[Abstract] The number of children in the US taking prescription drugs for emotional and behavioral disturbances is growing dramatically. This growth in the use of psychotropic drugs in pediatric populations has given rise to multiple controversies, ranging from concerns over off-label use and long-term safety to debates about the societal value and cultural meaning of pharmacological treatment of childhood behavioral and emotional disorders. This commentary summarizes the authors' eight main findings from the first of five workshops that seek to understand ...

Abstract: Scientology has never been a stranger to controversy and now an alternative prison rehabilitation center based on Scientology drug treatment stirs concern with medical experts. The Second Chance Center is a small facility outside Albuquerque, N.M., which uses the Scientology-based drug treatment program called Narconon. It is the first prison-based rehabilitation center in America that was designed specifically to foster the Narconon system, and its founders hope that it will be the model for more centers around the country. The ...

The Scientology cruise ship, the Freewinds is at the center of a scandal in the Caribbean today because of dangerous levels of blue asbestos being found on the luxury liner.

[Picture / Caption: Denis Côté, président du CCDH.] «La psychiatrie, la vérité sur les abus», tel est le titre de cette exposition itinérante et renouvelée qui a séjourné dans 150 villes à travers le monde depuis 2004. Proposée par la Commission des Citoyens pour les Droits de l’Homme (CCDH), «elle veut sensibiliser les gens sur les effets néfastes de la psychiatrie, une pratique qui ne résulte d’aucune démarche scientifique, étroitement liée à l’argent et aux industries pharmaceutiques qui a eu des ...

La scientologie est une entreprise ultramoderne qui a aussi des activités séculières. Par exemple, en 1966, Ron Hubbard fondait avec un collègue Narconon une cure de désintoxication qui compte aujourd'hui plus d'une centaine de centres dans le monde, dont un à Trois-Rivières. En plus d'être une cure de désintoxication, Narconon s'est donné pour mission d'instruire les jeunes sur les méfaits de la drogue en donnant des conférences dans de nombreuses écoles de la province. L'atelier offert dans les écoles, appelé La ...

Karen Johnson still remembers how it felt to watch parades as a youngster in her northern Illinois hometown. SLIDESHOW: Sen. Karen Johnson has represented Mesa for nearly 2 decades Templar: Sen. Karen Johnson impresses with upbeat attitude —– [Picture] QUITE A PERSONALITY: Mesa Sen. Karen Johnson is a conservative pro-gun, anti-abortion Republican who has championed the rights of juvenile sex offenders and chastised the Bush administration as being too compassionate and extravagant. Paul O'Neill, Tribune —– “When the bands and the ...

ATTLEBORO - A group opposed to the overuse of medication in treating mental illness took its campaign public Tuesday, demonstrating on a bridge on Route 1 in South Attleboro. A small group assembled on the border of Attleboro and Pawtucket to hold signs and pass out literature urging parents to refuse to have their children screened for mental health problems. The protesters said they wanted to warn parents about a new mandate giving Medicaid children mental health screenings. They said the ...

Last month, the School Board sent a warning to parents about the “harmful effects” of drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Much of the flier’s information was taken from the Internet, including from a Web site run by a group founded by the Church of Scientology. This week, six national organizations and eight local groups sent a letter requesting that the School Board retract the flier and send a new one stating that ADHD is a disease that requires ...

SOUTH BEND — For almost a year, a tall man with a long blond beard has stood nearly every day with a protest sign in front of Madison Center on Niles Avenue. His rusty pickup truck sits parked nearby with a wooden sign posted on the trailer accusing mental health officials of a litany of crimes. The protester is 52-year-old Richard Ketelhut, who says his beef relates to poor treatment for his son, but also that he has become an advocate ...

The optometrist wants to hear about my most painful memories. This is an auditing session, an important component of a religion called Scientology. The optometrist is the auditor. His name is Steve Sasala. He is skinny. And tall. His face is long and narrow. I can make out the shape of his skull. We sit across from each other, on opposite sides of a tiny desk inside a claustrophobic room at the back of some historic building in Parma Heights. The ...

