A growing recognition of the fact that "mental health is fundamental to a person's overall health.Many people resist getting a health screening before they begin an exercise program because they feel it is unnecessary or that it will be embarrassing.

I trust that Mass Health can establish that children who currently look to it for mental health services are achieving laudable outcomes, that the nature, timing, quality and extent of the services currently provided engenders those outcomes, that the instrument used for assessment is valid and will be properly administered, that children misidentified are not harmed, that children who are identified subsequently receive a correct diagnosis, and that Mass Health has sufficient underused behavioral health capacity to absorb children identified as needing treatment. I think not.

I can only wonder how screening .... will make Massachusetts a leader in ensuring that children's mental disorders get the same attention as any physical ailment. Absent other evidence, to assert that screening is anything more than screening belies common sense.

Mental screening of children is backed by pharmaceutical companies because certainly it will result in even more kids on psychiatric drugs.

Evidence? See here for the tax records from Screening for Mental Health Inc.:
www.signsofsuicide.org

Check out all the pharma connected advisors to TeenScreen here: http://www.psychsearch.net/advisors.html

Can you take a moment to view this very short video on TeenScreen?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfU9puZQKBY

And then sign and forward this petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html to your associates and everyone you know? It already has over 24,000 signatures.

It's simply a race to inform enough parents so something can be done about this.

There is even a federal Bill to ban funding for screening which specifically names TeenScreen, you can find that here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h2387_ih.xml

I think that if there were any reliable fixes for any of these disorders, then it would be a great idea to screen people. I think it would be an even better idea (to screen) if it could be demonstrated that these disorders exist, outside of some bizarre notion of "normality," established by some completely unaccountable person(s).

There aren't and it can't, so it's a crap idea, as far as I'm concerned.

Matt

This is clearly lawsuit prevention. When a kid/family is on Medicaid, and falls through the crack for lack of proper care or dx, guess what happens? The family can sue, or worst case scenerio, a person comes out of the system, [take Cho for example]and goes berserk...fall out ends up on the lack of care, via Medicaid, leading toward blame of the Government.The red flag is the screenings are for Medicaid clients only. Lawsuit prevention.

There is a psychiatric/pharmaceutical plan to "suicide screen" every child in the United States before they graduate from high school.
Evidence exists that shows massive pharmaceutical backing that will result in even more overdrugging of kids with psychiatric drugs.

Many parents, doctors and teachers object to this very invasive screening.

Can you take a moment to view this very short video?

Click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfU9puZQKBY

And then sign and forward this petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html

to your associates and everyone you know? It already has over 24,000 signatures.

It's simply a race to inform enough parents so something can be done about this.

Federal Bill to ban funding for screening here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h2387_ih.xml

I'm not sure I buy into the argument that the reason Medicaid kids are being singled out as the first targets for screening is because of lawsuits. I think it's because their treatment is paid for by the government and there is no resistance whatsoever to putting them on a myriad variety of psych meds. In fact there is a rush to medicate these children by everyone involved. And a lot of people seem to be getting rich in the process. At least in the private sector some parents might be asking some questions and putting up a fight.

This just isn't right. I can only immagine that this "screening" BullShit, will result in many more children being put on drugs they don't actually need... and if anything in regards to lawsuites, that it will result in these programs getting sued en mass when these children either grow up and learn the truth about who's really behind this new mandatory and realize that the drugs have done more harm than good for them. Or maybe it will just take another 15 or 20 rebeca riley sort of sad situations, brought on BY this program and the parents will start to sue befor their children have to endure being medicated until adulthood and reach a age where they can defend themselves from being medicated into oblivion and bad health for no other reason than the fact that corruption has once again gone unchecked just so some companies can make big bucks by ruining peoples lives.

thanks for making us aware of this program philip, I would love to hear more in depth info about it. I think it is up to people like us, your readers and those who actually CARE about and UNDERSTAND the possibly horrid consequences of such a program, when done so incorrectly with such meaningless screaning items/terms... well its up to US to make a stink about it because I don't think the unsuspecting average joe parents of kids on medicare are going to know any better. If you can find a link to any sort of site or group that is hell bent on resisting this, and keep bringing up this program in your posts, maybe something can be done to stop it, make it more ethical - ie no ties wit big pharma- and the screening tools actually relavant to actual MI's and not just a way to medicate away CHILDHOOD itself.

Looks like MASS is going to have a ton of drugged, damaged kids growing up in that state. You'd think the parents would resist but guess not. There will be lots more crime and devastation once these kids decide they don't want to take drugs anymore that make them fat, diabetic, Tardive Dykinesia, twitching, inner torment, angry, violent, aggressive, etc. The whole state will be in prison pretty soon so don't vacation in Mass anymore.

