FEDERAL “NEW FREEDOM COMMISSION ON MENTAL HEALTH” RECOMMENDS MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING OF ALL AMERICANS, INCLUDING ALL SCHOOLCHILDREN

States Will Be Called Upon to Implement Dangerous

Con Game to Troll for New Patients

In April 2002, the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (NFC) was created and charged with the responsibility to “conduct a comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system, including public and private sector providers, and to advise the President on methods of improving the system.” 

On July 22, 2003, the NFC released its report, “Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America.” The report makes it clear that the Commission failed in its duty and failed to advise the President on the real crisis in mental health – the psychiatric drugging of millions of Americans for spurious mental disorders that have no scientific or medical validity.  Instead, the Commission ignored the rampant abuses in the mental health system and forwarded their own goals to get as many people under psychiatric treatment as possible through universal mental health screening.

When the true motives of the NFC became known, there was a tremendous public outcry, starting with the British Medical Journal and spreading to other media outlets in the U.S. including many radio talk shows such as G. Gordon Liddy, World Net Daily, The New American and News Max as well as groups such as Concerned Women of America, Eagle Forum and Alliance for Human Research Protection. This resulted in thousands of calls and emails to Congress to stop any kind of funding for universal mental health screening. 

Based on the NFC recommendations, $44 million was originally requested from the federal government in “State Incentive Transformation Grants” for up to 14 states to transform their mental health systems as set forth by the NFC.  In November 2004, in an attempt to quell the public outcry, the American Psychiatric Association issued a disingenuous, false and misleading statement to members of Congress regarding the NFC’s recommendations.  Unfortunately, Congress allocated $20 million toward the State Incentive Transformation Grants.[i]  Despite there being no specifics as to how the money can be used, as you will see, some state mental health agencies have already begun their “transformation,” seeking to increase mental health screening on a broad scale by whatever means, expecting the federal dollars to flow toward them.

Amidst international media reports that many of the antidepressants being prescribed to children and adults are causing suicidal reactions and that they are now under federal investigation in the United States, the Commission’s campaign for national mental health “screening” – which will result in millions more Americans being prescribed these suicidal inducing drugs and other psychotropic drugs—is highly alarming and merits close inspection as to motives.  

NFC recommendations called for or stated:

Ø      Mental health screening of “consumers of all ages,” stating, “both children and adults will be screened for mental illness throughout their routine physical exams,” and that this would occur “across the lifespan.”[ii]

Ø      Screening all 52 million school children for mental disorders, as “schools are in a key position to identify mental health problems early and to provide a link to appropriate services.”[iii]

Ø      “…the early detection of mental health problems in children and adults—through routine and comprehensive testing and screening—will be an expected and typical occurrence.”[iv]

Ø      “Quality screening and early intervention should occur in readily accessible, low-stigma settings such as primary health care facilities and schools and…juvenile justice and child welfare.”[v]  “Services” should be expanded to “children ages 3 through 21.”[vi]  This includes “social and emotional check-ups” in primary health care. [vii]

Ø      The NFC report states that “mental illnesses are shockingly common,” but ignores the fact that there are no medical or scientific means by which to diagnose mental “illnesses.”  There are no blood tests, brain scans or “chemical imbalance” tests to validate any mental “disorder” as an illness or disease.  With no scientific/medical criteria to substantiate these claims, anyone could be diagnosed as mentally ill based solely on a checklist of behaviors.

Ø      NFC specifically recommended the Columbia University TeenScreen program.[viii]  TeenScreen’s “health survey” asks students such questions as “Has there been a time when nothing was fun for you and you just weren’t interested in anything?” and “Has there been a time when you felt you couldn’t do anything well or that you weren’t as good looking or as smart as other people?”  With enough checks against the questions, the next questionnaire, called the “Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children,” purportedly checks for 18 psychiatric disorders. The child is then referred to a psychiatrist and usually prescribed psychiatric drugs.[ix]

Ø      TeenScreen programs offer “incentives” to solicit the cooperation of students, such as movie rentals or fast food coupons for those who fill out the surveys.  Other incentives include $5 cash, gift certificates, food vouchers, a pizza party and offering school credit to students who return the forms signed by their parents by the end of the school week.[x]  But TeenScreen is just one of many programs/questionnaires that need to be expelled from our schools. 

