Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Deborah on June 21, 2004, 08:38:00 AM
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http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/ ... /7454/1458 (http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458)
Jeanne Lenzer
New York
A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July. The plan promises to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," according to a March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative (www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html)). While some praise the plan's goals, others say it protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in April 2002 to conduct a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system." The commission issued its recommendations in July 2003. Bush instructed more than 25 federal agencies to develop an implementation plan based on those recommendations.
The president's commission found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children. According to the commission, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviours and emotional disorders." Schools, wrote the commission, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission also recommended "Linkage [of screening] with treatment and supports" including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions." The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
Dr Darrel Regier, director of research at the American Psychiatric Association (APA), lauded the president's initiative and the Texas project model saying, "What's nice about TMAP is that this is a logical plan based on efficacy data from clinical trials."
He said the association has called for increased funding for implementation of the overall plan.
But the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm (15 May, p1153). He was sacked this week for speaking to the BMJ and the New York Times.
The Texas project started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas, and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas. The project was funded by a Robert Wood Johnson grant?and by several drug companies.
Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab" (http://psychrights.org/Drugs/AllenJones ... uary20.pdf (http://psychrights.org/Drugs/AllenJonesTMAPJanuary20.pdf)).
Larry D Sasich, research associate with Public Citizen in Washington, DC, told the BMJ that studies in both the United States and Great Britain suggest that "using the older drugs first makes sense. There's nothing in the labeling of the newer atypical antipsychotic drugs that suggests they are superior in efficacy to haloperidol [an older "typical" antipsychotic]. There has to be an enormous amount of unnecessary expenditures for the newer drugs."
Drug companies have contributed three times more to the campaign of George Bush, seen here campaigning in Florida, than to that of his rival John Kerry Credit: GERALD HERBERT/AP
Olanzapine (trade name Zyprexa), one of the atypical antipsychotic drugs recommended as a first line drug in the Texas algorithm, grossed $4.28bn (£2.35bn; 3.56bn) worldwide in 2003 and is Eli Lilly's top selling drug. A 2003 New York Times article by Gardiner Harris reported that 70% of olanzapine sales are paid for by government agencies, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, has multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000?82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party.
Jones points out that the companies that helped to start up the Texas project have been, and still are, big contributors to the election funds of George W Bush. In addition, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to the Texas Medication Algorithm Project.
Bush was the governor of Texas during the development of the Texas project, and, during his 2000 presidential campaign, he boasted of his support for the project and the fact that the legislation he passed expanded Medicaid coverage of psychotropic drugs.
Bush is the clear front runner when it comes to drug company contributions. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), manufacturers of drugs and health products have contributed $764 274 to the 2004 Bush campaign through their political action committees and employees?far outstripping the $149 400 given to his chief rival, John Kerry, by 26 April.
Drug companies have fared exceedingly well under the Bush administration, according to the centre's spokesperson, Steven Weiss.
The commission's recommendation for increased screening has also been questioned. Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of Mad in America, says that while increased screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers," and that exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job training and shelter programmes."
But Dr Graham Emslie, who helped develop the Texas project, defends screening: "There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who are aggressive, you can intervene... and change their trajectory."
Rapid Responses:
Read all Rapid Responses
After this mass screening they are planning to use the lie-detector
Dr. Herbert H. Nehrlich
bmj.com, 17 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Welcome.
Jim Sane
bmj.com, 18 Jun 2004 [Full text]
A public health project worthy of massive public funding provided the aim is not to screen for "mental illnesses".
Richard G Fiddian-Green
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Any other sources of information for the article?
Richard M Diamond
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
We must be crazy...
Michael Ellner
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Paved with good intentions?
Woody Caan
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Instruments for Screening and Treatment Modalities
Eileen McGinn
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Ambitious yet commendable
Prem K Kunjukrishnan, et al.
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness
Raymond Gallup
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Bush's Sanity Test Revealed
Dr. Archie W. Julien
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
WATCH OUT for Bush push of psychiatric drugs
David W. Oaks
bmj.com, 19 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Brave new world?
Blue Pilgrim
bmj.com, 20 Jun 2004 [Full text]
WE NEED A FORUM ?
D.Michael VAN DE VEER, et al.
bmj.com, 20 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Implications of Government Sponsored Mental Health Screenings: Some Important Questions
Barbara Rubin
bmj.com, 20 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Psychotic in Texas
Mark Struthers
bmj.com, 20 Jun 2004 [Full text]
Other related articles in BMJ:
News
Whistleblower removed from job for talking to the press.
Jeanne Lenzer
BMJ 2004 328: 1153. [Full text]
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Nice alarmism.
They screened all girls for scoliosis in my junior high school, too.
Which meant that volunteers who'd been taught very limited information of what to look for watched us take off our shirts in the girls' locker room of the gym, one by one, and then handed us a popsickle stick with a 1, 2, or 3 written on it.
They told the ones with a 2 or 3 popsickle stick to tell their parents that the school suggested they follow up with a doctor to see if the doctor thought there was a problem or not.
I got a 2 popsickle stick. My parents took me to the family doctor, he looked at my back and said I was fine, we went on with our lives.
And that's fairly typical of the level of intervention that "screening" means---it's much less intrusive than "examining."
"Screening" means they perform a very rudimentary test to identify most people as obviously perfectly healthy, and a few as probably perfectly healthy but worth recommending a check-up, and a very few as really needing a check-up---but still easily reasonably likely to be perfectly healthy.
And, like the scoliosis screening, mental health screening just results in the case of a few folks in an entirely optional recommendation to see your doctor and get checked out in case there's a problem.
As someone with a major mental illness that showed up when I was five but didn't land me in a doctor's office until I was seventeen (and didn't get correctly diagnosed until I was in my late twenties), I would have welcomed screening.
Screening would have been perfectly harmless for the vast majority of people, the few recommended for a doctor visit would decide for themselves whether they needed to see a doctor or not, and out of the 180 million people in the US, the few million of us with real major mental illnesses could be saved a lot of pain by having those illnesses caught and treated early.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/n ... aishi.html (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web3/Quraishi.html)
http://www.patientcenters.com/bipolar/news/causes.html (http://www.patientcenters.com/bipolar/news/causes.html)
Is filling out a short questionnaire really such an intrusion into the lives of people who turn out not to be sick to outweigh helping find and treat those of us who are?
Keep in mind that people with some mental illnesses can be violently aggressive.
Those of you who are perfectly healthy *also* benefit from that short questionnaire that helps channel those of us who may not be into a more careful examination (with our consent and of our own free will only, of course).
You mentally healthy and normal folks benefit when those of us who are mentally ill get treatment.
Sure, *we* benefit more than you do in having the disruption in our lives and pain from mental illness treated. But the rest of you *do* receive a substantial payoff in increased personal safety from the rest of us getting proper diagnosis and treatment.
*You* may not think the benefits you receive are worth the inconvenience of filling out a short questionnaire---and you and others who share your opinion should be free to decline to fill out the questionnaire.
However, a whole lot of *other people* who aren't as fearful as you are about medication, for those of us who need it, will decide that the minor inconvenience of filling out a short questionnaire is worth it for the benefits they receive.
They should be free *not* to decline to fill out the questionnaire----they shouldn't have to cater to your paranoia (and I use that in the strictly non-clinical everyday layman's sense of the word).
Also, lest anyone think I'm an advocate of medication exclusively for major mental illnesses, I have had therapy and it helped. It helped a lot. I use what I learned in therapy on an ongoing basis. It's just that for some of us, after we've learned what therapy can teach us, and learned all those coping strategies which are very good, very useful, and vitally important---it's still not enough, and it does take medication to control our serious illnesses.
Screening everyone with a simple questionnaire has tremendous benefits for everyone.
But those of you who are uncomfortable with it should be entirely free to decline to participate.
You just shouldn't get to choose that a screening program not be implemented and offered to everyone else.
Mental health screening is not some big, dark, boogie-man conspiracy by the drug companies to push their product on unsuspecting perfectly healthy people and turn them into bad horror-flick zombies.
Sure, drug companies' marketing departments, like the marketing departments of every company making every product in the economy, are obnoxiously overzealous. That's the marketing dweeb personality. Oh, well.
Just like I don't need a new car as often as car marketing dweebs would like me to buy one, I don't need every damned purple pill in stupid, excessive TV ads that pour into my living room.
Just like I *do* need to own a car to get around my daily life and I'm glad as hell that I have one, people *do* need the specific modern drugs that help them with their specific medical problems.
Almost everyone gets by *without* succumbing to the blandishments of every used car or new car ad on the TV or radio, and almost everyone gets by without buying or taking every medication they don't need pushed at them in ads by annoying marketers. Almost everyone who can afford one does get *one* car and does get the medications they need for their own specific health problems.
Almost everyone could use more common sense than they have, but almost everyone has at least some common sense.
Have a little more faith in people's common sense.
Timoclea
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hope he plans on starting with himself and his dad
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On 2004-06-21 10:22:00, Anonymous wrote:
And, like the scoliosis screening, mental health screening just results in the case of a few folks in an entirely optional recommendation to see your doctor and get checked out in case there's a problem.
Unlike mental illness, a scoliosis dx is entirely objective and evidence based. Also dissimilar is that people who have scoliosis usually have pain and voluntarily seek treatment for it. Most people accused of mental illness (i.e. opposition and defiance) don't consider themselves to be mentally ill and do not want their opposition and defiance drugged away.
Consider that, w/ the current state of mental health dx, over half of our children are mentally "abnormal". It doesn't have to make sense when they have the power to force their views w/ legal coercion.
It is wrong to leave a stumbling stone in the road after it has tripped you.
Hands Out Light
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Okay, but would you feel better if the screening was limited to screening for Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia?
I agree that the personality disorders have much more fuzzy diagnoses that can be manipulated more easily by the unethical.
On the other hand, if parents are bound and determined to subcontract their annoyingly teenage kids out because they're tired of trying to cope, do you really think *lack* of national screening for the major mental illnesses will stop them? It's not stopping them *now*?
Timoclea
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On 2004-06-21 19:54:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Okay, but would you feel better if the screening was limited to screening for Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia?
Timoclea"
Having been 'screened' for severe drug addiction by Straight, Inc. (i.e. an organization founded by the then future Büsh finance chairman and drug policy maker), I wouldn't take that bet on a bet!It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
-- Aristotle
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Is it really the role of government to screen for drug addiction or so-called mental illness?
I'd be ALL for it if they were screening in order to improve people's nutritional deficiencies. I haven't read this book yet, but it sounds like it has some good advice. Probably would be better if one works with a nutritionist who understand biochemistry and correcting deficiencies.
http://www.mikeogara.net/bookreviews/nutrmental/ (http://www.mikeogara.net/bookreviews/nutrmental/)
Nutrition and Mental Illness
by Carl C. Pfeiffer, Ph.D., M.D.
Subtitle: An Orthomolecular Approach to Balancing Body Chemistry
What it's about: In Nutrition and Mental Illness: An Orthomolecular Approach to Balancing Body Chemistry Dr. Pfeiffer discusses the critical role vitamins (especially the B-vitamins) and some minerals (copper, zinc) play in helping our complex brains operate properly.
He discusses various types of schizophrenia and relates nutritional supplements that seem to be highly effective in returning patients to proper functioning again.
He gives many case histories to support his conclusions. He and his staff have developed broad general guidelines regarding which vitamins and minerals are likely to cure various mental functioning problems. His examples are quite convincing -- and often very moving when a very troubled patient is brought back to a normal existence again.
Something I found quite interesting is his approach of giving patients increasing doses of Vitamin B6 until they can remember their dreams. When asked, he tells his patients: "Dream recall is normal. We want you to be normal."
Main facts or viewpoints I got from this book: Powerful psychotropic medicines are, AT BEST, short-term "fixes" for mental problems.
And they frequently make a patient much worse in the long term. Giving the brain the vitamins and minerals it needs -- even it that sometimes means much larger doses than the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) doses -- improves brain functioning much more safely. Without the long-term damage that powerful mind-affecting drugs can and often do cause.
My evaluation of Nutrition and Mental Illness: It really opened my eyes to the critical importance of getting adequate levels (very different for different people) of certain vitamins for proper mental functioning, particularly the B-vitamins. As soon as I read the book I immediately started taking a strong (multi-RDA levels) full-spectrum B-vitamin supplement every day. In addition to the lower levels I was getting from a standard daily multivitamin tablet.
Why read this book: Many reasons! To learn what to do to be able to think more clearly; to help improve sleep problems and insomnia; to be emotionally more stable and happier; to understand possible causes for mental limitations that bother you; and to give yourself the knowledge to help yourself feel and think better.
It seems to me if large doses of the vitamins discussed in the book can cure severe mental function problems, somewhat smaller doses can help a great many of us just plain think and function better. And vitamins are MUCH cheaper, available, and safer than powerful psychotropic drugs. Cheaper and safer -- I like that.
Read the book, see the case histories. Decide for yourself.
To give you a better feel for its contents, here are the book's chapter titles:
Mental Illness -- Not All in the Mind
Understanding Mental Illness
Anxiety and Phobias -- The Copper Connection
High Histamine Can Cause Depression
B6 and Zinc -- the Missing Link
Brain Allergies
The Dangers of Daily Bread
Hypoglycemia -- the Sugar Blues
Minerals, Mood Swings, and Manic Depressive Disorders
Diet, Crime, and Delinquency
How to Age Without Senility
Drugs -- The Treatment That Leads Nowhere
Why Nutrition is the Way forward
There is an Alternative to Hospitalization
Optimum Nutrition for Mental Health
Nutrition Programs for Specific Diseases
Conclusion -- Have Faith in Tomorrow's Medicine
Summary of the Schizophrenias
References and Further Reading
Useful Addresses
Index
We all want our emotions to be more stable and our thinking to be clearer.
When you've read this book I think you'll want
to lend it to your family and friends.
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Thank you for the resorce Deb.
I will check it out.
The premise makes sense and I feel in some (and maybe even most; but not all) cases nutrition could be the answer. I can see were the anxiety related disorders could respond very well to good nutrition. I know B vitamins help me a lot and I take my "stress tab" every night.
And I also know that they use copper to treat Obsessive Compulsive Bull terriers; But the Bullies have a specific disorder not akin to a persons OCD.
As for this across the board testing - bad idea. For lots of reasons. I do wish tho that part of getting a teaching certificate included learning about how various problems may present themselves in a class room; so perfectly intelligent kids didn't end up in LD classes; mistreated, misunderstood and grossly undereducated.
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On 2004-06-21 21:41:00, Deborah wrote:
Is it really the role of government to screen for drug addiction or so-called mental illness?
I'd be ALL for it if they were screening in order to improve people's nutritional deficiencies. I haven't read this book yet, but it sounds like it has some good advice. Probably would be better if one works with a nutritionist who understand biochemistry and correcting deficiencies.
No, I don't think government has any place practicing medicine or dictating nutrition or any other areas of our personal lives.
I hate to be so cleche, but "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." --George Washington
I think he nailed it. According to our government, a packet of ketchup is a vegatable serving and a healthy diet constitutes primarily carbs. This, of course, is madness from the pov of anyone who knows even a little about nutrition.
But the people making these calls are not nutritionalists; they're politicians. Their stock in trade is coercive power over others. Somebody made some money from those and other politically motivated policies. That's why those policies were made, not because they make sense or will accomplish whatever good purpose the politicians promised in order to get the rest of us to go along with it.
So no, I wouldn't be real comfortable w/ the government screening for deviant dieters either.
for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion.
--Alexander Hamilton
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To clarify, I don't think it's governments role to dictate dietary guidelines either, but if they are going to screen for 'mental illness', my preference would be that those who are identified not be ushered toward ONE 'solution'. It would be nice if people had access to all options available to them. Gov't should not support one method of treatment over another.
Re: the government dietary guidelines- they have way too much control and their guidelines appear to be more in the direct of supporting particular industries than toward the welfare of children.
For example: A child in a home daycare situation MUST be given milk. The parent can not request that their child be given an alternative, they must acquire a note from a dr. If the child doesn't like milk, the provider must still 'purchase' and serve it to that child.
A provider must serve a child 2/3 of their daily RDA, which the STATE has identified for a 1 yr old to be: 1 cup milk, 1 oz meat, 1/2 cup grain, 1/2 cup total veggies and fruit.
If the provider participates in the FEDERAL Food Program the requirements are different: 1 cup milk, 1/2 oz meat, 3/4 cup grain, 1 cup total veggies and fruit. Why different guidelines??
FYI, the federal program will reimburse the provider $1.68 per day, per child if they follow THEIR guidelines. While catsup is considered a veggie for school aged children, that is NOT the case for home daycare.
That's all fine, BUT, if a child consumes his/her RDA of milk at breakfast, the provider must serve the child more milk at lunch- which must contain all 5 components. The same is true for grain- if they consume their RDA at breakfast and snack it must still be served at lunch.
Any provider will tell you that if you serve a bread with lunch, kids will eat that first and skip the fruit and veggies. For that reason, many would prefer to meet the daily RDA for grain at breakfast and snack. They will not be reimbursed for lunch if bread/grain is not served. Again, possibly in excess of what's 'needed'. What many do is serve it at the end of the meal in order to be in compliance.
Call me skeptical, but that appears to be benefiting the food industry more than children. I perceive it to be conditioning the child to drink milk at every meal, possibly in excess of what's 'needed' and a way to funnel more tax dollars to the industries.
Any grain product MUST be enriched (chemical vitamins added). A provider is reimbursed for cookies, cake, brownies, doughnuts, toaster pastries; but hominy and unenriched whole grains are not acceptable. Go figure. State allows dried milk, federal requires fluid.
The state allows tofu as a meat alternative, providers on the federal program can serve tofu, but will not be reimbursed for that meal.
Infant cereal must be iron fortified. Their formula is also iron fortified and costs $13+ per gallon!!!! The end result in a lot of constipated babies. Where parents used to know the importance of daily BMs, parents are now being conditioned to think that a blow-out every 3-4 days is 'normal'.
All those constipated babies are sickly as a result. Colds, chronic 'allergies', chronic viruses, ear infections. And all those conditions of course, must be 'treated' with drugs and antibiotics, and in the case of chronic ear infections- surgery for tubes.
It's quit a money making arrangement for the food industries, formula companies, doctors, and drug companies. Good for the economy, not so good for the children.
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I agree w/ what you're saying. I knew a little about a lot of this already. But I have to except the doctors.
I've almost always had fringe contact w/ the medical industry. If not through a family member's illness or death then through working for answering services. So I have a fairly good idea how they operate (pardon the pun) and I get a bit of industry commentary from various people.
Used to be, the local doctor was one of the wealthiest people in any small town. City doctors did alright too. Even so, if you had to live one year as a doctor w/ needy patients, you'd probably turn down $200k/yr to do it for the rest of your life. It's just an extremely demanding profession that tends to burn out or drive off anyone who thought it would be an easy way to become wealthy.
But, these days, insurance executives and their lawyers make about twice as much as an accomplished surgeon. There's a big clue to where our problems lie. Just figure out who's frellin' who and where the money went.
Men had better be without education than be educated by their rulers.
--Thomas Hodgskin
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Actually, those scoliosis screens were pretty subjective as well.
But what I find really curious here is that the research on antipsychotics finds that the newer, more expensive ones are actually better for the patient. They are more pleasant to take, have fewer side effects and treat the symptoms that most bother patients-- ie, feeling apathetic and pleasureless.
The older meds make those things worse, which is part of why schizophrenics turn to illicit drugs (about 50% are estimated to have drug problems), which make the symptoms that *other people* care about most (ie, hallucinations and weird behavior) worse but the pleasurelessness and apathy better, at least at first.
So while the old meds are as effective as the new ones on paper, in real life, they are far worse because they cause horrible, permanent movement disorders in many pts (thorazine shuffle, uncontrollable tongue movements, shaking, etc) so no one will take them and there are more relapses and greater need for hospitalization.
So, old meds = pennywise but poundfoolish and new meds better for both pt and system and well, oh dear, sometimes the drug companies are actually right about something. The Texas Algorithm project is actually quite well supported by pt advocates as a result.
And while Bush can screen all he likes, until we have a national health care system, it's not going to make things much worse because so many people can't afford treatment any way and won't seek it till there's an acute problem as a result.
I think objective screening could actually move many people *away* from Straight-like programs because the goal of screeners is not to find the maximum amount of patients and feed people into programs but to find actual problems and to treat them with the cheapest methods first.
Ie, you don't start with medications for high blood pressure, you first try diet and exercise and you don't start with heart transplant, you start with the least invasive procedure.
similarly, inpt treatment for addictions (and this is one thing HMO's actually get right) is a last resort, not a first.
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Deborah, are you in the childcare business? you seem to know quite a bit about issues that impact both adolescents and young children.
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On 2004-06-23 16:34:00, Anonymous wrote:
I think objective screening could actually move many people *away* from Straight-like programs because the goal of screeners is not to find the maximum amount of patients and feed people into programs but to find actual problems and to treat them with the cheapest methods first
That's like saying if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their butts when they hopped. If there were such a thing as objective psyche evaluation and if it could be done w/o a huge amount of funding, it would be a wonderful thing and no one would have an incentive to skew the findings or recomendations for treatment. But, in the more commonly accepted reality, there's no such thing as objective psyche evaluation and the kind of psyche evaluation we use is quite expensive. Whoever foots the bill for it (or, more likely, whoever foots the bill to pass the regulations and legislation to get it publicly funded) will do so only if it's going to pay them.
Right now, those people are making a mint on the newer drugs w/o any reported long term side effects. It's a trick question, though. They're new drugs. We have NO clue what the long term effects might be because not enough people have taken them for a long enough time for us to see the results.
But Eli Lilly will make a mint. Mark that. And so will the Neocon's other big donors; the troubled parent industry. If a kid is diagnosed w/, say, ODD or ADD, the parent has a choice in how they go about treating them. Already we see a lot of these troubled parents pointing to an ADD dx and the kids' refusal to go along w/ treatment as a reson to send them off to boot camps. I don't see how an increase in the number of these dx could possibly translate to a reduction in the market for teen gulags.
I just wish the public sector would quit helping so much. I think we've had just about all the help we can stand.
Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves
--Ronald Reagan
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I don't except the Dr's, except to the extent that they are trained by the AMA as priests are trained by the pope. Some are totally ignorant, but as Dr. Mendelson pointed out, many pediatritians don't immunize their own children. But, do immunize other's children. According to Mendelson it's the bread and butter of their practice.
More on Mendelson in this great article:
http://www.chirotips.com/immunization.htm (http://www.chirotips.com/immunization.htm)
Could all of the unnecessary medical interventions/preventions be contributing to the 'behaviors' that land a kid on drugs or in a RTC? Consumers should demand the study mentioned in this article, which would compare the overall health of immunized and unimmmunized children.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 2089&rfi=6 (http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12159580&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222089&rfi=6)
Locals learn the dangers of vaccinations
By KAYNE CRISON, Editor June 30, 2004
Around 20 locals attended the June 24 seminar about the dangers of vaccines by Dr. Brad Burke of Arizona City Family Chiropractic. Most were startled by information they learned.
By the time a child is six months old, they are to be injected with 45 vaccines; at 18-months, 64; and at four to six years old, at least 74 vaccines.
Yet, there is no proof that vaccinated children are healthier than non-vaccinated children. No major study has ever compared groups of vaccinated and non-vaccinated children to determine which is healthier. While millions of dollars are spent each year testing shampoos and cosmetics for carginogenicity (before they are allowed to be sold to the public), vaccines are not tested for their ability to cause cancer, mutations or developmental malformations.
Startling evidence continues to pile up each year which indicates that vaccines do more harm than good. According to the US government's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, outbreaks have occurred in populations that were 100 percent vaccinated. Furthermore, no less than 80 percent of cases of measles are contracted in vaccinated people.
But what is in a vaccine? In addition to living and killed bacteria, viri and their toxins, children are injected with some of the most lethal poisons known. This includes formaldehyde, mercury, aluminum, phenol (carbolic acid), borax
(ant killer), ethylene glycol (antifreeze), dye, acetone, latex, MSG, glycerol, polysorbate and sorbitol to name just a few.
Mercury, which is still in use today, is one of the most poisonous substances known to exist in nature. In recent years, children have received up to 125 times the safe limit of mercury set by the EPA, and the symptoms of mercury toxicity resemble those of autism. Data from the CDC's (Centers for Disease Control) own records indicates that the risk of autism is 27 times greater if a child has been immunized with thimerisol-containing vaccines.
A 2003 study from the International Journal of Toxicology showed that hair samples among a group 94 autistic children had mercury levels 1/8 that of a group of 45 normal children. The lower the level of mercury, the worse the autism. Autistic children cannot get rid of the mercury so it may accumulate in their brains 18-month-old children.
More and more links are being made between vaccinations and increased cases of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), ADD, ADHD, autism, infantile seizures and others. According to Doctor Harris L. Coulter, "'Crb death' was so infrequent in the pre-vaccination era that it was not even mentioned in the statistics, but it started to climb in the 1950s with the spread of mass vaccination."
Furthermore, the number of 2 to 4-year-olds taking psychiatric drugs like ritalin and prozac soared 50 percent between 1991 and 1995. These results are troubling since the long-term safety and effects of these drugs on a child's developing brain are largely unknown.
Nearly 90 percent of the total decline in mortality rates (from scarlet fever, diptheria, whooping cough and measles) between 1860 and 1965 occurred before the introduction of antibiotics and widespread immunization.
What are the Real Numbers?
By December 2002, VAERS received 244,424 reports of possible reactions to vaccines. This number includes 99,145 emergency room visits, 5149 life-
threatening reactions, 27, 925 hospitalizations, 5775 disabilities and 5309 deaths.
More parents are rejecting vaccinations for their children, for a number of reasons. For increasingly more logical reasons, many parents are beginning to consider the vaccines more dangerous than the disease. Additionally, they
prefer natural rather than artificial immunity. A growing number of parents have a vaccine-injured child. Furthermore, many parents have religious or philosophical objections to vaccinations.
Arizona statutes allow a parent to avoid vaccinating their child simply by signing a personal belief exemption. (This absolutely allows children to attend all public schools, etc.) A school nurse is required by law to provide the exemption form at the parent's request. Forms are also available at Arizona
City Family Chiropractic.
©Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc. 2004
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Deleted. Duplicate of my previous post.
[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2004-09-06 10:27 ]
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Well yeah, but now we're talking about deference to common practice (which drives me nuts on a daily basis anyway) but not avarice.
The weavers of linen and hempen cloth, ... may exercise their trades without paying any fine.
-- Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (chapter X, part II) notes:
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August 19, 2004
Dear Friend,
If you have young children or grandchildren, the information I'm going to share should scare you. It should make you angry. But above all it should
make you want to stand up and protect them from what I consider a very dangerous threat: mandatory psychiatric screening of each and every
school-aged child.
That's right. The plans are in motion to screen every schoolchild for ADHD, depression, social anxiety disorder, and behavior problems. In fact, it's already in effect in Illinois, Texas, and New Jersey.
A Disturbing Trend in Our Schools In April 2002, President Bush created the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Its objective was to enhance mental health services to those in need. But it has taken a diabolical twist. The commission has concluded that there is a need to search for mental disorders especially in children, and to do this, they plan mandatory mental health
screening for everyone, starting with preschoolers.
According to the Commission's 2003 report, "Quality screening and early
intervention should occur in readily accessible, low-stigma settings, such as primary health care facilities and schools."
It is irrational to think that you need to screen 52 million schoolchildren to find those who need help. The ones who really need help are obvious.
But it gets worse. The report goes on to say, "...the extent, severity, and far-reaching consequences make it imperative that our Nation adopt a comprehensive, systemic approach to improving the mental health status of children." That means drugging them!
52 Million Potential Customers The New Freedom Commission's proposed treatment programs are based on the Texas Medication Algorithm Project
(TMAP). TMAP, which was first used in Texas in 1996 and has since expanded to other states, is a set of very specific medication recommendations,
virtually all of them the newest, most expensive, psychotropic drugs available.
It doesn't take a genius to see that this sinister scheme has been masterminded by the pharmaceutical companies, who stand to gain billions of dollars by pushing expensive drugs on our children.
According to Allen Jones, an inspector who worked in the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, many of these companies contribute large sums of money to political parties and to people in key decision-making roles. When he blew the whistle on this, he was promptly sacked.
Trolling for Patients If you want to see just how biased and ridiculous these screening procedures are, visit some of the drug companies' websites
and look at their questionnaires. Whether they are trying to weed out depression, social anxiety disorder, ADHD, or other psychological maladies,
the types of questions they ask are equally absurd.