There is a cure for this insanity. Ron Paul 2008

The problems with this are many. The main one being that there is no way to ascertain that one has or does not have a mental illness as there is no proven biological cause for ANY OF THEM! There is no medical test to prove that a "chemical imbalance of the brain" does or does not exist. The "mental illnesses" that will be diagnosed are entirely subjective and based on no proven science (how can they be when there is no proven biological problem and no test for it??).
THIS WILL LEAD TO A VERY LARGE LIKELIHOOD OF MISDIAGNOSIS AND OVERMEDICATION OF MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WITH DRUGS PROVEN TO BE NEITHER EFFECTIVE OR SAFE!!
The "mental disorders" are actually nothing more than symptoms and behaviors having 100s of possible causes including normal kid and dysfuncional family life.
Billions of dollars spent by Big Pharma on advertising and marketing and brainwashing our legislators has been very effective. I sincerely hope that the state of Massachusetts wakes up and puts a stop to this before too much harm is done to our future generation.
This is not only a very bad experiment but those responsible ought to be put in jail.

This is a danger to all as the mental health screening regulation is a federal court interpretation (Massachusetts US District) of the federal EPSDT (Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment) law. It's a bad precedent that needs to be fought.
Parents need to be told why they should refuse mental health screening and those who pushed the case (Center for Public Representation - www.centerforpublicrep.org ), Judge Michael A. Ponsor (United States District Court, 1550 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103)and those implementing the court order from Massachusetts Medicaid Thomas.Dehner@massmail.state.ma.us (Medicaid Director, and JudyAnn.Bigby@state.ma.us (MA Health and Human Services Commissioner) should be contacted.

Big Brother and his minions have been watching too many "Frankenstein" movies. In this case, they are trying to make Life imitate "Art"/ (horror flicks).
Wouldn't it be just grand, they "reasoned", to have every child pass unobtrusively through those nasty little stages of childhood, pubescence and teenage years as a zombie, so as not to upset significant numbers of adults already on mood-altering drugs? These "adults" themselves are unable to cope with the realities of life; why should they care about their progeny? Get a GRIP, before Big Brother decides upon a shortcut promoting a "childcare" plan of sterilization to "prune" the population. H-mmm, I think I'll just stay at the back of the line...

RIGHT ON! THIS IS GETTING SCAREY ISN'T IT?

Well, Massachusettes has chosen to drug the future of the USA. Barbaric to say the least!
Something can be done about it though.

There's really something wrong with education these days that puts out professionals "that believe the people are too stupid to be allowed to make their own health decisions. Bureaucrats and physicians should be the ones making these decisions, we're told, and any person who disagrees with such decisions should be labeled a criminal, arrested and prosecuted."

Message from Michael - Sun Nov 25, 2007

Bless us all. WHY the Dark Regime Must GO

Sender writes

Who says that this is a free country??? Where is the outrage???

ECETI News

Children Forced to be Vaccinated

parents_against_teenscreen@earthlink.net

Now children are forced to be mentally screened too!!!!!!

Go to CCHR.org and find out what to do about it.

This program is one of those examples of "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"

I am sure most of those supporting this have good intentions but are simply poorly informed of the facts that psychiatry and psychology are not real medicine. Really they just drug people or worse. They take children who need 'real help' such as tutoring, a safe environment, good food etc and call them 'diseased' such as ADHD or Learning Disabled. Then typically they take these children with problems and add to their problems by making them drug addicts.

Please for the sake of the children get rid of this program or atleast make sure they do not give the children drugs, electric shock or lobotomies.

I know parents, children and young adults who have been labelled and the pain they have suffered not because their children had problems but because the treatment was a problem and it was heavily pushed by 'the system.'

Sincerely,
Carol Horton

Money doesn't motivate anyone to do anything, only to undo. When the motivation is monetary (obviously or not so), there is no sanity or genuine caring, only evil intentions, hidden or otherwise. I agree that parents must be wise enough to refuse to cooperate with so-called "doctors" if they start breaking out screening tests. This is supposed to be America. And in fact, all of us on Earth are a free people, by continuing to know that we are despite anything.

The problem with screening is that no one knows what causes mental illness.

The information to understand causation has been in plain sight for over forty years.

In the 1960's a problem of the physiology of sight was discovered when it caused mental events for office workers.

There is circumstantial evidence that too-close side-by-side seating in classrooms allows the opportunity for Subliminal Distraction exposure.

That is the name of the problem discovered in the 60's.

Slight changes in classrooms would test this possibility. It would cost little and if the tests eliminate ADD, ADHD, Indigo Children, panic attacks, and schizophrenia the need to treat with harmful meds would no longer exist.

Can anyone cite a case of someone 'blind from birth' having ADD, ADHD, panic attacks, or schizophrenia?

If mental illness is caused by chemical changes in the brain, brain disease, why are the blind immune?

I have been following your struggle and fully concur with your analysis of the situation.

Psychiatry is bogus medicine. They have never proven one so-called mental illness.

I liken going to a psychiatrist for a brain problem with taking a car to a car wash when the motor is shot. Neurologists are THEE brain doctors NOT psychologists!

