Hundreds gathered at the Zithobeni Community Hall for a Psychiatry exhibit, hosted by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), to confront the often-overlooked history of psychiatry’s involvement in South Africa’s apartheid system and to discuss pressing concerns about modern mental health practices.
-- Hundreds gathered at the Zithobeni Community Hall for a Psychiatry exhibit, hosted by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), to confront the often-overlooked history of psychiatry’s involvement in South Africa’s apartheid system and to discuss pressing concerns about modern mental health practices. The exhibit, themed “Taking Mental Wellness and Human Rights to Communities,” provided a platform for survivors, community leaders, and health advocates to reflect on past injustices and chart a way forward for ethical, rights-based mental health care.
Attendees discovered the painful past about psychiatry, confronting official records and eyewitness testimonies that revealed how, during apartheid, psychiatric theories and practices were systematically weaponized against South Africa’s majority African population. The event emphasized the importance of preserving this history to safeguard against its repetition in modern forms.
Historical Context: Psychiatry’s Role in Apartheid PolicyThe exhibit provided verified historical accounts demonstrating how psychiatric ideologies were used to justify racial segregation and oppression during apartheid. Notably, South Africa’s Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, widely regarded as the architect of apartheid, held a doctorate in psychology from the University of Stellenbosch and studied in Nazi Germany during the rise of eugenics-based racial theories. His administration employed psychiatrists and psychologists to legitimize apartheid-era legislation and discriminatory social policies through pseudoscientific claims of racial inferiority and social engineering.
Documented records from the period confirm that psychiatric institutions operated under government contracts that financially incentivized the mass institutionalization of individuals from marginalized communities. These facilities became notorious for human rights abuses, including forced drugging, electroconvulsive therapy without anesthesia, prolonged detainment without consent, and forced labor programs. A comprehensive report by the World Health Organization in 1983 confirmed these practices and identified widespread neglect, medical maltreatment, and preventable deaths.
CCHR’s early investigations into these abuses, dating from the 1970s, resulted in international exposure of conditions within South African mental health institutions, contributing to global awareness of psychiatry’s complicity in apartheid-era atrocities.
A Global Pattern: From Eugenics to Modern-Day CoercionAt the Zithobeni event it was emphasized that psychiatry’s discriminatory legacy extends beyond South Africa. Globally, psychiatric justifications were central to the early 20th-century eugenics movement in the United States, Germany, and Britain, leading to forced sterilizations, racial segregation, and mass detentions of marginalized groups. The American Psychiatric Association and British Psychological Society have both, in recent years, acknowledged the profession’s historical role in promoting systemic racism and abuse.
In contemporary mental health systems worldwide, concerns persist about involuntary treatment, over-reliance on psychiatric medications, and disproportionate rates of institutionalization among minority and disadvantaged populations. A landmark joint report by the United Nations Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization in June 2023 (A/HRC/53/30) formally condemned coercive psychiatric practices—including involuntary institutionalization and forced medication—as human rights violations, urging countries to transition towards community-based, rights-respecting mental health services.
The WHO report further highlighted the lack of evidence supporting long-term benefits of compulsory psychiatric treatment and called attention to documented instances of medical fraud, including over diagnosis, fraudulent billing practices, and the marketing of psychiatric drugs without adequate disclosure of risks. At the exhibit noted that no medical cures exist for any psychiatric disorder, a fact acknowledged by leading psychiatric authorities including the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in the United States. Current psychiatric practice largely revolves around managing symptoms with psychotropic medications, many of which carry serious, sometimes irreversible side effects such as metabolic disorders, cognitive impairment, increased risk of suicide, and physical dependency.
Numerous studies including research published by The Lancet Psychiatry and the British Medical Journal have raised concerns about overprescribing, polypharmacy, and the lack of transparent risk-benefit analyses for psychiatric interventions, particularly in low-income and minority communities.
Rather than just attacking individual practitioners, the event called for systemic reform of mental wellness care practices, legislation, and policy frameworks, with an emphasis on protecting patient rights and promoting culturally appropriate, community-led alternatives. Attendees advocated for the expansion of public education initiatives, non-coercive support services, and policy reforms aligned with the latest WHO and UN human rights standards.
One of the coordinators said “We cannot rewrite history, but we can protect future generations by ensuring mental health services serve to uplift rather than control. Our people deserve care that respects their dignity, beliefs, and right to choose.”
Delegates encouraged the integration of traditional healing systems, psychosocial support networks, and public education programs as part of a comprehensive, rights-based national mental health strategy.
Founded in 1969 by psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz and the Church of Scientology, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) has spent over five decades advocating for the protection of human rights in the field of mental health. CCHR has exposed and investigated systemic abuses in psychiatric institutions worldwide and campaigns for legislation and oversight mechanisms to prevent coercive and harmful practices.
In South Africa, CCHR continues to work alongside communities, educators, faith-based organizations, and civil society partners to raise awareness about mental health rights and to promote ethical, transparent, and accountable care.
About the company: Founded in 1969 by psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz and the Church of Scientology, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing and preventing human rights abuses in the field of mental health. With over five decades of advocacy, CCHR investigates coercive psychiatric practices, promotes transparent and ethical mental health care, and campaigns for legislation that protects patient rights worldwide. In South Africa, CCHR actively collaborates with communities, educators, faith-based groups, and civil society to raise awareness about psychiatry’s historical abuses during apartheid and to advance rights-based, culturally appropriate mental wellness reforms aligned with international human rights standards.
Contact Info:
Name: Mau Meiring
Email: Send Email
Organization: CCHR Coordinator
Phone: 061 907 9325
Website: https://www.cchr.org/
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgikdLHaAcE
Release ID: 89165868
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