In the battle for education, care and stigma reduction the lines in the sand have been made into dangerous quick sand by the Cult known as "The Church of Scientology". Since 1952 Scientology has waged a personal war against Psychiatry worldwide and this war has come at the cost of not only the mental health lives of thousands but also has claimed many physical lives directly.
Many people desperately seeking answers to their own or family member's struggles with mental illness come face to face with lead them to many placing offering answers from government agencies to not for profits who seek to educate with Mental Health options. But one group in particular has used the internet, social media, traditional media and front groups to push their dangerous agenda more than any other, Scientology.
Many of us are aware of this so called churches feeling on modern, evidence based Psychiatry. From their anti Psych poster boy Tom Cruise's now infamous rant on the "Oprah" show and the "Today" show. Scientology has proved to be a danger to those seeking reliable help. But the real truth is that they have created Front Groups or Cooped existing groups in order to fuel their paranoid hate of mainstream mental healthcare. The largest and best funded of these groups is the deceptively titled, "Citizens Commission on Human Rights" (CCHR). This slick org which calls it's self a Human Rights Org only has one function, the destruction of Psychiatry and nothing else. They have also created a youth front group targeting pediatric psychiatry called DrugFreeChildren.org.
They also have flooded Youtube with anti psych videos and publish thousands of blogs seemingly from mental health survivors and professional that lead people to the church and their front groups. They have managed to produce documentaries that are shown on mainstream cable networks.
in 1996 the Church of Scientology sued and forced the "Cult Awareness Network" into bankruptcy, they then bought the domain name and trademark and now run the network themselves as a front group telling people that they are a religious and therapeutic option.
In one of the most tragic personal events in recent years Scientology convinced Elli Perkins and her Husband to not medicate their son Jeremy Perkins, a 28 year old untreated schizophrenic and on March 13th 2003 Jeremy stabbed his mother 77 times.http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/JeremyPerkins/ .
This is just one horrific examples of how dangerous the advice of Scientology is in regards to Mental Illness.
Seeking advice for Mental Health issues is a life and death issue and with the Cult's ability to manipulate media so well this leaves so many at risk. Most people dealing for the first time with a sick loved one will naturally seek any options for care and it makes sense that they would follow a course that does not lead to medications or main stream therapies, this is all part of the public's Stigma in regards to Mental Health.
The best way to fight this stigma is to speak out be a voice and provide real, proven options to the community or else dangerous groups like Scientology will continue to destroy lives for their own twisted end.
For More Info on Scientology and It's Front Groups, visit Operation Clambake
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