Many Angry At Childhood Mental Illness "Hostage" Ad Campaign

First, thanks to many readers for passing along an article from today's New York Times on the backlash against an ad campaign conceived by New York University's Child Study Center and its director, Harold Koplewicz. The campaign is to raise awareness around what Koplewicz calls “the silent public health epidemic of children’s mental illness.” It focuses on autism, depression, ADHD, OCD, Asperger's and bulima. It seems that the center had the good sense to steer clear of the bipolar child business, but many parents and mental health advocates are questioning the campaign's tone, which describes 12 million children as being held "hostage" to mental illness, and its overall message. The campaign, done pro bono by an ad agency, is only in New York for now, but may expand to at least four other cities.

I think the campaign is more than a little over the top. For example, the "ransom note" sent to a putative parent by ADHD reads: "We are in possession of your son. We are making him squirm & fidget until he is a detriment to himself & those around him. Ignore this & your kid will pay. ADHD" The ads tagline is "Don't let a psychiatric disorder take your child."

The autism community is offering the most intense criticism of the campaign and has created a petition calling for an end to the campaign. I'm not even going to attempt to summarize what folks are saying. Read some for yourself here.

One mother told the paper:

"'The idea of an autistic person being held hostage is a very disturbing and backward image,' she said. 'Rather than promote public awareness, this reinforces stereotypes--that there is something damaged about the autistic person, something in need of a repair.'"

In a message on the center's website, Koplewicz claims that "fifteen million children in the U.S. have diagnosable psychiatric or learning disorders but nearly 70 percent don’t receive the help they need. These disorders rob children of the ability to learn, make and keep friends and enjoy life." Images from the ad campaign are here.

I'm not sure what the source of funding for the center is, but I've learned to be dubious of public awareness campaigns such as these because they too often don't serve the needs of patients, but instead serve the needs of doctors and pharmaceutical companies. That said, I am in no way minimizing mental disorders in kids or how parents might choose to treat them, but if there's one thing I've learned in my reporting on these issues, it's to be very skeptical when doctors use the E word--epidemic--and start waving the banner of public health problem and "diagnosable" disorder. I know this is very emotional territory, but I really have to question just who this campaign is really serving and why the center is using what amounts to fear tactics (ADHD takes kids hostage? Really?) in order to educate the public in the name of diagnoses that can be over-broad and treatments that don't work particularly well. Treatment success rates with bulimia, for example, run about 15 percent last time I checked, and ADHD kids seem to do just fine over time with or without treatment. And, let's keep in mind that many of these ADHD kiddos are in fact little boys who wind up being given anti-psychotics yet have no say whatsoever in their treatment.

So what do readers think is going on here?

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