Citizens Commission on Human Rights
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is a controversial organization established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Thomas Szasz, who distanced himself from it and Scientology shortly afterwards, to fight what it sees as human rights crimes committed by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Scientology religious doctrine holds that all illnesses, both physical and mental, are caused by "engrams" of negative energy in a person's "thetan", and that mental health professionals in fact place new "engrams" in their patients, covering up old problems with new ones.
The practice of psychiatry is considered by Scientologists to be a form of extortion, based upon Scientology doctrine stating there is no biological evidence to support it. According to L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology whose writings show a strong anti-psychiatry bias, all psychiatrists are criminals: "There is not one institutional psychiatrist alive who, by ordinary criminal law, could not be arraigned and convicted of extortion, mayhem and murder. Our files are full of evidence on them." [1] (http://www.cchr.org/candp.htm)
Partially backed by the financial resources of Scientology, CCHR has orchestrated media campaigns against various psychiatrists, psychiatric organizations, and pharmaceutical companies, especially Eli Lilly as manufacturer of Prozac. In recent years they were also active in campaigning against the existence of Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and against the prescription of Ritalin as its therapy, which included a class action started against Ritalin manufacturer Novartis in Texas which was 2001 dismissed by the Federal Court.
Dr. Peter Breggin and other prominent figures and organizations in the anti-psychiatry movement have emphatically denounced efforts to associate them with Scientology. They claim to be completely independent and sometimes opposed to the goals of Scientology. The prominence of Dr. Thomas Szasz — a co-founder of the CCHR — within the anti-psychiatry movement adds to this confusion.
External links
- Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) (http://www.cchr.org/)
- CCHR - Human Rights Organization Attacks Its "Enemies" (http://www.whyaretheydead.net/misc/essay_on_cchr.html)
- Psychiatric Times: Psychiatric Profession Current Target of Citizens Commission on Human Rights (http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p961110.html)
