Scientology Exhibition Dangerous – says Group

Scientology Exhibition Dangerous – says Mental Health Group

The public should be warned about a controversial anti-psychiatry exhibition exhorting people to stop taking their medication says co-chairperson John Tovey of Central Potential – Te Rito Maia, a regional network of mental health service users.

Mr Tovey says the exhibition recently on display at North City Plaza in Porirua - entitled Psychiatry: A Human Rights Abuse - was set up on June 22 by the Citizens Commission for Human Rights (CCHR) – a group founded by the Church of Scientology.

It features a 30-metre-long, two-metre high billboard attacking modern psychiatric techniques including prescribing drugs to treat schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder (ADHD). It also claims deadening mind altering drugs used in psychiatry are a human rights abuse.

Mr Tovey says people should be warned about the exhibition, which he believes could endanger the health of anyone thinking of going unsupported cold turkey from their medication.

He says the exhibition has been put up in a number of venues around the country and although CCHR says it is now in the United Kingdom it is bound to reappear here sooner or later.

“The exhibition offers no alternative to current psychiatric techniques – except joining the Church of Scientology,” he says.

“It could scare vulnerable people about treatment they may be currently receiving without providing practical suggestions about other assistance they could access. The most obvious one would be to provide contact details for local support or advocacy groups.

“The exhibition will also offend a lot of people like me who have been through the old Mental Health system – it is not a pleasant thing to see your own sad and disempowering experiences being used to manipulate the unsuspecting masses of today’s generation.”

“The best help for people wondering about these things is to talk with somebody who has been there,” he says.

Mr Tovey says if anyone has seen the exhibition and wants to record their reaction to it they should call Sarah O’Connor at Central Potential – Te Rito Maia Ph 04 382 9600 or email sarah@cp-teritomaia.org.nz.

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