Thousands Sign Petition to Ban Electroshock

Kenny Fleischman, 30, received electroshock “treatment” nine years ago and shared the horrendous effects it had on his life on a new blog by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) International,TruthAboutECT.org: “The psychiatrists said the side effects were temporary (they weren’t) and my memories would come back (they didn’t). My memory and cognition were getting so bad I couldn’t do much of anything for myself anymore.” In fact it was so bad that, “My father had to re-teach me how to tie my shoes!”

“ECT has wiped out all my memories of high school, graduation and my childhood. I literally had almost my whole past wiped out.” Now he stands today as an activist protecting families and children from suffering the same fate.

ECT causes memory loss, cardiovascular complications, brain damage and death. Since it was developed it has undergone several clinical trials to confirm its “safety” and “efficacy.” The result: The death toll of those who have received ECT is 50 times greater than the homicide rate of the United States. Those who have managed to survive 460 volts of electricity to the brain only did so at great cost. Now they have a way to tell their story of how ECT affected them, thanks to the mental health watchdog CCHR.

CCHR is an international non-profit organization co-founded in 1969 by the renowned psychiatrist and author, Dr. Thomas Szasz, and the Church of Scientology, which commits itself to investigating and exposing psychiatric violations of human rights.

To create greater public awareness on the horrors of this “treatment”, CCHR International launched an informational blog, TruthAboutECT.org, where victims and their families can share their experiences and where anyone can get factual information about ECT.

Jan Eastgate, the president of CCHR International, stated, “The fact that more than [90,000] people signed our petition in support of a ban on ECT is an indication of the public outrage that it even exists.” But, despite the overwhelming evidence and support against electroshock, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) requested the FDA allow them to broaden the use of ECT on children and adolescents.

In a letter to the FDA, the APA stated, “Having access to a rapid and effective treatment such as ECT is especially meaningful in children and adolescents.”

Psychiatrists claim that children are “infrequently” electroshocked, but that’s far from true: there are 16 states that are currently electroshocking children, with five states shocking children between the ages of zero and five, leaving them prone to suffer similar or worse fates than Fleischman.

Although CCHR International has already succeeded in banning the torturous procedure from being used on children and adolescents in 1976 in California, “This ban needs to be expanded to all age groups and worldwide,” said Eastgate, “because electroshock causes harm, electroshock creates brain damage and electroshock ruins lives.”

CCHR has been documenting psychiatric abuses in the mental health field for 50 years and that’s why, “We are the voice of patients and families who want to see an end to physically damaging practices in the field of mental health.”

That voice stretches from as near as Texas to as far as France and Japan. Circle around the Earth once more and you’ll find that CCHR’s reach also extends to Clearwater, Florida.

Just as recent as May 2019, CCHR Florida co-hosted an open house for the International Day Against Shock Treatment to raise awareness of the harmful effects. “This so called ‘treatment’,” said CCHR Florida executive director, Samuel Guillard, “is also being used on pregnant mothers as late as their third trimester and the elderly. This affects families across the board and CCHR Florida will not stand for it.”