Citizens Commission on Human Rights

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is an international advocacy organization established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz. Based in Los Angeles, it presents itself as a watchdog focused on abuses committed in the name of mental health care and on the protection of patients and consumers. Its campaigns have concentrated on involuntary commitment, psychiatric diagnosis, psychotropic medication, electroconvulsive treatment, restraint, institutional care, and the relationship between psychiatry and pharmaceutical companies. CCHR's public identity is built around investigations, lobbying, media activity, public exhibitions, documentaries, and requests for inquiries into psychiatric institutions. In its early work it investigated alleged abuses involving involuntary hospitalization and treatment without consent. One frequently cited case involved Victor Győry, a Hungarian refugee who was committed to a Pennsylvania psychiatric hospital in 1969 after staff apparently failed to recognize that he spoke little English. CCHR's legal intervention helped secure his release through habeas corpus proceedings. The organization later used hospital visits, patient testimony, public reports, and legislative advocacy as recurring methods. The group became especially prominent through its long campaign concerning Deep Sleep Therapy at Chelmsford Private Hospital in New South Wales, Australia. CCHR had pressed for an official investigation for years before the Australian government's Royal Commission examined the practice from 1988 to 1990. The inquiry identified deaths and serious injuries associated with the treatment, and the hospital subsequently closed. This episode is often cited as an example of CCHR drawing attention to genuine institutional abuse, although critics argue that the organization uses isolated or disputed cases to support a blanket anti-psychiatry position. CCHR has also opposed psychiatric medication and diagnostic categories. Its campaigns have targeted Prozac manufacturer Eli Lilly, the use of Ritalin for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, psychiatric screening, and the broader pharmaceutical model of mental-health treatment. In the United States, it supported or helped develop legislative proposals concerning parental information and consent before children received psychotropic medication. A Massachusetts bill associated with CCHR's advocacy in 2004 was criticized by state mental-health and medical organizations, which objected to the organization's role and characterization of the proposal as a Scientology-backed measure. The organization operates the Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum in Los Angeles and has promoted a traveling version of the exhibition. It has also produced documentaries including The Hidden Enemy, Making a Killing, Prescription for Violence, The Marketing of Madness, Dead Wrong, and Psychiatry: An Industry of Death. These productions argue that psychiatry is driven by commercial interests and has historically caused widespread harm. Mental-health professionals, scholars, journalists, and former participants have criticized the exhibits and films as sensationalistic, misleading, or conspiratorial, while acknowledging that psychiatric institutions have had documented abuses. CCHR is widely described by non-Scientologist observers as a front or affiliated group for the Church of Scientology, whose theology and public campaigns are strongly opposed to psychiatry. The organization disputes or rejects many conventional psychiatric claims and has encouraged criminal or legal action against psychiatrists. Its relationship with Scientology has been reinforced by organizational sponsorship and by a 1993 United States Internal Revenue Service tax-exemption arrangement involving Scientology entities. CCHR remains active internationally through public campaigns, publications, exhibitions, and lobbying, but its credibility is contested because of its association with Scientology, its sweeping anti-psychiatry rhetoric, and repeated disputes over factual accuracy.