I took one test, entitled the Zung Assessment Tool, at the Prozac website. You respond to 20 phrases with one of the following: not often, sometimes, often, or all the time. Phrases include, "I feel downhearted, blue, and sad.
"I have trouble sleeping through the night." "I eat as much as I used to." I have trouble with constipation." "My mind is as clear as it used to be." I am more irritable than usual." "I find it easy to make decisions." (As you see, some of these questions are confusing, if not irrational.)
I selected "sometimes" for every phrase, as a normal, healthy person would. My score was 50, and I was advised to show this test to my doctor and "ask him or her to evaluate you for depression."
Folks, sometimes feeling irritable, unable to sleep, etc., are hardly indicative of a serious mental malfunction. Feeling out of sorts from time
to time is a normal part of being human. Yet according to this test, I may be a candidate for an antidepressant.
Drugging of Children Is Evil Widespread psychiatric screening of our children isn't only unnecessary, it's evil.
Children are not miniature adults. Childhood is filled with dreams, vivid imagination, and rollercoaster rides of emotion that we as grownups only vaguely recall. The totality of these experiences is essential in order for
children to become fully developed adults.
Psychotropic drugs prevent children from truly experiencing childhood. The drugged child is not real. He doesn't grow into and out of various life
stages, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Psychiatric drugs prevent normal development.
The pharmaceutical drug lords, lusting for the billions of dollars that massive psychiatric screening and treatment will add to their coffers, will destroy the essence of your child.
Think back on your childhood. Remember your experiences. Now ask yourself, would you be better off today if five or six years of your childhood had been spent in a drugged-out state?
In my opinion, psychotropic drugs are even worse than some illegal ones. Children are drugged simply because some harebrained test designed by a
pharmaceutical company says they should be drugged. Neither the child nor the parent has any say at all in the matter.
What Can You Do? Here's what you can do about it. First of all, refuse to sign those consent forms when they come home from your child's school - if
they can't test them, they can't drug them. Next, take a moment to write your congressional representatives and voice your concerns. You can locate them at http://www.congress.org (http://www.congress.org). Also, email Laura Bush at firstlady@whitehouse.gov
Ask her how she'd like to have her daughters screened and drugged without her or their consent. We need to get mothers involved.
Finally, don't just say no to drugs. Say no to psychiatric screening
P.S. This article was written for the latest issue of Health & Healing, but I want to make sure everyone knows about this, newsletter subscriber or not. To learn more about Health & Healing, and to preview what's in next month's
issue, be sure to check out the information below.
This Health Update Sponsored By
Why the Next 12 Months Will Be So Special to Your Health If you're ready to experience better health, stronger immunity, and reversal of chronic
conditions that have bothered you or your loved ones for years, click here to find out how Dr. Whitaker's monthly newsletter Health & Healing can help. Subscribe now and you'll receive the latest news about breakthroughs in natural healing from around the world, practical information on how to enjoy remarkably better health, and the support you need to maintain your
commitment to healthy living.
In the September issue, I'll be announcing the winners of the Health Achievement Awards and sharing all of their amazing stories with you. I'll also be discussing what I consider to be the most potentially dangerous threat to our children ever masterminded by the pharmaceutical giants and
the current administration. Finally, if healthy arteries are important to you, you can't miss my article on arginine.
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Wrong board!
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Wrong board? Who says?
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Discussion about the merits of screening for mental illness and the pros and cons of various drugs are beside the point regarding our president's lovely plan. The central issue, as the original post reads, is that this is a program pushed by drug companies which make the HIGHEST profit of any industry (after R&D) AND they, do, in fact, contribute massively to republican campaigns.
Check into it. Go to opensecret.org Google around. This is another horrific Bush scam.
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I sent that previous post out and got this interesting reply:
I couldn't agree more. Of all the anti-depressants out there, I find "paxil" interesting for it's latin derivative meaning "peaceful".
Welcome to Brave New World where any sign of social unrest is "treated" with 20mg of paxil.
I know that some folks do benefit from drugs as a stopgap measure that allows them to function in the world. At best it seems to treat the symptoms but not the cause.
When I was in college I worked on a documentary of a large state mental hospital. The institution was designed by Dr. Charles Kirkbride, a quaker. The Quakers were the first to look at mental illness as a treatable disease (prior to that the mentally ill were consigned to a church almshouse or prison). Kirkbride was an architect and the form of the hospital itself represented an attempt at classification- it was an imposing, gothic structure with a large central administration building and men's and women's wings flanking that. Patients were segregated
within their wing according to the severity of their illness, so that the further away from the administration building you got the more severe the illnesses. Kirkbride was assisted by Frederick Law Olmstead, a landscape architect who designed Central Park in NY among others. Both
Kirkbridge and Olmstead felt that city life was a prime cause of mental illness, and so they designed the hospital grounds as a garden / rural
environment that was hoped to provide some relief. The particular institution I studied had world-class gardens- visitors from England
remarked that they far surpassed anything over there. This site had over 72 species of trees, including several which were the largest of their
kind in the world. In addition to removing the mentally ill from the environment that was believed to be the cause of their illness, the
hospital was designed with the idea of work as therapy. There were five such institutions in Ohio and they were nearly self-sufficient. The
hospital I studied in Athens specialized in dairy, while other hospitals would have other areas of focus. But the degree of self-sufficiency of any one was amazing. For example, the Athens facility had chickens, hogs, vegetable gardens, a greehouse that provided fresh cut flowers for the dinner table year round, a wood shop, a tin shop, seamstress facilities etc. When a patient died, the others would cut trees, mill
wood, make a coffin and dig the grave.
It was almost possible to romanticize the place from the stories, until I heard about patients who, because they were good workers, spent their
whole lives there because they were too valuable to be let go. In the 70's the popular trend was de-institutionalization and they began kicking folks out. Some who had spent their whole lives there and who knew nothing else couldn't take the loss and committed suicide.
I tend to agree that urbanization is a significant factor in many mental illnesses. And I can see the value of manual labor as therapy in some cases.
The Athens hospital had an interesting form of therapy early on, before there were any other treatments available. When a patient was brought in who seemed to be suffering from depression but not otherwise seriously impaired, sometime in the first week several interns would rush into the
patients room, drag him of out bed and carry him out to the edge of one of the cliffs overlooking the ponds and toss him in. I never did learn
if this worked to snap anyone out of depression (or whether anyone drowned). But it is an interesting approach for a time when there were
no other viable treatments. Prior to the availability of electroshock the hospital practiced a similiar variant where the patient would be placed in ice water, then removed and quickly submerged in extremely hot water, over and over.
The Athens hospital later became a leading center for lobotomies, and when I was there some of the victims of that procedure still roamed the
streets.
Oh, and it gained some noteriety as the home of Billy Mulligan, made infamous in a book by Daniel Keyes as one of the first cases of multiple
personality disorder.
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http://newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis15.htm (http://newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis15.htm)
MENTAL HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CONTROL
Part 1
By Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D.
August 28, 2004
NewsWithViews.com
In my last article,
[http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis14.htm]I focused on the connection between mental health and world citizenship. However, there is more to the use of mental health by the power elite than world citizenship. In MENTAL HEALTH, vol. 1, no. 4, October 1940, one finds a speech by John Rawlings Rees (deputy director of the Tavistock Institute for Medical Psychology begun in 1920) on June 18, 1940, in which he revealed: "We can therefore justifiably stress our particular point of view with regard to the proper development of the human psyche, even though our knowledge be incomplete. We must aim to make it permeate every educational activity in our national life.... Public life, politics and industry should all of them be within our sphere of influence.... Especially since the last world war we have done much to infiltrate the various social organizations throughout the country....Similarly we have made a useful attack upon a number of professions.
The two easiest of them naturally are the teaching profession and the Church: the two most difficult are law and medicine.... If we are to infiltrate the professional and social activities of other people, I think we must imitate the Totalitarian and organize some kind of fifth column activity! If better ideas on mental health are to progress and spread we, as the salesmen, must lose our identity.... Let us all, therefore, very secretly be 'fifth columnists.'... We have often been too spasmodic in our work and I feel we need a long-term plan of propaganda.... I doubt the wisdom of a direct attack upon the existing state of affairs; even though there is a war on, that would still raise opposition, whereas the more insidious approach of suggesting that something better is needed---'why shouldn't we try so and so'---is more likely to succeed.... Many people don't like to be 'saved', 'changed' or made healthy. I have a feeling, however, that 'efficiency and economy' would make rather a good appeal because there are very few people who would not welcome these two suggestions."
At the end of the Second World War, Canadian psychiatrist Brock Chisholm would pick up Rees' assault upon the Church in the February 1946 edition of PSYCHIATRY, writing that "a program of re-education or a new kind of education" needed to be charted whereby "the science of living should be made available to all people by being taught to all children in primary and secondary schools.... Only so, can we help our children to carry out their responsibilities as world citizens as we have not been able to do.... We have swallowed all manner of poisonous certainties fed us by our parents, our Sunday and day school teachers,our politicians, our priests.... The reinterpretation and eventual eradication of the concept of right and wrong which has been the basis of child training, the substitution of intelligent and rational thinking for faith in the certainties of the old people, these are the belated objectives...for charting the changes in human behavior."
Chisholm was the first director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), and just a few months after his article in PSYCHIATRY, Chisholm's friend Alger Hiss in July 1946 persuaded the founders of WHO to stimulate the concept of "world mental health" by including in their constitution the following definition: "...Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
Logically, with this broad definition of "health," it was possible for the advocates of linking mental health and education to claim this was necessary to promote social well-being. Thus, in the October 1954 edition of MENTAL HYGIENE, one finds "Education for Mental Health" by George Stevenson, M.D.
It is a transcript of his April 2, 1954 radio broadcast, in which he remarked: "...it may be well to look into education for social action. If such education is to be one part of a broader effort to reach a goal, certain steps may be followed to make sure that mental health education has its proper place in the total scheme.... The schools stand in an especially strategic position.... They are in position to provide a good atmosphere within the school that can counterbalance the reverse at home.... Education for mental health...is everybody's business."
Unfortunately, American public schools bought Dr. Stevenson's reasoning and increasingly introduced mental health programs in schools across the land. The results of these initiatives soon became obvious. In MENTAL ROBOTS (1957) by Dr. Lewis A. Alesen (former president of the California Medical Association), he declared: "Americans today are being deluged with... propaganda... under the disarmingly innocent title of 'The Mental Health Program.' ...Its (robotry) objectives...the ultimate destruction of the human individual as a person; the eradication of all the traditions, ideals and moral concepts which he has learned from home, church, and school...and taught to deny and reject responsibility for himself, and to transfer that responsibility to the group, that is the state. The master plan...has been the result of...thousands of individuals...who have not had the time,...or the ability to gain a perspective of the ultimate aims of the plan which they have actively aided in bringing to fruition. Summer sessions in group dynamics... under the direction of... a subdivision of the National Education Association, with... the fundamental objective to prepare those so trained in the subtle art of propagandizing without seeming to do so. Here among academic surroundings a carefully arranged schedule of indoctrination has been prepared by the National Education Association."
The "group dynamics" mentioned by Dr. Alesen related to the Research Center for Group Dynamics (at the University of Michigan), and the "subdivision of the National Education Association" to which he referred was the National Training Laboratories (NTL was co-founded by the Research Center and the NEA's Division of Adult Education Service). In 1962, the NTL published ISSUES IN (HUMAN RELATIONS) TRAINING, in which the editors wrote that human relations or sensitivity training "fits into a context of institutional influence procedures which includes coercive persuasion in the form of thought reform or brainwashing." The book also includes information about "change-agent skills" and "unfreezing, changing and refreezing" attitudes.
The year after Dr. Alesen's book appeared, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, which provided for a massive infusion of guidance counselors and testing personnel into the public schools across the U.S. And the year after NTL's book was published, the first Governor's School for the Gifted and Talented began in 1963 in North Carolina with funding from the Carnegie Corporation. On May 6, 1963, Prof. George Welsh of the Psychology Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wrote to the Psychological Corporation in New York indicating that at the Governor's School "we are planning to administer an extensive test battery." And on May 10 of that year, Harold Seashore, director of the Corporation's Test Division, replied to Prof. Welsh and indicated that if he used their test, "we would want a set of the cards filed with us, so that we can accumulate information on groups like this over the years."
The writer of this article attended that school in 1963, and among the tests administered to us was the Psychological Corporation's Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It included 771 statements to which we were to respond "true" or "false." And among these statements were the following: (1) I believe in the worth of humanity, but not in God; (2) We cannot know for sure whether or not there is a God; (3) One of the most important things children should learn is when to disobey authority; (4) The findings of science may some day show that many of our most cherished beliefs are wrong; (5) Organized religion, while sincere and constructive in its aims, is really an obstacle to human progress.
The year after this writer attended the first Governor's School, the National Institute of Mental Health on February 18, 1964 awarded psychologist B. F. Skinner a grant (Grant K6-MH 21755) for $283,000 to be paid over 10 years to write BEYOND FREEDOM AND DIGNITY (1971), in which Skinner maintained that concepts of freedom and dignity must be discarded, and that human behavior be conditioned by an elite. Not long after the publication of Skinner's book, U.S. Rep. Cornelius Gallagher (NJ) delivered a speech in the U. S. House of Representatives titled "Skinnering the Taxpayers," in which he stated: "We disclosed in 1970 that at least 250,000 American grammar school children are receiving behavioral modification drugs, most often the amphetamines or 'speed' as they are commonly called."
[I APPEARS THAT THE TEEN WAREHOUSE INDUSTRY FITS NICELY INTO THIS PLAN. COULD THIS BE A FACTOR IN WHY SO MANY POLITICIANS SUPPORT THE INDUSTRY?]
Later in the 1970s, THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY (1978) by Martin Gross was published, in which he informed readers that "Our schools are taking on the aura of a psychiatric clinic, without taxpayer consent.... The school child is immersed in a psychological environment in which he is cajoled, invited, seduced, even bludgeoned into seeking counseling.... Almost all the (school psychology) personnel are actually laymen. The entire practice of school psychology may be seen as an intrusion of bureaucracy into the family structure. Further school counseling may not be legal. In most cases, school personnel may not practice psychotherapy on children. By labeling it as 'counseling' instead of 'psychotherapy,' they may have invented a semantic subterfuge to circumvent the law.... There is no real evidence that the anxieties, neuroses, or eventual psychosis rate of children is in any way reduced by school intervention. There is the equal possibility that the effort is actually a NEUROTIC STIMULUS. With our taxes, we are helping poorly trained specialists to tamper with the psyches of an already overpsychologized generation."
Two years after Gross wrote these words, THE AQUARIAN CONSPIRACY (1980) by Marilyn Ferguson was published, in which she revealed that "there are legions of conspirators....Of the Aquarian conspirators surveyed, more were involved in education than any other single category of work.... A major ambition of the curriculum is autonomy. This is based on the belief that if our children are to be free, they must be free even from us---from our limiting beliefs.... One veteran bureaucrat at the National Institute of Mental Health said, 'There are a lot of us in the woodwork.'"
In terms of the presidential election this year (2004) and President Bush's New Freedom Initiative, it may make little difference who wins the election. Both President Bush and Senator John Kerry are members of the secret Skull & Bones society at Yale University, and Senator Kerry has to my knowledge thus far raised no objections to this mental health screening initiative. It is an initiative by the elite, who believe they have a responsibility to tell the rest of us what is in our best interests.
The swastika is actually a pre-Hitler elitist symbol that has been found in the Skull & Bones vault at Yale. There is also a swastika on the gravestone of John Ruskin (mentor of Cecil Rhodes, who formed the secret Society of the Elect "to take the government of the whole world," in Rhodes' own words). In TIME AND TIDE (1867), Ruskin wrote that "the first duty of the State is to see that every child born therein shall be well housed, clothed, fed, and educated.... But in order to the effecting this the Government must have an authority over the people of which we now do not so much as dream." According to award-winning author Alan Axelrod, Ruskin was "reportedly a student of the ILLUMINATI."
Why of all the web servers in the U.S. did George W. Bush choose Illuminati Online for his presidential campaign in 2000? (Look under November 9, 1999 on http://www.io.com/systemnews/1999/nov.html (http://www.io.com/systemnews/1999/nov.html)) This was AFTER the president of Illuminati Online (IOCOM), Steve Jackson, developed a card game in 1994 called "Illuminati: New World Order" with a supplement called "Assassins." (See http://www.io.com/~sj/sjbio.html (http://www.io.com/~sj/sjbio.html)) One of the cards in the card game shows one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City being hit by a terrorist attack, and another card shows the Pentagon partly in flames from an attack.
[Second link doesn't work. Try: http://www.sjgames.com/ourgames/card.html (http://www.sjgames.com/ourgames/card.html)]
And if you believe the government's version of what happened on 9/11, then why is there a videotape of FOX News that day with reporter Marc Birnbach saying that he saw the plane (United Flight 175) that hit the south tower of the World Trade Center, and it had no windows and a blue logo near the front UNLIKE any United Airlines plane? As of about two weeks ago, Birnbach (now with the ABC network) reportedly stands by his on-air account of 9/11. It is worth noting that Boeing has made a windowless plane of that size (767) for the U.S. military.
Part 2 of this article will appear in the near future.
© 2004 Dennis Cuddy - All Rights Reserved
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Dennis Laurence Cuddy, historian and political analyst, received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (major in American History, minor in political science). Dr. Cuddy has taught at the university level, has been a political and economic risk analyst for an international consulting firm, and has been a Senior Associate with the U.S. Department of Education.
Cuddy has also testified before members of Congress on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice. Dr. Cuddy has authored or edited seventeen books and booklets, and has written hundreds of articles appearing in newspapers around the nation, including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He has been a guest on numerous radio talk shows in various parts of the country, such as ABC Radio in New York City, and he has also been a guest on the national television programs USA Today and CBS's Nightwatch.
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Here's a nice collection of articles in the same vein.
http://www.buildfreedom.com/portal/category.php/238 (http://www.buildfreedom.com/portal/category.php/238)
Some of these give more history and documentation defining the problem at hand. Some others give some practical suggestions and discussion to ways to successfully subvert the coupe.
Our youth can not understand why society chooses to criminalize a behavior with so little visible ill effect or adverse social impact... These young people have jumped the fence and found no cliff.
Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse
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This conspiracy stuff is *well* into tinfoil hat territory. Reality Check. The real people who lost their real families aboard the flights that smashed into the WTC towers are pretty darned sure it was their loved ones' plane and not a "black helicopter."
Just because there are bad things that happen, like the teen behavior mod places, that a lot of ordinary people don't notice, doesn't mean that *everything* published in the mainstream press is wrong or that every conspiracy that comes down the pike with your favority bogeymen cast in the leading roles is Absolute Truth---or anything but the deranged imaginings of some guy a few fries short of a happy meal.
Every ideology or cause out there has its wild conspiracy theories that build suppositions on rumours on assumptions on extrapolations into an entire persuasive edifice of nonsense.
Reality check. Leave the tinfoil hat hanging on the peg in the closet.
Timoclea
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Ya talkin bout this one? :smile:
http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html (http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html)
It's unfortunate that he threw the plane issue in. The rest of the article is not 'conspiracy theory' according to the research I've done.
He's entitled to his opinion on the subject and you're entitled to believe which ever story suits you. Perhaps he was convinced after viewing the
FOX footage and perhaps he's repeating something someone else said. I don't know. I'm not sure how they'd pull that off- just wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be the case. I'd definitely like to hear Marc Birnbach speak about it, and the reporters who first aired the story who stated they heard other explosions. Probably aren't going to hear that on FOX, or any other evening news.
Perhaps you might enjoy reading the list of questions some americans would like to have answered. The media and this administration is not forthcoming.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/911q.html (http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/911q.html)
Really all we KNOW is that some folks are missing who reportedly boarded a plane that morning.
In the meantime, and back to the subject of Bush screening everyone for 'Mental Illness'......
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To follow up on what Deborah said, a guy named Eric Hufschmid did some interesting analysis of 9-11. I have only seen the documentary, I have not read his book. I guess there's a French guy too that did a book, but there never was an English translation.
The official conclusion is the buildings of the WTC complex came down because of fire (i.e., the very thick steel support beams melted due to the fire/heat).
There's some problems with that, most notably with "Building 7", which was one of the surrounding buildings that also collapsed. Debris breaking off from one of the towers crashed through the windows of Building 7, causing a few fires to start. These fires burned for a few hours. They were nowhere near as severe as the fires of the Twin Towers.
Well, the building collapses. Going frame by frame, the very top first caves in, then the building comes down in a very neat and orderly fashion. Supposedly, fire caused this building to come down.
Steel burns at 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, there isn't really any black soot or ash, like you saw when the Towers or Building 7 was burning. So the fires started in Building 7 could not have caused the steel to melt. The only good explanation for Building 7 coming down was that explosives were used.
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There's a whole lot about the official version of events that just doesn't add up.
But this is nothing new. The Oklahoma Federal building couldn't have been destroyed in the way it was by a truck bomb either. At the time it happened I was in touch w/ a friend who had learned explosives in the military then kept up to speed afterward in the mining industry. He said that very day that it was just not possible. Know what was stored in that building? All of the medical records for the Gulf War I vets (who are now plagued w/ various health issues, including birth defects in their post-war children)
But even this is nothing new. Remember the Lucitania? Look it up if you don't know the story.
Finally, my dad was stationed on the U.S.S. Enterprise just prior to Pearl Harbour. They and the Hornet had just put in for 6 weeks shore leave, but it was canceled after 2 days. Those two ships and most of the other ones put out to sea and did circles for a week and a half till the "surprise" attack.
The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"
--Anonymous
_________________
Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen
Seed sibling `71 - `80
Straight South (Sarasota, FL)
10/80 - 10/82
Anonymity Anonymous
Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
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For more on the Ok City Issue google General Partin, an explosives expert for the US military, who believes Tim McVeigh was a patsy.
Anon, thanks for the tip. I've been pecking around at:
http://www.erichufschmid.net/Conspiraci ... _Main.html (http://www.erichufschmid.net/Conspiracies_Underdogs_Main.html)
I really appreciated this guy's thinking, particularly what he had to say about 'conspiracy theories':
Why are American trains so crummy? Is it because of a conspiracy to destroy trains? Or is it because the American people just don?t care about trains?
We may never know exactly why our train system is pathetic because the people accused of conspiring to destroy it are certain to insist that there was no conspiracy, even if there was. Every conspiracy theory results in a confusing fight between the people making the accusations and the people insisting that they are innocent.
I think another reason people avoid conspiracy theories is because when they convince themselves that there is no such thing as conspiracies, they don?t have to worry about them. When a person refuses to believe in conspiracies, he can ignore the evidence on the grounds that it is paranoid nonsense. He doesn?t have to bother reading books or watching videos, nor does he have to think about or discuss how to make a better nation. Refusing to consider conspiracies is taking the easy and irresponsible path in life.
Everybody Believes In Conspiracy Theories
Even though most people ridicule conspiracy theories, almost everybody believes in at least one conspiracy. However, if the majority of people believe in a conspiracy, it is considered a ?fact? or a ?sensible government policy? rather than a conspiracy.
For example, millions of Americans believe South Americans and Mexicans are making us use drugs. I would refer to this as the ?Drug Dealer Conspiracy? because it claims a group of people are conspiring to make us use drugs.
There are so many Americans who believe in the Drug Dealer Conspiracy that our government spends millions of dollars each year trying to arrest the dealers. We also spend money on the spraying of herbicides on drug crops in South America. Many people refer to this as a War On Drugs.
Occasionally policemen, customs agents, and other people die in the process of protecting us from drugs. I would describe their deaths as foolish wastes of life, but most people consider their deaths to be noble sacrifices for the American people.
I would describe the Drug Dealer Conspiracy as a stupid theory because drug dealers cannot make us use drugs. By comparison, the theory that electric trains were destroyed by group of corporate executives is entirely possible because those executives were capable of interfering with the development of trains.
However, since most Americans believe in the Drug Dealer Conspiracy, it is not considered a conspiracy, nor is it considered stupid. Rather, it is considered a ?sensible government policy to protect Americans from drugs?.
I can?t help but wonder how ridiculous the situation has to be before the majority of Americans realize how stupid this war on drugs is. For example, what if some South Americans began offering Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy Kits. If millions of Americans were buying these kits, and then giving themselves lobotomies, would you demand we start a War On The Lobotomy Kits? Would you complain that the South American Lobotomy Pushers are destroying the American people?
If a policemen died in the process of trying to stop the Lobotomy Pushers, would you describe his death as a great sacrifice to the American people? Or would you say he was a fool who threw his life away?
"There is a crack, a crack in everything... that's how the light gets in." ~~Leonard Cohen
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Screening pre-school kids for anti-social behavior is about as useful as screening the Christian Coalition for sanctimonious behavior.
Sanho Tree.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/print ... E_ID=39078 (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39078)
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health
initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes the use
of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters
of the administration.
The New Freedom Initiative
, according to
a progress report, seeks to
integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing
"services in the community, rather than institutions," the British Medical
Journal reported.
Critics say the plan protects the profits of drug companies at the expense
of the public.
The initiative began with Bush's launch in April 2002 of the New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health, which conducted a "comprehensive study of the
United States mental health service delivery system."
The panel found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go
undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for
"consumers of all ages," including preschool children.
The commission said, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools
and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional
disorders."
Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52
million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission recommended that the screening be linked with "treatment and
supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific
medications for specific conditions."
The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was held up by the panel as
a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based
practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
The TMAP -- started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the
pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas and the mental health and
corrections systems of Texas -- also was praised by the American Psychiatric
Association, which called for increased funding to implement the overall
plan.
But the Texas project sparked controversy when a Pennsylvania government
employee revealed state officials with influence over the plan had received
money and perks from drug companies who stand to gain from it.
Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General
says in his whistleblower report the "political/pharmaceutical alliance"
that developed the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more
expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, was behind the
recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which were "poised to
consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat
mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit
and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of
the tab."
Jones points out, according to the British Medical Journal, companies that
helped start the Texas project are major contributors to Bush's election
funds. Also, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on
advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to
TMAP.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, one of the drugs recommended in the
plan, has multiple ties to the Bush administration, BMJ says. The elder
President Bush was a member of Lilly's board of directors and President Bush
appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to the Homeland
Security Council.
Of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000, 82 percent went
to Bush and the Republican Party.
Another critic, Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Mad in America,"
told the British Medical Journal that while increased screening "may seem
defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers."
Exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job
training and shelter program," he said.
However, a developer of the Texas project, Dr. Graham Emslie, defends
screening.
"There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who
are aggressive, you can intervene ... and change their trajectory."
Erin Hildebrandt, Executive Director
Parents Ending Prohibition
http://parentsendingprohibition.org (http://parentsendingprohibition.org)
(503)327-4184
Parents Ending Prohibition
... because there are better ways to protect kids!
[/quote]for nothing can keep it right but their own vigilant and distrustful superintendence.
--Thomas Jefferson
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Please take a minute to say NO and forward to others.
Texans for Safe Education in Conjunction with Ablechild have Launched a Petition Drive in Response to the President's "New Freedom Commission" and Its Recommendations to "Screen" all U.S. Citizens for "Mental Illness."
Recently President Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (NFC) has initiated what we call a government sponsored "intrusion" program that would mandate all U.S. Citizens (to include every man, woman and child) to be "screened" for "mental illness."
To Read More on this Initiative and the Direct Threat on Our Privacy and Health Click Here http://www.ablechild.org/declaration%20 ... fusal.aspx (http://www.ablechild.org/declaration%20of%20refusal.aspx)
We Strongly Urge You to Say NO to Mandatory Mental Health Screenings and Sign this Petition!
Thank You for taking a stand for freedom!
Texans for Safe Education
Ablechild.ORG
-
This is a land of Law and the crime has far gone from wrecking your own lives but also your neighborhoods and brothers and sisters. You're fucking nuts :smokin:
The college idealists who fill the ranks of the environmental movement seem willing to do absolutely anything to save the biosphere, except take science courses and learn something about it.
--P.J. O'Rourke
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How they Voted on Ron Paul's amendment to block funding for mental health screenings (HR 5009 Amendment 3 Roll Call vote).
From:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll438.xml (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll438.xml)
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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Well you know Bush is on allkinds of psypatropics and speed because basically I believe He's under control like a puppet. Bad deal with alcoholism and cocaine and only God knows what else he's taken. But I believe the children will get sick of hs suicidal dope and kill them all someday. I'm on opiates cause of the Republican's but still why even get involved with the mob for dope. The pusher ain't gonna give you sanctuary. Only the doctor might put you in a rubber room and let you bounce off the walls until you're under control of the so called "Jews" and aliens who just don't really care either. :smokin:
I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.