I wrote to the American Neurological Association a couple of years ago and asked them how long they were going to allow this fraudent, barbarism of "modern" psychiatry to exist. I am pleased to note that some neurologists are taking up the struggle and have some websites of interest. One is ADHDFraud.com

Another neurologist has written a book, "Dumbing Down America".

Keep up the outstanding work. We will certainly be in need or your resources when they implement the same programmes in Canada.

Dianne Robinson

Carol,

As one who has a non verbal learning disability, I am definitely against this proposed screening. But please don't assume that these disorders aren't legimate when they are diagnosed accurately, which I realize is a big if.

Also, since kids with autistic and LD diagnoses who get true intervensions at a younger age do better in life, I would hate to eliminate for example the early screening of autism. When I mean true intevenions, I am not talking about drug therapy as I am totally against that as one who is tapering off of meds.

What needs to happen in my opinion is that the diagnosis of conditions like LD and autism need to be taken out of the mental health area. I am not sure how that can be done since he professionals qualifed to make the diagnoses are neuropsychologists and psychiatrists

Currently, since many people with LD and autism develop depression and anxiety as the result of not getting help for dealing with their differently wired brain, the common follow up treatment is to suggest antidepressants. That needs to stop in my opinion.

Anyway, my point is that just because sadly the issues of LD and autism are lumped in with other mental health issues erroneously in my opinion doesn't mean they aren't legimitmate diagnsoses. I should know since I live with NLD every day.

AA

PS - My diagnosis is legimimate as I was diagnosed with it before ever being placed on any psych meds

This is a scam, to be sure, and a bloody one. We need to keep letting the public know they are being lined up for brutal experimentation, without regard for them as human beings.
My father was ruined as a result of psych drug "therapy", and later ended his life a miserable guy.
Massachusetts needs to wake up and throw the rascals out, asap.

Well I came here to say my bit in protest to this matter, but it would appear so many before me have already said it so eloquently that there is no need to reiterate.

I agree -- it is becoming quite scarey -- drug companies and their stockholders are the only ones winning here. We spend billions on "say no to drugcampaigns", and then we allocate billions more thru silliness like this to drug our kids "legally". How does that work?!?!

Sad indeed. Sadder still that parents, let alone the general public are oblivious to this situation. They have and continue to buy into these "illnesses".

Please...get educated on the truth. Visit www.cchr.org Here you will find out the alternatives that actually work. Spread the word!

I wonder what Teddy Kennedy thinks about 'early' intervention/prevention/institutionalization of free spirits.

Good God Almighty! Why are we as a society so stupid as to think Nazi generated hypotheses on "bettering the race" would ever work.

It's abhorrent when you see (if you look) what Nazi Psychiatry perpetrated in the name of "science" and yet it seems to have slipped past everyone's nose and into modern general mainstream thought processes. Psychiatry and their bedfellows at the pharmaceutical companies are out to create customer base. Let us see those statistics and studies which SHOW without a DOUBT that screening does anything but stereotype and pigeon-hole people, and especially children.

Medicaid was introduced for the purpose of shrinking the gap between "haves" and "have nots" by making medical treatment available to the poor. But this widens that gap by lessening rights and freedoms for Medicaid recipiants. If you're poor enough to need Medicaid, you can't decide for yourself if your child needs mental screening and dangerous drugs? Phooey. And by putting these kids on dangerous and addictive drugs, that ensures they will always be outsiders to mainstream American society. This sacrifices the poor to satisfy the greed of psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies.

Read Elliot Valenstein's: Blaming The Brain, The Truth about Drugs and Mental Illness. Insight from one of the most respected and published Neuroscientists anywhere. They are screening for "diseases" due to supposed "chemical imbalances" which have not even been proven!

This is a money making scam by a bunch of CHARLATANS at the expense of childrens safety;
How low and COWARDLY can you get?
A veteran speaking out for kids

