LOS ANGELES - ColoradoDesk -- By CCHR International

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) addressed the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on August 11, urging the global abolition of electroshock treatment (ECT), forced drugging, psychosurgery, and other coercive psychiatric practices—especially when used on children. CCHR told the Committee that these practices constitute sanctioned abuse, often amounting to torture, and continue with impunity due to weak or unenforced penalties against perpetrators.

Founded in 1969, CCHR has spent over five decades documenting and exposing psychiatric abuse and advocating for rights-based alternatives to coercion. The group commended the CRPD Committee for its leadership in advancing a human rights-based approach to mental health, aligned with World Health Organization (WHO) and UN guidance.

CCHR's Executive Director, Fran Andrews, detailed the organization's landmark legislative victories: the first U.S. ban on ECT for children under 12 in California (1976), Texas' ban for those under 16 (1993), and Western Australia's 2014 prohibition for children under 14—backed by criminal penalties. The Australian Capital Territory banned ECT under the age of 12 in 2015.

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Despite these precedents, ECT remains in use worldwide, including on very young children. In the U.S., children as young as five can still receive electroshock, with both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry promoting its use in minors.

International data underscores the scope of the problem. A 2022 review found significant ECT use on 10–18-year-olds in the Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden.[1]

In New Zealand, a government inquiry confirmed that children were subjected to electroshock without anesthetic at the now closed Lake Alice psychiatric hospital—treatment survivors described as torture and confirmed last year by the country's Prime Minister.

Prominent Australian psychiatrist Dr. Niall McLaren has stated unequivocally: "No psychiatrist needs to use ECT."[2]

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CCHR President Jan Eastgate testified about the alarming rise in psychotropic drugging of children worldwide. A Lancet Psychiatry report confirmed global increases in prescribing, with the U.S. leading in prevalence rates for youth. Depending on the cohort, antipsychotic prescribing for children has surged by 50% to 200% over the past two decades.[3]

Many parents remain unaware of the risks—weight gain, metabolic changes, diabetes, tremor, sedation, and even sudden death. The antipsychotic risperidone, widely prescribed to children as young as four, has been linked to severe side effects, including gynecomastia (female breast growth in boys), sometimes requiring mastectomies.

In Spain, CCHR President Salvador Fernández warned of the ongoing prescription of ADHD stimulants such as methylphenidate, despite documented risks of suicidal behavior, psychosis, and cardiovascular complications.

Eastgate also addressed deaths of children as young as 7 in U.S. for-profit psychiatric hospitals from restraint, some ruled homicides. Yet prosecutions are rare, and facilities continue to operate, profiting from insurance coverage.

A New York Times investigation in September 2025 revealed that one of the largest private psychiatric hospital chains in the U.S. has detained individuals against their will to maximize insurance billing, prompting judicial intervention in some cases.

In Spain, Fernández testified that children are still subjected to involuntary hospitalization and prolonged mechanical and chemical restraints.

CCHR's written submission to the CRPD cited studies showing psychiatric hospitalization can raise suicide risk 44-fold, while forced psychiatric drugging increases the risk sixfold.[4] A July 2025 study found that those involuntarily hospitalized were nearly twice as likely to die by suicide or overdose within three months of discharge.[5]

A 2022 European study confirmed widespread use of mechanical and chemical restraints, with inconsistent regulations across countries.[6] In the U.S., a Harvard Law School report found that state hospitals continue to use forced ECT and other practices that may constitute torture under international law.[7]

CRPD's press release on its 33^rd session acknowledged CCHR's evidence and concerns.[8]

Ms. Eastgate told the Committee:

"Electroshock, psychosurgery, forced drugging, seclusion, and restraint are not care—they are sanctioned abuse and must end. Upholding a person's autonomy, dignity, and liberty is non-negotiable. Rights-based alternatives must replace outdated, violent psychiatric practices."

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CCHR urged the CRPD to call for:

• A global ban on electroshock.
• Prohibition of forced drugging and the use of mechanical and chemical restraints.
• Strong criminal penalties for perpetrators of psychiatric abuse, with full enforcement.
• International adoption of WHO/UN human-rights-based mental health guidelines.
• Transparent reporting of psychiatric abuse cases, with public access to enforcement outcomes.

"Decades of evidence show that coercion in mental health does not heal—it harms," Ms. Eastgate said. "Our work with legislators, courts, and survivors proves that laws can protect, but only if they are enforced. The CRPD's leadership is critical to ensuring countries replace coercion with compassionate, rights-respecting solutions."

About CCHR: It is a non-profit mental health industry watchdog, co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz. With chapters across six continents, CCHR has been instrumental in obtaining more than 190 laws worldwide to protect individuals from abusive psychiatric practices.

Sources:

[1] Olaf Rask, et al., "Electroconvulsive therapy in children and adolescents: results from a population‑based study utilising the Swedish National Quality Register," Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 13 Dec. 2022, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10682289/

[2] www.cchrint.org/2023/04/11/uk-legislators-call-for-ban-electroshock-treatment/ citing Niall McLaren, "No Psychiatrist Needs to Use ECT," 27 June 2017, www.madinamerica.com/2017/06/no-psychiatrist-needs-use-ect/

[3] "Editorial: Psychotropic overprescribing to youth: scope of the problem, causes, and possible solutions," Frontier Psychiatry, 6 May 2024, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11107288/

[4] Matthew M. Large, Christopher J. Ryan, "Disturbing findings about the risk of suicide and psychiatric hospitals," Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiology (2014), 49: 1353-1355, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-014-0912-2

[5] Natalia Emanuel, et al., "A Danger to Self and Others: Health and Criminal Consequences of Involuntary Hospitalization," Federal Reserve Bank of New York, staff reports, July 2025, www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr1158.pdf?sc_lang=en

[6] David O'Donovan, "Current trends in restrictive interventions in psychiatry: a European perspective," Cambridge University Press, 22 June 2022, www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-advances/article/current-trends-in-restrictive-interventions-in-psychiatry-a-european-perspective/287C3187376FA5C987106BE108603819

[7] Matthew S. Smith & Michael Ashley Stein, "WHEN DOES MENTAL HEALTH COERCION CONSTITUTE TORTURE? …" Fordham International Law Journal, Vol 45:5, 2022, ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj/vol45/iss5/2/, pp. 785-786

[8] "Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Opens Thirty-Third Session," Meeting Summaries, 11 Aug. 2025, www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2025/08/committee-rights-persons-disabilities-opens-thirty-third-session