-- A. Whitney Brown
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1. TONIGHT, September 23, 2004 @ 5pm Pacific Standard Time: EXPOSING THE FRAUD OF ADD / ADHD -Part 6:
Topic: ADD / ADHD vs. Dyslexia http://www.worldtalkradio.com/archive.asp?aid=2261 (http://www.worldtalkradio.com/archive.asp?aid=2261)
Tonight's AAL Show is sponsored in part by Isac Corporation and BNI - Business Network International. Details below.
Joining Annie Armen on AAL tonight:
Expert Guest: Fred Baughman, Jr., M.D., Author of The ADHD Fraud - How Psychiatry Makes "Patients" Out of Normal Children- is a retired adult and child neurologist with a private practice for 35 years. Dr. Baughman has testified for victimized parents and children in ADHD/Ritalin legal cases, and writes powerful, resourceful articles in exposing the fraud of ADD / ADHD.
Expert Guest: John Breeding, Ph.D. - Austin Psychologist, author of The Wildest Colts Make the Best Horses,founding director of Texans for Safe Education, a citizens group which seeks to safeguard children from drugs and violence in Texan Schools.
Expert Guest: Ron Davis - International consultant, lecturer, speaker, engineer, and Author of Gift of Dyslexia, in which he presents his theory, based on empirical evidence that dyslexic children and adults develop learning difficulties due to an inherent gift - a gift for invention, innovation, and creativity based on the ability to perceive and think in pictures vs. words.
Tonight's AAL Show is Sponsored in Part by:
1. ISAC Corporation: Check out ISAC's New Company Distinguished Guest Page on Annie Armen Live by visiting http://www.worldtalkradio.com/guests.asp?sid=97 (http://www.worldtalkradio.com/guests.asp?sid=97),
and please show your support by visiting http://www.isaccorp.org (http://www.isaccorp.org).
2. BNI - Business Network International: With over 3,400 chapters worldwide, BNI is the world's largest professional business networking organization.
Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder and CEO of BNI, New York Times Best Seller Author, is a long time friend, supporter, and expert guest of/on Annie Armen Live T.V. and Radio.
Please show your support by visiting http://www.bni.com (http://www.bni.com), and stay tuned for the premiere of BNI advertisement on Dr. Misner's MASTERS of SUCCESS Book tonight on AAL Radio.
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Want to know more about TMAP, which will be used in the nation wide mental health screening? Who decides which drugs will be prescribed. Go here:
http://keyetv.com/local/local_story_352223055.html (http://keyetv.com/local/local_story_352223055.html)
It's the top one called
KEYE Investigates: 9/30/04 Drugs and your Tax Dollars
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I do know what happens to people who don't stop abusing substances. Against all NAMI would have to say about mental illness, they would also rather avoid being an open book for mental hospitals. Go to universal studios and see what happens. I was raised in a mental hospital and I had a guardian rescue me from being committed forever. I still have one that pulls me out of them and saves me from non-VA institutions. As far as mentalillnes, it is a big problem that must be addressed to America.There are stigmas attached to certain Labels that would cause you harm to believe them. Psychiatry is just pushing buttons and pulling strings under the guise to ease suffering.There s no sterotypical mental illness. It's just symtoms "doctors"go by to treat you with medications that will bring you out f psychosis, and there is rtherapy available o help get you back on track. Soon the doctors will be overiding the lawyers. I've got a VA lawyer and he got me an even better guardian than the one I had before. This is Bush's effort to ease your suffering. Shoot........I'm on opiates which are refered to as psypatropics and they keep me from being dysfunctional. Deprsssion and anxiety are treatable with the right "doctor". The cognitive disorder refered to as schizophrenis might not ever go away in your lifetime. You just learn not to talk about it. There is nthing wromg with you if you are tired of the pusher's unsanitary dope or the big socially acceptable killer"alcohol". There are many drugs available on the market for the disabled. You just have to go with their program. The government takes care of the rest. You'll even be able to file for temporary disability or permantent, whatever your condition and what the doctor's report is that goes to social security. If you want to stay online and take psych meds........online shrinks are on the way. You don't have to go in the hospital. There are plenty of websites and support groups throughout the internet community where you'll have real anonimty. MSN has all kinds of groups and even the tools to start your wn with plenty of cover. Security is at it's best with microsoft. They even goive you tools to stay safe online and download siftware that Stealths you and also gives you the opurtunity to turn in hackers that may be after you. Just try MSN one plan. If you wnt to stay online and get well at home. There are lots of dsupport groups out there. ........even for vampires. :smokin:
When the government's boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence.
-- Gary Lloyd
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FORWARD:
The Mental Health Policy that was approved in Illinois. :scared:
http://www.cps.k12.il.us/AboutCPS/Board ... 22-PO3.pdf (http://www.cps.k12.il.us/AboutCPS/Board/Board_Actions/FY04/september/04-0922-PO3.pdf)
The Illinois Children's Mental Health Act of 2003 (the "Act") requires that the Board establish a policy for incorporating social, emotional, and mental health development into the District's educational program. The Act also requires that the Board establish protocols for responding to children with social, emotional, or mental health problems that impact learning.....
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True, even though I couldn't click on your link. The kids aren't going to be on the psych drugs anymore. My report rom NAMI told me they are going to be using education and all kinds of therapy. Look at Dr. "Philips Magnavox". He's being sued for his quackery. :smokin:
Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and raise the quality of law enforcement. Can you conceive of any other measure that would accomplish so much to promote law and order?
--Economist Milton Friedman
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It is not the government or the schools responsibility to screen kids (or anyone else for that matter) for 'mental illness'. Schools are to provide academic education, not therapy. Are schools screening for heart disease, diabetes, or any 'legitimate' medical problem. That would be far more acceptable than screening for fraudulent 'mental illnesses'.
And yes, many (I'll wager, most) will be refered for drugs, as has and continues to happen- even in states where laws have been passed to prohibit school staff from dx and refering parents, and/or demanding that the kid be drugged.
You want the stigma removed from labels. I want the labels removed. They are all subjective and the drugs prescribed are not a 'cure'. What? Psychopharm hasn't created a drug that will alleviate the discomfort caused by being stigmatized or sterotyped with one of THEIR labels? Best case scenerio, they may ease symptoms, but at what cost? Financially and physically.
There are alternatives for 'schizophrenia' as well. If you're interested take a look:
Schizophrenia: A Scientific Delusion?
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php (http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php)?
type=de&id=2296
http://www.findarticles.com/p/search?tb ... +treatment (http://www.findarticles.com/p/search?tb=art&qt=Schizophrenia+%2F+Alternative+treatment)
Re The physical complications from the drugs:
Anti-psychotic drugs can cause brain changes. They reduce the various areas of shrinkage in the cerebrum, the seat of higher-level functions in the brain. They also cause swelling in the basal ganglia regions of the brain, which control more basic functions. These drugs have been implicated in causing a condition called tardive psychosis. Some researchers said that they may make people more susceptible to psychotic symptoms with long-term use. Psychiatrists also listed various "negative symptoms" for "schizophrenia":such as alogia(absence or lack of speech),avolition(lack of will power), and flattened affect(lack of emotional responsiveness). These negative "symptoms" are the result of neuroleptic drugs, according to a book by Bruce Levine, Commonsense Rebellion. Bruce Levine is a dissident psychologist who is affiliated with the International Center for the Study of Psychology and Psychiatry(www.icspp.org (http://www.icspp.org)). There are also withdrawl syndromes associated with neuroleptics(also called anti-psychotics).
And on Depression:
http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/De ... causes.htm (http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/Depression_Information/causes.htm)
My link works. I couldn't find anything on Dr. Philips Magnavox. Got any links?
Ironically, this just came to my mailbox. It is clearly what parents will be faced with if they refuse to cooperate.
You can listen to Patricia Weathers from ablechild.org briefly talk about her success in saving her son Michael from Child Protection Services in Part 3 of Exposing the Fraud of ADD / ADHD. http://www.worldtalkradio.com/archive.asp?aid=1709 (http://www.worldtalkradio.com/archive.asp?aid=1709)
Patricia states: "...That day when a case worker came to my door, my son would have been removed from my care had I not had a second private evaluation stating that he did not need "medication". Michael has been off ALL drugs since December 16, 1999. He has his sense of life back into him and continues to grow
physically and emotionally every day. Out of my family's experience and others like me, I realize that school districts cross medical lines each and every day.
This type of "medical" education bears little resemblance to the "academic education" of earlier years, falling miserably short. My first-hand experience of the public education system has and will lead me to homeschool my children."
[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2004-10-03 10:20 ]
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On 2004-10-03 09:36:00, Deborah wrote:
"
Schools are to provide academic education, not therapy. Are schools screening for heart disease, diabetes, or any 'legitimate' medical problem. That would be far more acceptable than screening for fraudulent 'mental illnesses'.
Actually, some school systems do a medical screening on all kids entering kindergarten or first grade. That started at least 14 years ago in Broward County, FL.
But I have a curve ball for you on your first statement. I don't think you can define a clear distinction between education and therapy. Or between education and religion or education and child rearing. And I don't think it ever was a good idea to relegate the education of our children to the government.
It's just not possible to reach a concensus on what is good education even among the families who send their kids to a particular school. Never mind trying to reconcile the interests of those families w/ those of the government providing the education.
the war on drugs is but one manifestation, albeit a very dramatic one, of the great moral contests of our age -- the struggle between two diametrically opposed images of man: between man as responsible moral agent, 'condemned' to freedom, benefiting and suffering from the consequences of his actions; and man as irresponsible child, unfit for freedom, 'protected' from its risks by agents of the omnicompetent state.
--Thomas Szasz
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I agree, and I can imagine something along the lines of the 'emotional growth cirruculm' used by BM facilities being pushed into the school system.
Kids loosing gym time or some other 'unimportant' class in order to attend Raps, Reals, Propheets, TASKS seminars, etc. etc.
It's just a matter of time:
http://www.iecafoundation.org/news/news.htm#workshop (http://www.iecafoundation.org/news/news.htm#workshop)
Non-Compliant Adolescents Workshop
Over sixty public school counselors attended the five-hour workshop with IECA* member consultants and school admission professionals presented by nationally acclaimed author and psychologist, Dr. Ross Greene. The cost of the workshop, underwritten by the Foundation, was waived for public school counselors. Additionally, the public school counselors were given breakfast, lunch, parking and Dr. Greene's book, The Explosive Child. Many of the counselors had doubts about whether the workshop would give them any strategies to take back to their schools, however, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive with 98% of the evaluations giving the workshop a very good rating.
IECA- Independent Educational Consultants Assoc.
Student and Family Call-In Session
The call-in session, publicized on television, in local high schools and at a college fair in St. Louis for weeks leading up May 1, was held at St. Louis' NBC affiliate, KSDK. For seven hours, 28 IECA members and Foundation Boardmembers utilized the television station's phone back to answer questions from over 300 students and parents. Questions ranged from how to get financial aid for college to options for teens at risk. Questions were also accepted via e-mail and were posted and captured on the IECA web site.
St. Louis Community Counseling Day had several positive outcomes:
?Public school counselors have a caseload of approximately 500 students per counselor. The professional development the St. Louis area counselors received impacted both the counselor and the hundreds of students these counselors assist each year.
? Counseling professionals from diverse backgrounds and working environments shared and exchanged valuable information about today's students.
? Students with limited accessibility to their counselor received one-on-one personal advice.
? A relationship between independent counselors and the St. Louis Public School System was formed, allowing for future exchanges.
The IECA Foundation hopes to replicate this program in Scottsdale, Arizona prior to the IECA Fall Conference in November 2003.
*******
And we certainly have seen Resource Realizations taregeting schools. These BM facilities could well be proving grounds for these austere, experimental techniques that will eventually find their way into public schools.
Homeschooling and private school are still a luxury that most families can't afford. As long as we have public education, they should stick to the business of education, which they are doing a miserable job with, and stay out of the business of diagnosing and providing 'therapy'.
If they would focus as much attention on changing their teaching methods and expectations, they might find they have litte to no problems with students.
Ex: My daughter told me yesterday that she'd been called in for a conference. My 10 yr old grandson was 'at risk' of failing the infamous diagnostic test given every two years in this district- I think she called it TASP. Doesn't matter that he making As and Bs. The diagnostic testing expects kids to know 50% of the material they will be exposed to in the current school year- PRIOR to being exposed to it. Insanity at its best!! She finally took my advice and told the teacher she didn't give a flying f about their diagnostic test. That she wasn't going to put herself or her son through the anxiety and distress they'd been through 2 years ago, when she paid a private consultant/tutor $500 to assess my grandson, only to fine out that he was right on course.
At risk of WHAT? Not knowing shit he hasn't been exposed to yet. Peak Intellegence. :roll: [ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2004-10-03 11:30 ]
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I've got a wet brain bitch (OBS) so piss off I need my doctor. :smokin:
Necessity never made a good bargain
--Benjamin Franklin Apr. 1734
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Please Click Here to Sign this Petition:
http://www.ablechild.org/declaration%20 ... fusal.aspx (http://www.ablechild.org/declaration%20of%20refusal.aspx)
Texans for Safe Education in Conjunction with Ablechild have Launched a Petition Drive in Response to the President?s ?New Freedom Commission? and Its Recommendations to ?Screen? all U.S. Citizens for ?Mental Illness.? Recently
President Bush?s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (NFC) has initiated what we call a government sponsored ?intrusion? program that would mandate all U.S. Citizens (to include every man, woman and child) to be ?screened? for ?
mental illness.? To Read More on this Initiative and the Direct Threat on Our Privacy and Health, please visit http://www.ablechild.org (http://www.ablechild.org) or http://www.wildestcolts.com (http://www.wildestcolts.com).
We Strongly Urge You to Say NO to Mandatory Mental Health Screenings and Sign this Petition posted on either site referenced above. Thank You for taking a stand for freedom!
--> Texans for Safe Education, Ablechild.ORG
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they should screen all the republicans and democratic representitives who did not speak out against the War in Iraq there have been many suicides and PTSD cases of soldiers just like vietnam. the war is a waste of money. Why is it that those who are in favor of it have never volunteered to serve in combat and sent others ? isn't it mentally ill how the conservatives try to argue both sides of every argument so desperate to preserve their phony social order when it is nepotism and cronyism that got them there management jobs not their self proclaimed superiority. Bush Cheney and Rumsfeld REFUSED to go to war when the honest Nixon asked them to. Yet they insist that we fund their war so their Wall street friends can have profits and there wives not have to work. As long as profit margins are great i guess the ends justify the means
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On 2004-10-14 13:56:00, Anonymous wrote:
"they should screen all the republicans and democratic representitives who did not speak out against the War in Iraq there have been many suicides and PTSD cases of soldiers just like vietnam. the war is a waste of money. Why is it that those who are in favor of it have never volunteered to serve in combat and sent others ? isn't it mentally ill how the conservatives try to argue both sides of every argument so desperate to preserve their phony social order when it is nepotism and cronyism that got them there management jobs not their self proclaimed superiority. Bush Cheney and Rumsfeld REFUSED to go to war when the honest Nixon asked them to. Yet they insist that we fund their war so their Wall street friends can have profits and there wives not have to work. As long as profit margins are great i guess the ends justify the means "
My father in law was for it, and he's a retired Army Major, who served in Korea and wherever else they sent him. My dad was for it. He was Army signal corps, stateside, during 'Nam. He would have gone if that had been where they ordered him. As it was, it wasn't where his orders went. My uncle was for it. He served two tours in 'Nam. My brother in law is a 2nd Lt right now, in Ranger school and training to go over---due to deploy in January with the 101st. My friend who's a Colonel at the Army War College is for it. The only reason he's in the Army War College instead of leading infantry is because he's old and his ticker isn't what it used to be. When he was young, he went wherever they sent him. My friend who's a veteran of Grenada and was in the 82nd Airborne is for it. My brother-in-law who's a retired Navy Senior Chief is for it--he served with his boat off Haifa in Gulf War I. My friend who's in the Army and just got promoted to Major at the beginning of the month, getting ready to start Ranger school in a couple of weeks is for it. My husband's buddy from school who is an Army Major in Signal is for it---and he was in a headquarters unit in Kuwait during the runup to war, and was sent into combat in Afghanistan--he was on the last plane out from Kandahar.
Hello? You're obviously not from a military family, and you obviously don't have many friends in the military, or you'd know how fucking stupid what you're saying actually is.
The overwhelming majority of the troops understand exactly why they're over there, and are all for it.
Oppose it if you want. It's a free country. My family helped make it one, and has helped each generation to keep it that way.
Just don't lie and pretend the troops don't, by overwhelming majority, understand and support the war. Sure, it fools other people with few to no friends or family willing to sign up and serve in the military---just like somebody fooled you.
But it doesn't fool the troops and those of us who are their families.
Timoclea
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Where to start with you my fellow patriot. First of all i am from a military family. go read any book about mcarthur and read who his assistant was. The majority of troops are not from MILITARY FAMILIES they are there because of the economic inequality in america caused by republicans who only care that the price of stock goes up when they lay someone off. It is lack of money not patriotism that led to the MAJORITY of our troops enlisting. once they are there there have been numerous cases of men being driven mad and stressed out by the war just like VIETNAM but as long as it is not your family member i guess you look the other way. Just because i and the rest of america have not bought your nationalism defend america brainwashing that has been fed to you by generations does not make me STUPID. it is unfair to call people stupid just because they do not make their living off the sweat of others. do you think george w bush ever had to work a night job while he went to community college? on a cold day in hell. if you believe that lie that they lost his records then you should ask every vetran you know if they have ever had any of their records lost. Watch Nixon the movie by director oliver stone. I am not pretending or lying when i think that the troops don't understand or support the war. they are coerced into saying that the war is right because of the fear of being fragged and vietnam vets can tell you all about that if they are not homeless and stressed out. The witch hunt mentality of military culture would accuse any troop who said he did not support the war of being a traitor and then railroad him to some brig. Bush sent your family members over there because he said there were weapons of mass destruction in iraq. a UN weapons inspector named scott ( last name forgotten, but he is a vet and on news a lot) said there were no weapons of md in iraq. bush lied to get us into a war just like johnson lied to get us into vietnam and your relatives can tell you all about the faked gulf of tonkin incident and the book THE PENTAGON PAPERS by daniel ellsberg. I resent your saying that i am fooling innocent people. i do not believe we should send anyone to a war that the bush and cheney offspring have refused to fight in. Your military pals can tell you that there is a shortage of troops right now and many are being kept past their enlistment because there is no one to relieve them and even minority communities are refusing to enlist and this has prompted rep charles rangle d- new york to call for a new military draft for ALL americans. If we cannot get the poor to volunteer why should we be over there if we are understaffed? the shortage of troops and overworking of those there only stresses them out and leads to PTSD and homelessness because they are so traumatized that they cannot adjust to civilian life. I salute those who serve for 20 years and then retire on a pension and do not harass the rest of us by becoming city policemen. Once you have served your time, sell your house buy some stocks, buy a modular home and some land and spend your days working for habitat for humanity like jimmy carter
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24% of the troops polled said they would vote for John Kerry so i wonder about this military family types who say the troops believe Bush and support the war. recently troops refused to go on a mission because they said it was " suicide" When military intelligence says something you have to read between the lines and remember that may lie to America to protect their pensions and Careers. yes , folks going to war is about Money not Freedom and our National Guard enrollment is down 10% but hey who needs the truth when you be an arrogant flag waving loud pipe harley riding asshole who hates drug users but ignores Rush Limbaugh and his hillbilly heroin bust. i guess if you are rich and believe in capitalism the truth and equal justice for all does not apply to you
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A local American Legion post came down squarely on the side of Kerry, mostly because of the war issue. Check out some of the quotes here:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_260218.html (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_260218.html)
These sound a whole lot more like the veterans I run into than what the teevee tells me.There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.
-- HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, speech (1965)
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A MUST READ....
IL Children's Mental Health Plan gives legislators headache
SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois recently gained national and international attention as the first state to put into law a template for mental health screening that could become a national model for government mandated "evidence-based practices screening" for emotional and social disorders for the state's children. But now, some state legislators are expressing concern that those putting the law into practice are either over-reaching its original intent, or the language of the law is problematic.
Read More...
http://illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=18658 (http://illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=18658)
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October 19, 2004
State of Connecticut: Mental Health - Finding Unmet Mental Health Needs in the State of Connecticut: Budget Considerations:
Statement by Sheila Matthews, National Vice President, http://www.ablechild.org (http://www.ablechild.org)
Thank you for holding these hearings to assist Governor Rell on input for the upcoming Fiscal Budget for unmet Mental Health Needs in the State of Connecticut.
Our organization Ablechild.org located here in Connecticut and throughout the Country has identified clear unmet mental health needs, which require immediate attention. Our organization has testified before the FDA Advisory Panel that recommended the Black Box Warning on Antidepressants, as well as federal and state investigative congressional hearings on behavioral drugs and public schools as well as foster care. I personally testified on the first law in the Country to prevent school personnel from recommend behavioral drugs to parents, which now serves as model legislation around the Country. We have been featured on CNN, Hannity & Colmes, NPR Radio, and the Front Cover of the New York Times.
We have six current recommendations, and would like to share them with the State of Connecticut and look forward to working with the State to ensure their implementation.
1. We recommend that current laws be enforced to protect and ensure that potential mental health patients receive their rights to full informed consent prior to psychiatric treatment and the right to refuse psychiatric treatment. We must do better in this critical area of service.
2. Another unmet need in the field of mental health is accountability. It is our recommendation and request to create a data bank at the States Medical Examiner's office, which would provide an independent clarification of statistics. These statistics would include the number of people taking psychiatric drugs and would aid in determining the amounts of deaths contributed to their use. A critical need is a Non-psychiatric support system at the time of death of a mental health patient.
3. Our third recommendation is to open the bidding process beyond psychiatric behavioral health vendors to encourage companies specializing in education, vision, hearing, and nutrition to offer services to children mandated into State Care. "The Right to Treatment" does not mean potential mental health clients are forced into psychiatric treatment. There should be many resources and options to choose from beyond the psychiatric ones for potential mental health clients.
4. Foster care has been the area of focus recently in many states. Mental health abuse occurring with the foster care system, without accountability is rampant in this country and needs to be addressed. Connecticut should focus on improving all abuses within its own foster care system. It is urgent that the State take the necessary steps to protect Foster care children from being over-drugged, and trafficked into clinical drug trials while in State care. We are urgently waiting to help and we requested and recommended a full investigation by the Attorney General Offices and still wait for a response and action to be taken.
5. Our fifth recommendation and request is to ensure that the budget does not use mental health grants to market selective research and pro-drug, pro-psychiatric materials to public schools. Grants must not be used to market bias information to promote the psychiatric industry. Parents and Advocates must realize via written informed consent they are participating in a grant and the grant-funding source disclosed. Parents and Advocates must always have the right not to participate in the grant. There must be mental health grants made available that do not require a parent to label their child with a mental illness in order to participate. The state must make information available to the public on alternative treatments, and non-psychiatric approaches to good mental health.
6. Our last recommendation is based upon the U.K.'s 2003 ban of 8 different antidepressants for children and this year's investigation by the FDA itself into the link of suicide and violence caused by these same antidepressants. This past Friday, October 15th, the FDA placed the strongest possible warnings, known as "black box warnings, on these drugs due to their propensity to cause suicide and violence in patients taking them. Immediate access to this information needs to be provided to ensure overall public safety. The State needs to take measure to disseminate this information to its residents. The State must do a public awareness campaign on the link to suicide and antidepressant use in children as well as the dangers of controlled substances. Non-psychiatric detoxification programs should be set-up to help mental health patients withdraw from the antidepressants to ensure proper oversight to prevent suicides. We also request the State comply with the 1965 Drug Abuse Control Amendment enacted to deal with problems caused by abuse of depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
As an organization that works with families that have lost a love one to drug induced suicide, we plan to continue to reach out to all, to protect innocent children and adults from wrongful and senseless deaths.
There is plenty of room for all to work together to ensure that human rights and the right to treatment are achieved. Our Organization is standing by to help ensure our government provides basic constitutional sound science-based mental health services in the State of Connecticut.
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As a fully life functional bi polar patient (living without meds) I've managed to go to College (university of Chicago0 and now am attending grad school at Northwestern while in the middle of my 8 year relationship. the government should stay the fuck out of mental health. That is really dangerous grounds
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Amen sister,
Did you ever take drugs?
What has worked for you?
Therapy? Herbs? Counseling?
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god damn bush nigger stop that shit man
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Where to start with you my fellow patriot. First of all i am from a military family. The majority of troops are not from MILITARY FAMILIES they are there because of the economic inequality in america caused by republicans who only care that the price of stock goes up when they lay someone off. It is lack of money not patriotism that led to the MAJORITY of our troops enlisting. once they are there there have been numerous cases of men being driven mad and stressed out by the war just like VIETNAM but as long as it is not your family member i guess you look the other way. Just because i and the rest of america have not bought your nationalism defend america brainwashing that has been fed to you by generations does not make me STUPID. it is unfair to call people stupid just because they do not make their living off the sweat of others. do you think george w bush ever had to work a night job while he went to community college? on a cold day in hell. if you believe that lie that they lost his records then you should ask every vetran you know if they have ever had any of their records lost. Watch Nixon the movie by director oliver stone. I am not pretending or lying when i think that the troops don't understand or support the war. they are coerced into saying that the war is right because of the fear of being fragged and vietnam vets can tell you all about that if they are not homeless and stressed out. The witch hunt mentality of military culture would accuse any troop who said he did not support the war of being a traitor and then railroad him to some brig. Bush sent your family members over there because he said there were weapons of mass destruction in iraq. a UN weapons inspector named scott ( last name forgotten, but he is a vet and on news a lot) said there were no weapons of md in iraq. bush lied to get us into a war just like johnson lied to get us into vietnam and your relatives can tell you all about the faked gulf of tonkin incident and the book THE PENTAGON PAPERS by daniel ellsberg. I resent your saying that i am fooling innocent people. i do not believe we should send anyone to a war that the bush and cheney offspring have refused to fight in. Your military pals can tell you that there is a shortage of troops right now and many are being kept past their enlistment because there is no one to relieve them and even minority communities are refusing to enlist and this has prompted rep charles rangle d- new york to call for a new military draft for ALL americans. If we cannot get the poor to volunteer why should we be over there if we are understaffed? the shortage of troops and overworking of those there only stresses them out and leads to PTSD and homelessness because they are so traumatized that they cannot adjust to civilian life. I salute those who serve for 20 years and then retire on a pension and do not harass the rest of us by becoming city policemen. Once you have served your time, sell your house buy some stocks, buy a modular home and some land and spend your days working for habitat for humanity like jimmy carter
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I still think you're in moonbat and tinfoil hat territory. My brother-in-law is in Ranger School, about halfway through, as a 2nd Looey, he's branch detailed infantry, and he's deploying in January. I know how he feels about this war and he's not afraid of "getting railroaded into some brig" by anybody.
I know a lot of people in the military, officer and enlisted, and none of the people *I* know feel the way you apparently do.
The people who enlist in the military for economic reasons--job training--end up in REMF MOS's that provide a certain amount of job experience they can use after they get out.
The people who enlist in the military in combat MOS's are overwhelmingly, disproportionately, from my own subculture in the US---a subculture I know *very* well. That subculture overwhelmingly supports this war and is voting for Bush. These are the people who are actually deployed out in front at the sharp end.
It's liberals and Kerry supporters who are freaked out at the idea that they might personally be drafted. My husband was IRR until very recently, and hasn't gotten his discharge papers yet. He fulfilled his obligation, so he ought to be getting discharged, but if he isn't and they call him, he'll go and be glad of the opportunity to serve his country. If he thought they'd have taken him, he already would have *asked* to be activated.
Your experience just doesn't match with mine at all. Out of all the military people I know, I don't know a single one who feels like they can't vote for anybody they darned well please for President, or that they can't answer a poll in support of anyone they darned well please. They overwhelmingly support Bush, and in my experience that support is genuine, well thought-out, and sincere.
Whether Bush is a better candidate than Kerry or a worse one, if you really, truly think the overwhelming majority of the military don't *genuinely* prefer him for President over Kerry, then you need to be fitted for a tinfoil hat.
This is America. Support anyone you want for President, but your opinion on what the majority of servicepeople think is so inaccurate it's loony.
Timoclea
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Does he regret his words, or that his choice of words exposed his true beliefs?
