Author Topic: Teen Screen: Normal Kids Labeled Mentally Ill (Read 6581 times)

Anonymous · « **on:** August 26, 2006, 05:08:22 PM »

TeenScreen - Normal Kids Labeled Mentally Ill

Despite years of public outcry, based on recommendations by President Bush's New Freedom Commission to screen all school children for mental illness, TeenScreen is now being administered in the nation's public school system and children are being regularly diagnosed with one, or more, disorders chosen from the close to 400 listed in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV" (DSM), also known as the psychiatric "Billing Bible."
The list of mental disorders to chose from when diagnosing children mentally ill with TeenScreen, are "voted" into the Billing Bible by members of the American Psychiatric Association, and include, among others, conduct disorder, avoidant personality disorder, mathematics disorder, reading disorder, disorder of written expression, general anxiety disorder, nightmare disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and factious disorder.

A mental illness that drew a lot of ridicule recently, is called the "intermittent explosive disorder," for people who fly into occasional but unwarranted fits of rage.

. . . and guess who's behind it--pharmaceuticals!

The TeenScreen survey is billed as a suicide prevention tool, but according to former government investigator, Allen Jones, "Teen Screen is a nefarious effort to recruit our children into the quagmire of biological psychiatry."

"The program employs dubious screening tools administered by non-professionals," he states. "It is based on misleading science and diagnostic criteria that would be downright laughable if the stakes were not so high," he adds.

"While the idea of screening kids for mental problems seems like a good idea, it ends up being nothing more than a Drugging Dragnet," says Jim Gottstein, an attorney who represents clients harmed by the psychiatric industrial complex.

"The high rate at which we are drugging America's children with psychotropics," he says, "is a national disgrace."

"This is junk science at it's worst," says Dr Jan Johnson, MD, "follow the money, the trail leads right back to the drug companies."

Rest of the article:
http://www.newstarget.com/020092.html

Deborah · « **Reply #1 on:** August 26, 2006, 05:23:10 PM »

Hi Toni,
Indepth disscussion and numerous articles on this topic can be found here:
http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... ght=screen

If you don't know the history of Teen Screen there is documentation of it's origins in Tx, using foster kids as guenia pigs while developing TMAP at the hefty expense of taxpayers. They were perfecting this Algorithm model which is being sold to other states.

BTW, welcome. Thanks for your contributions.
And why, are you "stuck" in Utah?

Anonymous · « **Reply #2 on:** August 26, 2006, 08:43:04 PM »

How come Bitching Disorder (BD) is not in the DSM. I know lotsa people with that one. Dunno if there's a pill for it tho.

Nihilanthic · « **Reply #3 on:** August 26, 2006, 09:31:24 PM »

Quote from: ""Guest""

How come Bitching Disorder (BD) is not in the DSM. I know lotsa people with that one. Dunno if there's a pill for it tho.

Midol.

Anonymous · « **Reply #4 on:** August 26, 2006, 10:14:08 PM »

Quote from: ""Guest""

How come Bitching Disorder (BD) is not in the DSM. I know lotsa people with that one. Dunno if there's a pill for it tho.

The solution literally grows on trees, cannabis.

ZenAgent · « **Reply #5 on:** August 27, 2006, 02:13:38 AM »

Sounds like one of my favorite songs by the Stranglers...

"I'm bitchy,
I'm tellin' you the Gospel truth,
I'm bitchy,
Now why don't you all go get screwed,"

Props to JJ Burnell.

Anonymous · « **Reply #6 on:** August 28, 2006, 12:49:35 AM »

Rather than being alarmist and hysterical, it might help if you found out more about what you were talking about before you went ballistic.

Several of the things you listed aren't mental illness, they're learning disabilities.

It's important that we have labels for learning disabilities. It helps tremendously towards ensuring that the kids that meet the criteria for those labels get what they need to learn, just like the more typical kids are getting what they need to learn.

Learning disabilities go in the diagnostic manual, but they are not mental illnesses.

ADD/ADHD is the only learning disability I know of that gets treated with medication.

The other learning disability categories are just ways for highly trained specialists to identify and communicate what's wrong so that educators aren't just groping around in the dark trying to figure out how to help a particular kid learn.

Julie

Anne Bonney · « **Reply #7 on:** August 28, 2006, 01:23:38 AM »

Teen Screen is such bullshit. Fucking everyone is 'diagnosed' with something or other nowadays. Hasn't this shit gone far enough? I had a really good friend a few years back. She was absolutely convinced that she had ADD or ADHD, went to a doc, got a dx and her script for Adderall. Then her kids come along, two boys. Healthy, rowdy boys. It wasn't long before they were both 'diagnosed' with ADHD and promptly put on Adderall themselves. She would always tell me how hard they were to control and deal with. School had problems with them and wholeheartedly agreed with doping them up. I could never figure it out. I babysat a lot.....i mean a lot. I never had any problem dealing with those boys.....before or after the meds. They knew how far they could and could not push me. The first few times sitting for them was rough, but once they knew the limits things settled down just fine.

I'm not saying there's never, ever any reason to medicate a kid, but I think it's an extremely small number that it's actually appropriate for. Certainly not anywhere near even approaching the numbers that PharmaCo and the psychiatrists would have you believe. Not by a long shot.

Oh, and that former friend really used to piss me off too. She'd rag on me about drinking or smoking a joint but she was just too tired to make it thru the day without her fucking Adderall and that was A-OK. Fucking hypocrite.