As a survivor of "Soviet-style Psychiatric Terrorism", Truama-based Mind Control, Suicidal Programming or Suicidal Ideology, I say send the psychiatrists back to Nazi Germany. I am fed up with abusers, predators,sociopaths,and psychopaths who feel they can abuse and use torture, refuse to deal with the truth and feel they can turn around and say the victim/target/
Victim of Violent Crime" is delusional and psychotic when they themselves write delusional and psychotic remarks and defraud record. It is all about control and power. These abusers put on "Theatrical Act" and feel that we cannot see through their phoniness. When one inspects the records, they find out the truth of how really sick and deadly the situation is. They are sociopaths who feel they know the right things to say and so so that they feel that no one will believe us or that we will not be smart enough to investigate. What "Victims of Violent Crime" see is "Theatrical Acts" within many groups and refusing to do anything about the Gross Human Rights Violations. What much of it points to is people suffering from "Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy", Caretaker, and Hero Syndrome. The illegal demand to be paid for destroying human life. Like a heart specialist stated they are delusional. They are not only into violence, they promote violence. Corrupt psychiatrists promote fear, terror, and violence. It all amounts to high extortion becasue they create problems and then demand to be able to find a BS solution to the problems that they created.
What I have seem them doing for years is protecting child molesters, rapists, criminals, so-called ministers, corrupt officials, Gestapo, and etc. but destroy and kill the "Victim of violent Crime" and try to say that no one is doing anything to you and no one has ever done anything to you. "Don't talk about the elephant in the room." It is worse than being raped and it is the system that is raping the rape victims.
There is not test that will tell if anyone has any mental illness. If one cannot draw, it is a sick joke to say that they have depression when he/she does not even have the personality for depression. EEG's do not tell if one has a mental illness because if he/she has been force fed the evil killer psychiatric drugs, they leave pixels on the brain. They are drug induced. It is all a con game, sham, mad doctoring, wicked witchcraft, fake healing, and etc. Once on the sucker list, they will not take their delusional and psychotic hands off. One doctor told me that a 5th grader could learn in one week's time what psychiatry is all about. By looking at the sick, twisted, and perverted records one would think they either have voices in their head or answer their own questions. It is nothing but Kangaroo Court and all about "Enterprise Corruption", Racketeering and I also call it Money Laundering.
It is all about "Bedlam", money, power, control,greed, Religion, perks, kickbacks, etc.
When one has a good insurance policy after they assign a death bed, they refuse to let go unless one is at the brink of death. What they do if someone wants you dead they will oblige that psychopath. I call many psychiatrists and so-called mental health workers "Low Life" and it is how low can you go. Whenever the victim/target speaks the truth involving realtiy revenge sets in. Deja Vu all over again and again until the end justify the means. They live in their phantasy world because they are not indispensible according to God. "Boys & Girls, Superheroes in the Doll Corner", let's pretend you are this and I am that. When I go wha, wha, wha you have to come running and that makes you my robot.
"Master of puppets, I'm pullig your strings. Twisting your minds and smashing your dreams."

Research exposes the fact that the drug companies are behind this push for mental health screenings, that to have them implimented by our government is unconstitutional, that there is no scientific basis for the screenings or their outcomes, that screenings usually lead to the psychiatric drugging of our children, that pschiatric drugging does more harm than good (like causes suicide and anxiety) and that the screenings are entirely subjective and prove nothing other than the fact that the drug companies are able to influence our governments to the point of pushing such programs. If you don't believe this then take some responsibility and do your own research before deciding. You can go to cchr.com or just enter teenscreen in Google to get a variety of data.

The utter simplicity here is that mental health is not a true health issue. That is to say nothing which is described as being a mental illness is an actual, medical entitle - a real disease. The brain can be sick or diseased, but the mind cannot!

You have to use evidence of an objective physical abnormality in order to demonstrate that something is diseased. The mind can not be subjected to physical tests; as such it can never be literally sick!

If, as it is said, “mental illness” were due to brain dysfunction, than there would still be no “mental illness”, only neurological illness, treated by the medical specialty of neurology, not psychiatry (psychology, being non-medical in nature, can and never could “treat” anyone of anything).

Being non-medical in nature, “mental illness” is not the true province of Medicaid, and should thus be ignored.

I saw a recent program on a Fox Channel called Hannity's America. It aired I believe it was 9 P.M. Pacific Time on Sunday 16 Dec. 2007. On this program they presented a story about the mis-diagnosing and over-prescribing of Anti-Psychotics, (Ritalin, Prozac, Zuprexa and so on), to teenagers. They showed clips from 5 or 6 different school shootings across America, and in each case the shooters were on one or more of these Anti-Psychotic drugs. I find it ridiculous that we are so alarmed about the mental state of our young, so much so that we now are doing “Mental Screening”, a.k.a. “Teen Screen”. These kids are then prescribed more of these drugs, the same ones that are causing the insanity that every one is alarmed at in the first place. This is so crazy it is unbelievable. We as “the public” need to be aware of what is happening here. We are being duped, our kids are being drugged and killing each other and Psychiatrists and the Drug companies are getting very, very rich over it.

What a bunch of crap! Poor helpless, children at the hands of sugar coated drug dealers! It's appalling how stupid people can be. So much for human rights. Guess it doesn't apply to our children, our future. Wake up America!

These programs are nothing more than a gravy train for the pharmceutical companies. Much like how the war in Iraq has been a gravy train for Blackwater and all those other contractors.

People in this country need to wake up and see what's really going on!! You won't do it if you are in a drug induced stupor yourself! So, you believed those ads that said "if you've been sad for more than a couple weeks, you could be depressed. Here take these and your life will drastically improve" Has it improved? Or are you now even sadder because the only thing that changed is that you are now dependent upon the drug that was supposed to be such a miracle? Those drugs won't help your kids either. How about taking some parenting classes and spendign real time with your kids. That's probably what you all need to feel better. Stop letting others tell you that you can't handle your own lives!!!