Mental health official rebuked
Right groups, welfare agency critics call for Tarrant doctor to resign
07:17 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 27, 2004
By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN - Civil rights groups and critics of the state's child welfare agency demanded the resignation Tuesday of a prominent Tarrant County mental health official for telling a legislative hearing that many foster children "come from bad gene pools."
Gary Bledsoe, president of the Conference of Texas NAACP Branches, said at a Capitol news conference that the comment by Dr. Joseph Burkett, medical director of Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant County, "invites racism."
Herschel Smith of the Harris County Leadership Council said blacks are "still being stereotyped" by state Child Protective Services. "For a psychiatrist to put forth a genetic theory like this is horribly irresponsible."
Dr. Burkett, a psychiatrist who has been the Tarrant County agency's top medical officer since 2000, said he did nothing wrong and has no plans to quit.
Dr. Burkett said he was "not alluding to race" or belittling foster children in remarks he made Oct. 4 to a House panel studying whether mental health drugs are prescribed too often for the state's 17,000 foster children.
"I should stretch and give you a little more medical perspective on mental illness," he said as he testified on behalf of the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians. "A lot of these kids come from bad gene pools. They don't have stable parents making good decisions or else many of them, most of them, would not be in foster care."
On Tuesday, Dr. Burkett said: "There are pretty strong genetic factors in mental illness. The comment ... was really a comment about the fact that these children are in the foster care system because they don't have normal parents making good decisions. ..."
"That's really the connection I'm making with genetics."
He said, "They may not have been the best choice of words. ... I regret that I offended anyone."
Dr. Burkett served on Child Protective Services' Advisory Committee on Psychotropic Medications, which in August urged the state to allow doctors to prescribe for mentally disturbed foster children all of the medications generally available to the Medicaid population.
E-mail http://www.house.state.tx.us/fx/av/comm ... 004a51.ram (http://www.house.state.tx.us/fx/av/committee78/41004a51.ram)
Starts at hour 6:22
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When the army cannot brainwash or coerce people into enlisting or reinlisting they label them as "crazy" those labeled are stressed out and suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from all the coercion and lies fed to them by army control freaks who call them disloyal for speaking out about the CULT that is the american military. The troops are puppets for dick cheney and his cronyism so he can profit off the tools needed to prolong this war that has cost us 200 billion. Wisconsin, Florida, Oregon, Nevada, New mexico and Ohio voters you are the ones who will decide if Bush will be allowed to further destroy our economy. These states are tied so get out and vote on this Tuesday November 2 so we can put an end to the lies of Karl Rove. just read vanity fair music issue on sale now to hear about how he smeared john mccain in 2000. john served 6 years in captivity for all of us and you can see how rove lied about john so that silver spoon bush could have a job. that is right folks. bush destroyed every company he got his hands on before the texas rangers. do you think bush ever worked a night job or went to community college? he went to these ivy league places because the cronyism there is what gets people into positions of power in corporations and in government. it is all manipulation and deception. dick cheney paid his lesbian daughter 100k a year so the media would not hear what he really thinks of her and how she was ostracized by him for being a lesbian. ask your local media why she is not allowed to talk to them ? Cheney made 40 million last year all by eliminating jobs and selling war toys to you the taxpayer. GET OUT AND VOTE FOR KERRY ON NOV 2 IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE ECONOMY OF YOUR STATE.
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When I got to Portsmouth Regional Medical hospital, in VA. we were all in one room had no doctors to talk to and were each given 30 milograms of haladol a day. Some with a side effect pills......... some without. Some of us turned into pretzels. You know they make up these drugs and test them on people before they even find a use for them. Same thing in the Veterans administration. They love to keep their soldiers and sailors sedated damned good. Doesn't that make one wonder why so many vets don't make it? The only comfort you get in the VA is a smoke break outside for times a day. :smokin: All they give you is the godamned television set, and an uncomfortable chair.
I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole
--Malcolm X
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On 2004-10-31 01:54:00, Admiral Nelson wrote:
"When I got to Portsmouth Regional Medical hospital, in VA. we were all in one room had no doctors to talk to and were each given 30 milograms of haladol a day. Some with a side effect pills......... some without. Some of us turned into pretzels. You know they make up these drugs and test them on people before they even find a use for them. Same thing in the Veterans administration. They love to keep their soldiers and sailors sedated damned good. Doesn't that make one wonder why so many vets don't make it? The only comfort you get in the VA is a smoke break outside for times a day. :smokin: All they give you is the godamned television set, and an uncomfortable chair.I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole
--Malcolm X
"
I agree with you that the VA needs reform and a bigger budget to fund quality care for injured or disabled veterans.
Combining bureaucracy with an inadequate budget always gets bad results.
Timoclea
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Nobody cares about the currency of buckets of blood for their economical wages. They have no respect for the military either. A lot of these boys on't die in vain and there are people living off the fat of the land and just could care less about reforming the VA. They'd complain about their tax dollars. Not their own safety to live in a land like America. Everybody wants it all and don't care who has to die for it.
I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.
--Thomas Edison, American inventor
War is Hell.
_________________
"It's a Secular Crime to Mankind, something they've been speculating too long"
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"Show me a sane man, and I'll cure him for you"............This is a lot of what the mental Health professionals will be doing to you if you fall prey to a psychiatrist. They are mostly all into Eastern Philosophy and other mind-manipulation. Its all just pulling strings and pushing buttons in psychiatry. There is n set "stigma" or set diagnosis. It's just terms doctors use to prescribe medications for their patients. Some of these anti-depressants will have black box warnings on them soon. Do you know why? They make you commit suicide. And nobody will ever even miss you when you disappear into the mental health system. Not your bar-tender. Your family will believe our lying doctor, and you will be labeled as a "nut" or crazy person to all your friends and relatives and the government and everyone else involved in your hospitalization will also capitalize on your misery. No your buddies might not come visit you either. They'll be to busy laughing about you. You'll be the vtalk of the town until finally you might just hurt someone or yourself. If not you'll be stuck in the sysytem and it's a brainwashing worse than any of these progams you all have been subjected to. Take care of your body and watch your company and who you keep it with. The pusher just delivers you to the shrink. He don't care, he's a businessman, just blike the mental health system makes moneuy off of people.Hey It works for the poor doctors and social workers and nurses in the psych ward. But you'll pay the price in the end. Take it from me I'm still stuck in there.
Whoever kindles the flames of intolerance in America is lighting a fire underneath his own home.
--Harold E. Stassen, 1947
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Insane asylums in the earlier centeries were just torchure chambers wjhere they would put you on a rack or even hang you by a meat-hook in your abdomin. Ever been to the London wax Museum? Nw they say they have a more humane way to torchure individuals. They get you hooked on their dope. It's clean yeah sure, and if our lucky you can walk out, but you always have to report back and let your shrink mindfuck you. True some people are just a little criminally insane and should receive treatment. But for the most part of mentally ill people I deal with on a daily basis are really quite sane. At first thy get a diagnosis and think there is something wromg with them, because if you're not crazy before you get in a mental ospital you will be when you leave. For the majority of cases I've cseen. There are some that follow their programs and do eventually get freed. Then there is all this talk about support groups ect. of whicj I belong to some online. They are even coming up with online pyshotherapists. Its not that they don't mean well. Their intentions are well-paved because there is something wrong with them. Look at the people who work in the mental healt field as professionals. They were probably once patients themselves at one time or another. It's all fun and games to them thoough at these VA outpatient clinics. They are in such a hurry to enlighten you tat you have a problem. The problem? It's them. I'm on just straight up opiates right now, of two different kinds. psyhpatropics are opiates. So if you really want good drugs and don't mind putting up with a few screamers and madmen running around try a mental ospitalo. no, On scond hand if you stay with the pushers unclean ,cut and sometimes pisened dope you just might die. Some pills lke zyprexa are the big lie of the century. It's a fire and brimstome pill. It scars you for life. Or you've heard all the jokes about the thorozine schffle. all the side effects these medications have will surely make you very irratable and uncomfortable. It's a humane civil torchure scheme run by powers you can't even see. If you do don't freakout. It's called all sorts of things like "hallucenations" delutions" ect. If you study tratitional values you will know theses things you see and hear are real, and sometimes they can hurt you. It all depends on how you handle it. Faith, that will get you through the slaughter unharmed. But if you do become friendly with these beings you'll have a long trip back. It takes some people years to get back from some places in the mind or in the universe. You might just get kidnapped. Midnight rapists will get you in your bedcsometimes and if you don't get seducedcover to the enemy it really feels painful to resist. That's why I think Porn can ruin an individuals life. It's just another orgasm, Gorbasm, whatever. Is one big fuck worth throwing yourself into all kinds of trials and tribulations? Some people think so..........I don't. Soon they will be going after the real cults soon and as history alway repeats itself you might find some bit of ethnic cleansing going on if you haven't already noticed. Freedom of religion is what tis country is about. But, it's not that casee at all. It's a big lie.You don't have any freedoms in a free society. You're manipulated by the mass medias and controlled by television and newspapers. In a communistic societ you have a free media because you are already brainwashed or at least you are somewhat more law abiding out of fear by your schooling. I wonder sometimes if the cold war ever did end. Or did we turn into commies and think of ourselves as democratic and people self-governing only out of our fears. I don't care who wins the election. It'll be the same for me. Nothing will change except maybe they will all take it out n the new guy instead of me and others like me. You might be dealing with a Roman Catholic........Anything is better than what Bush has done to me. Whenever tere's a demacrat in office the Republicans spend more time bashing them than me. I don't even have the right to vote and don't care. But when there's a Repubican in office every god-damned time its like they GOP is to grandiose to even see reality except through their media. I think if this Kerry guy gets in there will be a lot of stress off my ass. I hate the Bush's family and all the Republican presidents. I'm not being very poltical but it's like I served Now I can't belong. Never again, and I never will. I don't even like federal turf anymore since Bush's family took over even the CIA Bush in the United Nations building many years ago. They Fall of the Soviet Union was just entertainment for Republican's and even some moderate Democrats. Shrinks are political. They are Religious and very dangerous csexual predetors some of them. Now with the Democrat going to see the Pope.....I just wonder if I'll ever be free. I share a similar burden that the Pope has. Maybe I'll be free if they ever establish a dialougue and start reforming. If not, I'm used to it.Please vote against Republicans for ME, because I don't have a voice and they rally don't give a shit.
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys
--P.J. O'Rourke
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Nelson? You're psychotic. Or you're doing a good job of faking being psychotic. I'm not a pshrink, so I have no idea what specific diagnosis, but I can tell you're actively psychotic. I'm sorry that you find that the antipsychotics you've been prescribed in the past had too many side effects for you, and I hope the drug companies develop antipsychotics with fewer side effects in the future.
I also hope you don't hurt anyone while in this dangerous condition.
Timoclea
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Psychosis is just a different state of consciousness. No need to worry. I'm quite harmless. I've only been known to hurt myself when concsious but when I'm off my meds, I've been told of violent acts. I take my meds a prescribed and get through each day one day at a time. So big deal, I'm psycjotic. I take anti-psychotic medication and it keeps my brain alive. Now you probably know why smoking cigarettes isn't a bad thing for me. It's a luxury. Put yourself in my shoes. What would you do if your nerves were shot? :smokin:
One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation.
--Thomas Brackett Reed
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I think he's been smoking SOMETHING...
Why doncha go sleep that off, Nelson?Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundation, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America.
James Madison
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LISTEM UP GOOD ASSHOLE. i WOKE UP TO THIS SHITY FORUM AGAIN TODAY AND YOUR SLANDER ONLY MAKES ME WANT TO CHALLENGE YOU TO A PISS TEST. I DO NOT SMOKE POT AND I SLEPT QUITE WELL LAST NIGHT FOR FUCKING SCUMBAG ASSHOLE. JUST CAUSE YOU ARE IGNORANT i THINK YOU OUGHT TO JUST KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND BE THE FUCKING DUMBASS YOU ARE. YOU DON'T KNOW ME. NOBODY KNIOWS ME BUT MY GOD YOU LITTLE FUCKNG SISSY SHIT WORM. :smokin: You hide behind your little evil shroud because you are an evil person.A liar and a deciever. Probably some kind of witch or Satanist I presume. On second thought as God is my witness I'll see you in court on doomsday you fucking cockroach.
When I started as a federal narcotics agent, the budget that we were working with, it was less than $5 million a year, and there was only 125 agents for the entire world to work the narcotic trade that we were fighting in those days. Times have changed. The gluttony has grown.
--Nick Navarro, former Broward, FL Sherrif
_________________
"It's a Secular Crime to Mankind, something they've been speculating too long, and I've lost all tact of reasoning over it"
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:rofl:
Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror.
--Francois Marie Arouet "Voltaire", French author and playwright
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I don't have to answer to you. You are an annoying pice of shit so why don't you just go to hell ok do us all a favor and just do your own thing til your demons eat you alive.
One does not have to appeal to God to set the initial conditions for the creation of the universe, but if one does He would have to act through the laws of physics.
--Stephen Hawking, English scientist
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Oh, sure! Its nice having demons show up. They bring me groceries and help me pick up chicks.
Sometimes on a boring day, we have tea and crumpets in the gazebo out by the lake. You should come sometime :grin: A free people ought...to be armed...
George Washington, 1790
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Does it not strike us as alarming that rather than take a look at the causes behind current trends in "mental illness" we would rather just issue more drugs. Isn't it alarming that the FDA has a monopoly on "cures", and only pharmaceutical companies with millions to spare can get drug liscenses. You have any idea how many herbal and natural remedies there are out there that are downright inexpensive. What role do lifestyle and diet play in the mental health field. All of these are "common sense" approaches to the issue. Comprehensive screening for ambiguous illness that are partly ficticious anyhow is an absurd approach. It is strictly in the interest of government control, and $$$ for the Industry. Who gets to vote on that bill. Write your representatives today!!! The American KGB are moving in. They're starting files on the third graders...what's next. Really folks, Is this all necessary. As if the schools don't have enough hoops to jump through. Teachers can hardly teach nowdays because they sweat the standardized tests...not they gotta worry about their students and themselves being "diagnosed" with mental illnesses. The current methodology for diagnosis works just fine. Teachers with concerns send students to counselors. Counselors arrange for Doctors. It's only used when necessary. Why should we shell out more money for more unneccessary testing that will probably be detrimental anyway! Sheesh!
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the sooner we all embrace our psychoses and truly comprehend that they, like all other psychological realms indeed do NOT belong to any of us individually, the sooner we can all get over them without medications of any sort, without fighting, without hatred and without worrying... :roll:
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American Assoc of Physicians and Surgeons:
Tell Congress to Just Say No to Universal Psychiatric Screening and Drugging Children
http://www.aapsonline.org/alerts/mhflyer.pdf (http://www.aapsonline.org/alerts/mhflyer.pdf)
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Great site! I don't think I've ever even heard of this organization before now. Great find, thanks!
[1971 - 2001] the darkest chapter in Federal law enforcement history.
Committee on Government Reform
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More:
Dr. Karen R. Effrem, another physician and leading opponent of mandatory screening recently stated, "Universal mental health screening and the drugging of children, as recommended by the New Freedom Commission [presidential commission], needs to be stopped so that many thousands if not millions of children will be saved from receiving stigmatizing diagnoses that would follow them for the rest of their lives. America's school children should not be medicated by expensive, ineffective, and dangerous medications based on vague and dubious diagnoses."
Dr. Effrem warns of the following:
...
8. Merging screening with the academic standards required by No Child Left Behind, as is happening in Illinois, will lead to diagnosis for political reasons. School mental health and violence prevention programs funded by NCLB and government counterterrorism operations are already using such criteria as "homophobia" and "defenders of the US Constitution against federal government and the UN" to label school children and US citizens as mentally unstable and violent.
More: http://www.aapsonline.org/confiden/mhspaul.htm (http://www.aapsonline.org/confiden/mhspaul.htm)
Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man.
--Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat
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The UK banned all SSRIs except Prozac, for minors, and it looks like it's got some real problems too.
Not to mention, the stuff is turning up in our municipal water sources. (Probably in addition to Zoloft, Wellbutrin, etc etc etc)
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cf ... -04&cat=AN (http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=SSRIS-BONES-11-11-04&cat=AN)
Study finds Prozac may inhibit bone growth in children
By LEE BOWMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
November 11, 2004
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/ ... 22315.html (http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2004/11/11/hscout522315.html)
Prozac May Stunt Growing Bones
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
And is this any surprise?
http://www.hoinews.com/news/headlines/1177456.html (http://www.hoinews.com/news/headlines/1177456.html)
Ritalin Addiction Hits Local Teens
HOI 19 News Illinois
Monica Landeros
Kids in the Heart of Illinois are getting addicted to a very common prescription drug.
Ritalin is giving them an amphetamine-like high that helps them hyper-focus on schoolwork.
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mp ... an/2898808 (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2898808)
Nov. 12, 2004, 11:39PM
Strayhorn will probe drug use on children
Comptroller asks for medical data on children in foster care
By POLLY ROSS HUGHES
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn launched an investigation Friday into potential fraud and abuse in a foster care system that spends $4 million a year on mind-altering drugs, even for children of preschool age.
"Physicians are prescribing these drugs for children as young as 3 years old," Strayhorn said.
"I can't imagine prescribing mind-altering drugs for a 3-year-old baby."
Strayhorn said she's asking the Health and Human Services Commission to hand over detailed Medicaid records so she can track which drugs are prescribed for individual foster care children and whether fraudulent patterns exist.
"I am requesting prescription drug and claims data for foster children for an entire year to determine whether these medications are being prescribed to make the children more submissive," she said, "or to line the pockets of unscrupulous and uncaring doctors and pharmaceutical companies, or both."
The Texas Medical Association issued a statement saying Strayhorn has "serious misunderstanding" about the use of such drugs in children and said her examination so far does not put the drug data in a clinical context to tell whether the drugs were prescribed appropriately.
"Hogwash," she responded, adding that she understands the drugs have not been approved for use in children.
"I also understand that no child needs to be on 14 different drugs, and I severely question a 3-year-old being put on (the antipsychotic) Risperdal and a radiologist in San Antonio prescribing psychotropic drugs to children in El Paso."
Privacy concerns
Health and Human Services Commission spokeswoman Jennifer Harris said that the commission's inspector general and the Department of State indicated that Strayhorn's request will be subject to federal privacy law.
"We're willing to provide her with any information that she requests as long as it doesn't violate federal law protecting a patient's privacy," she said, adding that the commission already is overseeing a similar study.
HHSC's Inspector General Brian Flood and Health Commissioner Eduardo Sanchez are conducting a broad review into all children who receive Medicaid and are prescribed psychiatric drugs, but Strayhorn wishes to specifically examine medications prescribed to abused or neglected children in the state's foster care custody.
The commission oversees four major social service agencies and reports directly to Strayhorn's political rival Gov. Rick Perry.
Earlier report cited
Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders said Strayhorn, as chairman of a Medicaid fraud task force that reports to the Legislature every two years, already has access to confidential Medicaid information and has authorization to sign confidentiality agreements with the agency.
Widespread psychiatric drug use in foster children came under scrutiny earlier this year in Strayhorn's major report, "Forgotten Children," which also detailed physical and sexual abuse of foster care children and unsanitary living conditions.
"My report uncovered the fact that large numbers of psychotropic drugs are being prescribed to children in the foster care system, even though, according to the Food and Drug Administration, many of these drugs are not labeled for use in children and have serious side effects such as suicidal tendencies, diabetes and cardiac arrhythmia," Strayhorn said.
She said she was alarmed that in her review of a single month of data, two antipsychotic drugs - Risperdal and Zyprexa - made up half of the drugs prescribed to foster children.
Federal warning issued
Last June, these two drugs, along with Clozaril, Seroquel, Geodon and Abilify, became subject to a Food and Drug Administration warning of dangerous side effects.
The warning states the drugs carry an increased risk for hyperglycemia and diabetes and that the safety and effectiveness of the drugs has not been established for children.
The FDA also issued a warning last spring that adults and children taking 10 commonly prescribed antidepressants must be closely monitored for worsening depression and increased risk of suicide.
The drugs include Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Serzone and Remeron.
Parents who joined Strayhorn at a press conference credited her actions for helping save the lives of children.
Child heard 'voices'
Lori Holland of Austin said her son experienced highly disturbing side effects when placed under powerful psychiatric drugs.
On Zyprexa, he began hearing "voices in his head," she said.
"He put on a tremendous amount of weight, 85 pounds to be exact," she said, adding that as doctors continued to increase his medications starting at age 5, he experienced troubles in school and with the law and was hospitalized repeatedly.
Holland said she thinks her son's problems were the result of post-traumatic stress after suspected sexual abuse around the age of 4 or 5 years old.
She said he was removed from his family's home as a preteen when he committed a crime that victimized a younger child in the home.
After being sent to a facility in Lockhart called Pegasus, she said, he has been weaned off the psychiatric drugs, is attending high school and playing baseball.
Earlier, DEPENDING ON THE DOCTOR IN CHARGE!!!, he was variously diagnosed as suffering from attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or sociopathy.
[That's a common and serious problem with 'subjective' dx. No objective tests, no biological markers. It's anyone's guess, literally. Don't let your child be a guinea pig. Decline mental health screening in your public school.]
polly.hughes@chron.com
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If you really want to know, get a CAT scan. CAT scans of normal brains don't look the same as CAT scans of people with certain specific mental health problems.
Yes, it's still "subjective" on the part of the neurologist looking at the CAT scan, because noticing the differences is a relatively new thing and *most* people are fine with the "subjective" diagnosis from a psychiatrist without going to the expense of getting a CAT scan.
It's certainly *possible* to develop objective tests for mental illnesses---it's not that it's not *possible*---you can do a spinal tap and measure serotonin levels, for example.
The "problem" (if there is one) is with demand. Most people would rather take their psychiatrist's word for it based on the diagnostic criteria in the DSM IV than go through expensive tests like spinal taps and CAT scans.
It's not that many people don't genuinely have serious mental illnesses that *need* medical treatment---take bipolar disorder as an example. 2% of the population. Well, 2 out of 100 sounds like just a few, until you figure that there are about 290 *million* people in the country.
It's not that those disorders aren't genuinely physically, medically based.
It's not that it's not *possible* to develop objective tests.
What it is is that a whole lot of people are less concerned about the subjectivity of the diagnostic process than you are, and more concerned with getting their problems effectively treated.
And so they aren't willing to develop an objective test that would be *very* expensive when the subjective criteria are working---from their (and my) perspective.
I'm not saying you're wrong to want objective lab tests.
I'd like for there to be objective lab tests, and so would probably every psychiatrist or psychologist out there.
I just don't think the benefit to be gained from an objective test is more than the cost and expense of such tests *at our current level of technology*.
Now when and if CAT scans get cheaper, or we identify the genes involved and can use them to supplement other diagnostic criteria to avoid misidentifying one disease as another, or in combination with some sort of test that tells us whether the genetic vulnerability has been triggered----when we get objective tests that are cost effective, and sooner or later we will, I'll be very glad.
But right now, I'm more concerned for my early-onset bipolar daughter that she get and stay stabilized on medication because she's crippled without it.
For most of us that have mentally ill children, or who are mentally ill ourselves, we're a lot more concerned with getting effective treatment. Getting some sort of lab test to confirm the diagnosis is secondary---and a distant second at that.
Yes, psychiatric medications can have potentially serious side effects, but those side effects do not occur in all patients----and there are a lot of patients that experience very few of the side effects, and the minor ones at that.
For patients who do experience side effects on a particular medication, the pdoc just changes them to a different medication if at all possible until they find a med or combination of meds that stabilizes that patient as much as possible with as few side-effects for that patient as possible.
You act like those side effects are definite risks to all patients that are going to hurt them with no possibility of mitigating the hurt.
My personal experience has been that pdocs monitor very carefully for the emergence of side effects when the patient is on a new med or a new dose of the old med, and if side effects occur for that patient that are too severe, they discontinue that medication and try the next med(s) most likely to help.
It's just like drug allergies. If you're allergic to penicillin, it can kill you. So if you, personally, are allergic to penicillin, then you, personally, don't take it. *Other* patients who are *not* allergic to penicillin are in virtually no danger of dying from the stuff.
My daughter takes Risperdal and Zoloft. They help her, a lot. If she gets bad side effects, the doc will deal with it. We are, of course, keeping a close watch.
But I grew up as an early onset bipolar with no meds, and I wouldn't wish the first twenty-five years of my life on my worst enemy.
Being bipolar II on no meds was the worst kind of hell---something you can't even imagine if you haven't lived through it. And I damned nearly *didn't* live through it.
I hope anyone on here who reads your stuff who has been diagnosed with a mental illness, or whose child has been diagnosed with a mental illness, will seek and heed 2nd and even 3rd opinions from qualified psychiatrists about their diagnosis and recommended treatment plan, and will not take *anyone's* word for it over the internet----yours, mine, or jane blogger's.
Your Mileage May Vary. Consult your doctor. If in doubt, consult one or two more doctors.
But don't decide to either take up or forego particular psychiatric treatments based on stuff you read on the internet.
Timoclea
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shrinks say they are not addictive but try stop taking them after you have taken them for months. are they addictive legally?
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Yeh, they are like a cruch and leave people dependent.
When you take drugs to create brain chemicals, your body can and does loose its ability to produce them.
So your symptoms may be gone, but you're not doing anything to 'fix' the underlying deficiencies. And you may have to take other drugs to lessen the undesirable side effects of the original drug.
I'd rather find natural ways to restore proper amounts of brain chemicals, and save my brain and organs from damage.
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On 2004-11-18 15:24:00, Anonymous wrote:
"
Yeh, they are like a cruch and leave people dependent.
When you take drugs to create brain chemicals, your body can and does loose its ability to produce them.
So your symptoms may be gone, but you're not doing anything to 'fix' the underlying deficiencies. And you may have to take other drugs to lessen the undesirable side effects of the original drug.
I'd rather find natural ways to restore proper amounts of brain chemicals, and save my brain and organs from damage."
Well, if you don't have bipolar disorder, major depression, or schizophrenia, you have that luxury and that right.
Even if you do have bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, you have that right unless and until you become dangerous to yourself or others.
Even if you do become dangerous to yourself or others, you have the right to sit in the psych ward unmedicated if you just really don't want to take medication.
But if you're dangerous off medication and you want to walk around loose, then you have to take the medication.
And if you want to avoid the problem getting serious enough to get you committed in the first place, you're better off taking the medication.
Hey, it's your life, and your problem.
*My* life is much better with the appropriate medication, and *I* choose to take it rather than risk the damage to my relationships, my life, and my future by walking around crazy.
As long as you aren't immediately dangerous to others, and aren't trying to keep me from being able to take the meds, your decision to take or not take them is your business.
I talk about this, partly, because the anti-drug fanatics are so effing scary to me---I'm really afraid that someday they'll make psychiatric medication either illegal or hard to get if those of us whose lives are improved on it don't keep saying, "Waitaminute. Reality check."
So I support your right not to take it if you're not dangerous.
But it's my right to take it because it improves my life immeasurably.
As long as we're both clear that each of us has the right to go to hell in his own way, we don't have a problem.
Timoclea
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There is NO doubt in my mind that any american who wants to take drugs (legal that is) will ever be denied the right to do so. It's big business and they are happy to sell you what you want.
On the other hand, and what advocates are opposed to is the industry/government FORCING other to be screened and/or commited and/or drugged against their will.
I think you can relax.
And yes, there are alternatives for all so-called 'mental illnesses', even bipolar and schizophrenia and major depression. It should ba a right to address those problems how one chooses, and reject screening.
