CCHR Exhibit in Old Sacramento Highlights Mental Health Rights

During Independence Day weekend, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) brought its award-winning Traveling Exhibit to Old Sacramento, urging visitors to reflect on protecting human rights in mental health. The exhibit highlighted principles of individual liberty, informed consent, and fundamental rights in healthcare, examining controversial psychiatric practices and coercive treatment. A local CCHR representative emphasized that freedom should never be taken for granted, aiming to educate the public about safeguarding personal rights and ensuring dignity and due process.

The event featured keynote speakers including Eric Eisenhammer, CEO of Dauntless Communications, and Stacy Anderson, Executive Board Member of the National African American Civil Rights Organization. Eisenhammer, drawing from personal experiences, thanked CCHR for educating, intervening, and giving people their lives back. Anderson focused on informed consent, envisioning a future where mental health care does not harm, silence, or stigmatize. CCHR research reveals that an individual is involuntarily committed every 30 seconds worldwide, with involuntary detentions in the U.S. rising three times faster than population growth. A 2014 study found that 54% of psychiatric admissions were involuntary. CCHR maintains that committed individuals may face treatment without recourse.

Founded in 1969 by Dr. Thomas Szasz and the Church of Scientology, CCHR is an international mental health watchdog. For more information, visit the CCHR website, or watch documentaries on the work of CCHR volunteers in countries around the world and the film Psychiatry: An Industry of Death on the Scientology Network.