Observed during July every year, National Minority Mental Health Month is supposed to raise awareness on mental health issues and research into the topic reveals numerous articles on how minorities are “underserved”. However, information published by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), sheds light on the disturbing history of psychiatric caused racism and abuse. [1]

According to CCHR, a mental health watchdog organization, “in the United States, African-American and Hispanic children in predominantly white school districts are classified as ‘learning disabled’ more often than whites. This leads to millions of minority children being hooked onto prescribed mind-altering drugs—some more potent than cocaine—to ‘treat’ this ‘mental disorder.’ And yet, with early reading instruction, the number of students so classified could be reduced by up to 70 percent.” [2]

Currently almost 7 million children between the ages of 0 to 17 are using prescription psychiatric drugs including more than 1 million who are using antipsychotics. [3]

Antipsychotics are powerful psychiatric drugs that come with serious side effects including tardive dyskinesia, which is marked by involuntary movement of the lips, tongue, jaw, fingers, toes and other body parts.

An article published by the Professor and Vice-Chair for Education in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis – School of Medicine, Eugene Rubin M.D., Ph.D., quoted a study which reported that “over 1% of boys between the ages of 7 and 12 and nearly 0.5% of girls in this age group are prescribed antipsychotic drugs.” This same report noted that, “in adolescents 13 to 18 years of age, the percentages increase to 1.4% and 0.95% in males and females, respectively.” [4]

Even more alarming is that the investigators found that “about 85% of youngsters between the ages of 7 and 18 who are prescribed antipsychotics are also prescribed one or more other psychiatric medications, such as stimulants, antidepressants, and/or mood stabilizers.” [5]

Children being prescribed antipsychotics is especially concerning given the fact that it is known that the human brain does not fully mature until about 24 years of age and that antipsychotics have been linked to adverse changes in brain structure. [6]

“While the dangerous drugging of children is of serious concern in general, nowhere is the need for change more apparent than in the foster care system,” stated Diane Stein the president of the Florida chapter of CCHR. “Statistics show that one in four children in foster care are administered at least one psychotropic drug.” [7]

Given that “African American children make up approximately 33% of children in foster care nationwide, but only 15% of the national child population”, the motives behind the promotion of more mental health access for minorities comes into question. [8]

“Today minorities are being targeted by the mental health industry who claim minorities are underserved, yet for hundreds of years psychiatry provided the justification for racism,” stated Diane Stein.

A CCHR publication “Creating Racism: Psychiatry’s Betrayal” details how the ‘father of American psychiatry’, Benjamin Rush, declared that “the color of Blacks was caused by a rare, inherited disease called negritude, which derived from leprosy” and that “the only evidence of a cure was when the skin color turned white’. [9]

“When the hand that is pretending to offer help has historically been the one behind the abuse it is well past the time when government officials should investigate the multibillion-dollar psychiatric industry and their abuse of minorities,” said Ms. Stein.

Sources:
[1] Creating Racism: Psychiatry’s Betrayal https://www.cchr.org/cchr-reports/creating-racism/introduction.html
[2] Ibid. Creating Racism: Psychiatry’s Betrayal
[3] Number of Children & Adolescents Taking Psychiatric Drugs in the U.S. https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/children-on-psychiatric-drugs/
[4] How Many Children and Adolescents Take Antipsychotics? Are the benefits of antipsychotic drugs worth the risks in this population? https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/demystifying-psychiatry/201509/how-many-children-and-adolescents-take-antipsychotics#:~:text=How%20many%20children%20are%20taking,group%20are%20prescribed%20antipsychotic%20drugs.
[5] Ibid. How Many Children and Adolescents Take Antipsychotics?
[6] Antipsychotics Linked to Adverse Changes in Brain Structure https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/mood-disorders/depressive-disorder/antipsychotics-linked-to-adverse-changes-in-brain-structure/
[7] Ensuring Foster Youth Are Only Prescribed Psychotropic Medication When in Their Best Interest https://www.pcori.org/research-results/2019/ensuring-foster-youth-are-only-prescribed-psychotropic-medication-when-their#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20tens%20of%20thousands,at%20least%20one%20psychotropic%20drug.
[8] Why Black History Month Matters for Children in Foster Care https://www.sosillinois.org/why-black-history-month-matters-for-children-in-foster-care/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInYzmte2q6gIVWwiICR0hGQHbEAAYAyAAEgKx3_D_BwE
[9] Ibid. Creating Racism: Psychiatry’s Betrayal