Mental Health Watchdog Vindicated; New Report Confirms Psychiatric
Drug Risks Kept Buried by Vested Interests

LOS ANGELES: After decades of warning the public that
vested interests were burying psychiatric drug risks, vehemently
denied by the psychiatric/pharmaceutical industires, the mental health
watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) says new research
published Jan 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine vindicates
their demands for full public disclosure.

CCHR has filed Freedom of Information requests to the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for adverse reactions reports of antidepressants,
helped to orchestrate FDA hearings into the suicidal side effects of
antidepressants and filed complaints to government officials and
agencies about the conflicts of interest of FDA advisory committee
members ignoring the drugs' side effects. In addition, CCHR has
issued numerous publications about the cover-up of psychiatric drug
side effects and has filed complaints worldwide with licensing boards
and other agencies on behalf of people harmed by psychiatric drugs
including stimulants, antidepressants and antipsychotics.

Now, a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled,
"Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on
Apparent Efficacy," has revealed that negative studies on
antidepressants are either not being published, or are skewed in a way
that makes them appear positive. (See stories running on Fox National
News, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal) CCHR says the
psychiatric-pharmaceutical cartel is not only misleading the public
about the drugs, but also about the disorders for which they are
prescribed.

Just this month, U.S. News and World Report confirmed that the
American Psychiatric Association (APA) failed to fully disclose the
substantial pharmaceutical ties of its task force members, charged
with updating and expanding psychiatryÂ’s Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, comprised of subjective checklists of
symptoms which are then used to categorize new “mental disorders” and
bill insurance companies. Even high-ranking psychiatrists such as
Steven Sharfstein, former president of the APA, have pointed out the
financial corruption in their field. In 2006, Sharfstein admitted,
“We have allowed ourselves to be corrupted in this marketplace with
lucrative consulting to industry, speaker panels, boards of directors
and visits from industry representatives bearing gifts.”

For more information on the financial ties between psychiatrists and
drug manufacturers, read CCHRÂ’s publication, Psychiatric Diagnostic
Manual Link to Drug Manufacturers.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is an international
psychiatric watchdog group co-founded in 1969 by the Church of
Scientology and Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, to
investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights.
Contact CCHR's Media Department at 800-869-2247 or
humanrights@cchr.org.

Citizens Commission on Human Rights International
6616 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323-467-4242