In honor of International Survivors of Suicide Day and in memory of the thousands of Floridians that die by suicide annually, CCHR is hosting an open house.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog organization that works to enact consumer protections, is hosting a month long open house to raise awareness on the connection between psychiatric drugs and suicidal ideation.
November 17th, 2018 is observed as International Survivors of Suicide Day and in memory of the thousands of Floridians that die by suicide annually, CCHR is hosting a month long open house. Anyone wanting to learn more about the role psychiatric drug side effects may play in suicide deaths is invited to visit the CCHR Florida headquarters located at 109 N. Fort Harrison Avenue in downtown Clearwater.
Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in Florida with 3,122 people taking their lives in 2016 according to the 2017 Annual Report from the Suicide Prevention Coordinating Council. Over twice as many people die by suicide in Florida annually than by homicide and in 2010 suicide cost Florida a total of $2,841,739,000 of combined lifetime medical and work loss cost an average of $1,018,910 per suicide death. [1] [2]
Proving that the suicide prevention measures being taken are not working, the rate of people committing suicide has continued to climb despite enacting both national and state level plans as early as the year 2001 to address the increasing number of suicide deaths. A leading cause for this failure may be due to the fact that suicide prevention initiatives and actions revolve around increased access to mental health programs, which rely heavily on the prescription of psychiatric drugs.
“It is know that these drugs come with side effects that may include suicidal ideation and completed suicide yet the public information campaigns fail to make the connection between these drugs and suicides known,” stated the president of the Florida chapter of CCHR, Diane Stein. “If our policy makers continue to ignore the fact that the psychiatric drugs being used to prevent suicides are instead part of the problem more people will needlessly die.”
Fourteen years after the FDA issued a warning that children and teenagers who were taking antidepressants might have increased suicidal thoughts and behavior, not only is the suicide rate increasing but also one in ten people ages 12 and older are taking an antidepressant in the United States. The FDA warning was issued as a result of studies, which demonstrated that children and teenagers who take antidepressants were nearly twice as likely to think about, actually attempt or commit suicide. Yet while suicide rates for adolescent boys and girls have been steadily rising since 2007, over 2.1 million children 17 years of age and younger are taking antidepressants in the United States. [3] [4]
These alarming statistics and trends prompted CCHR to host the open house, which runs daily during the month of November. To learn more, please call 727-442-8820 or visit www.cchrflorida.org.
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. For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org
Sources:
[1] 2017 ANNUAL REPORT SUICIDE PREVENTION COORDINATING COUNCIL
http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/samh/publications/OpenAttachment2018.pdf
[2] SUICIDE: FLORIDA 2016 FACTS & FIGURES
http://fasp.org/PDF_Files/Public_Policy_Professional_Relations/Florida-Facts-2016.pdf
[3] Do Antidepressants Increase Suicide Attempts? Do They Have Other Risks?
http://www.center4research.org/antidepressants-increase-suicide-attempts-risks/
[3] Suicide Rates For Teen Boys And Girls Are Climbing
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/suicide-rates-teen-girls_us_59848b64e4b0cb15b1be13f4
[4] Number of Children & Adolescents Taking Psychiatric Drugs in the U.S.
https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/children-on-psychiatric-drugs/
