Parents Speak Out

School psychologists and psychiatrists coerced New York mother Patricia Weathers into drugging her 10-year- old son, Michael, after he was diagnosed with �ADHD.� Within six months he was withdrawn, stopped socializing with other children, lost his appetite and couldn�t sleep properly. When she took him off the drugs, Child Protective Services charged her with medical neglect. She maintained custody by obtaining an independent medical report showing her son�s problems were drug-related and that he needed educational solutions. CCHR assisted Mrs. Weathers to gain media coverage of this horrific situation. She subsequently established her own successful parents� rights group. �I would like to thank CCHR. Without your continued support I would not have been able to get my story out in the open,� said Mrs. Weathers.

In Germany in 2000, CCHR assisted �Mrs. S.� with her son�s problem with psychiatry. She wrote: ��I want to send a warm thanks to CCHR for its help, which came just in time. [My son and I] would certainly not have been capable of solving the problems which arose in our life on our own. Your specialist knowledge and competence about psychiatric drugs and psychiatry, as well as your advice for handling our situation, helped us to bring light into the darkness. We are glad that the Commission stands so ready to help.�

Also in Germany, a government agency removed Feliz and Mikail Erfurt�s two children, aged 10 and 14, from their home in 2000, claiming that Mrs. Erfurt had been making them ill because she suffered from an alleged psychiatric disorder called �M�nchausen-syndrome by proxy.� However, medical records showed that since birth both children had been treated at the university hospital for epilepsy and a rare metabolic disease. Psychiatrists ignored this evidence and committed both children to a psychiatric facility, tearing the loving family apart for over two years. CCHR and a concerned doctor assisted the family in its legal battle and in 2002 a court ordered the children�s release. The older boy stated, �The reunion was an awesome feeling. We were all in tears.� For the first time in 30 months, the children felt the happiness of being able to hug and kiss their parents again. As for the psychiatric diagnosis, it has since been discredited.

A New Zealand mother read CCHR�s booklet, Psychiatry: Betraying and Drugging Children. She wrote, �I read this publication� over two years ago; it had a major effect on our lives. At the time my son had been diagnosed as having ADHD and was on the drug, Ritalin, during the day and a night medication to help him sleep. � After reading your pub- lication I was horrified: What was I doing to my son? I then rang my son�s specialist to find out what he thought. He was patronizing, derogatory and arrogant. Our conversation ended unpleasantly and I subsequently removed my son from all medications � With alternative methods � my son is [now] receiving principal awards for increased work output and attitude. � Thank you so much for your life-changing publication.�

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