When is this insanity going to stop! Parents need to wake up and stop this mental health screening of our future generation...children! This is not about helping children, it's all about bottom line profit from pharmaceutical, psychiatrists, government etc. These psychiatric drugs are dangerous and cause many side effects and even sometimes suicide and murder. They must be stopped now! Parents and teachers need to act now to inform others.

Did you know that all the 374 disorders in the four DSM manuals were made up and voted on by psychiatrists raising their hand; no scientific medical proof whatsover.

Thank heaven there are many advocates trying to educate the public such as cchr.org, fightforkids.com, drugawareness.org, Parents Against TeenScreen etc.

We need more media in all of North America to fight the powers that be and stop this now!!! Tell everyone you know.

Shouldn't be happening.

If anyone is wondering whether this should be happening you ought to have a look around at the people you know or read about who are or have undergone mental health analysis and treatment.

We need this for our kids?

Also look at the wonderful results beyond those people you know. Which school, mall, home, restaurant, business, post office, etc. will be the next target for the people so effectively diagnosed and treated by their doctor, psychiatrist or other mental health professional that they go as far as to grab a weapon and indiscriminately start shooting to kill anyone who crosses their path - concluding with themselves.

Somehow it has become acceptable to establish programs that lead out children towards these drugs based on "expert" diagnosis.

It takes screwed up individuals to pose so strongly as a noble authority, extolling upon the virtues of drugs for kids, "identifying" mental conditions known to be based on conjecture which need such treatment. And lawmakers and school boards who approve such programs.

It is very difficult to be a person like that. Very difficult for sane and rational people. Because it is insanity itself, couched and operating within our institutions and social structure.

It shouldn't be condoned or agreed with. It should be fought. These are shiny ideas coming from, at best, ill-informed men and women.

These wonderful solutions have not improved our society one bit. If they did we would have sees a decrease in crime, criminals and prison populations, insanity, etc. But we don't.

The peole who propose and support this are not humanitarians looking out for our best interests.

This solution doesn't belong anywhere near our children.

I'm pretty sure some readers might want to check this guy out, considering he's a top dog in Massachusetts, and Big Pharma funded.

I find the article truly entertaining, loaded with key Harvard Mafia names, and a great example for the ADHD diagnoses is based :[on an old book]

"In the mid-1800s, German physician Heinrich Hoffman wrote a children’s book called The Story of Fidgety Philip, about a boy who giggled, wriggled, and rocked in his chair—thus providing the first published description of what is now known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)."

heh!

Thanks for writing this, though I think the big headline should be your sentence: " Doctors are required to do this with each patient, although parents and children are not legally required to comply."

I think a lot of people will read 'mandatory mental health screening' and not realize they have the power to say no. Lots of people can't even read and understand job applications or simple contracts.

These screening are an open invitation to the drug companies performing personal attacks on our children and families.It appears that no one is reading the reports on the adverse affects on psycho-tropic drugs and their relationship to suicide and murder. Everyone, please open up your own minds to the information available about these drugs other than what is provided by the pharmaceutical companies.Then decide for yourself before being led down the path of no return when you or your family is destroyed by the harmful effects of these drugs. It is the responsibility of us all to investigate the effects of these drugs before unleashing them on our children and future leaders.We will have to take responsibility for what we created when we reach the Pearly Gates.

Please don't drug any more children and make them into mass killers and zombies. Look into the future when all society are mass killers and zombies. One would think that is exactly what you want to have happen, otherwise you would not put our future on drugs.
It is the worst crime to do this to our society. Surely you folks have a conscience some where.
It will come back to you and your family some day. You can't commit crimes of this volume and not be effected by it adversely. Any religion tells you that. Or are you trying to take religion out also? You will burn in your own hell if you do these things to our society.

Marla Lenain

The mental health "diagnoses" done via such screening are not based on any verifiable tests --- only on the opinions of the screeners. The side effects of most of the drugs given to kids are horrendous. Why would an agency insist that a kid needs drugs with dangerous side effects, based only on opinion, without blood tests or physical examination? Since Big Pharma makes big bucks on all these mandatory government-enforced mental health drug programs, we have to wonder if money is behind all this. There must be a special place in Hell for people who pay for their vacation homes by forcing harsh drugs on school children.

When a child sees a medical doctor they are normally suffering from medical ailment. We are going to ask doctors to evaluate them for a mental illness when the children are physically ill. Or are the doctors going to require the children to come back when they are feeling better phyiscally so they can preform the evaluation. Who is suppose to benefit here?

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force report of May of 2004 states:"A. There
is no evidence that screening for suicide risk reduces suicide attempts or
mortality.B. No studies were found that directly address the harms of
screening and treatment for suicide risk."
The bottom line is SCREENING DOESN'T WORK! It factually does more harm than
good as the labels put on your child will follow them a lifetime despite the
FACT that they have NO science behind them.
Then there is the real reason for screening..the huge profits in psychiatric
drugs that 9 out of kids flagged will be put on.
To quote a real scientific source:
The British Medical Journal's article by Department of Mental Health
Sciences, University College London, W1N 8AA,?there appears to be no
difference between SSRIs and placebo on mean endpoint or change scores.? P
189 (1)
Children are NOT money making guinea pigs for snake oil salesmen and parents
should DEMAND to be fully and truthfully informed on the possible harm that
screening may lead to!

