CL Psych On Mandatory Mental Health Screening For Kids

In response to my recent post on the new mental health screening program for kids on Medicaid in Massachusetts, CL Psych has his own thoughts.

"There is the black undercurrent of labeling developmentally relatively normal behavior as indicative of a mental disorder and sticking the kids on all sorts of psychotropic meds that (in many cases) have little data to support their use.

"But there is more to it than drugs. It's our culture. We've come to accept that there is an epidemic of autism, depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and who knows what's next in our kids. While the drug industry certainly played a role in these developments, it says something about our culture that we are readily willing to buy into the idea that mental illness has spread like a plague throughout American society. Have we bought into these disorders hook, line, and sinker because:

* It abdicates parents of any responsibility for their children's behavior

* It lets kids off the hook for their behavior ("I couldn't help it -- I have ADHD")

* It adds yet more drama to the teen years ("Gina is, like, so moody. I bet she is, like, bipolar")

* It seems so scientific. We uncover yet more diagnoses with each edition of the DSM and we then think that we have a better understanding of human behavior.

"I'm not claiming that these are especially deep thoughts, but there is something about the interaction of science, marketing, and American culture that seems to have gone awry here."

I couldn't agree more. Our culture is indeed getting weird when the language of psychiatry and the DSM is the lingua franca of behavior and mood, and when states feel they have the inherent right to pry into the minds of children.