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And don't think that the FDA is going to keep people safe.
http://www.newstarget.com/002439.html (http://www.newstarget.com/002439.html)
FDA named "Fraud and Drug Administration" by consumer health advocacy group
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, under sharp criticism for its drug safety behavior involving anti-inflammatory drugs, antidepressants, and the silencing of its own drug safety scientists, has been offered a new name today: the Fraud and Drug Administration.
http://www.antidepressantsnews.com/001465.html (http://www.antidepressantsnews.com/001465.html)
http://www.newstarget.com/000668.html (http://www.newstarget.com/000668.html)
The winning name was chosen from among hundreds of entries submitted by health consumers fed up with the FDA's apparent mission to protect the profits of drug companies. Other name ideas submitted by health consumers include:
http://www.newstarget.com/001529.html (http://www.newstarget.com/001529.html)
http://www.pharmawatch.info/001810.html (http://www.pharmawatch.info/001810.html)
Faster Death to Americans
Failure to Defend Americans
Fact Distortion Agency
Fund Dubya's Administration
Forever Drug Americans
Fraudulent Drug Approvals
Furtherment of Disease Alliance
Farcical Drug Authority
Federal Disinformation Association
Favoring Draconian Actions
Federal Drug Advocates
Facilitating the Drugging of America
Falsify and Distort Agency
Fatal Death Agency
The contest was initiated by NewsTarget.com editor Mike Adams, a consumer advocate and outspoken critic of the FDA who has called for a criminal investigation of the FDA and Vioxx manufacturer Merck. Just this week, the U.S. Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into Merck's apparent cover-up in neglecting to pull Vioxx off the market even though the company was apparently aware that the drug substantially increased the risk of heart attacks, strokes and sudden death, according to internal emails published by the Wall Street Journal.
http://www.reformthefda.org/001491.html (http://www.reformthefda.org/001491.html)
http://www.newstarget.com/002155.html (http://www.newstarget.com/002155.html)
http://www.newstarget.com/002058.html (http://www.newstarget.com/002058.html)
The FDA is also under intense scrutiny by legislators. In recent Senate hearings, medical scientist David Graham, who conducts drug safety research for the FDA, described the agency as "incapable of protecting America." He also stated his belief that Vioxx may be responsible for well over 100,000 heart attacks and strokes, not the 27,000 that has been widely reported. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has called for new oversight of the FDA, asserting that the agency has misled the American public on multiple occasions.
http://www.newstarget.com/000040.html (http://www.newstarget.com/000040.html)
NewsTarget.com readers have been following the ongoing Merck / FDA scandal through a series of blogs and commentary posted by Adams, a 35 year old holistic nutritionist who pubicly posts his own blood chemistry lab results as proof that Americans don't need prescription drugs to be healthy. (His own LDL cholesterol is 67.) Adams characterizes the FDA / drug company cooperation as a "drug racket" designed to squeeze consumers for profits at the expense of public safety.
http://www.prescriptionwarning.com/001352.html (http://www.prescriptionwarning.com/001352.html)
http://www.cholesterolnews.org/001354.html (http://www.cholesterolnews.org/001354.html)
http://www.publichealthnews.org/001464.html (http://www.publichealthnews.org/001464.html)
"I was ecstatic to see the level of participation in this FDA naming contest," Adams explained. "It indicates there is widespread discontent among the public concerning the FDA's actions on Vioxx and other drugs. It says that the American public is fed up with being lied to by the FDA and drug companies. The people are demanding serious FDA reform."
http://www.newstarget.com/002157.html (http://www.newstarget.com/002157.html)
For more information, visit http://www.NewsTarget.com (http://www.NewsTarget.com)
About the author:
Author Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with over 4,000 hours of study on nutrition, wellness, food toxicology and the true causes of disease and health. He is well versed on nutritional and lifestyle therapies for weight loss and disease prevention / reversal. View Adams' health statistics showing LDL cholesterol of 67 and outstanding blood chemistry. Adams uses no prescription drugs whatsoever and relies exclusively on natural health, nutrition and exercise to achieve optimum health. He serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Research Center and is author of several books about health and nutrition, including The Five Soft Drink Monsters and Superfoods For Optimum Health. In his spare time, Adams engages in pilates, cycling, strength training, gymnastics and comedy improv training. In the technology industry, Adams is president and CEO of a well known email marketing software company.
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I wouldn't say for myself because of a chemical imbalance that it would have any effect on my destiny. I rule that out. Certain substances are benificial to the payient, but one has to do his/her own work to get to where they want to go. The drugs aren't a cure, The are there to block neurologigal mistakes in te brain and make ones nuerons fire correctly. The rest is up to the individual.
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Consumers should read some of the stories of 'forced drugging' to fully understand how they could get tangled in the psych/cps web for refusing to drug their children.
http://www.drugawareness.org/Archives/S ... index.html (http://www.drugawareness.org/Archives/Survivors/survivor_index.html)
This one is particularly horrendous:
http://www.drugawareness.org/Archives/S ... d0081.html (http://www.drugawareness.org/Archives/Survivors/record0081.html)
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For Immediate Release: November 22, 2004
Contact: Sue Blevins (202) 429-6610
Government Tells Families to Discuss/Document Health History on Thanksgiving
(Washington, D.C.)--The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has declared this Thanksgiving the first annual "National Family History Day." HHS is encouraging American families to discuss and document medical histories during Thanksgiving. Citizens also are being told to share their family's health data with their doctors.
"But a lot of people do not realize what happens with personal family information once it's out of their hands. Federal law says that after personal family information is shared with health-care providers, the data can be released to many others (such as insurance companies and public-health officials) without families' consent," says Sue A. Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom. "Moreover, in most instances citizens don't have a right to find out to whom their family health information was released."
With the passage of the so-called federal medical privacy rule, Americans lost their long-standing right to health privacy. That rule eliminated individuals' right to give or withhold consent before their medical information-including genetic information-is shared with many others. "When the misnamed federal medical 'privacy' rule came in the door, out went true health privacy," stresses Blevins. "A great number of people remain extremely concerned about the lack of medical privacy. In fact, more than 5,000 citizens have filed complaints with the federal government alleging breaches of health privacy," Blevins points out.
"Regardless of the lack of true medical privacy, it is not the federal government's role to tell families how to spend their Thanksgiving holiday," Blevins says.
Related Links:
"A Good Way to Spend Thanksgiving?" by Sheldon Richman
http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Publica ... iving.html (http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Publications/Privacy/Thanksgiving.html)
"HHS Launches New Family Health History Initiative"
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20041108a.html (http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20041108a.html)
"U.S. Surgeon General's Family History Initiative"
http://www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/ (http://www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/)
"Family History for Preventive Medicine and Public Health"
http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/activities/FHx/fHix_fs.htm (http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/activities/FHx/fHix_fs.htm)
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Might 'defiant', 'non compliant' citizens who have been screened and lableled with a dx, be subjected to forced/manditory 'brain implants'?
Everything you ever wanted to know about implants:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/implant_1.shtml (http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/implant_1.shtml)
Don't miss the links to 'structural brain changes' caused by neuroleptics.
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TeenScreen Exposed
(Nothing but Drug Pushers)
The drug pushers on street corners from yesteryear are now gathered under the banner "TeenScreen".
TeenScreen http://www.teenscreen.org/ (http://www.teenscreen.org/) is a "diagnostic psychiatric service" which is nothing more than a sales gimmick of the pharmaceutical industry. .
TeenScreen is a so-called "suicide" survey done on children who are then referred to psychiatric treatment. The evidence suggests that the objective of the designers of TeenScreen is to place children so selected on psychotropic medication. (The New York Post, December 5, 2004)
"It's just a way to put more people on prescription drugs," said Marcia Angell, a medical ethics lecturer at Harvard Medical School and author of "The Truth About Drug Companies." She said such programs will boost the sale
of antidepressants like Paxil, Zoloft and Prozac even after the FDA in September ordered a "black box" label warning that the pills might spur
suicidal thoughts or actions in minors. (The New York Post, December 5, 2004)
TeenScreen attempts to create in the media a SUICIDE HYSTERIA, when in fact suicides are on the decline. The suicide rate for ages 10 to 19 fell from 6.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 1992 to 4.6 per 100,000 in 2001, according to the Center for Disease Control. In 1991, 10 of 100,000 people in Florida ages 10-24 committed suicide. By 1999, that number had dropped to six out of 100,000.
TeenScreen was developed by psychiatrist David Shaffer of Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute's Division of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry. Shaffer, according to the Integrity in Science Database, (type in "Shaffer") is a paid consultant and apologist of pharmaceutical companies. As a consultant, Shaffer has served as an expert witness for Hoffman la Roche, and Wyeth and as a consultant to
GlaxoSmithKline on paroxetine (Paxil or Seroxat) and adolescent suicide.
In December of 2003 British drug regulators recommended against the use of antidepressants in the treatment of depressed children under 18 because some of the drugs had been linked to suicidal thoughts and self-harm. According to a December 11, 2003, New York Times article, Shaffer at the request of Pfizer, (the maker of Zoloft) attempted to block the British findings,
sending a letter to the British drug agency saying that there was insufficient data to restrict the use of the drugs in adolescents.
Just this last October, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, announced that all medications used to treat depression must carry a black box warning label, advising that children and teens may become suicidal when taking the drugs. According to a February 3, 2004, New York Times article, Shaffer opposed the FDA regulation, and argued to the FDA's scientific advisory panel that any drop in suicide over the last few years was caused by the growing use of antidepressants!
However, overwhelming evidence indicates that psychiatric drugs are not preventing suicides, they are causing them.
On January 1, 2005, the British Medical Journal, on the heels of the FDA black box warning, reported that the FDA has agreed to review confidential drug company documents that went missing during a controversial product liability suit more than 10 years ago. The documents indicate a link between the drug fluoxetine (Prozac), made by Eli Lilly, and suicide attempts and violence.
In Pinellas County, Florida, an ongoing research project has already established that a large majority of teens who committed suicide were on
psychotropic drugs or had received psychiatric treatment. In the years 2002 and 2003, 81% OF THE SUICIDES were either on psychotropic drugs or had
received psychiatric treatment. This percentage may rise as the research continues.
TeenScreen and Columbia University refuse to divulge who is funding TeenScreen. One corner of the Internet did give a clue to the funding. Eli
Lilly, (the pharmaceutical company) funded the TeenScreen program in Tennessee. (See page 4, left, mid-page).
Although the name TeenScreen was not mentioned, the New York Times, reported, on December 17, 1998 that William J. Ruane, an investment advisor
put $8 million into the screening research of Shaffer, the TeenScreen psychiatrist.
As far back as 1995, Ruane already had "longstanding relationship" (see bottom of reference) with Shaffer. In June of 1995 the Ruanes funded a professorship of Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Columbia University which
"supported training and research into the effectiveness of psychopharmacological agents in treating childhood psychiatric disorders".
The Psychiatric Times reported in March of 1998 that Ruane and wife Joy, gave 1.5 million to study the effects of psychiatric medication in children to the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Shaffer's home base.
According to a New York Post article in 1999, the New York State Psychiatric Institute conducted experiments on kids, some as young as 6, with the
powerful mood-altering drug Prozac and failed to tell the children or their parents about the most serious risks. While testing Prozac on 30 severely
depressed patients ages 12 to 18, researcher's notes indicated, "Some patients have been reported to have an increase in suicidal thoughts and/or violent behavior". Records showed that at least four experiments used Prozac on young children including one funded by Prozac's manufacturer, Eli Lilly Co.
Laurie Flynn, the PR for TeenScreen, searches out teens who have committed suicide and then writes letters to the editors throughout the country,
promoting TeenScreen as the "solution". Flynn is no stranger to the pharmaceutical industry. She formally served as the head of the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill which received millions of dollars from pharmaceutical companies.
In Florida, David Shern of the Florida Mental Health Institute is attempting to lobby the Pinellas County School Board to change its policy on anonymous surveys of children. He wants the school board policy changed so that he can
obtain the child's name after he does his "suicide" survey. He does not want student surveys to be anonymous, as they are now under existing regulations.
The Florida Mental Health Institute under Shern's direction has received $120,000 from Columbia's TeenScreen. It is not known as of yet how this
money was spent, but a public records request has been submitted for documents. Mr. Shern and his FMHI have also received a grant from Eli Lilly
in the amount of $249,420 for a study on the use of antipsychotic drugs.
As to studies on TeenScreen itself, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (top U.S. Government Research outfit) report of May of 2004 states:
A. There is no evidence that screening for suicide risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality.
B. There is limited evidence on the accuracy of screening tools to identify suicide risk.
C. There is insufficient evidence that treatment of those at high risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality.
D. No studies were found that directly address the harms of screening and treatment for suicide risk. TeenScreen and their drug pushers: Shaffer, Flynn, and Shern will certainly not tell you about this either:
TeenScreen was established in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1997. According to a 2003 Tulsa World newspaper article, Mike Brose, executive director of the
Mental Health Association in Tulsa, stated: "To the best of my knowledge, this is the highest number of youth suicides we've ever had during the
school year -- a number we find very frightening."
So much for the workability of TeenScreen.
In Colorado (3rd section from the bottom) over 350 youths were suicide screened using TeenScreen's survey. They found that over 50% were at risk of suicide. That's not science! That's a dream come true for pharmaceutical
company marketing types and bean counters.
Mark Taylor, who was shot several times during the April 1999 massacre at Columbine high schools says that programs like TeenScreen experiment on
kids, who will eventually end up on psychotropic drugs, according to an August 16, 2002 Arizona Republic article. He attributes the Columbine
incident to the fact that the shooters were on antidepressants. He pleads to stop the drugging of students.
TeenScreen is purely and simply a marketing scam to sell psychotropic drugs. When they use "even if we save one life" as an argument to arouse emotions in parents that truly care, they are lying. They are not saving lives. TeenScreen is the marketing entrance point for the real killers - psychotropic drugs and the psychotherapists who prescribe them.
TeenScreen, leave the kids alone!
Parents and Teens, remember Columbine!
Click here to send an e-mail to the Pinellas County School Board. Tell them student surveys must remain anonymous. Names of students must not be given to the drug pushers!
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From an ally:
Ironic, my daughter C brought home just yesterday about doing the Screen Teen thing. Of course I declined she participate. It seems the whole
Freshmen class was asked to get permission to take the test. They of course mentioned on the bottom of the paper how if you think your child is in an emergency situation they would be happy to have them evaluated first.
This was a bad time to send this home as yesterday was also the anniversary day of S's death. [Due to psych drugs] I was livid. I let C turn it back into her Geometry teacher with NO as my answer so she gets 5 extra credit points. If it had been a Yes answer she would have gotten 10.
******
POINTS!!???? For turning in a psych screening form? In GEOMETRY?? What this got to do with geometry? Nothing!! And they shouldn't be passing out points that will enhance one's grade. Why didn't they just threaten to dock them 5 or 10 points if they didn't return it? And the KICKER: 5 for a NO. 10 for a YES. Urghhh.
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On 2004-11-23 06:13:00, Deborah wrote:
Federal law says that after personal family information is shared with health-care providers, the data can be released to many others (such as insurance companies and public-health officials) without families' consent.
Yeah, and it's starting to crop up here and there. Meet
Keith Emerich, 44:
Don't Drink at Home--One Man's Experience
http://www.getmadd.com/DontDrinkatHome.htm (http://www.getmadd.com/DontDrinkatHome.htm)
In this Commonwealth, you must bring in an afidavit signed by a physician swearing that you've been examined and deemed fit to drive before they'll issue you a license. Any doctor can be held liable at any time some dumb yenzer claims they got lightheaded, that's why they crashed, it wasn't their fault. Yenzer dodges a ticket, the last doctor to shake hands w/ him in a medical setting faces a threat to their license.
I wish the doctors would take a break from the yucky biology stuff and take a history course once in awhile! You know they're always the first ones up against the wall when the shit really hits the fan.
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another; shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement
Anonymity Anonymous (http://fornits.com/anonanon)
Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
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On 2005-01-06 18:08:00, Deborah wrote:
"
POINTS!!???? For turning in a psych screening form? In GEOMETRY?? What this got to do with geometry? Nothing!! And they shouldn't be passing out points that will enhance one's grade. Why didn't they just threaten to dock them 5 or 10 points if they didn't return it? And the KICKER: 5 for a NO. 10 for a YES. Urghhh."
Good morning!
Join me about 8 years ago. Have a nice cup of coffee. Turn on the morning news and watch the Community Antidrug Coalition in Miami/Dade "Just Say No" event. They took all the kids who had permission to go out of school and down to a county fairgrounds for the day. They had clowns and rides and games and literature (lots of literature). And all the kids had to do in return was pee in a cup. Waste Management had provided a few dozen Jiffy John's w/ their advertising on it just for the event.
I wonder what the kids who didn't get permission to piss in a cup did that day? I wonder what happened to those who tested positive. These were 10 - 12 yo little kids. Just about my daughter's age.I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, suffering as I am, do without something which is greater than I am, which is my life, the power to create.
--Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter
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Speaking of sharing personal health care information. Everyone gets it but YOU and your family, thanks to HIPPA. Advice: Keep a Medical Power of Attorney and Authorization to Release handy.
Forward"
Dear All,
The difference in how horrible hospital staff are in disrespecting a patients' right for their family and loved ones to have information about their health care using HIPPA as an excuse with the policy of refusing to provide record copies before discharge with the unrequired promise that they will be provided after discharge is fertile ground for more undocumented deaths as a result of the FDA failing to protect the public from drugs they know are genocidal.
If you choose to serve as somone's Medical Power of Attorney and have Authorization to Release granted to you be prepared to be treated as the enemy with your efforts at the direction of the patient diverted at every turn.
Maybe someone could make a board or nintendo game to shapen our tactical skills before enter the war zone to improve our chances of coming out undisabled and alive.
Was HIPPA intended to protect the public or provide a better means of covering up genocidal population control in the hospitals?
All I can say is after dealing with a hospital since Friday afternoon, please get a Medical Power of Attorney and Authorization to Release Medical Information prepared before you go into enemy territory..er..I mean..the hospital.
I cannot render medical or legal advise but if you ever get stuck and need someone to brainstorm with for ways to develop tactics attempting to defend your civil right to have information about your OWN health care I would be happy to recieve your call in the evenings or on the weekends. I'm providing an 800 number in case you are stuck where you can only get to a pay phone and you have no coins. I can't promise anything but if you have no one else to help you, I'm better than nothing.
But the best thing you can do it PLEASE heed this warning and get that MEDICAL POWER of ATTORNEY, get more than one person so the hospital staff can't just counter attack and destroy the good intentions of your sole supporters.
Maybe folks will even post theirs so others can edit it to their liking.
I'm not kidding you, it is MUCH worse since HIPPA that gave the government the right to access all your health care records without your knowledge or consent.
It's so bad that I've just about decided that I will never go to a hospital voluntarily.
(and I'm CERTAINLY NOT going to submit to Bush's "Mental Health" Screenings.
Instead of passing legislation in the 2005 Congress to limit malpractice settlements to $250,000 why don't we push for legislation that requires hospital to read the equivalent of the Miranda rights to patients informing that, since the government can access all your medical records, everything you say can and may be used against you (especially a "mental health" mind and behavior controlling drug dispensor).
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
It's the New World Order whether you've admitted there is a conspracy or not.
I believe the stress of having my body in a hostile environment where they distribute drugs that are not proven safe by the FDA and remove body parts by surgery might be a threat to my health.
I'd never be able to get evidence without retaining an attorney and that would just be another life threatening stress. I'm not suggesting that you do this. But this did save me from a carcinogenic exposure to HRT before they admitted they were killing too many women with HRT to continue the tests and Vioxx the killed 55,000 in 4 1/2 years.
IF Congress passes that bill to limit lawsuits to $250,000 then it will get even worse because they will know attorneys won't be motivated to sue for $250,000. Oh, the spin. It's those horrible trial lawyers that are so terrible for driving up the cost of malpractice insurance and therefore the cost of health care. Never mind that it's the medical care that is creating the successful lawsuits awarded by judges after a jury finds the doctor or facility negligent. Let's not correct the cause. Let's attack the symptom and keep the profitable killing and disabling health care unadmonished. The study of alternative medicine to save my own body from being pulled into the medical industrial complex vortex has just taken on a whole new perspective to me now that I'm over the hill and have talked to VT about intentention eldercide that have become too much of a negative cash flow.
Heaven help the staff on duty if I ever am a patient for I will never tolerate a medical staff that won't at least SHOW ME the records they are maintaining on me so I can see what they are documenting.
Perhaps in addition to the other health defense "weapons" that you need to keep on ALERT I enumerated in a previous e-mail (two part paper, camera, cell phone, computer with printer, witness, fax, etc.) before you go to war with the staff trying to find out what drugs you are recieving, what tests have been ordered, what are the results we need to add COPIER.
Can you just imagine the Charge Nurses excuses trying to tell you you can't copy YOUR OWN records when they bring them in to let you SEE them, IF your are lucky.
Or maybe you would prefer to just lay back and donate your body so the medical industrial complex for profit with no accountability for the effectiveness or side efffects, hope for the best
and waive your civil rights.
Either way, the new health care civil rights Mantra thanks to Congress that you hear repeatedly referred to whenever an excuse is necessary to try to convince you it's against the law to tell you about your OWN health care is;
HIPPA, HIPPA, HIPPA, HIP HIP HORAY
Thank you,
Dr. Sandra Lance, D.C.
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And another:
Edited Forward written by PhD Psychologist in Texas:
I am working with a family whose daughter was taken away by CPS for alleged suicidal ideation, which the girl denied, based on a Teen Screen in her middle school. While under state care, at one point she was on 14 psych drugs at once! She is one of the persons profiled in the 11-24 segment below. The 9-30 segment is very revealing about the money flows behind it all. These reports are part of the incredible work done by Nanci Wilson and KEYE-TV in Austin. I am not sure if all the links will work. If not just go to the first and you will be able to access all the video files.
http://keyetv.com/local/local_story_352223055.html (http://keyetv.com/local/local_story_352223055.html)
KEYE Investigates: Children and Anti-Depressants: 10pm 11-24-04
KEYE Investigates: 11-17-04 10pm: Texas, Children and Drugs
KEYE Investigates: Medicaid fraud: 11-12-04
KEYE Investigates: 9/30/04 Drugs and your Tax Dollars
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... promotelaw (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/usatoday/20050107/ts_usatoday/whitehousepaidcommentatortopromotelaw)
White House paid commentator to promote law
Fri Jan 7, 6:56 AM ET
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.
The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004.
Williams said Thursday he understands that critics could find the arrangement unethical, but "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in."
The top Democrat on the House Education Committee, Rep. George Miller (news, bio, voting record) of California, called the contract "a very questionable use of taxpayers' money" that is "probably illegal." He said he will ask his Republican counterpart to join him in requesting an investigation.
The contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances.
Williams said he does not recall disclosing the contract to audiences on the air but told colleagues about it when urging them to promote NCLB.
"I respect Mr. Williams' statement that this is something he believes in," said Bob Steele, a media ethics expert at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. "But I would suggest that his commitment to that belief is best exercised through his excellent professional work rather than through contractual obligations with outsiders who are, quite clearly, trying to influence content."
The contract may be illegal "because Congress has prohibited propaganda," or any sort of lobbying for programs funded by the government, said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "And it's propaganda."
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said he couldn't comment because the White House is not involved in departments' contracts.
Ketchum referred questions to the Education Department, whose spokesman, John Gibbons, said the contract followed standard government procedures. He said there are no plans to continue with "similar outreach."
Williams' contract was part of a $1 million deal with Ketchum that produced "video news releases" designed to look like news reports. The Bush administration used similar releases last year to promote its Medicare prescription drug plan, prompting a scolding from the Government Accountability Office, which called them an illegal use of taxpayers' dollars.
Williams, 45, a former aide to U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) Justice Clarence Thomas (news - web sites), is one of the top black conservative voices in the nation. He hosts The Right Side on TV and radio, and writes op-ed pieces for newspapers, including USA TODAY, while running a public relations firm, Graham Williams Group.
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Updated: 1/15/2005, 1:07 PM EST
TEENSCREEN
A Front Group for the Psycho-Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex
TeenScreen is a so-called "diagnostic psychiatric service" aka a "suicide survey" done on children who are then referred to psychiatric treatment. The evidence suggests that the objective of the psychiatrists who designed TeenScreen is to place children so selected on psychotropic medication.
"It's just a way to put more people on prescription drugs," said Marcia Angell, a medical ethics lecturer at Harvard Medical School and author of "The Truth About Drug Companies." She said such programs will boost the sale of antidepressants like Paxil, Zoloft and Prozac even after the FDA in September ordered a "black box" label warning that the pills might spur suicidal thoughts or actions in minors. (The New York Post, December 5, 2004)
TeenScreen attempts to create in the media, a suicide hysteria, when in fact suicides are on the decline. The suicide rate for ages 10 to 19 fell from 6.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 1992 to 4.6 per 100,000 in 2001, according to the Center for Disease Control. In 1991, 10 of 100,000 people in Florida ages 10-24 committed suicide. By 1999, that number had dropped to six out of 100,000.
TeenScreen was developed by psychiatrist David Shaffer of Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute's Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Shaffer is a consultant (see page 21) and apologist of pharmaceutical companies. As a consultant, Shaffer has served as an expert witness for Hoffman la Roche and Wyeth. He is also a consultant to GlaxoSmithKline on paroxetine (Paxil or Seroxat) and adolescent suicide.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention sent out a press release on May 8, 2000, that said Shaffer was their president and they had just released a national survey they had done on suicide. The funder of the survey? Pfizer
In December of 2003 British drug regulators recommended against the use of antidepressants in the treatment of depressed children under 18 because some of the drugs had been linked to suicidal thoughts and self-harm. According to a December 11, 2003, New York Times article, Shaffer at the request of Pfizer, (the maker of Zoloft) attempted to block the British findings, sending a letter to the British drug agency saying that there was insufficient data to restrict the use of the drugs in adolescents.
On Feb 2, 2004, a scientific advisory panel urged the Food and Drug Administration to issue stronger warnings to doctors about the possible risks to children because of antidepressant drugs. Shaffer told the advisory committee (see page 76) that he doesn't have a better explanantion for the drop in suicides than the growing use of antidepressants! But he said, "we don't know if they are related".
Just this last October, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, announced that all medications used to treat depression must carry a black box warning label, advising that children and teens may become suicidal when taking the drugs.
On January 1, 2005, the British Medical Journal, on the heels of the FDA black box warning, reported that the FDA has agreed to review confidential drug company documents that went missing during a controversial product liability suit more than 10 years ago. The documents indicate a link between the drug fluoxetine (Prozac), made by Eli Lilly, and suicide attempts and violence.
In Pinellas County, Florida, an ongoing research project has already established that a large majority of teens who committed suicide were on psychotropic drugs or had received psychiatric treatment. In the years 2002 and 2003, 81% of the suicides were either on psychotropic drugs or had received psychiatric treatment. This percentage may rise as the research continues.
Since this webpage you are reading: "TeenScreen: A Front Group for the Psycho-Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex" has gone online, TeenScreen has decided to revise it's history. They sent out a press release May 13, 2003 which was included here on this web page. On January 14, 2005 it was discovered that they revised that old press release by deleting one sentence. This is the sentence they deleted:
"Since 1991, the Columbia University Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has invested nearly $19 million in the research and development of the Columbia TeenScreen program."
Proof that TeenScreen recently revised the old press release: Press release dated May 13, 2003 which was found as an archived webpage on Yahoo and the recently revised press release dated May 13, 2003 that shows TeenScreen deleted the first sentence of the 2nd last paragraph which contained the $19 million quote.
TeenScreen no longer has any reference to this $19 million dollars on their website.
The $19 million dollar reference can still be found elsewhere on the websites of organizations TeenScreen does not control, here and here for example.
Needless to say, all references are being saved before TeenScreen does anymore of their "disappearing acts".
TeenScreen and Columbia University refuse to divulge the source of this funding. One corner of the Internet did give a clue to the funding: Eli Lilly, (the pharmaceutical company) funded the TeenScreen program in Tennessee. (See page 4, left, mid-page).
Although the name TeenScreen was not mentioned, the New York Times, reported, on December 17, 1998 that William J. Ruane, an investment advisor put $8 million into the screening research of Shaffer, the TeenScreen psychiatrist.
As far back as 1995, Ruane already had a "longstanding relationship" (see bottom of reference) with Shaffer. In June of 1995 the Ruanes funded a professorship of Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Columbia University which "supported training and research into the effectiveness of psychopharmacological agents in treating childhood psychiatric disorders".
The Psychiatric Times reported in March of 1998 that Ruane and wife Joy, gave 1.5 million to study the effects of psychiatric medication in children to the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Shaffer's home base.
According to a New York Post article in 1999, the New York State Psychiatric Institute conducted experiments on kids, some as young as 6, with the powerful mood-altering drug Prozac and failed to tell the children or their parents about the most serious risks. While testing Prozac on 30 severely depressed patients ages 12 to 18, researcher's notes indicated "Some patients have been reported to have an increase in suicidal thoughts and/or violent behavior". Records showed that at least four experiments used Prozac on young children including one funded by Prozac's manufacturer, Eli Lilly Co.
Laurie Flynn , TeenScreen's director, searches out teens who have committed suicide and then writes letters to the editors throughout the country, promoting TeenScreen as the "solution". Flynn is no stranger to the pharmaceutical industry. She formally served as the head of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill which received millions of dollars from pharmaceutical companies. Flynn has a tough time selling TeenScreen. TeenScreen has resorted to luring kids with movie rental coupons and food and drink coupons, simply for the return of a release form, whether or not the student agrees to be screened.
