Although as a shorterm goal cleaning up the industry is laudable, it is not my goal and not my principle pursuit.
I want our government to protect the right of all individuals to be free from involuntary commitment to any in-patient psychiatric center. Teens should have the same rights as adults in resisting committment. That includes a full hearing before a court where no less than two physicians attest to a diagnosis of a mental disorder and a danger to the self or others requiring hospitalization.
Not getting along with your parents is not a mental disease, puberty is not a mental disease, slumping in grades is not a mental disease, hating your stepparent is not a mental disease, and winning a custody battle does not include kidnapping your kid to a concentration camp.
It can be no more clear than that. The entire industry is a fraud. It can't be fixed, because its a fraud. There can't be success rates because its a fraud. At best its little more than a teen tour for 4 times the money. At worst its a gulag complete with "reeducation".
And if you think Provo Canyon is an acceptable treatment option for any human being then our views can never even come close to being reconciled.
I accept small favors and regulation as they come but the truest regulation is that it is illegal to practice unlicensed mental health services with unqualified staff in all 50 states and that is what nearly every program does. In addition it is a violation of human rights to be held against ones will for psychological "treatment" unless a fair hearing is conducted where it is shown that the person represents a threat to themselves or others because of their documented mental disease.
Parents don't want to send their kids to therapists because often therapists see that the kid is reacting to the environment they are in and is not gonna place all the responsibility on the kid. Therapy takes a long time and only works when people want to work through it. Therapy also may reveal that the reason a person is unhappy or depressed or acting out is legitimate and parents might have to allow their teen to make changes in their lifestyle that make them uncomfortable or parents may be told that it is they who are contributing to the problems in the family. Teens are actually far less likely to suffer from mental illness than their parents and that is something they don't want to hear.
How do I know this because I suffered with clinical depression from a very young age and it took a long time to realize that rather unorthodox changes were necesary for me to at least take control of my life to the extent that if I worked at it I could be happy.
My therapist at one point told me to call him daily at 6am because it helped me to just wake up in the morning and at no point did he suggest some trek out into the woods or some hippie group therapy sharing circle bullshit would help me. He let me help myself by just listening and being a neutral party that I could run ideas by as to how to make my life better.
One explanation why incarceration of teens is so popular among wealthy parents.
"Its easier to love someone than to live with them. Love is fantasy, living is work, and those people don't like to work"
Oh and one more thing, I don't just sit at my computer all day. I discovered this industry while involved in the National Youth Rights Association, youthrights.org
I started studying it when my friend was kidnapped to Alldredge academy in WV. Going on nothing but the state that he was sent to I discovered where he was sent and enough dirt on the place to convince his father it was a mistake. His mother though kept him from coming home. I called prosecutors, CPS, the sheriff in WV and reporters. He was brought home a month early in a 3 month program (although some people have been there for over a year)
In addition I talked to my youth group about these places so they would know about them before it was too late.
More recently I have reported the Ivy Ridge WWASP facility in NY to the authorities and asked that it be investigated as an unlicensed mental health service.
I also made attempts to help a girl who claimed to have been raped at Carolina Springs and was on the verge of being sent back. Her parents would not let her call the police so I did my best to call for her.
We may both be in the trenches but I am a volunteer, not a mercenary out to make money from "helping people."
As for the possibility that WWASP will finally be shut down soon and its leaders brought to justice, I can only say one thing.
"Corpse carriers to the guardhouse."-"Mother Night", Kurt Vonnegut
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No greater love hath a man, then he lay down his life for his brother, not for millions, not for glory, not for fame, for one person, in the dark, where no one will every know or see.
[ This Message was edited by: FaceKhan on 2003-06-06 23:03 ]
[ This Message was edited by: FaceKhan on 2003-06-06 23:18 ]