CCHR was created in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz during a period of growing criticism of psychiatric institutions and involuntary treatment. Its initial work emphasized alleged failures in commitment procedures, forced medication, electroshock treatment, and the denial of legal representation. The organization publicized cases through legal action, hospital investigations, patient testimony, and lobbying. An early case involved Victor Győry, a Hungarian refugee hospitalized in Pennsylvania. Because hospital personnel apparently misunderstood his limited English, they interpreted his speech as evidence of incoherence and diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia. After he received psychiatric drugs and electroshock treatment without consent, CCHR's general counsel John Joseph Matonis assisted in obtaining his release through habeas corpus. CCHR subsequently promoted reforms such as better records for involuntary commitments and restrictions on experimentation or treatment without informed consent. CCHR's most consequential historical campaign concerned Chelmsford Private Hospital in New South Wales. The hospital used Deep Sleep Therapy, a controversial combination of prolonged sedation and other interventions, from the 1960s through the 1970s. CCHR campaigned for an investigation for approximately a decade. The Australian government's Royal Commission, conducted from 1988 to 1990, found that the practice had caused deaths and severe injuries. The hospital closed in 1990, and former patients received compensation from a dedicated fund. The episode gave CCHR an important example of an institutional abuse allegation that led to official findings and remedial action. During the 1990s and 2000s, CCHR broadened its public campaigns from institutional treatment to psychiatric diagnosis, prescription drugs, and pharmaceutical marketing. It attacked Eli Lilly over Prozac and opposed Ritalin use for ADHD. Related litigation against Novartis, CHADD, and the American Psychiatric Association ended with dismissals in 2002. In 2003, the organization submitted a report on deaths of young psychiatric patients to the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. It later supported a Massachusetts proposal requiring stronger parental disclosure and consent procedures for psychotropic medication prescribed to children, provoking opposition from state agencies and professional associations. CCHR developed an extensive media and exhibition program. Its Los Angeles facility houses Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, an exhibition portraying psychiatry as a commercially driven system with a history of coercion and abuse. A traveling exhibition and documentary films extended the message to other audiences. The documentaries include The Hidden Enemy, Making a Killing, Prescription for Violence, The Marketing of Madness, Dead Wrong, and Psychiatry: An Industry of Death. Critics have argued that the presentations conflate documented misconduct with a claim that psychiatry as a whole is inherently fraudulent or malicious. Some scholars and interviewees featured in the materials have rejected the interpretation given to their work. The organization's affiliation with Scientology is central to its public reputation. Scientology has long opposed psychiatry and psychiatric medication, and CCHR's campaigns frequently align with that institutional position. In 1993, the Internal Revenue Service granted CCHR tax-exempt status in an arrangement involving the Church of Scientology International and the Religious Technology Center. Non-Scientologist observers commonly characterize CCHR as a Scientology front group, while CCHR presents itself as a human-rights organization independent in purpose and focused on patient protection. CCHR has also faced legal and factual controversies. In England, a newspaper was ordered to pay substantial libel damages after publishing CCHR allegations about Professor Sir Martin Roth that a court found false and highly defamatory. The group has been criticized for conspiracy-oriented rhetoric, including claims about psychiatry's role in historical atrocities and unsupported assertions concerning the September 11 attacks. Jan Eastgate, an Australian CCHR leader and later international president, was arrested in 2011 in connection with allegations that she helped cover up sexual abuse; she denied the accusations, and all charges were subsequently dropped after prosecutors found insufficient evidence. CCHR remains active through its website, international offices, reports, exhibitions, films, and campaigns against psychiatric treatment and mental-health institutions.

• 2005

  Los Angeles museum opens

  [1]Citizens Commission on Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  CCHR opened its Psychiatry: An Industry of Death exhibition at its Los Angeles headquarters.

• 2002

  Ritalin litigation dismissed

  [1]Citizens Commission on Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Five lawsuits related to Ritalin and ADHD treatment were dismissed.

• 1993

  Tax-exemption arrangement

  [1]Citizens Commission on Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  CCHR received United States tax-exempt treatment as part of an agreement involving Scientology organizations.

• 1990

  Chelmsford Hospital closes

  [1]Citizens Commission on Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Following the Royal Commission into Deep Sleep Therapy, Chelmsford Hospital closed and compensation was later paid to former patients.

• 1978

  Chelmsford campaign intensifies

  [1]Citizens Commission on Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  CCHR continued its campaign for investigation of Deep Sleep Therapy at Chelmsford Private Hospital in Australia.

• 1969

  Organization founded

  [1]Citizens Commission on Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  The Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz established Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

• 1969

  Victor Győry case

  [1]Citizens Commission on Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  CCHR intervened in the case of a Hungarian-speaking patient involuntarily committed to a Pennsylvania psychiatric hospital and helped secure his release through habeas corpus.

CCHR positions itself as an independent human-rights watchdog challenging psychiatric coercion, medication, diagnosis, and institutional abuse. Critics position it as a Scientology-affiliated anti-psychiatry advocacy group that uses selective evidence and confrontational campaigns.

• Exhibition · 2005

  Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum

  A permanent exhibition in Los Angeles presenting CCHR's case against modern psychiatry. Its displays connect psychiatric diagnosis, medication, institutional treatment, restraint, and historical abuses. Critics have described the presentation as sensationalistic and as extending legitimate criticism of particular abuses into a generalized condemnation of the profession.