Flynn perjured herself in a Capitol Hill Hearing on March 2, 2004, in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Bill H.R. 3063, when she testified: "In partnership with the University of South Florida we are piloting district wide mental health screening of 9th graders in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties". But in fact, the day before Flynn's testimony, the Hillsborough County School District said they are not partnering with TeenScreen and the school district did not feel comfortable with the information provided by TeenScreen. In Pinellas County, TeenScreen is presently prohibited from doing their suicide survey because Board policy protects the identity of students when surveys are done.
In Florida, David Shern of the Florida Mental Health Institute is attempting to lobby the Pinellas County School Board to change it's policy on anonymous surveys of children. He wants the school board policy changed so that he can obtain the child's name after he does his version of the "suicide" survey. He does not want student surveys to be anonymous, as they are now under existing regulations.
Even U.S. law governing the Census Bureau requires that any information collected from the public be maintained as confidential. There are penalties of up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines for wrongful disclosure of confidential census information.
Several professional organizations dealing with survey methods have codes of ethics (including the American Statistical Association) that prescribe rules for keeping survey responses confidential. The recommended policy for survey organizations to safeguard such confidentiality includes presenting statistical tabulations by broad enough categories so that individual respondents cannot be singled out.
Yet, Shern wants to get at the names of individual students so they can be targeted for "treatment".
What treatment? Psychotropic Drugging, of course.
A report entitled "Psychotropic Drug Use in Foster Care" , by the Florida Statewide Advocacy Council, discovered that of the 1,180 children reviewed 652 were on one or more psychotropic medications. The report warned of the side effects of these drugs including suicidal tendencies. The report concluded that unnecessary dispensing of psychotropic medication remains a threat to the children. They recommended that their findings be incorporated into an agenda in order to preserve and protect the health, safety, welfare and rights of children.
The Florida Mental Health Institute under Shern's direction received $180,000 from Columbia's TeenScreen. The Florida Mental Health Institute says it has no financial records on how that money was spent. Mr. Shern and his FMHI have also raked in cash from pharmaceutical companies to study anti-psychotic drugs: $381,664 from Eli Lilly and $130,416 from AstraZeneca Ltd.
The Tampa Tribune posed some good questions on March 7, 2004: "What if someone at risk is identified, but there's no one who can help? What if the test misses someone at risk? What if the test falsely identifies someone who isn't at risk?"
"Liability comes up immediately," Shern said.
As to studies on TeenScreen itself, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (top U.S. Government Research outfit) report of May of 2004 states:
A. There is no evidence that screening for suicide risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality.
B. There is limited evidence on the accuracy of screening tools to identify suicide risk.
C. There is insufficient evidence that treatment of those at high risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality.
D. No studies were found that directly address the harms of screening and treatment for suicide risk.
TeenScreen has no proof that their survey reduces suicide rates. The co-director of TeenScreen Rob Caruano, says that suicides are so rare that you'd have to screen the whole country to see a difference in mortality between screened and unscreened students.
TeenScreen was established in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1997 . According to a 2003 Tulsa World newspaper article, Mike Brose, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, stated: "To the best of my knowledge, this is the highest number of youth suicides we've ever had during the school year -- a number we find very frightening."
So much for the workability of TeenScreen.
In Colorado (3rd section from the bottom) over 350 youths were suicide screened using TeenScreen's survey. They found that over 50% were at risk of suicide. That's not science! That's a dream come true for pharmaceutical company marketing types and bean counters.
TeenScreen blatantly hails antidepressants as the "cure" (see slide 11) for suicide.
Mark Taylor, who was shot several times during the April 1999 massacre at Columbine high schools says that programs like TeenScreen experiment on kids, who will eventually end up on psychotropic drugs, according to an August 16, 2002 Arizona Republic article. He attributes the Columbine incident to the fact that the shooters were on antidepressants. He pleads to stop the drugging of students.
TeenScreen is purely and simply a marketing scam to sell psychotropic drugs. When they use "even if we save one life" as an argument to arouse emotions in parents that truly care, they are lying. They are not saving lives. TeenScreen is the marketing entrance point for the real killers - psychotropic drugs and the psychotherapists who prescribe them.
TeenScreen, leave the kids alone!
Parents and Teens, remember Columbine!
Click here to send an e-mail to the Pinellas County School Board. Tell them student surveys must remain anonymous. Names of students must not be given to the drug pushers!
http://www.psychsearch.net/teenscreen.html (http://www.psychsearch.net/teenscreen.html)
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On 2005-01-22 08:20:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Updated: 1/15/2005, 1:07 PM EST
TEENSCREEN
...
The suicide rate for ages 10 to 19 fell from 6.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 1992 to 4.6 per 100,000 in 2001, according to the Center for Disease Control. In 1991, 10 of 100,000 people in Florida ages 10-24 committed suicide. By 1999, that number had dropped to six out of 100,000.
Interesting! What is it about Florida? I've read that suicide rates are always higher in the northern climates, in remote locations and in repressive regimes. For example, Cuba had the highest suicide rate in the Western World for some time after Fidel took power, bumping Finland to second place. And that was a glaring indication of the quality of life under Castro.
So what is it with Florida? Lots of sunshine, major metropolitan cities, international ports and all. I guess it's about the most un-isolated state in the union. So... what makes Floridians more prone to suicide than the rest of us?For the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fashion of our garments, depend on where we were born. We are molded and fashioned by our surroundings.
--Environment is a sculptor -- a painter.
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On 2005-01-22 10:08:00, Antigen wrote:
So... what makes Floridians more prone to suicide than the rest of us?
Jeb Bush
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After reading the post about TeenScreen I took a look at the website for Positive Action for Teen Health (PATH), the organization behind TeenScreen (http://http://www.pathnow.org/).
When reviewing the resource link for the endorsers of teen screening (http://http://www.pathnow.org/resources/endorsers.html) there were 3 points that I found interesting.
First, the post states that Laurie Flynn , TeenScreen's director, served as the head of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. This organization is one of the twenty-two listed.
Second, the founding president of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) is none other than Robert L. DuPont, M.D. (http://http://www.bensingerdupont.com/main/robertdupont.html), former paid Straight consultant (http://http://www.thestraights.com/people/medical-doctors/miller.htm) among other things.
Third, the treasurer of the Tampa Bay chapter of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance is Christopher Yarnold (http://http://www.tbdmda.org/meetTBDMDA.html), former Director of Straight - Sarasota (http://fornits.com/anonanon/articles/200009/20000911-245.htm)
Having 3 out of 22 (7.33%) of the endorsers on first glance categorized as questionable in my mind, in addition to DuPont's connections to drug companies (http://http://www.dupontclinicalresearch.com/pharm.html) raises the red flag on the ethics and practices behind this organization. Honestly, I would have had my concerns with any 1 of the 3 listed above, but finding these 3 in less than an hour has definitely put this group on my list of organizations to keep an eye on.
John(Lurker & Husband of a Stoughton Survivor '88)
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Thanks, John. But have you ever wondered if maybe it was better when only we were a little paranoid and the world was more-or-less OK ?
Hands that help are far better then lips that pray.
--Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and lecturer
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From The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0120/p11s01-lifp.html (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0120/p11s01-lifp.html)
January 20, 2005 edition
Screening a child's mind
By Gregory M. Lamb | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Excerpts:
Libertarians and conservatives, home-schoolers and psychiatric rights groups, expressed their concerns.
Yet so far, the fears seem overblown - or at least premature. By the time Congress passed its enormous spending bill late last fall, only $20 million of new money was appointed as a grant to states to explore new ways of coordinating their "fragmented" mental-health services. The provision contained no mandate that the money be spent to screen children.
But that hasn't kept critics from worrying about future moves.
Jeff Deist, a spokesman for Rep. Ron Paul (R) of Texas, a leading congressional opponent of federally mandated mental-health testing.
"There's this modern tendency to overmedicalize everything and to treat a rambunctious child ... or a sullen child as mentally ill when that's just
his personality or he's a high-strung kid," Mr. Deist says. "We would rather be accused of being alarmist than just stand back and let this gather quiet momentum."
Antiscreening groups point to a report from the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, appointed by President Bush in 2002, as the source of their concerns. The report, issued in July 2003, spoke of the benefits of widespread mental-health screening of Americans of all ages. It also noted that schools provide a promising venue for administering such evaluations for both students and adult school workers.
Even if all children were screened, it's not clear that government would mandate the use of antidepressants or other psychotropic drugs for those with disorders.
Both Hogan and screening opponents agree that more long-term testing needs to be done to ensure the safety of psychotropic drugs when used by children and teens. That view was expressed in the commission's report, he points out, long before studies showing links between certain antidepressants and teen suicides made international headlines.
Nevertheless, more and more children around the world are being prescribed drugs to calm or stimulate them, according to a November article in the British Medical Journal.
For example, between 2000 and 2002, the number of children and teens in Britain taking prescription tranquilizers, stimulants, or antidepressant
drugs rose by 68 percent, the article said. It concluded "We believe the use of psychotropic medications in children is a global health issue, which should be studied in partnership with pharmaceutical companies, governments, and researchers."
"The pharmaceutical companies have been heavily involved in pushing programs like this, and they have an obvious, overt economic interest," says Sheldon Richman, a senior fellow at the Future of Freedom Foundation in Fairfax, Va. "They'll sell a lot more drugs if they can get more people diagnosed and put on them. We ought to be concerned about that."
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Parents and students are supposed to be able to 'opt out' of these screenings, but here's just one example of how THAT will be mishandled.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories ... nts_ob.sto (http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2005/01/19/living.20050119-sbt-MICH-D2-Student_s_parents_ob.sto)
Student's parents object to TeenScreen notice
OUR HEALTH
By DAVID RUMBACH
Tribune Staff Writer
OSCEOLA -- The parents of a Penn High School sophomore are questioning the passive procedure being used to obtain parental permission for a suicide risk-mental health screening called TeenScreen.
The screening is being given to sophomores in most local high schools this school year. It was given at Penn in December.
Parents at Penn and other schools could withhold their children from the screening by returning a form mailed to their houses. Parents who did not
sign the form and return it were considered to have given permission for TeenScreen.
Teresa Rhoades of Osceola says that procedure does not ensure parents are aware of the program and they really intend for their children to
participate.
She claims she never received the form and she did not hear about TeenScreen until her daughter came home and told her she had taken it.
"They're assuming that parents are receiving this, reading it and deciding not to send it back,'' she said. "I'm concerned whether parents are really aware of this.''
Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. officials are reviewing the use of passive consent for TeenScreen and expect to announce some changes at a school board meeting next week, said Teresa Carroll, a spokeswoman for the corporation.
Steven Bright of Madison Center said no one else has complained about the consent procedure for TeenScreen, which now has been given to about 2,000 local students during the current school year.
Madison Center, the community mental health agency, is administering the screening on behalf of CONNECT, a pro-education consortium of local
agencies.
The screening is voluntary, and students can and do refuse to take it. It consists of a questionnaire that assesses a student for suicide risk, substance abuse and symptoms of common mood disorders.
Students who test positive on the initial questionnaire are asked to meet with a Madison Center therapist for a deeper evaluation that same day. That meeting also is voluntary.
Bright said the use of a passive consent procedure enables TeenScreen to reach a high percentage of students.
It's intended to prevent teen suicides as well as to help parents find mental health professionals who can help their children recover from potentially debilitating mood disorders.
"We would probably see the level of participation drop way off (if active consent were required),'' he said. "We're doing this to help kids feel
better, to help them be more successful. It's for their betterment.''
Teresa Rhoades and her husband, Michael, said they're upset that their daughter took the screening without their knowledge.
They monitor her activities and personal contacts closely and don't like surprises.
"We want to be sure we know what she's being exposed to,'' Teresa Rhoades said.
"If they go on a field trip, they don't have passive permission,'' Michael Rhoades said. "Isn't this just as important?''
Staff writer David Rumbach:
drumbach@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6358
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Speaking of Florida. Looks like they are using the same technique (chemical restraint) as Texas, with their foster kids. http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... &forum=9&7 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=5052&forum=9&7)
Posted on Sun, Jan. 16, 2005
'Pill-popping' worries grow in foster system
CAROL MARBIN MILLER
Knight Ridder Newspapers
MIAMI - Nearly 1,900 children under the care of Florida's child welfare system are taking antidepressant drugs, despite a strong federal warning that such medications are linked to an increased risk of suicidal thinking among children.
One in four Florida foster children are taking at least one mood-altering drug, and nearly one in 10 are taking at least three psychiatric drugs
simultaneously, a drug cocktail that many doctors and children's advocates claim can be particularly dangerous.
Nearly 2,100 children in care are taking powerful antipsychotic drugs.
These findings are part of a comprehensive study of the use of psychotropic drugs among Florida children in state care, launched after advocates and lawmakers questioned the safety and wisdom of the state's practices.
"This is a unique population, and I hate to see them used as guinea pigs," state Sen. Evelyn J. Lynn, an Ormond Beach Republican, said Tuesday at a meeting of the Senate Children & Families committee. "There is a lot of pill-popping going on here that concerns me."
The controversy over the use of mental health drugs began in 2001, when a Coral Springs child advocate, Andrea Moore, wrote a letter to a DCF
administrator accusing the department of using psychotropic drugs as "chemical restraints" for difficult-to-manage foster kids.
On Tuesday, the Children & Families committee's staff director, Beverly Whiddon, acknowledged the study largely confirmed such fears.
"There is evidence that some children in the care of the DCF are prescribed psychotropic medications simply to address behavioral problems," Whiddon said.
DCF's top child welfare official, Beth Englander, told committee members that children taken into state care are evaluated for mental illness or
emotional disturbance within a few days, and caseworkers seek consent from either a parent or a judge before allowing the use of psychiatric drugs. [Texas doesn't even bother to gain parental consent.]
Many of the mood-altering drugs, including potent anti-psychotic drugs such as Risperdal, have never been proven to be either safe or effective for children.
Among the study's findings:
. The state's expenditures for mental health drugs have nearly tripled between budget years 2001 and 2005, and taxpayers are expected to spend $680 million for psychiatric drugs this budget year.
. Consultants hired by the state found they had "questions about the appropriateness" of mental health drugs given to 1,273 children in state care, Richard C, Surles, who heads Comprehensive Neuroscienece in White Plains, N.Y., told the committee. The consultants wrote letters to 442 doctors telling them they had engaged in "a questionable practice."
Some of the questionable practices, Surles said, included prescribing more than one anti-psychotic drug to the same child, prescribing two or more
stimulant drugs to the same child, prescribing three or more drugs for more than 45 days, or prescribing "very high doses" of anti-psychotic drugs.
. Anti-psychotics, also called neuroleptics, were developed to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia, a debilitating disorder than can lead to psychosis, paranoia and hallucinations in adults. The disorder typically occurs as a person reaches young adulthood, and is very rarely diagnosed in
children, especially small children.
Few standards exist in Florida, or throughout the United States, for the proper use and dosage of mental health drugs among children and adolescents. And judges throughout the state who have been asked to provide consent for the use of mental health drugs told a consultant they were confused about their role.
"We must have true informed consent," Dr. Martin Lazoritz, associate chairman of the Psychiatry Department at the University of Florida's medical
school, told the committee.
George Hibbert, an 18-year-old Liberty City man who left foster care last year, said he feels much better since he stopped taking the mental health drugs prescribed to him during the 15 or so years he was in foster care. He said he had been given anti-psychotics, anti-seizure drugs - though he doesn't have epilepsy - and sedatives.
"As soon as I turned 18, I told them I ain't taking any more drugs," Hibbert said Friday. "They made me feel drowsy. They made me drool from the mouth."
Moore, the advocate who sparked the debate nearly four years ago, who is now director of Florida's Children First, said the report vindicated the
concerns of Florida child advocates. She attended the hearing Tuesday, and fears the study may understate the scope of Florida's challenge.
"The report confirms what we've been been saying: What is happening to these children is tragic. Some of Florida's most vulnerable children are
prescribed medication outside of even DCF's standard of care."
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 656962.htm (http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/10656962.htm)
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Wonder which programs DCF put this foster child in?
http://www.floridaschildrenfirst.org/fc ... health.htm (http://www.floridaschildrenfirst.org/fcf_054_mental_health.htm)
DCF = Department of Children and Families
Reflections of a Former Foster Children
Karina's Comments
"Karina", a former foster youth in Florida, submitted the following comments to the Florida Supreme Court in 2002 on proposed Florida Rule of Juvenile Procedure 8.350 governing the commitment of dependent children to psychiatric facilities:
"I was placed in several treatment facilities over the years I was in foster care. DCF sent me to my first treatment facility when I was six years old, after I was abused in my foster home. I did not have a lawyer, and I did not have a guardian ad litem. Later, DCF sent me to a locked facility in another county. I was kept there for three years. While I was there I was
abused by a supervisor in the facility. When I reported him, other staff members accused me of lying and put me in the "quiet room". . They would tell me that if I didn't stop talking about people abusing me, they would keep me there. One time I was kept there for three or four days. After my time in the quiet room, I would be confined to my room, sometimes for weeks.
If I protested, I would be spread apart like an "X" in four restraints.
Sometimes they would take off my clothes. They said it was to prevent me from choking myself, but I was never at risk for that. . I was not the only one abused or treated like this. I knew of several other children who were abused by staff at the facility, but we were not allowed to call the Abuse Hotline. When DCF finally took me out of this facility, DCF brought me back to Miami-Dade County and put me into another treatment facility. There I was abused even more. My last facility sometimes overmedicated me and other
children, but at this new facility I was turned into a walking zombie by all the psychotropic drugs they made me take.
"I wish I would have had a lawyer during all the years I was kept in locked facilities. I think it would have made a big difference. I don't think that I would have been abused like I was if I would have had a lawyer. I don't think I would have even been in locked facilities as long as I was if I would have had a lawyer. If I hadn't finally gotten a lawyer, DCF would have kept me in a locked facility until I turned 18, and I never would have learned to live outside of a facility. . . . I think it's very important for
every foster child in a facility to have a lawyer. If a child doesn't have a lawyer, there's no one to stand up for what the child wants. This makes a child lose hope, which is how I felt for a long time."
Caged
I'm a child in a cage,
locked in a mental hospital for being underage
and not being on DCF's "page",
I'm the property of the state
and of workers earning minimum wage,
I'm restrained and tranquilized
like an animal on a stage,
I'm shut-up and shut-away
but I'm not allowed to feel rage,
I'm just a child in foster care
growing up in a cage.
--- Anna, Age 16
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http://www.state.tn.us/mental/publicati ... 02updt.pdf (http://www.state.tn.us/mental/publications/maju2002updt.pdf)
Tennessee governor proclaims "Dual Diagnosis Day"
"Adolescent Co-Occurring Mental/Substance Use Disorders studied"
One in five children has a diagnosable
mental, emotional or behavioral disorder.
Ka-ching $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Never mind the money. It's worthless anyway, since the New Deal. They're talking about taking OUR CHILDREN!
"Give me the youth, and Germany will rule the world."
--Hitler
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... forum=32&1 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=7914&forum=32&1) I tried not to work for, you know, anyone who ate children with their bare hands. I won't pretend that I was ideologically consistent.
--Dick Morris; Political consultant for Bill Clinton, Trent Lott and Tom Ridge
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145436,00.html (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145436,00.html)
Sundance: Drugged Kids, Stupid Parents
You can barely set foot in a theater at Sundance this year without seeing wise teenagers who are ignored by stupid parents.
Sometimes the kids are so annoying that the parents, who are busy having affairs, drug the kids rather than deal with them.
Is it a trend? Is someone trying to tell us something? Or is it just an easy way out? I wish I knew the answer.
I told you yesterday about Mike Mills' excellent feature, "Thumbsucker," based on Walter Kirn's novel. The movie stars 19-year-old Lou Taylor Pucci as a disaffected teen who's drugged by his parents, survives it and winds up finding some sanity.
What saves "Thumbsucker" from banality and implausibility is Mills' tremendous sense of heart, style, warmth and genuine love of his characters. There is nothing cynical about "Thumbsucker." Pucci's performance is sheer
genius. But as of this writing, the film has no distributor.
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Tampa Tribune
Pinellas Schools Bar Suicide Test For Teenagers
By ADAM EMERSON
Published: Jan 26, 2005
LARGO - Pinellas County School Board members on Tuesday refused to subject students to suicide screenings, quashing any hope of introducing a controversial mental health plan in two of Florida's largest school districts.
Board members took less than 30 minutes to reject a proposal to change a policy that prohibits surveys such as TeenScreen, a test designed to spot suicidal thoughts and other mental health disorders in youngsters.
Their decision met with applause from an audience of nearly 140 people, mostly members of the Church of Scientology, whose adherents have overwhelmed the board with e-mail expressing outrage over the proposal.
Linda Lerner was the only board member to support the proposal, and she accused her colleagues of flinching before the e-mail blitz, a gesture that drew shouts and murmurs from the audience.
Lerner called teen suicide ``a real issue and a real problem, [and] this board is being stopped from even discussing it.''
Board members objected to Lerner's comments. They cited unease over a screening they said was inappropriate for students. Some said the test questions are too intrusive, and it was unclear who would help students once problems were discovered.
David Shern, dean of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida, had asked the school board to change its policy and allow TeenScreen.
There is too much confusion about the program, which requires consent from parents and students, Shern said.
The board received e-mail from people who tried to derail the proposal by spreading erroneous information about TeenScreen, he said. ``I am very disappointed.''
TeenScreen was developed by New York's Columbia University and is used in 41 states. Students spend about 10 minutes answering 30 questions designed to gauge their mental health.
If therapists or psychologists find problems, they interview the teen and provide options for mental health services, if appropriate.
The Hillsborough County school district in recent months also considered the program.
Administrators, however, worried that there would be no long-term help for students without health insurance, and they found the test too intrusive.
The Pinellas school board has received more than 700 e-mail messages about TeenScreen. Most of them are from Scientologists who consider psychiatry and psychology abominations. Church members said all parents should worry about exposing their children to such testing.
Before this week, Pinellas school board member Jane Gallucci sought more information about the program.
She said Tuesday that she was angry that Laurie Flynn, of Columbia University, told a U.S. Senate committee on health and education matters 10 months ago that pilot TeenScreen programs were operating in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Shern said Flynn meant only that mental health specialists and the school districts were working to develop the program in one Tampa high school and in one St. Petersburg high school. Flynn has sent a letter of apology to the Pinellas County School Board, Shern said.
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How might it happen that programs are subject to the Hatch Act? Sure covers much of the abuse in program land.
Right down to isolation, values clarification, contrived incidents for self-revelation.
Now, if it is inappropriate for kids in public school, how can anyone defend its use in the industry? See paragraph 3.
New Canaan Advertiser, New Canaan, Conn, Thursday, January 27, 2005, Page 2A
Hetherington Proposal Pleases Ablechild.org
State Rep. John Hetherington of the 125th District introduced legislation this month that aims to expand procedural safeguards regarding a parent's right to refuse psychiatric or psychological testing and/or mental evaluation of a child.
The legislation, "An Act Concerning Psychiatric and Psychological Testing of School Children and Procedural Safeguards for Parents," requires that the Department of Education include the statement that neither the State nor Federal Department of Education can endorse or recommend any "mental health" checklist, particular form of assessment or evaluation for psychiatric disorders in its "Steps to Protect a Child's Right to Special Education: Procedural Safeguards" publication.
It also requires that parents receive a copy of the Federal code for "Protection of Pupil Rights", and a copy of the Hatch Amendment to the General Education Provisions Act. The latter is a letter that parents can sign if they do not want their child involved in certain school activities, including those having to do with psychological and psychiatric treatment; values clarification; contrived incidents for self-revelation; isolation techniques; death education; curricula pertaining to drugs and alcohol; educating on human sexuality; pornography and any materials containing profanity and/or sexual explicitness; guided fantasy techniques, and organic evolution.
The use of the letter, devised by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, went into effect in November 1984.
In 2001, Connecticut was the first state to pass legislation prohibiting schools from recommending the use of a psychotropic drug for any child. Since then, six other states have followed suit with similar laws. On December 3, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the "Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment," A Federal law prohibiting school officials from requiring that a child take a controlled substance in order to remain in school.
"Children are labeled with stigmatizing mental 'disorders' based on a checklist of behaviors, not on scientific or medical evidence," Noelle Talevi, executive director of the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights of Connecticut (CCHR), said in an Ablechild.org press release.
CCHR is an international human rights organization that investigates and exposes psychiatric violations of human rights.
Ablechild is a grassroots parent organization that advocates for informed consent and the right to refuse psychological and psychiatric treatment for children. Its national vice president is Sheila Matthews of New Canaan.
"Parents are too frequently faced with having no choice but to have their child evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist in order to get services in school, thus opening them up to subjective, unscientific labels and possible drug 'treatment,' without being given all of the facts," Ms. Talevi continued. "They are not warned that the diagnoses are not based on medical testing, but completely subjective, and that their child can be diagnosed and referred for drug treatment based solely on a checklist of behaviors. (The proposed legislation) is another great step toward giving control back to parents in regard to their child's education."
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I wrote to him last year when I first heard of this, and this is what his reply was.
November 15, 2004
Dear Mrs. -----
Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns with The
New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. It is good to hear from you.
The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was appointed by
President Bush to propose ways to eliminate waste and improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the mental health care delivery system. The
Commission submitted their final report to the President in July of 2003.
The Commission did not call for universal screening of the population for
mental illness. The Commission's recommendation stated that mental
illness affects people of all ages, it can be treated best when diagnosed
early,
and that screening should be available in primary care settings. The report
encouraged physical and mental health providers in the public and private
sectors to collaborate.
Last year, Secretary Tommy Thompson announced that Health and
Human Services (HHS) would lead a multi-agency process to thoroughly
review and assess the final report to identify any appropriate steps the
Administration can take to improve care for the mentally ill. This action
agenda is under development and will be aligned with the Administration's
priorities and the principles set forth by the President in the Executive Order
creating the Commission. These principles include: no new Federal
resources, protection of patient privacy, maintaining personal and family
control over care decisions, and helping those with the greatest need.
The Commission itself was independent of the White House and the
President has not commented on the final report. Neither the Administration
nor the President will propose screening the entire population for mental
illness. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to ensure
that Americans have the best possible options available in mental health care
and that all citizens' rights to privacy are protected.
Again, thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with
me. If I may ever be of assistance to you in the future, please do not
hesitate
to let me know.
Sincerely,
Saxby Chambliss
United States Senate
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Um hum.
There is rhetoric and then there is reality.
The wheels are in motion. Kids have already been screened without 'parental consent', despite the ongoing rhetoric that parents may 'opt out'. Hard to opt out, after the fact.
Actually, he wasn't lying when he stated that it wasn't the president's intention to screen the entire population. My original title may have been misleading. And then again, it may not be, down the road.
Originally, it was 'everyone except males over 18'.
They will continue with their agenda until the public tires. Then, as with all unpleasant government policies, they will do as they please. If we want this stopped, opposition must be strong and as persistent as they are until it ends and schools are again free of psychiatry.
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That is exactly why I wrote to the senator. I don't think that it is a good idea to open our kids up to governmental screening for anything. I think that if more people voice their opposition to the right people, maybe someone will listen.
As you can see, the letter was dated back in November. I contacted 3 other members of the senate with my same concerns and I got just about the same reply out of all 3.
Please contact your state reps and senators, they are the ones that need to know that this is wrong.
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This just passed....
http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2005/bills/h ... 042s01.htm (http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2005/bills/hbillamd/hb0042s01.htm)
General Description:
This bill prohibits school personnel from making certain medical recommendations for a minor, including the use of psychotropic drugs, and prohibits consideration of a petition for removal of a minor, and removal of a minor from parental custody based on a parent's refusal to consent to the administration of psychotropic drugs. Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
prohibits school personnel from making certain medical recommendations for a minor, including the use of psychotropic drugs; prohibits the removal of a minor from parental custody based on a parent's refusal to consent to the administration of psychotropic drugs; and
prohibits the consideration of a petition for removal of a minor from parental custody based on a parent's refusal to consent to the administration of psychotropic drugs.