What takes place time and time again is Mob Action, Mob Mentality, Mob Rules, Kangaroo Court with the abusers and predators demanding to act as Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Even in these hellholes there is constant power plays an d like Pokemon everyone thinks they have more power than the other person. They go from Plan A to Plan B and then spin. It is like the game of "Statue" where they spin and spin and the hostage is supposed to stay at rock bottom. As I remember Amusement Parks as I was growing up and "House of Mirrors". See yourself like this, see yourself like that. I was not amused. The abusers demand to be able to rob one of all their self-respect. In order to do their dirty work, they have to get the hostage into a child state. When in truth they all act like children and spoiled bratts. What one does see is "Stockholm Syndrome" that one had better bond with them. Many only want the hostage to talk so they can make hash out of what one says.

Not only was it made a comment to me about my ex-husband telling my alleged perpetrator brother that he thought that he was going crazy. I guess my alleged perpetrator brother and Mommie Dearest hoped they were doing the same to me. "Hit & Run" and there are not any basketball games on New Years Eve and Devils Can't Swim because they drown in the devils words each and every time.
As I flashback to different scenes it proves that a conspiracy has been taking place since early 1982. It proves who is lying and concocting stories. I started putting the Puzzle Pieces together and connecting the dots early in 1982.
I remember the detective saying that if he taught my daughter a lesson during a child molestation case that just maybe she will see things his way.
What he was demanding was that her testimony read what he wanted. Court was a sham and "Shell Game". Like I stated they are more interested in framing the "Victim of Violent Crime" and allowing the criminal activity and insanity to continue. Hell is here on earth. So you see, people watch all this corruption and that is why our cities, states, and country are in the toilet and sewer. "Trance Formation of America", "Thanks for the Memories, The Truth Shall Set Me Free." The victims have the keys.
"Next of Kin", the secret is if she tries to move or seek outside help. Drug her up even further. If one complains the drugs are too strong, they will up the dosage. It is not about saving lives of helping victims/targets. When the let you go for the time being. One's life is in shambles. it is the victim/target that has to do all the hard work in putting his/her life back together. Only for the abusers to concoct another story 3-4 years later. They need to keep you drugged at all times and least of all they demand that you cannot have any memories or all hell keeps breaking lose. Mommie Dearest even offered me a free grave site in 1988 and I more or less told her what she could do with it. Many times things don't just start. As we think back or memories they have been going on for a long time.

What those involved in conspiracy will do is not only have one false petition, but they will even have a second false petition. Many people need to be aware how these conspiring people will even talk about who they want to kill, who they want dead, their hit list, about cutting people up in little pieces, should they put a contract out on someone, how they can put a hit on someone for the purpose of entrapment. Nothing is ever done to these very sick people unless Jesus decides that it is their time to go. Psyhchology is the game. People are the toy. Part of the game is knowing what the game really is.

In these hellholes it is all about draining insurance policies and upsetting the hostage in order to prolong the stays. That one is supposed to say that the sick and lying person is a good person because they feel they can extort over $50,000 from insurance company for their insanity and criminal activity. When in fact over all the years, they refuse to allow the victim the right to heal and a number of times they become lasting psychological scars.

What I have experienced is abusers, predators, and trouble makers feel they are free to come to your home and take control. This is my house and I have the right to set the rules around here. Not all cops are bad guys and they are not fighting with the Gestapo. "What Cops Know".
Many psychiatrists are nothing but bullies and the mental health industry is constantly being used as a false front along with the illegal use of psychiatric drugs. They are always saying the most bizarre and psychotic things that are impossible to believe. "Know Thyself" and our first allegiance is to ourselves. "Believe in Yourself". 'Ultimate Identity Theft"

The abusers/psychiatrist demands the "Perfect Child" so the hurts of yesterday will disappear. It is so that no one can reject them and they will look like a perfect person. Rejection makes him/her furious and with rejection they seek revenge, label one paranoid, delusional, and psychotic. I did hear "she looks at you two as her children (sick).

I also heard on a radio program that they try to get the parents into a child state so they can take over the lives of the children. Like the Nazi Death Camps, sooner or later these people will be charged with their "Unspeakable Crimes Against Humanity". There is not one day that does not go by that I am not triggered in one way or another. I also remember the words "If you ever feel that your life is in danger. Just call us and we will pick you up". One knows an inside job when he/she see it. There is a problem in the so-called Church at the "Midnight Hour". Actually psychiatrists work just like destructive cults. Perks are not always given in the form of money. They can be things that can be turned into money. They can be limo rides, artwork, Cub Tickets, food, and etc. If they say one needs continues reality testing. I believe in giving them their "Continued Reality Report" with all the facts, how they lied, defrauded insurance companies,etc. Illegal forced drugging violates the 8th Amendment. Demagogues look in the mirror and think they are God.

