Government Wants TEACHERS to Diagnose YOUR Child's Mental Health!?
The Alliance for Human Research Protection published Government sanctioned Assault on Children and Pregnant Women back in July of 2004. (ya just gotta love Illionois!)
I received a tip on this from Sally Vee today:
Aldous Huxley's classic 1932 novel, "Brave New World," depicted a world where the population was drugged - by the government - drugged to keep it happy and docile. Children were subjected to Pavlovian conditioning from birth to ensure that they conformed to societal norms dictated by 10 "Controllers."
Huxley's novel was a work of fiction, but if some people in Washington have their way, life will soon follow art.
The President's "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health" has issued its final report, and it's a bombshell! If the nation's mental health mavens have their way, every living American from infants in the crib to the elderly will be screened for mental disease, and if they have their way, have a treatment regimen prescribed. As disturbing as the general concept is, its emphasis on children is frightening.
There is already an epidemic of over-diagnosing mental problems such as ADHD among children. Most often, these diagnoses are made by untrained teachers using a checklist that includes such signs of deep mental disturbance as failing to sit still, not completing work on time and forgetting their homework - these mind you for five year-olds!
One consequence of the rush to label our children as mentally disturbed is that the number on psychotropic drugs tripled between 1987 and 1996 with at least 6.2% of all children and adolescents taking at least one psychiatric drug. Since the period covered by the study, the numbers have gotten even larger. In some high schools as much as 20% of the student population is taking a psychiatric drug!
But if the mental health mavens have their way it's going to get worse - much worse.
Their intentions were made clear by one brief paragraph in the Commission's final report.
In plan English, what they are recommending is that every child in the nation's schools be screened by their teachers for mental health problems. Never mind that the teachers have no medical credentials. Never mind that they may have ulterior motives, such as wanting to keep children docile so that they don't have to work to hard. Never mind that their unqualified diagnoses could follow a child for the rest of their lives. To the mental health mavens, their advocacy of intervention is more than justified:
In fact, the mental health mavens think that it's so important that they don't even want to wait until a child enters school. They advocate a program (which has been adopted in Illinois) that has nurses make home visits to pregnant women and then monitors the child's mental health during its first year of life - no I'm not kidding, the first year of life.
As outrageous as this may sound, it actually is merely an indication of the growing trend toward diagnosing children as having mental health problems at ever-younger ages.
One of the latest examples of this is the latest fad in psychiatry - diagnosing preschoolers as bipolar.
A fundamental problem with such diagnoses is that there is no accepted test for bipolar disorder - in children or adults. Instead, as with ADHD, psychiatrists use a "checklist" of more than three dozen behaviors to diagnose juvenile bipolar disorder
And what are these behaviors?
Well, they include such things as silliness, night terrors, carbohydrate cravings, fidgetiness, bed-wetting, lying, social anxiety and difficulty getting up in the morning.
So if your five-year old sticks a French fry up his nose, call a shrink! If the child asks for a second cookie get a straight-jacket! And, heaven forbid, the child says they really didn't break Grandma's vase, get out the commitment papers!
If all this seems extreme to you, you're in good company. In Houston, Texas, Dr. Laurel L. Williams estimates that she has "un-diagnosed" between 50 and 75 cases of bipolar disorder in young children.
PLEASE READ IT ALL!!!!
AND PART TWO!
I received a tip on this from Sally Vee today:
Aldous Huxley's classic 1932 novel, "Brave New World," depicted a world where the population was drugged - by the government - drugged to keep it happy and docile. Children were subjected to Pavlovian conditioning from birth to ensure that they conformed to societal norms dictated by 10 "Controllers."
Huxley's novel was a work of fiction, but if some people in Washington have their way, life will soon follow art.
The President's "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health" has issued its final report, and it's a bombshell! If the nation's mental health mavens have their way, every living American from infants in the crib to the elderly will be screened for mental disease, and if they have their way, have a treatment regimen prescribed. As disturbing as the general concept is, its emphasis on children is frightening.
There is already an epidemic of over-diagnosing mental problems such as ADHD among children. Most often, these diagnoses are made by untrained teachers using a checklist that includes such signs of deep mental disturbance as failing to sit still, not completing work on time and forgetting their homework - these mind you for five year-olds!
One consequence of the rush to label our children as mentally disturbed is that the number on psychotropic drugs tripled between 1987 and 1996 with at least 6.2% of all children and adolescents taking at least one psychiatric drug. Since the period covered by the study, the numbers have gotten even larger. In some high schools as much as 20% of the student population is taking a psychiatric drug!
But if the mental health mavens have their way it's going to get worse - much worse.
Their intentions were made clear by one brief paragraph in the Commission's final report.
