VANCOUVER, British Columbia - s4story -- Vancouver ( , published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, found that individuals subjected to involuntary psychiatric hospitalization faced a markedly elevated risk of suicide after discharge.[1] The mental-health industry watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) (https://www.cchrint.org/2025/11/14/study-involu...) says the findings add to extensive evidence that coercive detainment and treatment—now being promoted for homelessness in the U.S.—is unworkable, unsafe, and can endanger lives.

One in 64 Discharges Ends in Suicide

The report recommended expanding federal statutes protecting institutionalized individuals from physical or mental abuse, corporal punishment, and restraints imposed for convenience.[6] CCHR says Congress should go further—penalizing facilities that violate these rights by cutting off Medicare and Medicaid funding.

CCHR says these international findings strengthen the case for implementing World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) guidance calling for an end to coercive psychiatric practices and a transition to voluntary, rights-based services.

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"These are only a few of the alarming reports emerging nationwide," said Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International. "They demonstrate why forced detainment and treatment do not protect vulnerable people—they harm them."

Punitive Approach to Homelessness

CCHR warns that psychiatric associations and some policymakers are reviving coercive approaches under the guise of addressing homelessness. Estimates suggest 183,000 homeless individuals could be labeled mentally ill and institutionalized, at an annual cost exceeding $1.28 billion—without evidence of improved outcomes.[11]

"We cannot solve social crises with incarceration disguised as treatment," Eastgate said. "Resources should go toward housing and non-psychiatric medical treatment and support—not expanding psychiatric detention wards or forced community mental health treatment."

CCHR (https://www.cchrint.org/about-us/), which was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and eminent professor of psychiatry, Dr. Thomas Szasz, has a long history of investigating and exposing involuntary commitment assault on human rights. The group emphasizes that forced psychiatric interventions contravene international law, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and WHO's Guidance on Mental Health, which urge nations to abolish coercive practices such as involuntary commitment, forced drugging, restraint, and seclusion.

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Despite these global directives, coercion continues to escalate in the U.S.—and, as the new Lancet study underscores, may drive suicides rather than prevent them. "Ethically and legally, U.S. health and justice authorities must confront the data," Eastgate said. "Involuntary psychiatric detainment and treatment have failed as public health strategies and persist as a human rights crisis that costs lives."

To learn more, visit: https://www.cchrint.org/2025/11/14/study-involuntary-commitment-fails-to-prevent-suicide/