Philip, you know I love your work. But it's really pretty unrealistic and even unfair to expect parents on Medicaid to say no to any doctor who is actually WILLING to treat their kid. It's almost impossible to find a doctor so you put up with anyone who'll take you. Saying no to a screening billed as "mandatory" just ain't going to happen. My first job was as a social worker for state welfare in a northeastern US state. Money ruled the roost there, as everywhere, and we social workers were low on the totem pole compare to the folks on the payment side of the org chart. But my clients all thought I ran around with their checks in my hip pocket. They'd tell me anything I wanted to hear, trust me. You have no idea how beaten down, how stripped, how fearful a position it is. So no, these people are not going to say no.

I think I'll do a separate posting on another thought, so's not to confuse issues.

Thanks for your hard work, Philip. Don't mean to jump on you.

We all view the world through a different lens. Mine is that of a survivor of severe childhood abuse. So I am not surprised to see that my society has come up with yet another way of not seeing abuse.

A lot of people here are assuming parents don't WANT their child labelled or drugged. But stop and think about this from the point of view of a sadistic abuser. What better way to discredit your victim, to silence them, to ensure their voice will never be heard than to have them labelled nuts and drugged into submission??? How many of us here have faced difficulty being taken seriously because of diagnoses put upon us as adults. We all know the longer the "mental health history", the less credibility we have. Imagine an incest survivor trying to outshout decades of diagnoses before he/she even gets out of the box.

I just want to make sure this point of view gets good air play.

Sherry

If this becomes an issue in my state I will most certainly fight against such a law. This clearly discriminates against lower income families (since it is only required for Medicaid recipients) and it represents the kind of governmental intrusion into peoples' personal lives that Americans should be against. Also, the criteria for diagnosis is not objective. Asking a kid if they are having less fun is not likely to elicit a reliable response and is hardly a predictor of mental illness. Every professional working with Medicaid clients in Massachusetts should be notifying those clients that they need not participate in such a blatant violation of privacy. I'm horrified that such a law has been passed.

Massachusetts needs to now pass a law requiring that it is also mandatory to screen for people who are physically and mentally healthy. If they don't do this, Psychiatry will surely commit everyone in the state to 'being medicated'. Psychiatry has this thing about liking the feeling of being high on these drugs that are similar in substance to cocaine and amphetamines. (IE; Ritalin is a compound of - yes an amphetamine by drug classification systems. Oh, there are other examples for those who enjoy biological sciences)
Trivia, anyone; Guess the specialty the inventor of invented 'LSD' had ? (yes is was a psychiatrist)

Massachusetts must decidedly vacate any reliance on Psychiatry for any description of someone who is 'healthy' since psychiatry doesn't have any recognition of a 'healthy mind' in their philisophical background on in their dogma. Psychiatry has a tendency to churn any normal person's behaviour into somehow being 'sick'.

So screening someone who is otherwise healthy and labelling them as a person who must most certainly be committed to some rating of 'illness' or sickness is a sure route to an institutional state.

Massachusetts has to do something to get out of their now mandatory pathway to that ultimate 'sick bay society'.

A standard for "healthy" should be recognized by statute, and psychiatrists should not be on any such panel since they don't recognize healthy states of mind in their philosophical teachings or theories about ' chemical inbalances in the brain'
And psychiatry still has not committed any biological basis for this 'chemical inbalance' theory to a laboratory proof.

Great article Philip Dawdy! I don't see how anybody could see Mental health screening anything but harmful and dangerous at best. And nothing but a way for vested interestes to fill there now fat wallets. It's discusting that there are individuals that will harm and kill in the name of health for money. Sickening, just sickening.

I am a psychology student who happened upon this website, and have to say that after reading the previous comments, I'm appalled by the quick conclusions people jump to on subjects that they probably don't know very much about. Thus far, people have stated that psychiatrists and psychologists are not real doctors (even though psychaitrists, in fact, attend medical school along with pediatricians and neurologists), that there is no evidence that chemical imbalances in the brain exist, and that, in fact, mental disorders do not even exist. I agree that there is merit in debating whether mandatory mental health screening is necessary for children and teens. But the comments on this website are no longer an intellectual, informative debate; they are a demonization of a field of study in which people are generally uninformed. I would like take a moment to clear up some of these generalizations.