"Schools are in a key position to identify mental health problems early and to provide a link to appropriate services. Every day more than 52 million students attend over 114,000 schools in the U.S. When combined with the six million adults working at those schools, almost one-fifth of the population passes through the Nation's schools on any given weekday. Clearly, strong school mental health programs can attend to the health and behavioral concerns of students, reduce unnecessary pain and suffering, and help ensure academic achievement."
In plan English, what they are recommending is that every child in the nation's schools be screened by their teachers for mental health problems. Never mind that the teachers have no medical credentials. Never mind that they may have ulterior motives, such as wanting to keep children docile so that they don't have to work to hard. Never mind that their unqualified diagnoses could follow a child for the rest of their lives. To the mental health mavens, their advocacy of intervention is more than justified:
"Without intervention, child and adolescent disorders frequently continue into adulthood. … If the system does not appropriately screen and treat them early, these childhood disorders may persist and lead to a downward spiral of school failure, poor employment opportunities and poverty in adulthood. No other illnesses damage so many children so seriously."
In fact, the mental health mavens think that it's so important that they don't even want to wait until a child enters school. They advocate a program (which has been adopted in Illinois) that has nurses make home visits to pregnant women and then monitors the child's mental health during its first year of life - no I'm not kidding, the first year of life.
As outrageous as this may sound, it actually is merely an indication of the growing trend toward diagnosing children as having mental health problems at ever-younger ages.
One of the latest examples of this is the latest fad in psychiatry - diagnosing preschoolers as bipolar.
A fundamental problem with such diagnoses is that there is no accepted test for bipolar disorder - in children or adults. Instead, as with ADHD, psychiatrists use a "checklist" of more than three dozen behaviors to diagnose juvenile bipolar disorder
And what are these behaviors?
Well, they include such things as silliness, night terrors, carbohydrate cravings, fidgetiness, bed-wetting, lying, social anxiety and difficulty getting up in the morning.
So if your five-year old sticks a French fry up his nose, call a shrink! If the child asks for a second cookie get a straight-jacket! And, heaven forbid, the child says they really didn't break Grandma's vase, get out the commitment papers!
If all this seems extreme to you, you're in good company. In Houston, Texas, Dr. Laurel L. Williams estimates that she has "un-diagnosed" between 50 and 75 cases of bipolar disorder in young children.
PLEASE READ IT ALL!!!!
AND PART TWO!
posted by Straight Up with Sherri at
10:28 AM
4 Comments:
I had heard of this a yr ago. Dr,.Breeding was on a talk show I was stunned. We can thank mr Ir aqi war for this move. There is a good website with lotsa good info on this and on the psychotropics...
http://www.wildestcolts.com/
I suggest anyone with kids, or even cares about and for kids go and check this out and get educated.
By
KC, at 7:09 PM
I agree. I don't want anyone in a school trying to tell me one of my children needs drugs. I am a father of 3 boys and a baby girl and last year my oldest was diagnosed with ADHD. Thankfully no one in the school tried to diagnose my son. We left that up to the profeesionals and even that took a whole lot of convincing. He was 8 years old at the time and had been struggling with behavioral issues since the first day of kindergarden. I am an old fashioned southern boy who believes he can make his children do what he wants them to do and I didn't believe in ADHD. I believed any child who supposedly had ADHD just needed more discipline in their life. My wife and I worked with our son for three years before deciding to investigate the possibility of his actions being somewhat out of his control. After much painstaking investigation and countless meetings with trained professional, we finally came to realize that ADHD might very well be real. It has been nearly a year since our son started taking a non-stimulant medication to help cope with his ADHD and what a difference it has made. Having lived it, I do not want anyone in any school trying to tell me my child has a mental health problem. IF I have any suspicions, I will employ the help of someone who is trained to make that assesment and even that will be scrutenized.
By
Anonymous, at 9:32 PM
Above comments from MDB8958
By
Anonymous, at 9:33 PM
Hi, I live in Michigan and I have a true story to tell. In 1998, my sister's boy was having trouble sitting still in class and concentrating. The school took it upon themselves to contact Child Protective Services and try to force my sister to have her son put on Ritalin. Soon after her voluntary refusal, she soon found herself sitting in front of a Probate court judge. This judge not only ordered her to put her son on Ritalin, but he also ordered her to apply for welfare because she had no health insurance at the time. Then, after he was put on Ritalin, he no longer was a problem at school. Do you know why? Because he slept through most of his classes. Not only did this drug cause marked drowsiness, it also caused a loss of appetite. One of the main side effects of Ritalin is Psychotic terrors. I agree that it is the lazy schools who do not want to rear these children in a school setting. I think that is the main problem. The underlying problem there, though, is teachers are very underpaid. We have reached a time period when we are losing our children to government entities. Our freedom and power to rear children is dissapating fast. I'm not sure it can or will ever be stopped.
By
Anonymous, at 1:27 PM
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