As suicide rates continue to increase in the U.S., mental health watchdog, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is calling for an investigation.
Clearwater, FL October 11, 2024 — Every year, September, is designated as National Suicide Prevention Month, and this past September was no different. But despite the increased awareness suicides in the United States are once again rising. As reported by U.S. News, “2022, the latest year for which statistics are available, the rate had climbed once more to 14.2 deaths per every 100,000 Americans, report researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
As the country is faced with yet another increase in suicide related deaths, the Florida chapter of CCHR is calling upon lawmakers to investigate the effectiveness of the current suicide prevention methods.
Depression, often promoted as a warning sign of possible suicide, is the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder in the nation. Promoted by the manufacturers of antidepressants that depression was caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, this theory was disproven and the researchers noted that “psychiatry bears some responsibility for dissemination of the theory and associated antidepressant use”.
“The idea that depression is the result of a chemical imbalance was a lie,” states Diane Stein, president of CCHR in Florida, “What CCHR has been saying for years, that there is no medical test which proves depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, has been proven correct.”
Unfortunately, due to the marketing of this false theory and promotion of this idea by psychiatry, an estimated 80% of the public believe that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.
The lie is fueled by advertising with pharmaceutical companies spending $6.58 billion on advertising in 2020 when that same year saw U.S. advertising spending drop by 13% overall.
“The suicide rate is once again climbing despite the enormous amount of money being spent to prevent this horrible tragedy,” says Ms. Stein. “Our lawmakers need to take a serious look into the mental health industry and their utter failure to obtain results.”
About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, first brought psychiatric imprisonment to wide public notice: “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health,'” he wrote in March 1969.
Sources:
[1] U.S. Suicide Death Rate Is Rising Again https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-09-26/u-s-suicide-death-rate-is-rising-again
[2] Pain in the Nation 2022: U.S. Experienced Highest Ever Combined Rates of Deaths Due to Alcohol, Drugs, and Suicide During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic – https://www.tfah.org/report-details/pain-in-the-nation-2022/
[3] National Institute of Mental Health https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression
[4] The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
[5] Is the chemical imbalance an ‘urban legend’? An exploration of the status of the serotonin theory of depression in the scientific literature https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266656032200038X
[6] The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
[7] Ibid.
[8] The top 10 ad spenders in Big Pharma for 2020 https://www.fiercepharma.com/special-report/top-10-ad-spenders-big-pharma-for-2020
Media Contact:
Diane Stein
President, CCHR Florida
727-442-8820