I certainly agree that drug companies push drugs and that certain childhood disorders (ADHD, etc) are overdiagnosed. However, these problems are not just problems created by drug companies, but by ignorant people willing to accept any ten cents worth of information they recieve and then stick with that information without taking time to learn the facts. For example, people should realize that they have the right to refuse screening. Mr. Dawdy states that people are generally too "in thrall" (perhaps "enthralled" was the word he was looking for?) with their doctors to refuse screening. While I understand the big brother connotations of making a mental health screening "mandatory," an individual (or, in the case of a minor, his or her parent) is ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE for their own health. Furthermore, organizations such as TeenScreen only provide the screening- they do not diagnose or treat disorders, thus I'm unsure of how they could be pushing drugs on individuals when they are not legally allowed to prescribe them. If it is suggested, by such screening tools, that some kind of intervention may be necessary for the child, then it is up to the parent to decide whether medications, therapy, a combination or no treatment at all is appropriate for his or her child. Many parents are lazy and CHOOSE to have their children medicated because they don't want to parent, and many a psychologist has refused to diagnose a child when it is the child's school or parent requesting medication. The bottom line is that it is our responsibility to make these choices, and not let our awe of doctors make them for us. Many doctors of ALL professions often try to push tests, drugs, and procedures on patients that they do not need or want. We often demonize psychology because we do not understand it, however, pretending that "mental health" doesn't exist is simply ignorant.

In fact, some of these posts went so far to claim that actually, the entire DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV TR) is totally made up. I find that highly, highly amusing, since that would mean that disorders such as Austism, Turretts, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, and Schizophrenia simply DO NOT EXIST. Certainly, much more research is needed to discover causes and preventitive measures that can be taken towards such devastating disesases, and responsible psychiatrists/psychologists do not claim to have all the answers. However, to deny the EXISTENCE of Austism or mental retardation is somewhat ridiculous.

Furthermore, there were comments such as "there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance in the brain." Please allow me to enlighten readers -- simple technologies such as MRIs and PET Scans actually DO show qualitative differences in the brains of individuals with certain mental disorders.

Finally, someone stated that screening tests are "made up." Actually, they are not. Screening tests are scientifically developed instruments which undergo rigorous processes of analysis to determine validity and reliability, and they are developed over a number of years using thousands of subjects, and tested by statistics (yes...MATH!) to ensure that they are accurate. Psychiatrists and psychologists do not just sit around at a table, make up a bunch of questions and start giving it to patients, as it is 1. not scientifically sound, and 2. not legal.

I am certainly not denying that there are many problems with government imposed tests, pushy drug companies seeking to make money, and a general "Big Brother" feeling regarding mandatory screening. However I am disheartened at the blatant dismissal of any possible positive outcomes regarding the availability of such screening. By all means, we live in a world where it is required that we think critically about the world around us. However, thinking critically requires reflection on ALL of the facts; not writing an entire field of study off as a bunch of hocus-pocus when one does not know anything about it, not denying the existence of devastating and prevalent mental disorders, and not shirking one's personal responsibility for his or her own mental health (or the health of his or her child) in refusing screening if he or she feels it is inappropriate. If the residents of Massachusetts believe that this screening is inappropriate, then they should use accurate information and evidence to support their claims, rather that disparaging millions of doctors (yes, those of us who spend 6-8 years in higher education after college are DOCTORS) who have helped millions of people based upon uninformed tid-bits of information and overly general statistics which tell them little about the actual facts.

Courtney,

I understand that you mean well. Pretty much everyone I've ever known who majored in psychology did but you don't have much information. While in college note the contempt, often appropriate, that your professors, probably research psychologists, have for clinical psychologists (what you would call a psychologist that does therapy). If your professors or graduate teaching assistants do research in addition to teaching, ask how much is funding at least in part by drug companies, and/or the National Institute for Mental Health, which is a federal organization funded by drug company donations.

Autism, tourettes, and mental retardation are not classified as mental illnesses. MRI's and PET's simply do not show qualitative differences in the brains of people with mental disorders. Sometimes MRI's can show the effects of a lifetime of taking psychiatric medication. As for blaming lazy parents for medicating kids, sure, parents aren't perfect but that in no way excuses the behavior of the prescribing physicians. If parents say their child's leg needs to be cut off it is still the doctor's responsibility if he cuts the leg off for no reason other than the parents' desire to save money on shoes. Beware of people in the mental health profession and academia who simultaneously make people labeled mentally ill responsible for the treatment they receive from every doctor and psychologist while also saying these people are genetically mentally defective and should be allowed no responsibility for their own lives, other than the responsibility of paying their mental health professional and obeying his or her orders.

Read Phyllis Chessler's Women and Madness, take a class on the development of psychological tests, in that class find out the one big error that makes the MMPI unreliable as a testing instrument - sure there are lots of problems with the MMPI but it has one error so stupendous it's even in the text books.

Read the introduction to the DSM. Look in there to see if it says that any of the "disorders" are distinct medical diseases.

Remember when someone sees a mental health professional that person is immediately told they are sick and cannot make good or appropriate decisions on their own.

I think psychology "student" will find out once involved ,if ever in the mental health arena, or researched on WHO writes the DSM, who rx's drugs based on sometimes buried data research--well there's a lot more to learn than anyone ever learns inside of a classroom.

Beside the point that schools use the teen screen as a tool to coonvince and pressure parents into medicating kids, yes this happens.

I suggest taking the time to read the Zyprexa Documents on this site and start thinking from there.