CCHR protests APA convention, calling electroshock torture and demanding an end to psychiatric drug violence

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 19, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ — Supporters of Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) turned out en masse to protest coercive psychiatry at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Carrying signs and chanting directly outside the convention entrance beneath the APA’s own “Welcome!” banner, protesters delivered their message to psychiatrists and passersby alike.

Actor and activist Jeff Pomerantz led the march by megaphone. Demonstrators held signs naming mass shooters alongside the psychiatric drugs they were prescribed or using at the time of their crimes. Families with young children marched alongside activists and clergy, adding their voices to demands for an end to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on minors and to the mass prescribing of drugs linked to violent side effects.

Protesters presented a petition to the APA demanding elimination of coercive psychiatric practices. Notably, convention planners featured a seminar titled “Care Without Coercion,” a de facto acknowledgment that seclusion and restraint remain standard practices in many psychiatric settings.

Following the march, CCHR opened its “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” traveling exhibit. At the ribbon-cutting, California trial attorney Brent Wisner joined Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, in calling for mandatory toxicology testing in mass violence incidents and support for the NIH investigation into psychiatric drugs and violence. Hundreds of visitors toured the exhibit over its 3-day run, including several from the convention who eagerly took the literature and copies of CCHR’s new documentary video, Prescription for Violence: Psychiatry’s Deadly Side Effects.

Eastgate summed up the situation: “The American psychiatric system has failed spectacularly. After decades of mass drugging and electroshocking vulnerable individuals, and prescribing drugs with the potential of triggering violence, we face billions wasted on worsening mental health outcomes. It’s time to end the abuse and coercion.”

CCHR is a nonprofit mental health watchdog organization dedicated to exposing and correcting human rights violations in the field of mental health. Founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry, Thomas Szasz, CCHR has helped secure hundreds of laws protecting patient rights.

This CCHR traveling exhibit visits major cities throughout the United States, issuing the warning to parents and community members that psychiatric treatments kill. There are 14 identical traveling exhibits in countries all over the world.

For more information, visit the CCHR website, where you can watch documentaries on the work of CCHR volunteers in countries around the world and the film Psychiatry: An Industry of Death exposing the billion-dollar industry that comes with zero cures.

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