A march through the center of Budapest and the opening of a shocking exhibit exposed psychiatry to the cold light of truth  

In the aftermath of the UN and World Health Organization guidance directing psychiatry that cease its coercive practices in the field of mental health, the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) Congress in Budapest in April 2024 attempted damage control. They adopted the motto “Mental Health: Open and Inclusive” but took no action to eradicate the inhumane and damaging practices that pervade the industry. Their arrival sparked protest: a march and the launch of an exhibition to expose psychiatric violations, organized by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, the mental health watchdog founded in 1969 by psychiatrist Thomas Szasz and the Church of Scientology.

 

The march through the city center, accompanied by a police escort, ended at the Congress venue, the Budapest Congress and Exhibition Center. This was followed by the opening of the Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Exhibit, which vividly presents psychiatry’s crimes. As the exhibit is compiled from documents, footage, and evidence collected over the course of more than 50 years of advocacy and investigation, organizers advised those arriving that it was not for the faint of heart.

Those who toured learned about how psychiatrists developed inhumane so-called treatments such as brain surgery and shock treatment. They saw the role psychiatry played in destroying the lives and careers of many world-famous artists. They discovered how psychiatrists were the architects of Hitler’s final solution.

 

“This material does not only concern people treated in psychiatric hospitals,” said János Dobos,  president of the Citizens Committee on Human Rights Hungary, in opening the exhibit. “It shows the extent to which psychiatry and its influence pervade nearly every area of life today and the profound and often harmful consequences this has for society. It is in the interest and duty of all of us to act against this.”

The exhibit, first shown to the general public with great success in the United States, has since traveled to major cities throughout Europe. Since it presents, with unprecedented thoroughness, the impact of psychiatry on society, in many cases through the raw reality of documentary recordings, those under the age of 16 were required to be accompanied by an adult.

CCHR is inspired by visionary and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard who believed that human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.

The work of CCHR Hungary and János Dobos and their fight against corruption in the psychiatric industry in his country is featured in an episode of Voices for Humanity on the Scientology Network.