Blaming Patients: How Failed Treatments Fuel a $51 Billion Brain Device Industry

CCHR's New Report Exposes Dangerous Neurological Interventions Being Pushed on Veterans, Children, and the Vulnerable

LOS ANGELES - April 14, 2025 - PRLog -- The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a leading mental health industry watchdog, has released a damning report detailing how psychiatry is blaming patients—rather than failed treatments—to justify a surge in brain stimulation interventions. "When psychiatric drugs and therapy don't work, psychiatry rarely blames the treatment—it blames the patient, saying they are 'treatment-resistant,'" said Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International. "'Treatment-resistant' isn't a diagnosis—it's a deflection. And it's being used to push invasive procedures like Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)."

These brain stimulation devices were "cleared" by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or approved under Humanitarian Device Exemptions, bypassing the rigorous testing normally required of most medical devices. Many were greenlighted based on the device delivering ECT—a practice known for causing brain damage, memory loss, and even death[1].

Even industry insiders acknowledge concerns. "The precise physiological mechanisms of DBS are not yet fully understood," admits one clinical review.[2]  A professor of psychiatry at Brown University's Alpert Medical School, put it more starkly: "This really is a kind of mind control."[3]

The term "treatment-resistant" is a psychiatric sleight of hand, Eastgate says, now used to justify a global neurostimulation industry projected to hit $51 billion by 2030. Labeling up to 60% of psychiatric patients as "resistant" creates a false pretext for experimental interventions.[4] Meanwhile, 25% of patients develop psychotropic drug tolerance within weeks, prompting ever-riskier "solutions."[5]

Electroshock: Psychiatry's Recycled Blunder

ECT involves sending up to 460 volts through the brain to trigger seizures. Contrary to PR spin, Eastgate says, experts report modern ECT is no safer—voltage levels are higher than when broken bones were common due to convulsions.

• FDA Loophole: Grandfathered in without clinical trials in 1976. In 2018, the FDA reclassified some ECT uses as "low risk," even for children as young as 13. Over 2,400 public comments opposed this.
• Global Condemnation: The World Health Organization and United Nations consider ECT on children or the non-consenting a form of torture.[6]
• Medical Harm: Neurologists equate ECT's effects to traumatic brain injury.[7] Patients are 44 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. One in 15 ECT patients face life-threatening cardiac issues.[8]
• Financial Cost: A $3–5.4 billion industry. Medicaid spent $9 million on ECT in 2023 in 27 states.[9] The VA and Department of Defense have administered it to veterans and children under age five.[10]

• FDA Fast Track: Approved via Humanitarian Device Exemption for OCD in 2009 without efficacy data.
• Harms: Stroke, hemorrhage, hallucinations, sexual dysfunction, apathy, and suicide attempts.[11]
• Patient Testimonies: Participants in failed DBS trials report cognitive decline and emotional deterioration.[12]

• FDA: Approved in 2005 for "treatment-resistant depression" despite lacking robust evidence.
• Risks: Nerve damage, infection, hoarseness, breathing difficulty. The FDA has logged over 10,000 complaints involving death, injury, or device malfunction.[13]
• Cost: Averaging $30,000+.

• Youth Approval: Cleared in 2008 for adults, and in 2024 for adolescents as young as 15.
• Side Effects: "Brain fog," seizures, mood swings. One patient said: "This treatment destroyed my life… It gave me false hope."[14]
• Price Tag: Up to $300 per session; full courses can reach $15,000.