Don't Do Nothing

Ten years ago, Diane Stein rescued her mother from being wrongly taken into custody for an involuntary psychiatric examination. Witnessing firsthand how easily the system could mishandle vulnerable people fueled her dedication to protecting others and helping families in similar situations. Today, she leads the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). Its mission is her mission: eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health. 

Through CCHR’s hotline, Diane hears troubling stories of parents whose children are taken to psychiatric facilities without warning. In many cases, schools fail to notify families, and parents don’t find out until their child fails to get off the school bus. She points out that every day in Florida, more than 80 children are “Baker Acted.” The Baker Act, and similar involuntary psychiatric examination laws across the U.S., is frequently abused. For-profit hospital chains, driven by greed, detain children, the elderly, and everyday individuals against their will. 

Diane witnessed these heartbreaking abuses and realized that parents, the most willing and able people to help their children, were completely cut out of the process. This realization sparked her crusade to reform the laws and put parents back in the driver’s seat. Working alongside a coalition of like-minded organizations, such as the Florida PTA and the Parental Rights Foundation, Diane helped drive significant legislative reforms to protect and strengthen parental rights and child welfare in Florida. Lawmakers across the country followed Florida’s lead and introduced similar proposals in their states. At the heart of these laws was the fundamental right of parents to direct their children’s upbringing, health care, and mental health wellness. 

Diane emphasizes that psychiatric diagnoses lack objective physical tests or clinical biomarkers, relying entirely on personal opinion rather than measurable disease. There are no blood tests, X-rays, scans, or temperature checks that confirm psychiatric diagnoses. As a result, ordinary emotional reactions and everyday behavioral responses are frequently pathologized and marketed as mental disorders such as ADHD. The diagnosis becomes a label, and the label becomes a prescription, all based on someone’s opinion rather than an actual disease.  

This is why she opposes children’s mental health questionnaires and well-being surveys in school without parental consent. During morning science class, a young boy checks the box next to “I sometimes squirm in my seat.” After lunch, he speaks to the school well-being counselor. After school, he climbs into the car and hands his mom a prescription for Ritalin, a drug the federal government puts in the same category as cocaine and methamphetamine.    

The “treatment” she has the strongest feelings for, the one she calls barbaric, is electroshock therapy, or ECT. Here is a procedure in which electricity is passed through the luckless patient’s brain in order to create a grand mal seizure that involves a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions, masked by a powerful anesthetic. Diane explains that the FDA has never approved ECT through clinical safety trials, and what are cited as “studies” are merely reports from delivering the procedure.   

Diane points out that the risks extend far beyond school classrooms. Psychiatric drugs like Prozac are widely prescribed to youth despite carrying black box warnings for increased suicidal ideation. Meanwhile, financial incentives drive the system: after mental health labels were included under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), government and school funding became tied to these classifications, creating a pipeline where institutions profit from labeling and medicating children. To make matters worse, underlying physical ailments – such as nutritional deficiencies or thyroid dysfunctions – are frequently mislabeled as mental illnesses, leading to psychiatric prescriptions rather than addressing the true root causes.

Diane understands that life is life. People have issues. They can be in crisis. They can feel anxious, depressed, or sad. They need help and support. But effective, science-backed alternatives to medication do exist. For example, research shows that regular exercise can be more effective than antidepressants, and that many psychotropic drugs perform no better than placebos. Simple dietary adjustments, such as introducing omega-3-rich foods like sardines, have resolved severe behavioral and focus issues in children without relying on drugs. To empower families, CCHR Florida hosts regular educational seminars featuring attorneys, doctors, pharmacists, and advocates to share natural health solutions and inform individuals of their legal rights.

For Diane, the fight against mental health abuses is deeply personal — a commitment rooted in restoring the dignity of those who have felt powerless. She reflects on the mission that inspires her every day: “The entire mindset is to not just investigate and expose abuses in the field of mental health, but also restore human rights and dignity. And that whole restoration of human rights and dignity really called to me.” That deeply felt calling continues to power her tireless crusade to defend vulnerable families, uphold fundamental parental rights, and ensure every individual is treated with the compassion and respect they deserve.

Don’t Do Nothing Podcast