
It is well known that people with ADHD may be at risk for suicidal thoughts and behavior. But in the 1950s and 1960s children daydreamed and stared out the window during school, or barely sat still while their teacher droned on about subjects the child had no interest...
by CCHR Florida | May 22, 2011 | Suicide & Violence
The idea of suicide prevention is a good thing as no one wants a fellow human being to take their life instead of getting the help they need. However, what prevention techniques are available that actually work? Hope Witsell, an eighth-grade student in Ruskin,...
by CCHR Florida | May 18, 2011 | Children and Teens
Could Hope Witsell’s suicide have been prevented? The mental health counseling she received without her parent’s knowledge is an example of the dangers inherent in leaving parents out of the picture. Hope’s story is an excruciating tale of bullying by her...
by CCHR Florida | May 4, 2011 | Children and Teens, Suicide & Violence
Haylee Fentress and Paige Behnke were best friends and eighth grade students at a rural Minnesota middle school. They recently both hung themselves while on a sleepover together. The moms as well as relatives were interviewed on the Today Show and bullying was the...
by CCHR Florida | Feb 25, 2011 | Children and Teens, Suicide & Violence
If there is one thing that I believe we can all agree on, it’s that children committing suicide due to psychotropic medication is unacceptable and must stop. CCHR Florida has been meeting with many Florida families to get this important message to them....
by CCHR Florida | Feb 22, 2011 | Psychiatric Drugs
In December of 2005, The FDA issued a warning about Paxil causing birth defects in infants whose mothers took this drug during the first trimester of pregnancy. The above linked website, appropriately named “Defective Drugs” mentions Paxil’s connection not only...
by CCHR Florida | Feb 2, 2011 | Psychiatric Drugs
Cymbalta is the brand name for duloxetine, an antidepressant made by Eli Lilly. Side effects are expected while taking drugs, but Cymbalta has been singled out by the FDA because it has a HIGHER than expected rate of suicide attempts. Starting with the...
by CCHR Florida | Dec 15, 2010 | Children and Teens, Rights
If there is one thing that I believe we can all agree on, it’s that children committing suicide due to psychotropic medication is unacceptable and must stop. Click on the link and select “Dead Wrong” to view the latest video entitled, “Dead...
by Diane Stein, President, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida | Apr 21, 2026 | Opinions & Reports
Walk into any VA clinic or community mental health center serving veterans in Florida and you will hear the same heartbreaking themes: “I was never told,” “No one warned me,” “They just put me on more pills.” Men and women who once wore the uniform of this country are...
by Diane Stein, President, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida | Apr 13, 2026 | Opinions & Reports
Florida Baker-Acted 161,000 People Last Year. Why Is No One Asking Whether It Worked? Last year, Florida law enforcement officers, nurses, and physicians stripped 161,576 people of their freedom; not because they had committed a crime, not because they had been...
by Diane Stein, President, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida | Apr 6, 2026 | Opinions & Reports
Florida’s mental health system is at a crossroads, and the latest state reports show that the “solutions” being put forward are the same ones that have failed far too many families: more beds, more drugs, more coercive interventions; just with bigger budgets and...
by Diane Stein, President, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida | Apr 3, 2026
Introduction Florida’s children are at the center of an urgent and growing crisis — not one of mental illness, but one of systemic psychiatric overreach, parental rights violations, dangerous drug prescriptions, and the misuse of state law. The Citizens...
by Diane Stein, President, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida | Apr 3, 2026
Every single day, approximately 17.5 United States military veterans take their own lives. That is one death every 82 minutes; a relentless, years-long toll that has persisted despite billions of federal dollars poured into veteran mental health programs, expanded...
by Diane Stein, President, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida | Apr 3, 2026
Introduction: A Nation Heavily Medicated The United States has become one of the most heavily medicated nations in the world when it comes to psychiatric drugs. Approximately one in six Americans (close to 17% of the population) is taking some form of psychotropic...
by Diane Stein, President, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida | Apr 3, 2026
What Is the Baker Act? Florida’s Mental Health Act of 1971, commonly known as the Baker Act, was named after state Representative Maxine Baker, who championed it out of concern for the civil rights of people in psychiatric hospitals. The law allows for the...