EDMONTON -With a name like "Psychiatry: Industry of Death," visitors to the travelling exhibition in Edmonton likely understand they are not about to get a particularly measured perspective of the mental health profession. What they might not be prepared for is a fright show of the alleged "criminal practices" and "brutalities" of psychiatry, the cause, apparently, of history's vilest atrocities. By National PostAugust 9, 2007 EDMONTON -With a name like "Psychiatry: Industry of Death," visitors to the travelling exhibition in Edmonton ...

Scientology is trying to transform its image from that of a shadowy cult When Scientology officially opened its spectacular new British church in the Square Mile, the movement was given an unusually warm embrace by the Establishment. Ian Luder, an Alderman of the Corporation of London and a magistrate, lauded the organisation’s anti-drugs efforts. “The work which you do in this area is greatly to be welcomed,” he said, “and I wish you growing success.” It was a satisfying moment for ...

MORE than 1,000 furious campaigners disgusted at plans for a secure mental health unit on their doorstep today staged an angry demonstration. The protesters turned out in force to voice their concerns against a planned 80-bed unit on the site of the former Yardley Green Hospital in Bordesley Green. Men, women and children waved placards and banners saying "no sex offenders here", "no murderers", "no rapists", "no paedophiles" and "keep our community safe". Hordes of motorists sounded their horns and shouted ...

This was a bit like a special interest group coming out in Old Yelleresque, foaming-at-the-mouth opposition to the Bald Eagle, Betty Ford and the Gerber Baby. But there he was, a chap by the name of Ken Kramer, growing more apoplectic than Alec Baldwin getting ready for visitation day at the prospect the Florida Legislature might create something called the Statewide Office for Suicide Prevention, charged with - well, you know, preventing suicide. Kramer attempted to organize a letter-writing campaign, encouraging ...

The Church of Scientology has dispatched "ministers" to provide "grief counseling" for shell-shocked youth at Virginia Tech - but critics suspect the sect hopes to convert the vulnerable students. "It's shameless, how they milk human tragedy to promote their organization," charges Rick Ross, whose CultNews.net has long tracked the group, which counts Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley among its members. "These young people [at VT] are experiencing trauma. What they need are qualified mental health professionals." HollywoodInterrupted.com's Mark Ebner ...

In their extremely misguided, Nazi-like effort to rid the world of psychiatrists (and, in fact, all mental health practitioners), the Criminal Cult of Cruise is now using the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy as a platform for their latest, ill-advised recruitment drive. Scientology has not attempted so publicly, so grotesquely to capitalize on a national tragedy since they descended like vultures at Ground Zero post-9/11. While hindering legitimate, heroic rescue efforts with their spurious "therapies" at the site, Scientology claimed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September11,2001attackopportunists they ...

KINGMAN - A watchdog organization concerned with the rising number of school shooting incidents is pointing a finger at anti-depressant drugs for having dangerous side effects responsible for the violence. An e-mail received Jan. 8 from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights details nine cases at schools and some homes across the country dating back to 1998 in which psychiatric drugs are linked to shooting incidents responsible for 40 deaths and 89 wounded individuals. It begins by stating, "According to a ...

Who is behind invitation to party for 'Youth for Human Rights'? The invitation is signed by Don Shaul, 13 year old, with title of Israeli director of 'International Youth for Human Rights'. But behind heartwarming initiative stands Scientology movement “Hello everyone! I am Don Shaul, 13 years old from Haifa, and I am in charge of the Israeli campaign for ‘Youth for Human Rights’” a charming e-mail announces, one of many that have recently flooded the e-mail boxes of journalists. “People ...

Last May, the Church of Scientology's Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) distributed 50,000 copies of a new booklet entitled Psychiatry–Education's Ruin, complete with a cover photo of drugged-looking school kids at desks. The CCHR logo on the cover resembles a federal government seal, with a hand holding up scales of justice. Beneath the logo are the words: "Published as a public service by the Citizens Commission on Human RightsTM." On its World Wide Web site (http:/www.cchr.org/morals/wit-cchr.htm), CCHR describes itself as ...