Except as provided in Subsection (4), (5), or (6), school personnel may not:
(a) recommend to a parent or guardian that a child take or continue to take a psychotropic drug as a condition for attending school; (b) require that a child take or continue to take a psychotropic drug as a condition for attending school; (c) recommend that a parent or guardian seek or use any of the following: (i) the administration of any psychotropic medication to a child;
(ii) a psychiatric or psychological treatment for a child; or
(iii) a psychiatric evaluation of a child;
(d) conduct a psychiatric or behavioral health evaluation or mental health screening, test, evaluation, or assessment of a child; (e) recommend a licensed physician, psychologist, or any other health specialist to a parent or guardian for a child; or (f) make a child abuse or neglect report to authorities, including the Division of Child and Family Services, solely H. or primarily .H on the basis that a parent or guardian refuses to consent to:
(i) the administration of a psychotropic drug to a child;
(ii) a psychiatric, psychological, or behavioral treatment for a child; or
(iii) a psychiatric or behavioral health evaluation of a child.
(3) Nothing in this section may be construed to restrict school personnel from:
(a) communicating information between school personnel regarding a child;
(b) informing a child's parent or guardian of a perceived behavioral problem of the child, provided that:
(i) an assertion or recommendation is not made in violation of Subsection (2); and
(ii) an attempt is not made to denigrate, criticize, or punish a parent, guardian, or child
for a decision made by the parent or guardian for the child to take, not take, or discontinue to
take a psychotropic drug; or (c) exercising their authority relating to the placement within the school or readmission of a child who may be or has been suspended or expelled for a violation of Section 53A-11-904 .
(4) Notwithstanding Subsections (2)(c) and (d), a mental health professional acting in accordance with Title 58, Chapter 60, Mental Health Professional Practice Act, or licensed through the State Board of Education, working within the school system may, for the sole purpose of complying with federal education law:
(a) recommend, but not require, a psychiatric or behavioral health evaluation of a child;
(b) recommend, but not require, psychiatric, psychological, or behavioral treatment for a child; and
(c) conduct a psychiatric or behavioral health evaluation or mental health screening, test, evaluation, or assessment of a child if a child's parent or guardian signs a consent form that provides notice of the specific psychiatric or behavioral mental health evaluation or mental
health screening, test, evaluation, or assessment and includes a copy of any mental health test
that will be administered.
(5) Notwithstanding Subsection (2)(f), school personnel may make a report that would otherwise be prohibited under Subsection (2)(f) if failure to take the action described under Subsection (2)(f) would present a serious, imminent risk to the child's safety or the safety of others.
(6) A local school board shall adopt a policy that indicates that a violation of this section is cause for disciplinary action under Section 53A-8-104 .
More at the link.
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Wake Opts Out Of National Survey Because Of Pointed Questions
http://www.wral.com/news/4209041/detail.html (http://www.wral.com/news/4209041/detail.html)
POSTED: 3:47 pm EST February 17, 2005
UPDATED: 4:28 pm EST February 17, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A survey of teens is supposed to find out how many teens use drugs, have sex or think about suicide state-wide and nationwide. But, the survey does not stop with yes or no answers. Follow-up questions, for instance,
ask what kind of birth control students are using. It's those descriptive questions that are worrying Wake County Schools.
SURVEY QUESTIONS
Read the survey questions that Wake County school officials are concerned about.
Middle School Questionnaire
High School Questionnaire
(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Every two years, the federal government attempts to get into the minds of teenagers with an anonymous survey. The approach is subtle. The questions are not. Middle school students are asked questions such as "Have you ever used any
form of cocaine?" and "Have you ever made a plan about how you would kill yourself?"
High school students are also asked about sexual activity.
"The questions that concern me are the probing questions about sexual intercourse," said Carol Parker, a Wake County school board member.
Parker isn't the only one who's uncomfortable. The school system doesn't like the survey and opted not to participate.
"In some areas with regard to suicide and drug abuse we believe it may introduce an idea to students that they hadn't thought of before," said school spokesman Michael Evans.
Plus, the sex questions aren't in line with the school system's abstinence until marriage policy.
"On the other hand, the answer is not to not get the information if we want to take seriously what's going on in kids' world," said Susan Parry, Wake County school board chairperson.
Parry sees value in the survey. So do health care professionals.
"I think we stick our head in the sand if we believe our children aren't involved in some of these activities," said Gibbie Harris, Wake County health director.
Harris said it is important to understand teenage trends to create prevention programs. Plus, other questions deal with health and fitness such as "during the past 7 days how many times did you eat French fries?"
"We know we have problems and we need to deal with them and good information helps us deal with those in a most appropriate way," Harris said.
The Wake County Health Department and the school system are trying to come up with a compromise. They're planning to write up a different survey, but that raises other questions.
"...I think we risk losing specifics when we don't ask point blank questions," Harris said.
As for the national survey, North Carolina only has 62 middle schools on board along with 67 high schools. That may not be enough to participate.
Reporter: Kelcey Carlson
Photographer: Richard Adkins
OnLine Producer: Rod Overton
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http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2589742 (http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2589742)
Psychotropic drug bill to get Senate vote
By Ronnie Lynn
The Salt Lake Tribune
After more than an hour of debate, the Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill that would prohibit teachers from recommending that
students take psychotropic drugs. :question:
[Has 'Federal law' mandated the school psychologist evaluate kids even if the psycho doesn't even believe the student needs it? How about the psychologists maintain an office outside the school and parents can seek their service if/when they decide they want it? What a cash cow- given their estimates that 1 in 5 (or more) kids now have some form of 'mental illness'.]
"It's tying the hands of mental health professionals," Bell said. "It's not right." :question:
[Not right? Do schools have full-time MDs on staff, screening kids for potential medical conditions? No. They can be found in their offices, where they should be, if/when someone desires their services.
That amendment failed. :exclaim:
Supporters argued that the measure includes a safety net by allowing court intervention in extreme cases.
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Psycho Feds Target Children
By Rep. Ron Paul, MD
Every parent in America should be made aware of a presidential initiative called the "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health." This commission issued a report last year calling for the mandatory mental health screening of American schoolchildren, meaning millions of kids will be forced to undergo psychiatric screening whether their parents consent or not. At issue is the fundamental right of parents to decide what medical treatment is appropriate for their children.
Forced mental health screening simply has no place in a free or decent society. The government does not own you or your kids, and it has no legitimate authority to interfere in your family's intimate health matters. Psychiatric diagnoses are inherently subjective, and the drugs regularly prescribed produce serious side effects, especially in children's developing brains. The bottom line is that mental health issues are a matter for parents, children, and their doctors, not government.
Unfortunately, however, the mental health screening initiative received funding from House and Senate appropriators in the 2005 federal budget. This funding allows states to create or expand mental health screening programs with your tax dollars. More importantly, the commission recommends a broader federal program in the near future.
Last fall I introduced an amendment to eliminate any funding for the proposal in a year-end spending bill. Although the amendment failed, the response to my office was overwhelming and highly supportive. The notion of federal bureaucrats ordering potentially millions of youngsters to take psychotropic drugs like Ritalin strikes an emotional chord with American parents, who are sick of relinquishing more and more parental control to government.
Accordingly, the first bill I introduced this year forbids federal funds from being used for any mental-health screening of students without the express, written, voluntary, informed consent of their parents. The bill is known as "The Parental Consent Act of 2005," or HR 181. This legislation strikes a vital blow for parents who oppose government interference with their parental authority, and strengthens the fundamental right of parents to direct and control the upbringing and education of their children.
It is important to understand that powerful interests, namely federal bureaucrats and pharmaceutical lobbies, are behind the push for mental health screening in schools. There is no end to the bureaucratic appetite to run our lives, and the pharmaceutical industry is eager to sell psychotropic drugs to millions of new customers in American schools. Only tremendous public opposition will suffice to overcome the lobbying and bureaucratic power behind the president's New Freedom Commission.
Your help is needed. Please tell everyone you know about HR 181, and ask them to call their representatives and senators in Washington to voice strong opposition to forced mental health screening. Demand that the Department of Health and Human Services receive no tax dollars in this year's appropriation bill for screening programs, and that states receive no federal dollars for programs of their own. Refer to my congressional website for articles from September 2004 about mental health screening, and sobering statistics about anti-depressant drugs and kids in the text of HR 181. Most of all, talk with your friends, family, and colleagues about the underlying issue of whether the state owns your kids. Remind them that freedom can be maintained only when state power is limited, especially when it comes to fundamental freedoms over our bodies and minds.
Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.
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Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness
He'll be beginning with himself, then? :lol:
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Yeah, right?
I'm worried that the troubled parent industry will get some cheese off of this. I maean, if the school shrink slaps an ODD or ADD dx on your kid, couldn't the edcons make some hay out of lobbying them to accept TBS as an alternative to whatever default treatment they might rx?If life were fair, Dan Quayle would be making a living asking 'Do you want fries with that?'
John Cleese
-
Uh huh... ::unhappy:: ......::kma::
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Forwarded from AbleChild:
I am appealing to you for your support in defeating H.R. 181 - Parental Consent Act of 2005 - which has been introduced in the House by Congressmen Ron Paul and Tom Feeney. This very important legislation is in opposition to the federal government implementing mandatory and universal mental health screening.
HR 181 will prevent federal funding of the mandatory mental health screening program signed by President Bush in 2004 as an Executive Order based upon the recommendations of The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. This order puts in place mandatory mental health screening of 52,000,000 children in our public schools. These children will be assessed/evaluated, diagnosed, and consequently prescribed mind-altering drugs in the form of pschiatric drugs(i.e. Ritalin, Adderall, antidepressants, SSRIs). If this Executive Order is funded parents will loose their right to consent, for the order will be mandatory! The rights of parents to make decisions for, to direct and control the upbringing of their children will be halted and the future of those children imperiled. It is important to note within H.R. 181, Section 2 - Findings, paragraph (5) which quotes from the psychiatric profession's own "bible" of psychiatric diagnosis named Diagnostic and Statistical Manual which
admits that diagnostic criteria for mental illness are vague and "DSM-IV criteria remain a consensus without clear empirical data supporting the number of items required for the diagnosis." Thus findings of mental illness are subjective!
It is with great urgency I am calling upon you to sign The Liberty Committee's Petition in SUPPORT OF H.R. 181 - Parental Consent Act of 2005. Help to stop the funding of such an Orwellian Executive Order! Please view this petition at: http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/pcapetition.htm (http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/pcapetition.htm)
Additionally I request your support of the Declaration of Refusal to comply with any new Freedom Commission Mandate for Universal Mental Health Screening of children in the schools. Please view and sign this petition found at http://www.ablechild.org/declaration%20 ... fusal.aspx (http://www.ablechild.org/declaration%20of%20refusal.aspx)
You may view the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health by going to http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/r ... ort-05.htm (http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/reports/FinalReport/FullReport-05.htm)
or you may review the Executive Summary to this report at
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/r ... Report.htm (http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/reports/FinalReport/FullReport.htm)
Please be an active participant in this movement to stop the funding of this universal mandatory mental health screening process. Sign the petitions and then please send this email out to your mailing list. YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED!
Gloria Wright
NC Vice President
Ablechild.org
http://www.ablechild.org (http://www.ablechild.org)
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HB 42 medical recommendations by rep Mike Morley passed the Utah Senate 17-8.
This bill prohibits teachers from even recommending let alone force psych testing, diagnosing, treatment and drugs to parents.
It also says that if a school psychologist wants to test a child they have to provide the parent with a copy of the test before they can even get a
written permission. The school psych also cannot force parents to do anything.
It prohibits the Division of Child and Family Services from filing a petition and or removing a child whose parents refuse psych testing,
diagnosing, treatment and drugs.
It is now going to the Governor for signature.
You can find the bill at:
http://www.le.state.ut.us (http://www.le.state.ut.us)
go to numbered bills and click on HB 42 S2 as
Once you are in the page click on the second amendment and it will give you the final text.
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Man, you seal up one hole and they start worming through somewhere else. Tx already has laws on the books that would prevent any school personel from diagnosing/demanding psych services and to prevent CPS from removing children if their parents do not acquire psych services.
Now this:
Texas House Bill 470 - which would implement the Presidents New Freedom Commission on Mental Health is literally being looked at in committee right now, today.
A quick update: this bill would allow the school systems to screen every child for mental illness in the school system like getting an eye exam,
without parental permission. This opens the door to dangerous mind-altering drugs being perscribed for any little life upset that we all go through.
Since drugs are much less expensive than talk therapy the drugs will be a first line treatment for these things. About every psychiatric drug has very dangerous side effects and the drugs effect every organ system in the body.
Many of these drugs have severe withdrawals, if the child can actually withdraw, that can include suicide and aggression for the antidepressants.
Lactating breasts for small boys and girls, diabetes, massive weight gain, and psychosis are some of the symptoms of many of the drugs used to treat mental disorders,. These are not safe treatments. This bill is extremely dangerous to our precious children, especially the gifted and unique children that will potentially be our leaders and artists in the future.
I ask that everyone in Texas make a point of calling the committe member's offices and voice your concerns for this bill, especially the mental
screening of children and implementing mental health services in the schools, this is strickly a duty of the parent, the one who knows thier
child best and not an function of the state. We have heard stories from all over Texas and the country where schools insist on drugging children against the parents wishs and call Child Protective Services when the parents will not comply. This opens the door to more of this.
Here is the bill :
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlo/79r/ ... 00470I.HTM (http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlo/79r/billtext/HB00470I.HTM)
Here is the wording:
The Department of State Health Services shall ensure that local behavioral health service delivery systems further the following goals: (3) making early behavioral health screening,
assessment, and referral to services a common practice by:
(A) promoting the behavioral health of young children;
(B) improving public school system behavioral health programs; and
(C) screening for co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders and treating persons with integrated treatment strategies. (b) In providing assistance under Subsection (a) of this section, the Department of State Health Services shall examine and promote the solutions to challenges in the mental health care system that are identified by the President's New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health in its July 2003 final report.
Here are the committee members and phone numbers:
Rep Suzanna Hupp Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0684
Rep. Rob Eissler Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0797
Rep. John Davis Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0734 ***************Author of this bill
Rep. Alma Allen Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0744
Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0645
Rep. Toby Goodman Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0562
Rep. Elliott Naishtat Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0668
Rep. Ken Paxton Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0356
Rep. Elvira Reyna Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0464
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Tonight's Show March 24, 2005:
AAL Series - Dangers of Psychiatric Drugs Part 10
Featured Guest: CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL
YOU DEFINITELY DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS SHOW!
http://www.anniearmenlive.org/psychiatric_drugs.htm (http://www.anniearmenlive.org/psychiatric_drugs.htm)
AAL Press Release:
http://www.anniearmenlive.org/AALPressRelease032105.htm (http://www.anniearmenlive.org/AALPressRelease032105.htm)
For details, please visit
http://www.anniearmenlive.org/psychiatric_drugs.htm (http://www.anniearmenlive.org/psychiatric_drugs.htm)
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URGENT: SUPPORT H.R. 181 - Parental Consent Act of 2005 introduced in the House by Congressman Ron Paul and Tom Feeney.
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/pcapetition.htm (http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/pcapetition.htm)
H.R. 181 would prohibit the use of federal funds for any universal or mandatory mental-health screening program. For those of you with websites, please post this petition on your sites and have valued members of your networks sign the petition in support of H.R. 181. You will also find this petition on my "linx" page at http://www.anniearmenlive.org/annie_linx.htm (http://www.anniearmenlive.org/annie_linx.htm)
REMEMBER, THERE IS STRENGTH IN NUMBERS AND EVERY VOICE COUNTS!
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http://www.prisonplanet.tv/audio/240305breeding.mp3 (http://www.prisonplanet.tv/audio/240305breeding.mp3)
Alex Jones interviews Dr. John Breeding on the Latest Developments on the New Freedom Initiative: Government's Plan to turn our schools into psychotropic based
psychiatric "recruitment centers" and "brainwashing mental health clinics". This is called "The New Freedom Initiative" This includes home-schoolers too.
This needs your action- contact your representatives to stop this insanity.
Re HB 470
Call John Divis 512-463-0734
Re SB 194
Call Jane Nelson 512-463-0112
Re SB 1703 Elliot Shepley
512-463-0219
SB 1703 states that teacher will be trained in 'early detection'- to be psych recruiters.
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http://www.anniearmenlive.org/psychiatric_drugs.htm (http://www.anniearmenlive.org/psychiatric_drugs.htm)
Dangers of Psychiatric Drugs Part 10 -- Aired 03/24/05
CHECK OUT AAL ARCHIVES With Featured Guest
Congressman Ron Paul Together With Children and Youth discuss the topic of behavioral drugs use on them!
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One of the best articles I've read against Teen Screen. Parents had best educate themselves!!
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Re ... ingle.html (http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/042505Pringle/042505pringle.html)
Bush-backed drug marketing schemes
By Evelyn Pringle
Online Journal Contributing Writer
April 25, 2005-At an FDA hearing on the safety of psychotropic drugs on Feb 2, dozens of despondent parents testified that their children had committed suicide or other violent acts after being prescribed the same drugs that are being marketed in the Bush-backed pharmaceutical industry schemes aimed at recruiting the nations 52 million school children as customers.
In July 2003, the Bush appointed New Freedoms Commission on Mental Health (NFC) recommended screening all children for mental illness and designated TeenScreen as a model program to ensure that every student receives a mental health check-up before finishing high school.
The NFC also has a preferred drug program in place, modeled after the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP), that lists what drugs are to be used on children found to be mentally ill.
The list contains every drug that people complained about at the FDA hearing, including Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, Wellbutron, Zyban, Remeron, Serzone, Effexor, Buspar, Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroqual, Geodone, Depakote,
Adderall, and Prozac.
There is little, if any, evidence that these drugs work on children but, nevertheless, an estimated 10 million children in the US are now taking these mind-altering drugs even though they have documented side-effects, including suicidal ideation, mania, psychosis, and future drug dependence.
According to a May 2003 report in The New York Times, national sales of anti-psychotics reached $6.4 billion in 2002, making them the fourth highest-selling class of drugs, which proves the drug companies are already making a killing by drugging our kids.
Experts Against Screening
Dr. Jane Orient is an internist and executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. She offered a few words to the wise in United Press International's "Outside View" on December 16, 2004.
In regard to TeenScreen, Orient says parents ought to be asking some very serious questions before the government experts interview the first child, such as:
What are the credentials of the screeners? What are the criteria for possible abnormality? What is the scientific validation? Will you be allowed to get a second opinion? Can you see the record and enter corrections if
indicated? Will the record at any point be destroyed, or will the stigma of a diagnosis such as "personality disorder" follow the child throughout life?
What will happen if your child fails the screen? What sort of treatment will be given? Who will supervise it? What if you don't approve of it?
Do drug companies expect to have a large number of new consumers of their psychoactive drugs? Who might profit from the program (perhaps discoverable by asking who lobbied for it)?
Bingo, right question, doctor. Who stands to profit?
In 2003, Medico Health Solutions reports that the use of behavioral drugs for children topped all other types of drugs at 17 percent of total spending. In the year 2003, market research firm IMS Health calculated worldwide sales of antidepressants at $19.5 billion, up 10 percent from the
year 2002.
Phyllis Schlafly, author of No Child Left Unmedicated, raises several valid questions. What are the rights of youth and parents to refuse or opt out of such screening? Will they face threats of removal from school, if they
refuse privacy-invading interrogations or medications? How will a child remove a stigmatizing label from his records?
Psychiatrist Peter Breggin, a court-qualified medical expert, and author of books, Talking Back to Prozac and The Anti-Depressant Fact Book, warns about the life-long damage a label of mental illness can cause.
"There is nothing worse that you can do to a human being in America today than give them a mental illness kind of label and tell them they need drugs, and these children are 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 years-old being treated in this manner," Breggin reports. "I then see them coming to me as adults saying I'd like to be a doctor but how can I when I have crossed wires in my head."
In a report, Allen Jones, former investigator Penn Office of Inspector General Bureau of Special Investigations, points out that there has been a 500 percent increase in children being prescribed drugs during the past six
years.
Jones says the NFC call for mandatory screening of all students, with follow-up treatment as required, translates into putting more kids on mind-altering and potentially lethal drugs.
"TeenScreen is purely and simply a marketing scam to sell psychotropic drugs," according anti-child drugging advocate Ken Kramer, "When they use 'even if we save one life' as an argument to arouse emotions in parents that truly care, they are lying," he warns.
Bush Promotes Dangerous Drugs
The truth is, with full support from Bush, the pharmaceutical industry is using TeenScreen as a vehicle to push dangerous drugs on children who in the eyes of many experts are already being overmedicated.
Despite the fact that SSRI antidepressants are banned for use in children in the UK and despite the FDA "black box" warning label now required on all SSRIs that the drugs increase suicidal thinking and behavior in kids, the
NFC not only recommends that the same drugs be prescribed to children, it promotes the very schemes that will increase the number of kids on these drugs in schools and other public institutions.
According to a report by the Florida Statewide Advocacy Council, posted on Ken Kramer's website records@psychsearch.net, an investigation in Florida
found that of 1,180 kids in foster care, 652 were on one or more psychotropic drugs.
In Texas, Dr. John Breeding, an Austin psychologist, has seen cases where some foster children were placed on as many as 17 drugs and says drugs are being used as chemical restraints in Texas. He wants all SSRIs and neuroleptic drugs banned from use on children "The SSRIs are extremely
harmful and addictive; and can cause or exacerbate suicidal or homicidal tendencies; withdrawal is painful and dangerous," Breeding warns.
Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, the director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness, holds a doctorate in biological psychology, and is a specialist in the adverse reactions to SSRI medications. Tracy claims the whole
hypothesis of SSRIs is "backwards." She says the drugs increase serotonin while decreasing the metabolism of serotonin, especially in the 7 to 10 percent of the population that studies have shown don't have the proper
enzyme to metabolize SSRIs in the first place, according to the Aug 22, 2004 Desert Morning News.
Dr. Tracy can recite hundreds of horror stories involving violence by people taking the same drugs that TeenScreen is marketing to more children.
She told the Morning News about, "the professor on Prozac who bit her mother to death; the Stanford graduate on Paxil who stabbed herself in the kitchen while her parents slept; the mother who bludgeoned her son and then drank a can of Drano; and the 12-year-old girl who strangled herself with a bungee cord she attached to a plant hanger on the wall."
"Most of these drugs are not approved for children, but it doesn't stop doctors from prescribing them," Tracy points out.
Turning People Into Psychotic Murderers
Besides causing suicide, enough evidence now exists to prove that psychotropic drugs have played a major role in the senseless acts of violence by school-age children in this country in recent years.
Dr. Breggin, is against the use of psychotropic drugs in children, and has testified in civil and criminal cases numerous times about the link between SSRIs and suicide and other acts of violence.
On April 15, 2001, 16-year-old Cory Baadsgaard took a rifle to his high school in Washington State and held 23 classmates and a teacher hostage. Cory sat in jail for 14 months before finally being released, based on expert testimony by psychiatrists that his behavior was an adverse reaction to the drugs he was prescribed.
Cory has no memory of his actions at the school that day. Twenty-one days before the event, he had been taken off Paxil and prescribed a high dose of the drug Effexor.
Cory's father, Jay, told Insight News, "They always talk about how the kids who do these things are the ones who get picked on by the jocks and stuff, but Cory was a jock. He was on the varsity basketball team, played football and golf, and was very popular in school.
Jay wants the media to warn people about the dangers of putting kids on these drugs, "If Cory had been on PCP the media would say 'Oh, he needs drug rehabilitation,' but because these were prescribed medications they say 'Oh,
it can't be that,' but now we know it can be," he said.
"The morning that Cory went to school and did what he did, my wife and I just knew that it had to be something with the drugs," Jay reports. One of Cory's friends described the incident to Jay, "Cory was yelling and then he just stopped, looked down and saw the gun in his hand and woke up," he said.
Cory recently made an unlikely new friend in Colorado, when he met Columbine High School shooting victim, Mark Taylor, who is suing the manufacturer of the antidepressant that Eric Harris was on when he opened fire at Columbine.
Kelly Patricia O'Meara interviewed Mark Taylor, and recounted his description of the shooting incident in a report for Insight on Sept 2, 2002.
Taylor told Kelly, "I was sitting on a hill outside the school eating lunch with my best friend when Eric Harris came over and started shooting me." Taylor recalled, "I was shot between seven and 13 times. No one really knows the exact number because there were so many bullet tracks. Most of the bullets just went right through me. After I was shot I just lay there, playing dead, and could see others being shot."
It has never been revealed if Dylan Klebold was on any legal drugs at the time of the shootings, but an autopsy revealed that Harris was on the psychotropic drug Luvox, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).
Taylor's attitude toward the teen who nearly killed him is surprising. He told O'Meara, "I'm suing Solvay because I believe that Eric Harris did what he did because of this drug."
Taylor's suit claims the drug made Harris manic and psychotic and, as a consultant in the suit, Dr. Tracy agrees. "All you have to do is read the Luvox package insert to see that Eric's actions were due to an adverse
reaction to this drug," she told Insight News, "Show me a drug anywhere that has listed mania and psychosis as frequent adverse reactions. That is what the insert says for Luvox. There is no doubt in my mind that Luvox caused
Eric Harris to commit these acts," she explained.
Gary Null & Associates of New York is filming a documentary called "The Drugging of Our Children," that will feature interviews with both Cory Baadsgaard and Mark Taylor, and will chronicle the long history of tragic events that have resulted from the use of these drugs on children.
A little known fact is that a few days before the Columbine tragedy, Eric Harris had been rejected by the Marine Corps, specifically because he was taking the drug Luvox.
In 2001, 18-year-old Jason Hoffman, shot five students and teachers at a California high school, while on the drugs Celexa and Effexor, and he too was rejected by the Navy one day before he went on his rampage, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
In a letter to his mother, Hoffman said, "I want people to know that what happened was not the real me, I was just angry, maybe my medication. It was a fluke of the moment. The person was not the true Jason Hoffman," he wrote.
On Oct 29, 2001, Jason Hoffman killed himself by hanging from a vent screen in his jail cell, the Tribune reported.
Kip Kinkel was 15 on May 21, 1998, when he murdered his parents, and then went to Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, where he shot and killed two students and injured 22 more. Kinkel was on Ritalin and Prozac at
the time of the killings, even though Prozac was not approved for pediatric use.
Seven years after the senseless killings by Kinkel, on December 18, 2003, Eli Lilly sent letters to British healthcare providers, warning that Prozac was not recommended for any use in children.
Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Bush was on antidepressants when she took a gun to school and wounded another student in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 2001.
Twelve-year-old Christopher Pittman was on Zoloft when he shot his grandparents and set their house on fire, and says his violence was caused by the drug. Before Zoloft, he had been on Paxil.
According to court records, the doctor who prescribed the drug to Christopher mentioned no problems in his medical notes. A few days before the murders, the doctor wrote: "Lots of energy. No plans to harm self. Not flying off the handle."
Christopher now sits in prison.
His father, Joe Pittman, testified about the effects of the drugs on his son at the FDA Hearing and read a letter Christopher wrote that described how he felt when he committed the murders, "Through the whole thing, it was like watching your favorite TV show," he wrote. "You know what is going to happen but you can't do anything to stop it."
Dr. Tracy explains how this happens. SSRIs suppress "the REM state or dream state [of sleep] . . . These drugs allow a person to be awake but at any time they can slip into the REM state. This is why people often discuss how they couldn't tell the difference between the dream and reality. These drugs are horribly damaging to the entire system," she warns.
Even the people closest to Jeff Weise are at a loss to say what led to the deadly killing spree by Weise in Minnesota, where the 16-year-old shot his grandfather, his companion, and then went to the high school and shot five students, a teacher and a security guard before killing himself. According to school employee, Gayle Downwind, Weise was on Prozac at the time of the shootings.
Dr. Tracy has consulted on many cases where children engaged in violent behavior including a 15-year-old boy on Zoloft who shot and killed a woman and is serving life in prison; a 17-year-old boy on Paxil for three months who jumped off an overpass into the path of a trailer truck; a 14-year-old girl prescribed Paxil to deal with the suicide of her father (who was on Paxil before killing himself) drank Drano in a suicide attempt; and a 16-year-old boy on Paxil who stabbed a woman over 60 times, drove his car into a cement abutment in a failed suicide attempt, and is now serving life in prison.
"In each of these cases," Tracy told Insight News, "individuals close to them were shocked at the violent and destructive behavior because it was so out of character for them."
Courts Starting to Get It
Drug companies are finally starting to be held responsible for violent behavior associated with these drugs. A jury in Cheyenne, Wyoming, recently determined that Paxil "can cause some individuals to commit suicide and/or homicide." The jury decided Paxil caused Donald Schell to shoot his wife, daughter and granddaughter before killing himself after being on the drug only two days.
The jury allocated 80 percent of the fault to Paxil drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and awarded the surviving family members $8 million in damages.
