PRESS RELEASE:

January 4, 2005
Contact: Marla Filidei
humanrights@cchr.org
1-800-869-2247

Group says psychiatrists are accountable for ignoring evidence of antidepressant causing homicidal and suicidal reactions in order to protect billion dollar cash-cow

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) applauds the British Medical Journal (BMJ) for turning over documents to U.S. officials confirming the violence inducing effects of antidepressant drugs. The confidential documents allegedly went missing more than 10 years ago following a high profile anti-depressant induced homicide trial. CCHR says that this latest revelation in the psychiatric drug scandal comes after more than a decade of "battling psychiatrists" in order to secure the rights of people to be fully informed about the dangers of psychiatric drugs. "If it weren't for psychiatrists vested interests, the public would have been warned about the deadly effects of these drugs in 1991," says Bruce Wiseman, U.S. President of CCHR.

In 1989, through Freedom of Information Act, officials from CCHR obtained the Adverse Reaction Reports on the first Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant, psychiatry's latest "wonder drug." CCHR, along with medical experts, presented evidence of homicidal and suicidal drug reactions to the FDA's psychopharmacological drugs advisory committee in 1991. However the FDA panel, comprising nine psychiatrists and a psychologist, ignored the evidence presented, including the 500 deaths that had been linked to the drug.

"For more than a decade, psychiatrists have promoted these killer drugs with a vengeance, freely prescribing suicidal and violence-inducing antidepressants despite knowing the drugs deadly effects," Wiseman says. "Today we have millions of children who have been prescribed these drugs because of psychiatry's vested interests. Psychiatrists create mental disorders in order to sell drugs, and then defend the drugs, lying about their safety to the public."

CCHR has exposed how psychiatrists fraudulently promoted "chemical imbalance" or "mental disorders" when chemical imbalance tests do no exist and no X-rays, blood tests, brain scans or any form of scientific evidence exist to prove a physical abnormality for any so-called "mental disorder."

"It's a hoax perpetrated on the American public by a multi-billion dollar mental health industry," says Wiseman.

CCHR officials say that scandals have plagued the mental health industry in recent months with the U.S. FDA issuing a black box warning of suicide for children and adolescents and with federal legislators passing the Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment Act designed to protect parents from forced psychiatric drugging of school children.

Wiseman states, "The latest revelation that psychiatrists failed to act upon evidence that psychiatric drugs cause violence and suicide warrants not only a federal investigation, but also swift and immediate federal action to remedy this travesty. It is time that psychiatrists are held accountable for this drug epidemic. People believe they need to take a drug because psychiatrists have lied to them and have promoted and prescribed these drugs with no evidence of physical abnormality—risking millions of lives, including children."

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was established by the Church of Scientology in 1969 to investigate, expose, and eradicate psychiatric violations of human rights.

International media confirms what CCHR said 16 years ago; psychiatric antidepressants cause violence. Click on the news stories below:

British Medical Journal - "FDA to review 'missing' drug company documents"

CNN - "Papers indicate firm knew possible Prozac suicide risk"

The Scotsman -"US drug company knew that 'Prozac could lead to violence'"