A traveling exhibit from the non-profit Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) has opened in Austin, Texas, exposing the history of abuses in the field of psychiatry. The exhibit features graphic panels and video excerpts from the documentary Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, drawing attention to past and present violations of human rights in psychiatric treatment.
Visitors to the exhibit expressed that they found the data impressive and informative. The panels trace the history of false scientific claims that humans are animals and could be treated as such, leading to brutal treatments like lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and continuing into the current era of widespread psychotropic drug prescription.
"Knowing history is supposed to be the best protection against history repeating itself," said Lee Spiller, Director of the Texas chapter of CCHR. "Ironically, and in spite of global efforts to reduce force and coercion in psychiatric treatment, psychiatry seems bent on repeating such history."
Nelson Linder, President of the Austin NAACP, underscored the importance of human rights. "There has never been a more important time to promote human rights," Linder said. "Working together, we can and should protect the rights of those accused of being mentally ill." He added, "There is absolutely no reason that someone should lose basic human rights because of a label."
Spiller highlighted the long-standing collaboration between CCHR and the NAACP. "Less than 30 years ago, we stood with NAACP in protest of a psychiatrist who said that foster kids, predominantly Black and Brown, were so heavily drugged because they came from bad gene pools," Spiller recalled. "Psychiatry should have dispensed with these ideas centuries ago."
Other speakers addressed parental rights in school mental health and the importance of rights education. One attendee described how CCHR's resources helped his family navigate an emergency psychiatric detention. "The information we received from CCHR helped us to get through this and come out the other side," he said. "Their calming influence made it bearable."
The CCHR exhibit travels through major cities in the Western United States, issuing a warning to parents and community members about the dangers of psychiatric treatments. There are 14 identical traveling exhibits in countries around the world. For more information, visit the CCHR website or watch documentaries on the work of CCHR volunteers and the film Psychiatry: An Industry of Death on the Scientology Network.