Ø      Beverly Eakman, educator, President of the National Education Consortium and author of Cloning of the American Mind, wrote in May, 2004, “’Behavioral screening’ means someone you don't know checks whatever perceived behaviors or reactions you may demonstrate against a list of controversial (and decidedly negative) categories like ‘inflexible,’ ‘dogmatic,’ ‘intolerant,’ ‘individualist,’ and ‘loner.’ Loopholes in privacy laws make it difficult to stop your child's file from landing on the desktops of college admissions officers, executives, security officers, credit bureaus, or anybody with an ax to grind.”[xi]

The Recommended Treatment: Drugs Which Cause Suicide and Violence

Ø      In a report by Allen Jones, the former investigator in the Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General (OIG), Bureau of Special Investigations, condemning the NFC, he states, “Despite a nearly 500% increase in American children being prescribed mental health drugs during the past 6 years, the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health found that not enough adolescents are benefiting from mental health treatment. The NFC recommendations prominently call for mandatory mental health screening for all high school students, with follow-up ‘treatment’ as required.” – this means more kids on mind-altering and potentially lethal psychiatric drugs.”[xii]

Ø      In the June 19, 2004 issue of the British Medical Journal Jones revealed that a comprehensive national policy to screen and treat “mental illness” relies on “expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab.”[xiii]

Ø      Instead of calling attention to a serious risk to children being prescribed, for example, suicide-inducing antidepressants, the NFC recommended a  “drug treatment” model called the Texas Medical Algorithm Project (TMAP) that specifically requires physicians to prescribe the newer antidepressants [SSRIs] to children.[xiv] 

Ø      TMAP also concluded that the atypical (newer) antipsychotic medications are the drugs of choice for all first, second, and third-line treatments of schizophrenia.  In reality, the Atypicals entered the market with significant warnings and are evolving a side effect profile that includes serious and life threatening conditions in an alarming number of patients. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data established that one of every 145 persons enrolled in clinical trials for these drugs died as a result of adverse reactions to the drugs.  These side effects include, but are not limited to: Suicide, Diabetes Type 1 and Type 2, Convulsions, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, Pancreatitis [inflammation of the pancreas], Tardive Dyskinesia, Stroke, Hypertension and Cardio Arrhythmia. [xv] 

Screening Model: the DSM

Ø      The NFC based its findings on the definition of mental illness as defined by psychiatry’s billing bible, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  The DSM contains hundreds of psychiatric mental “disorders” which are a list of behavioral symptoms that are literally voted into existence and inserted into the DSM. [xvi]

Summary

The public is justifiably outraged by the recommendations of the NFC, and the fact that the American Psychiatric Association is blatantly obfuscating the facts to protect a multi-billion dollar mental health industry clearly shows that they are more interested in their own funding than in public safety.

Federal legislators should absolutely refuse to support any proposed mental health screenings.  The only group to benefit from such screenings and coercive drug treatments is the mental health industry, not the public or people in need of real care.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1)     Go to www.congress.org to find your U.S. Representative for your congressional district.  Type in your zip code and your Representative will come up.  If you click the “info” link under the Rep’s name, it will give you the phone and fax numbers for your Representative.  If you don’t have Internet access, call the U.S. Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask them for the name and phone number of your Representative.  Call the Rep’s office to get their fax number.

2)     Personalize the attached sample letter to Congress in support of H.R. 181, the “Parental Consent Act of 2005,” for your Representative and add/subtract text if you’d like using the data above and then sign it and fax it to them.  Faxes are more important than emails, but if you must email it, go ahead.

3)     You can also follow up with a phone call for added pressure to ensure they got the letter and know you are very concerned about universal mental health screening and want H.R. 181 co-sponsored and passed.