Anonymous · « **Reply #8 on:** August 28, 2006, 02:23:21 AM »

Thanks for the info, Deborah. Perhaps the above is a little more appropriate. I was feeling stuck for awhile, but a bit freer lately. I'm working on the frustration right now! Lost my password for login here, so I'm using "guest" which is kind of nice, I can change it as I want!

Utah's a strange place to live. After 6 years, I still don't fit in here, and from how I see it, hopefully, never will.

Mormons hang together, no matter what. Laws, morals, right/wrong, doesn't matter to them . . . they do it their way and if you (or someone you know) is on the Church's hierarchy, you can't do no wrong.

They control everything through the Church, it controls the people and the people are all one big inter-related family. That's why it's really disturbing to see so many of these teen institutions going up here.

The Sheriff's related, the Child Protective Service people are related, the State Licensing people are related, the Attorney General, Governor and every elected official is related. And, these guys are all related to the people who work at the teen facilities.

The Feds have taken control of Utah through land thefts (Utah is over 65% Fed owned, my county is 90% Fed/St) and the historical economies have been shut down.

These teen facilities are replacing the old economy. They call it the NEW ECONOMY, which is part of the NEW WEST, which is part of the NEW WORLD ORDER (as is every other place on Earth, different action plans for different regions, but we're all coming together under "one" umbrella).

Anonymous · « **Reply #9 on:** August 28, 2006, 02:40:00 AM »

Toni, Eeeewwwwwwww! Why are you living in Utah?! I mean, if you're not some religious nut or some avid skiier or something...

I have wondered what life is like for those living in Utah. It seems like all they do is go to church activities, eat at chain restaurants, go to their job at the reform school, then eat some more. They all get married so young and seem to have no ambition, and they don't seem to travel much. What a bunch of losers.

I'm curious, not being sarcastic or fecisious, what exactly do young people do out there in "fly-over land"?

Anonymous · « **Reply #10 on:** August 28, 2006, 07:14:20 AM »

Quote from: ""Guest""

Toni, Eeeewwwwwwww! Why are you living in Utah?! I mean, if you're not some religious nut or some avid skiier or something...

I have wondered what life is like for those living in Utah. It seems like all they do is go to church activities, eat at chain restaurants, go to their job at the reform school, then eat some more. They all get married so young and seem to have no ambition, and they don't seem to travel much. What a bunch of losers.

I'm curious, not being sarcastic or fecisious, what exactly do young people do out there in "fly-over land"?

A chick I know who went to Utah a while back said they freak out over shorts that end above the knee.

I should go there and give a seminar (apparently everyone there loves them) about sexual fetishes or something. If I put a wind turbine into the doors to the auditorium when everyone gasps and freaks out I could probably power the whole nation for a week.

On the flipside, oppression can breed some VERY interstesting people with interesting tastes and way of expressing themselves once they find freedom to be sexual. :lol:

Oz girl · « **Reply #11 on:** August 28, 2006, 07:44:06 AM »

I spent 2 nights in Utah once. Before i knew it was the capital of adolescent gulags. It was kinda nice. The people were really friendly. Unlike mormons everywhere else they were not out to convert anyone because hey were the majority. Afer a while it felt like i was surrounded by Ned and Maude flanders wherever i went but it was overall a good experience. i would love to spend some time there. It is just the thing if you are the outdoors type.
PS I am NOT just being a smart are. I really liked it.

Deborah · « **Reply #12 on:** August 28, 2006, 08:48:54 AM »

According to the "experts" ADD/HD is not a Learning Disability.

ADHD is not considered to be a learning disability. It can be determined to be a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), making a student eligible to receive special education services. However, ADHD falls under the category ?Other Health Impaired? and not under ?Specific Learning Disabilities.? - Learning Disabilities Assoc of America

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, is one of the most common mental disorders that develop in children. - NIMH

ADHD is not a Learning Disability
A Learning Disability is a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and the use of listening, spelling, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical ability. These disorders are intrinsic to the individual, presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction and may occur across the life span. - National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities

Anonymous · « **Reply #13 on:** August 28, 2006, 12:28:23 PM »

Fine. I was speaking of the specific utility of these labels in getting kids the special services they need in school so that they can learn.

Yes, ADHD is classified as OHI, but it also, in a school setting, can be treated as a learning disability.

If a child is classified OHI or EBD, without an LD, then he only gets a 504 plan, it limits some of the options, and the school gets no extra money to pay for any of it.

If a child is classified as having a learning disability, then he gets an IEP, which opens up some more options, and the school gets extra money from the government to pay for the services.

This is the rough, 5 second explanation since the nitty gritty of child educational advocacy can get into mind-numbing detail and complexity.

The long list in the alarmist post above, including "Disorder of Written Expression," etc., contains a bunch of labels that are learning disabilities--labels meant to help school staff and parents do a better job getting that child what he needs to learn.

The learning disabilities on that list are not mental illnesses, and they do not---that I've ever heard of---put a kid on any kind of meds for dyslexia, disorder of written expression, disorder of mathematics, and so forth.

It's mindless hysteria to say that a school that says a kid is dyslexic, or similar, is classifying a "normal" kid as "mentally ill."

Julie

Anonymous · « **Reply #14 on:** August 28, 2006, 12:36:43 PM »

Quote from: ""Guest""

disorder of written expression, disorder of mathematics, and so forth.

Omg. Disorder of mathematics???

Quote

It's mindless hysteria to say that a school that says a kid is dyslexic, or similar, is classifying a "normal" kid as "mentally ill."

Julie

I think it's mindless hysteria to diagnose all these kids with any one or more of these "disorders". IMO, most of them are crap, catch-all phrases for normal kids who aren't behaving as desired.

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