Citizens Commission on Human Rights to Honor Past Heroes on Memorial Day

In honoring the nation’s veterans and service members, mental health watchdog, CCHR, questions potential roll of psychotropic drugs & electroshock in 20-per-day vet suicides and service member suicides.

Memorial Day honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. It also recognizes the shocking number of veterans and service members that have taken their own lives. Despite highly touted efforts to curb the suicide rate among these dedicated groups, suicides remain high and the mental health industry watchdog group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is calling on Congress to increase efforts to investigate this. CCHR’s Nashville chapter is sharing resources and virtual messages this Memorial Day to shed light on this subject.

CCHR wants the military and Veteran Affairs (VA) to disclose whether psychiatric drugs were tested for and present in suicide autopsies.

Suicide—not combat—is the leading killer of U.S. troops deployed to the Middle East to fight Islamic State militants, Pentagon statistics show. While an average of 4,200 veterans die by firearm suicide every year, it’s unknown how many of them were taking a psychiatric drug or withdrawing from one or cocktails of them—a vital correlation for families and governments to know. Potentially, psychotropic drugs induce the “mental trigger” that drives service members and vets to take their own lives.

International drug regulatory agency reports warn these drugs can cause suicide, violence, mania, psychosis, aggression, hallucinations, death and much more. Between 2005 and 2011, the military increased its prescriptions of psychoactive drugs (antipsychotics, sedatives, stimulants and mood stabilizers) by almost 700% according to a New York Times article by Richard Friedman titled “Wars on Drugs,” in April, 2013.

Hundreds of veterans are also given brain-damaging electroshock and this does not include those given it in private or non-contracting VA institutions. In 2015, 140 of the VA’s healthcare facilities—approximately 49%—delivered electroshock. The VA has spent more than $1 million on electroshock devices and related parts, despite the device manufacturers having never provided clinical trials proving safety and efficacy. CCHR’s online petition to ban ECT shows more than 120,000 people who would agree ECT should not be used on our vets and service members.

Memorial Day is this nation’s opportunity to remember those who have courageously served on the front lines and made profound sacrifices to ensure the freedoms we continue to enjoy. They deserve the very best services, which doesn’t include treatment that harms or kills in the name of mental health care.

CCHR is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious mental health watchdog. Its mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. CCHR receives reports about abuses in the field of mental health and is especially interested in situations where persons experienced abuse or damage due to a false diagnosis or unwanted and harmful psychiatric treatments, such as psychiatric drugs, electroshock (ECT) and electronic or magnetic brain stimulation (TMS). CCHR is often able to assist with filing complaints, and can work with a person’s attorney to further investigate the case. To contact CCHR Nashville for more information, visit cchrnashville.org.