On June 18, 2003, GlaxSmithKline issued a warning to British physicians against the use of Paxil in children, acknowledging failure of clinical trials "to demonstrate efficacy in major depressive disorders and doubling the rate of reported adverse events-including suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts-compared to placebo."
In Bismarck, North Dakota, 10 days after Ryan Ehlis began taking Adderall, he shot and killed his 5-week-old baby and then turned the gun on himself. He survived and was tried for the murder but was acquitted after the judge agreed with psychiatrists who testified that the murder resulted solely from a psychotic state caused by the drug.
In February 2005, Canadian regulators ordered Adderall off the market after the drug was linked to 20 sudden deaths and a dozen strokes. Of the 20 deaths, 14 were children.
There has been a lot written about the increase in teen violence and school shootings, but no one has identified a common denominator in the lives of these kids with one exception, the drugs. If we allow the Bush-backed marketing schemes to succeed in recruiting more kids as customers for these dangerous drugs, according to Tracy, we had better prepare for more of the same.
"We've got a nightmare on our hands with these drugs, an absolute nightmare," she warns, "We've got kids on these drugs that are ticking time bombs in every school in America."
"When all of this is over and we count up the dead, we're going to be in shock," she adds.
Evelyn Pringle is an investigative journalist focused on exposing government corruption.
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Maybe more sensitive babies are harmed by iron formula. My baby started on iron formula(similac with iron) while in ICU after being born, and stayed on it for 8 months until he started drinking regular whole milk. He never had constipation or diahrrea problems and never had any allergies. He had 3 ear infections by the time he was 4 yrs old. That was it. He hardly ever got sick. Was I just lucky?
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Hold on to your hat folks! Word is getting out on TeenScreen!
http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/cont ... sp?c=26057 (http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=26057)
Illinois Family Institute
Mental Health: teen screening and parental consent
6/3/2005 6:25:00 AM
By Rhonda Robinson
Excerpts:
As we have become more comfortable with the new "norm" our methods and ideology in dealing with it has also changed just as dramatically.
The way children's behavior is viewed has changed over the last several years. Rather than viewing behavior as something that should be controlled, shaped and modeled by parents, the trend is now to view behavior and ideas as symptoms of an unseen disorder--a disorder in need of professional intervention.
This view is becoming entrenched in Illinois as evidenced with the passage of the "Children's Mental Health Act of 2003" which Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law.
The law mandates that the state of Illinois develop a Children's Mental Health Plan "containing short-term and long-term recommendations to provide comprehensive, coordinated mental health prevention, early intervention, and treatment services for children from birth through age 18."
Lawmakers didn't read bill
As the preliminary plan was unveiled last year, it drew attention around the nation. Illinois lawmakers on both sides of the aisle got a good look at the monstrous bureaucracy they had just created; many admitted that they had not even read the bill, believing it was no more than a warm-fuzzy, feel-good bill with no real impact or funding.
State Rep. Patti Bellock (R-Wheaton), a co-sponsor of the original legislation and member of the Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership (ICMHP), admitted that her responsibilities in Springfield had prevented her from attending Partnership meetings, and so she was caught by surprise at the scope and reach of the ICMHP's Preliminary Plan as set forth last summer.
Bellock said she had "serious reservations" about the way the Partnership had translated the intent of the legislation.
New mental health bureaucracy
As did many parents, and industry watchers around the nation. However, the Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership has been given unprecedented authority as it holds the "responsibility of developing and monitoring the implementation of the Children's Mental Health Plan as approved by the Governor."
"Approved by the Governor" also translates as "answers only to the Governor." Shock and dismay aside, the ICMHP plan is going forth without opposition.
Citing healthy social and emotional development as an essential underpinning to school readiness, academic success, and health, the ICMHP's "Strategic Plan for Building a Comprehensive Children's Mental Health System in Illinois" with a "phased in approach" has a vision for children's mental health that, "Starts early, beginning prenatally and at birth, and continues throughout adolescence including efforts to support adolescents in making the transition to young adulthood."
The Governor's Strategic Plan goes far beyond what any other state has attempted, and targets the mentally ill.
No. Wait. All Illinois children, that's right.
Illinois: Brave New State?
Prevention, early intervention and treatment for all children, reaching into the womb with prenatal screening, birth to age 18 and youth age 19-21 through pre-natal check ups, well-baby check-ups, and school physicals.
"Prevention, early intervention and treatment." Herein is the essence of an entire movement that is emerging, with Illinois racing ahead, striving to "lead the nation" in mental health, sweeping aside parental authority, and placing our children's emotional growth to be scrutinized by state sanctioned and newly trained "workforce."
The national model for prevention and early intervention in adolescence is the Columbia University TeenScreen Program. This is being pomoted as a mental health and suicide prevention tool with the goal of offering mental health checkups to every teenager in America.
Beginning with "Demographics," TeenScreen asks if a student is male or female, about race, "who spent the most time taking care of you" and questions whether or not you have seen a dentist for a toothache.
TeenScreen's leading questions
Under the heading of "Social Phobia TeenScreen", TeenScreen asks a series of questions that begin with "In the last three months...Have you:
a.. "often felt very nervous or uncomfortable when you have been with a group of children or young people- say, like in the lunchroom at school or at a party?"
a.. "often felt very nervous when you've had to do things in front of people?"
a.. "often worried a lot before you were going to play a sport or a game or do some other activity?"
Suicide queries and more
TeenScreen asks the same type of lead-in questions about depression and even suicide:
"In the last three months ... has there:
a.. "been a time when nothing was fun for you and you just weren't interested in anything?"
a.. "been a time you had less energy than you usually do?"
a.. "been a time when you felt you couldn't do anything well or that your weren't as good-looking or as smart as other people?"
a.. "been a time when you thought seriously about killing yourself?"
Can you see the danger in this line of questioning: asking teens about suicide can plant that idea in the impressionable minds of the less stable students who might then be more likely to view it as an option.
Moreover, consider the context: the TeenScreen survey, having just stirred up students' thoughts and emotions about their inadequacies and insecurities, then proceeds to discuss, of all things, suicide.
TeenScreen also asks questions about how often students were not able to do things or go places with their family or people their own age because of the way they felt or acted.
These questions along with the entire TeenScreen carry a disclaimer as not being a diagnostic tool, but a screening tool, for prevention and early intervention. Nevertheless, answering 'yes' to the suicide question can set the wheels of the mental health bureaucracy in motion, as parents have learned in Texas.
"Early screening" nightmare: Aliah Gleason
The poster child for early intervention should be 13-year-old Aliah Gleason, who is described in an article by Rob Waters in (the liberal magazine) Mother Jones as a "lively girl with a round face, a quick wit, and a sharp tongue."
**Read the rest of Aliah's story at the link above and here:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... rt=0#96104 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=9138&forum=9&start=0#96104)
Indiana: parents take action
Aliah is not an isolated case; similar stories are coming from our neighbors to the east in Indiana, where concerned parents resorted to taking out a newspaper ad asking parents to show up at the next school meeting to stop the "TeenScreen" survey with its suicide questions: click HERE.
Why should we not file Aliah's story in the "Oh, how sad, glad it's not me" file and forget it?
Because here in Illinois, we have a new vision for "prevention, early intervention, and treatment services for children."
While parents in Texas have just won a major battle for their rights and protection by thwarting screening and treatment measures similar to our plans, we on the other hand will have a final strategic plan on the Governor's desk June 30th.
"Passive consent"?
As it stands now, if a parent does not sign an "opt-out" letter to the school, consent for screening is implied, whereby "passive consent" is given.
"Passive consent" will take all the bliss out of ignorance, and turn those wadded up school papers at the bottom of your child's book bag into one of the last shreds of your parental authority.
We must repeal the Children's Mental Health Act of 2003. Stay tuned.
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Definitely not the wrong board! It is part of the bigger problem, programs are just one tangent of a larger societal problem.
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Another thread on this issue was started here:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... &forum=9&7 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=10271&forum=9&7)
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A book to read: Immunization - The Reality Behind the Myth
by Walene James (1995 revised and updated edition - or newer version is availabe).
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NAMI Responds to Attacks on Mental Health Screening
and President Bush?s New Freedom Commission Report
NAMI is extremely pleased that Goal 4 of President Bush?s New Freedom Commission report (NFC) on mental health calls for mental health screening. Here is the goal and recommendations:
Goal 4 Early Mental Health Screening, Assessment, and
Referral to Services Are Common Practice.
Recommendations
4.1 Promote the mental health of young children.
4.2 Improve and expand school mental health programs.
4.3 Screening for co-occurring mental and substance use disorders and link with integrated treatment strategies.
4.4 Screen for mental disorders in primary health care, across the life span, and connect to treatment and supports.
The NFC report identified the Columbia University TeenScreen Program as a model program. The TeenScreen program is designed to identify youth that may be at risk for suicide or suffering from an untreated mental illness and links those youth with a mental health professional for an appropriate evaluation.
The release of the NFC report resulted in some groups attacking Goal 4 of the report and the TeenScreen program. The groups that have organized these attacks have attacked psychiatry for years. They are using gross distortions about the TeenScreen program and the NFC report to build support in opposition to screening.
Why is mental health screening so important?
To date, our nation has failed to identify the overwhelming majority of children and adolescents living with mental illnesses.
? 4,000,000 children and adolescents in this country suffer from a serious mental illness that significantly impairs their functioning at home, school, and with peers.
? 21% of our nation?s children have a diagnosable mental or addictive disorder that causes at least minimal impairment in their lives.
? Alarmingly, in any given year, only 20% of children and adolescents with mental illnesses are identified and receive services, leaving the other 80% behind.
? Research shows that early identification and intervention minimizes the long-term disability of mental illnesses.
What are the most serious consequences of untreated mental illnesses in children and adolescents?
? Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in youth aged 15 to 24. More teens and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined.
? Research shows that over 90% of youth who commit suicide have a mental illness.
? School failure ? approximately 50% of students with a mental illness age 14 and older drop out of high school, the highest drop out rate of any disability group.
? Locking youth up ? an alarming 65% of boys and 75% of girls in juvenile detention have at least one psychiatric disorder.
What are the anti-screening and anti-psychiatry groups saying about TeenScreen and the NFC report?
These groups claim that the federal government is calling for mandatory, universal mental health screening without parental consent of all of our nation?s children. These groups claim that screening leads to labeling children and forcing them onto medications. They also claim a conspiracy between the Bush administration, organized psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry to get as many children as possible onto psychotropic medications. They claim that the TeenScreen program does not require parental consent, leads to children being inappropriately diagnosed and results in children improperly being placed on psychotropic medications. These campaigns of misinformation are designed to stir up fear, confusion and outrage. They certainly drive up stigma.
What is the truth about the TeenScreen program and Goal 4 of the NFC report?
No one is calling for mandatory mental health screening without parental consent. Not the TeenScreen program, not President Bush, not the NFC report, not mental health advocates ? no one. And, a simple reading of the NFC report makes that fact clear. In fact, the report calls for parental involvement and collaboration in screening and early identification. Here are several quotes from Goal 4 of the report:
?Clearly, school mental health programs must provide any screening or treatment services with full attention to the confidentiality and privacy of children and families.? (pg. 62)
?The Commission recommends that Federal, State, and local child-serving agencies fully recognize and address the mental health needs of youth in the education system. They can work collaboratively with families to develop, evaluate, and disseminate effective approaches for providing mental health services and supports to youth in schools along a critical continuum of care. This continuum includes education and training, prevention, early identification, early intervention, and treatment. ? (pg. 62)
Fulfilling the promise of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in helping all children to achieve their full potential by ? ?working with parents, local providers, and local agencies to support screening, assessment, and early intervention ?? (pg. 62)
Contrary to the claims of those attacking the TeenScreen program, the TeenScreen program requires parental consent and teen assent to participate before any screening can be done. It does not provide a diagnosis nor does the screening result in a child receiving psychotropic medication. Instead, it identifies teens that may be at risk and works with the family to link them with a mental health professional for an evaluation.
June 2006
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Statehood or Parenthood
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Indiana Mental Health
Monica Boyer, President of the Indiana Childcare Association, Licensed Home Daycare Provider and mother of four gave testimony to Indiana legislators regarding the Indiana Children's Mental Health Plan.
...My concern about government involvement in mental health screening of our children is taking the power of a parent's right to make choices and supervise their child's social and emotional well being and giving this power to state agencies with little regard to the family.
As a parent of 4 children, I take on the responsibility to protect and promote my child's health, both physical and mental wellness. Should I feel one of my children were in need because of a possible mental disorder, I would research my options, participate in ongoing clinical assessments, and demand second opinions should they be needed. SEA529 does not address each individual family needs!
Watch the video of her testimony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcd7-z3SriA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcd7-z3SriA)
Monica tells what happened...
We have the battle of a lifetime ahead of us that I don't think any of us are prepared to fight. It can't be won by us, that I do know. The minute I walked into that room yesterday, I knew we were in for it.
Let me start by telling you what happened even before the meeting began. When I walked in the room, it was filled with people in black business suites, all strategically placing themselves in the "right" spots. You could hear whispers all around.
This old man walks in who couldn't hear well, and sat next to a couple. This couple was very nice to him, and introduced themselves and asked him why he was there. Since he could not hear, he talked very loudly, and explained to this couple he was there for his 6 year old grandson who was going to receive a mental health test from his school.
He said it was required, and he was angry that the government was allowed to do this. He pulls out all of his research. (This man was prepared.) He told them of the law, and what the state plans to do. Everything he said was correct. Well, the vultures took over.
They introduced themselves as being from NAMI (National Association for Mental Illness). They talked to him like he was a child and called him everything but a crazy old man! They told him he did not know what he was talking about the state was not going to test his child. It was aweful. But he stood his ground.
The things I heard in different conversations, made my blood boil. I overheard one conversation, with 2 mental professionals talking about people being admitted into a mental hospital being a good thing and how they would have a good quality of life even if they were in the hospital for the rest of their lives, and how their relatives needed to realize that. This was all before the meeting even started.
Once it began, it was an ambush. There was one representative that stood for our families. One. She stood alone. Everything else was a formality, but a setup. I found out it had all been pre-planned.
Phone calls had been made prior to the meeting, to set up Rep Noe. Representative Noe, informed the committee of her reservations to push this plan forward, because of the uprising in the north, (11,000 signatures) articles that have been written, voter guides that have been printed with 80 legislators saying they do not support Mandatory Mental Health Testing, she pled her case, and simply asked that the rule making be put off for a year so that the Legislators could take a second look at the plan before they acted.
When she said that... There was a buzzing around of all the people, Representative Brown was clearly out of order, and it got dirty. They told Cindy there was no reason to hold back the rule making process, and they demanded to place another motion on the table. The meeting went to recess, and the opposition started handing out pieces of paper.
I overheard a phone conversation from a Mental Health Representative that said. "NAMI has it on the table, it's done." The woman who wanted to make a motion, was being coached by Senator Vi Simpson, and others from NAMI, and at 5:00 p.m., it was over.
The final outcome of the meeting was that the commission agreed to the concept of the Indiana Children's mental health plan, that they don't support Universal screening, and that they will be there to make recommendations for the rule makers.
All protection from our Legislators (to give them a second chance to look at it) was removed -- and the plan moves forward. They've got our children. I had my 9-year-old son with me, and I looked at him, and my heart sunk. I felt like I had just handed him over to the state on a silver platter. I can't describe that feeling to you.
What people need to understand is while it says they do not support Universal Screening, there are 3 other plans they have in place to back up and enforce Universal Screening. So they just use that language as a band aide to make sure they don't have a parent uprising. It's a ploy.
What I saw yesterday was a wake up call for me. This plan to take our kids is bigger than we are. These people really believe they have the best interest for our children. These 17 people made a decision yesterday that could affect the rest of our lives, and no one even knows.
Related Articles and Information
Indiana Mental Health Plan moves forward, following in Illinois footsteps
A mental health screening plan stating all Indiana children from birth to 22 years ?shall? be screened survived the 11-1 vote yesterday. The comprehensive plan was part of a law that was passed last year to reorganize all facets of services the state provides to children.
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illin ... ntal_.html (http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2006/10/indiana_mental_.html)
Indiana Citizens Revolt Against Children's Mental Health Plan
The Indiana plan wants all Indiana children tested for mental health "as a part of routine examinations in schools and by health care providers." [Senate Enrolled Act 529]...
The state of Indiana, as in Illinois, has set itself up as the arbiter of what is "normal". This alarms many parents who have some sense that psychiatry has been hijacked by special interest groups who aren't relying on science at all, but rather, are pushing political agendas.
TeenScreen, for example, which will be part of this plan, has a false positive rate of 84%, an outrageous outcome that would disqualify any other program. Mental health pushers, however, are undeterred.
http://www.edwatch.org/updates06/092206-IN.htm (http://www.edwatch.org/updates06/092206-IN.htm)
Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research
http://www.indiana.edu/~icmhsr/ (http://www.indiana.edu/~icmhsr/)
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I am mentally abnormal, does that make me a bad person?
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TMAP - Texas Medication Algorithm Project (algorithm - guideline) was
created by various pharmaceutical companies working in concert. These
companies recommended and helped implement a scam where Texas was to pay
for the most expensive new antipsychotics, Abilify, Geodon, Risperdal,
Seroqul and Zyprexa over the older cheaper antipsychotics. The TMAP
scam was exported to many other states.
A 2005 study by the federal government's National Institute of Mental
Health showed that these new antipsychotic drugs, which cost roughly 10
times more than the older drugs, performed no better and had just as
many side effects.
The below Texas article describes how CMAP - The Child version of TMAP
has been suspended over fears that government Medicaid programs have
been influenced by pharmaceutical companies.
Letters to the editor here:
<http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi>
http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi (http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi)
The Dallas Morning News
MEDICATION PROTOCOL
August 18, 2008
By EMILY RAMSHAW
AUSTIN - A state mental health plan naming the preferred psychiatric
drugs for children has been quietly put on hold over fears drug
companies may have given researchers consulting contracts, speakers fees
or other perks to help get their products on the list.
The Children's Medication Algorithm Project, or CMAP, was supposed to
determine which psychiatric drugs were most effective for children and
in what order they should be tried at state-funded mental health
centers. In April, high-ranking state health officials gave researchers
the go-ahead to roll out the guidelines.
A month later, the officials delayed the protocol, after Texas Attorney
General Greg Abbott's office objected to it.
At most, the suspension indicates that state investigators fear fraud
has occurred. At the least, it reflects nationwide unease with potential
conflicts of interest between leading medical researchers and the
pharmaceutical firms that fund much of their work.
Publicly, officials say it's because the state is suing a pharmaceutical
company alleged to have used false advertising and improper influence to
get its drugs on Texas' now-mandatory adult protocol, the Texas
Medication Algorithm Project.
Privately, individuals with knowledge of the case - who spoke only on
condition of anonymity because of the pending litigation - say the
attorney general's investigation of possible fraud in the adult protocol
has spread to the children's version.
There's no way to know exactly what authorities are investigating. But
their probe into the adult protocol turned up allegations of drug
companies paying researchers who worked on the adult protocol speaking
fees, and footing the bill for trips to market the Texas program.
The researchers who designed the children's protocol, who are not
parties to the lawsuit over the adult drug program, insist they are
motivated only by children's health. No evidence has emerged to disprove
that; many have dedicated their careers to advancing child psychiatry.
And grants and consulting fees from drug companies are legal and
increasingly common, despite fears that they may influence doctors'
prescription habits. In the last quarter-century, drug makers have
replaced the federal government as the nation's main source of research
funding, even though some studies suggest this money affects the outcome
of clinical trials.
At least four of CMAP's key developers - all affiliated with the
University of Texas system, and all of them published child psychiatry
experts - have received research funding from drug companies, or have
been consultants and speakers for several different pharmaceutical
firms, according to their own published papers and financial disclosure
forms filed with the university. Drugs made by some of these
manufacturers appear in the children's drug protocol.
The doctors say there's no room for improper influence when their
reputations are at stake. If the drugs weren't effective, they wouldn't
endorse them - and the research they conducted to craft CMAP wouldn't
have been published in prestigious medical journals.
"When you really look at the investigators involved and the procedures
they followed, they were all within what has been defined as appropriate
in every medical field," said Dr. Steven Shon, who led the effort to
create the adult drug list, and was forced to resign in 2006 over
allegations he was improperly influenced by a drug company, according to
previously published reports. "To block access to this protocol is
really hurting the people who need it most."
Dr. Graham Emslie, a UT-Southwestern psychiatry expert, said he never
once witnessed improper influence from drug companies while he helped
conduct CMAP research. "There's much more influence relative to
day-to-day prescribing" of drugs than there is doing university research
or designing a protocol, he said.
At stake is the psychiatric care of tens of thousands of children
treated at state and community mental health centers across Texas - many
of whom are covered by Medicaid and don't have access to private health
care. Without the protocol, experts say, these children will continue to
be treated by individual doctors who have their own personal influences.
"This attack is causing us to go back to the system we had before, with
individual doctors who may have individual influence, instead of using a
standardized protocol," said Aaryce Hayes, a mental health policy
specialist with Advocacy, Inc.
The News' investigation into the doctors prescribing psychiatric drugs
to children in state foster care has found that many doctors received
money from pharmaceutical companies, for tasks such as running clinical
trials and consulting.
Most states don't require doctors to report such financial arrangements
with drug companies. The few that do have found some evidence their work
was affected, including doctors with drug company connections writing
more prescriptions for children.
About the protocols
Drug protocols are designed to ensure all patients with a particular
diagnosis receive the most effective, proven treatment available.
They're created by bringing together academics, researchers and public
health experts, who run trials, compare best practices and recommend a
road map, or algorithm, for which drugs should be used.
While the protocols are generally created with the best intentions, they
can be controversial, particularly when drug companies have a hand in
designing them.
Some lawmakers and activists say it's time the state took a close look
at the financial motivations of experts making drug decisions for
hundreds of thousands of Texans. The adult protocol determines treatment
decisions in state mental health facilities, despite the lawsuit and
studies that have played down the benefits of some of the drugs chosen
for it.
"In our country, there's been a switch from taking care of people to
focusing on big corporate money," said Rep. Juan Escobar, D-Kingsville,
who unsuccessfully offered legislation last year that would have banned
researchers or government employees funded by the pharmaceutical
industry from designing state psychiatric drug protocols. "There need to
be restrictions on how these things are done, because the victims are
our children."
State health officials and the attorney general's office refused to
comment on either the adult or child drug protocols or on the formal
letter the office sent ordering that CMAP not be rolled out. The News
found no evidence that any particular drug companies had been pulled
into the Medicaid fraud investigation into CMAP.
The CMAP research wasn't funded by drug companies, but most of the
country's renowned scientists have used industry money for their work.
Without the private dollars, which are more readily available than
government grants, many pharmaceutical advances would be drastically
delayed, researchers contend.
The flip side is that the scientists conducting the research become
familiar with and invested in the drugs, making them, in effect, some of
the pharmaceutical firms' best salespeople.
Some universities, like UT, require that their researchers fill out
extensive financial disclosure forms, and document every case where they
conduct research on drugs manufactured by a company they consult for.
Most of the CMAP researchers appear to have complied with these
guidelines.
But many of the nation's researchers must do little more than disclose
their relationships in fine print at the bottom of their published
papers. There's no way to verify these disclosures are accurate; in all
but a handful of states, drug companies aren't required to reveal their
payments.
Last month, Sen. Charles Grassley revealed that three Harvard psychiatry
experts whose research contributed to the explosion of antipsychotic use
in children had failed to report a combined $3.2 million in drug company
consulting fees to the university, a violation of Harvard's rules.
Mr. Grassley, R-Iowa, has proposed legislation to force drug companies
to disclose their payments to physicians. But he faces an uphill battle.
In 2007, drug companies spent an industry record - $168 million -
lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according to a Center for Public
Integrity study. That's up more than 30 percent from 2006.
Patricia Ohlendorf, UT-Austin's vice president for legal affairs, said
several university system researchers, including the head of UT's
pharmacy college, M. Lynn Crismon, have been asked to give depositions
for the lawsuit over the adult protocol. They are not named in the civil
suit.
Dr. Crismon, who led the effort to create the children's protocol and
has received research or consulting dollars from at least 10 different
drug manufacturers, according to his published papers, said he was "not
at liberty" to comment on the drug protocol or the lawsuit.
Last month, an e-mail sent to some employees at the Department of State
Health Services indicated that "all CMAP activities" were to be "removed
from the UT College of Pharmacy" - where Dr. Crismon and a key piece of
the roll-out program were centered.
An official close to CMAP said that within the last month, investigators
from the attorney general's office seized hard drives from state health
offices and questioned employees. That has not happened at UT, Ms.
Ohlendorf said.
The adult protocol
Texas' adult-drug protocol, spearheaded in the mid-1990s, aimed to
provide better and more consistent treatment to adult patients in state
mental health facilities. The plan was designed and tested by a team of
university researchers, state government experts and mental health
advocates, and a presidential mental health commission lauded it in 2004
as a model for the nation.
But there were criticisms from the start by clinicians who feared the
protocol would override their judgment and Scientologists opposed to all
use of drugs for psychiatric care. And its research funding from 11
pharmaceutical companies prompted allegations of improper influence
after several cutting-edge, high-dollar drugs were chosen over
traditional generics.
Most researchers involved in the protocol, many of whom also conducted
research for the children's version, declined to comment for this
report. But privately, they say their financial relationships with drug
companies didn't cloud their judgment. While the newer drugs were
costly, the researchers believe they are better and that they should be
available for people in state care, not just for those with private
insurance.
State lawmakers moved forward with the adult protocol, using it in state
psychiatric hospitals and community mental health facilities. Texas
researchers were shuttled across the nation to give drug company-hosted
lectures about the protocol's merits, according to previous newspaper
reports and allegations in the state lawsuit. Within years, 16 other
states were using similar protocols, and Texas was designing its own for
children.
But as new research about the drugs chosen for the protocol emerged,
questions resurfaced. A 2005 study by the federal government's National
Institute of Mental Health showed the new antipsychotic drugs, which
cost roughly 10 times more than the traditional drugs, performed no
better and had nearly as many side effects.
"Taken as a whole," the report notes, "the newer medications have no
substantial advantage over the older medication."
A year later, a British national study mirrored those findings.
Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania official became an unlikely whistle-blower
when he discovered the state's chief pharmacist - who was designing a
drug plan based on Texas' protocol - was reportedly on the payroll for a
drug company, according to previously published news reports.
Allen Jones' bosses in the Pennsylvania inspector general's office told
him to lay off, Mr. Jones alleges, and when he didn't, he was fired. Mr.
Jones traced the pharmaceutical influence all the way back to the TMAP
protocol, filing a whistle-blower lawsuit in Texas that quickly caught
the eye of state authorities.
Mr. Jones could not be reached for comment. His Dallas-based attorney
did not return phone calls.
Not long after, Dr. Shon, then the medical director for the Department
of State Health Services, was ousted over allegations the pharmaceutical
company Janssen improperly influenced him to include its schizophrenia
drug in the protocol, according to previous news reports and the TMAP
lawsuit.
Dr. Shon was accused of accepting consulting money from the company -
income he says was unrelated to his work for the state - and of taking
dozens of trips underwritten by drug companies to promote the protocol.
In 2006, the Texas attorney general's office joined Mr. Jones' lawsuit,
accusing Janssen of concealing the risks and exaggerating the benefits
of the drug, Risperdal, and of trying to persuade researchers with
"trips, perks, travel expenses, honoraria and other payments." As a
result, the state says, the protocol includes high-priced drugs instead
of cheaper generics, which costs Texas' Medicaid program more money.
Executives with Janssen did not return repeated phone calls. In court
papers filed in Travis County, the drug company denied any wrongdoing,
calling Mr. Jones an "opportunistic 'late-comer' " who had "at best,
only secondhand knowledge of the alleged fraud."
Dr. Shon, who retired to Las Vegas, says for every speaking engagement
where he represented the state of Texas, he gave the payment he received
to the state. Over the course of 15 years, he said, he probably earned
less than $15,000 from private consulting gigs with drug companies -
jobs that weren't related to his state position.
"They were done on my own time, and they followed all the guidelines,"
he said. "In terms of what I've been involved with, I haven't seen
anybody paid by the industry to promote a product."
Link here:
<http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories
/DN-cmap_18tex.ART.State.Edition2.4d6163c.html>
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... t/stories/ (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/)
DN-cmap_18tex.ART.State.Edition2.4d6163c.html
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Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness
Ha, then a lotta yous should be worried! :D
Seriously though, it's ironic that Bush wants to screen the nation for something so intrinsic to himself; kind of like Hitler (rumored to be part Jewish) persecuting millions of Jews...eh?