• Documentary film and traveling exhibition · 2005

  Psychiatry: An Industry of Death

  A documentary and traveling exhibition alleging that psychiatry is commercially motivated and responsible for extensive social and medical harm. The project uses interviews, historical material, and case narratives to promote CCHR's anti-psychiatry position.

• Documentary film

  The Marketing of Madness

  A CCHR documentary arguing that psychiatric diagnoses and treatments are marketed as products and that the mental-health industry exaggerates or medicalizes ordinary human experiences. Mental-health specialists have criticized its conclusions and presentation of scientific evidence.

• Advocacy publications · 1969

  CCHR investigative reports

  Reports based on patient accounts, institutional allegations, and historical cases. They are used to support requests for official investigations, legislative reform, and public opposition to psychiatric drugs, screening, restraint, and involuntary treatment.

• 2011

  Jan Eastgate Australian criminal case

  CCHR president Jan Eastgate was arrested in Australia over allegations that she helped cover up sexual abuse of a child. She denied the allegations, and prosecutors dropped all charges after concluding that the evidence was insufficient.

  Source

• 2005

  Criticism of Psychiatry: An Industry of Death

  Journalists and scholars criticized CCHR's museum, traveling exhibition, and film for using exaggerated claims, conspiracy rhetoric, and selective evidence to portray psychiatry as inherently evil.

  Source

• 1988

  False and defamatory allegations concerning Martin Roth

  CCHR alleged that Professor Sir Martin Roth had used LSD in experiments on psychiatric patients. An English court found the allegations false and highly defamatory, and ordered the newspaper that published them to pay substantial libel damages.

  Source

Read more

• 2006Mental-health screening protest

  United States

  CCHR protested outside a Massachusetts community-care provider on National Mental Health Screening Day, opposing psychiatric screening.

  Outcome. Local reporting indicated that the targeted provider had not conducted the criticized screenings for several years.

  Source
• 2003The Silent Death of America's Children

  United States

  CCHR submitted a report to the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health concerning deaths of minors that it attributed to psychotropic drugs and restraint.

  Outcome. The report became part of CCHR's continuing campaign for restrictions on psychiatric medication and coercive treatment.

  Source
• 1991Prozac and Eli Lilly campaign

  United States

  CCHR mounted a media campaign against Prozac and its manufacturer Eli Lilly, presenting the drug as evidence of harmful pharmaceutical influence in psychiatry.

  Outcome. Reference material reports a decline in Prozac's antidepressant market share during the period, but does not establish that CCHR alone caused it.

  Source
• 1990Ritalin and ADHD opposition

  United States

  CCHR opposed the use of Ritalin for ADHD and disputed the legitimacy of the disorder, linking its activism to litigation against Novartis, CHADD, and the American Psychiatric Association.

  Outcome. The related lawsuits were dismissed in 2002.

  Source
• 1978Chelmsford Deep Sleep Therapy campaign

  Australia

  CCHR pressed Australian authorities to investigate Deep Sleep Therapy at Chelmsford Private Hospital, alleging deaths and serious injuries from the practice.

  Outcome. A Royal Commission investigated the hospital from 1988 to 1990, the hospital closed, and compensation was paid to many former patients.

  Source

• 2005

  Launched Psychiatry: An Industry of Death exhibitionProduct launch

  Background

  CCHR sought to expand its anti-psychiatry message beyond lobbying and written reports.

  Action taken

  It opened a permanent Los Angeles exhibition and promoted a traveling version supported by a documentary film.

  Aftermath

  The exhibition increased public visibility but also generated criticism from journalists, psychiatrists, and academic experts.

  Source

• 1969

  Adopted a legal and investigative watchdog modelStrategy

  Background

  CCHR was formed amid criticism of involuntary commitment and psychiatric institutional practices.

  Action taken

  It combined patient-case advocacy, hospital investigations, public reports, and legislative lobbying.

  Aftermath

  This model became the basis for the organization's later campaigns against psychiatric treatment and medication.

  Source

1. 1Citizens Commission on Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Citizens Commission on Human Rights official websitecchr.org