Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

[Guest guest]

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25904

HEALTH-U.S.:

Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

Ritt Goldstein

STOCKHOLM, Oct 18 (IPS) - 'Bush Plans to Screen Whole U.S. Population for

Mental Illness', read the headline in the 'British Medical Journal' (BMJ)

and the project, with increasingly controversial drug treatment at its core,

is underway as you read this.

Structures to put the scheme in place have been developed under a so-called

" Federal Action Agenda, " announced in Washington on Jun. 9, and include

mandatory mental health screening, which the plan recommends be linked with

" treatment and supports " .

The plan's full details have yet to emerge as the Action Agenda still " has

not been publicly released, " according to A Power, director of the

Centre for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the Bush administration body

spearheading the effort.

Developed by the President's New Freedom Commission On Mental Health, the

effort, critics charge, is a pharmaceutical industry marketing scheme to

mine customers and promote sales of the newest, most expensive psychiatric

medications.

Under 'New Freedom', mental health screening of adult Americans is slated to

occur during routine physical exams while that of young people will occur in

the school system. Pre-school children will receive periodic " development

screens. "

The plan highlights the importance of " state-of-the art medications, " though

a scandal has erupted recently regarding the safety and effectiveness of the

main types of drugs in question, particularly antidepressants. Deadly side

effects of these drugs have already claimed numerous lives.

In mid-September an advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) said antidepressants should come with " the nation's

strongest warning " that they can cause suicidal behaviour in children and

young people.

Recently released studies by famed British scientist and psychiatrist Dr

Healy highlight that some of these drugs -- Seroxat and Prozac, both

SSRI antidepressants -- appear linked to " homicidal " behaviour in adults.

" In the last 50 years, the quality of the new drugs hasn't matched the

hype, " says Healy, author of 'Let Them Eat Prozac' and the person

responsible for originally blowing the whistle on the link between

antidepressants and suicide in children.

Asked if he was saying: " the major breakthroughs, then, have been in terms

of marketing instead of medicine, " the drug scientist told IPS: " Yes, I

think so. And that extends all the way to having their (the pharmaceutical

industry's) policies put forward by departments of health in the U.S., the

UK -- things like the Bush plan. "

Drug therapy based upon " evidence-based " practices is the backbone of the

New Freedom programme's approach to treatment. But such practices have now

been badly tarnished, with recent findings indicating the drug industry

(called 'Big Pharma' by critics) has manipulated what were thought to be

independent evaluations of new drugs, as reported in previous IPS stories.

An Apr. 24, 2004 article in the British medical journal 'Lancet' said while,

" selective reporting of favourable research should be unimaginable, " it

appeared ongoing, distorting findings in the drug industry's favour.

" In a global medical culture, where evidence-based practice is seen as the

gold standard for care, these failings are a disaster, " the journal charged.

While questions surround the dangers of drugging large numbers of citizens,

also notable is who the New Freedom plan envisions will deliver psychiatric

services.

" Mental health education and training will be provided to general health

care providers, emergency room staff and first responders, such as law

enforcement personnel and emergency medical technicians, to overcome the

uneven geographic distribution of psychiatrists, psychologists and

psychiatric social workers, " the plan states.

New Freedom, " the future of mental health care in America, " is being rolled

out on a state-by-state basis, according to Power, who added in an Aug. 13

speech that the federal role is to " motivate, facilitate, and compel

change. "

According to Dr Read -- one of the Pacific's leading authorities on

psychiatric medications, author of 'Models of Madness', and director of

clinical psychology at the University of Auckland -- " this is all about

expanding the market for drug companies. "

On Sep. 13, U.S. Congressman Ron , a medical doctor, denounced the Bush

plan for its " forced mental health screening for every child in America, "

pointedly writing in a weekly column on his website, the " obvious

beneficiary of the proposal is the pharmaceutical industry. "

According to , who had introduced an amendment to eliminate funding for

the plan, " Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition to the state

as mental illness. "

Read also warns that the New Freedom plan " conjures up the image of 'state

control' of private lives, extending to an individual's feelings ... the

increasing medicalisation of life problems and the massive increase in the

prescriptions of all types of psychiatric drugs is 'social control'. "

According to noted Canadian-American psychologist, educator and author Dr

Burston, " any number of things that are, or could be, perfectly

natural responses to an environment can be construed as a sign of mental

disorder. "

Read told IPS that New Freedom appears essentially a way to " identify

between 10 and 20 percent of the population who will be labelled … offered

nothing other than medication in 90 percent of the cases, and the drug

companies will be laughing all the way to the bank. "

According to Power, about 20 percent of the U.S. population is " experiencing

mental disorders in any given year. "

In Auckland, on Sep. 16 to discuss the Bush plan, Power also said that an

associate, Curie, was working with mental health ministers from

Australia, New Zealand, and the UK to " promote policy innovation that

fosters improved mental health around the world. "

, a " whistleblower " who worked as an investigator in the

Pennsylvania State office of the Inspector General, voiced concerns similar

to Read's, linking the pharmaceutical industry to many of those who

developed Bush's New Freedom plan.

The industry was also instrumental in funding a prior state scheme that

became a " model programme " for the Bush plan, the Texas Medication Algorithm

Project (TMAP).

TMAP favours use of the newest medications over older, much less costly

alternatives.

It began in 1995, while Bush was Texas' governor. According to the 'British

Medical Journal', " the project (TMAP) was funded by a Wood

(as in & Pharmaceuticals) grant and by several drug

companies. "

On Jun. 19 the journal reported that believed " the same

'political-pharmaceutical alliance' that generated the Texas project was

behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission. "

According to his report, the effort would " consolidate the TMAP effort into

a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive,

patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, " added

the Journal.

New Freedom's pharma-oriented programmes have garnered considerable and

broad support, including from the Centre, the organisation founded by

former President Jimmy and best known for its human rights programmes

and election monitoring.

The " Centre Mental Health Programme supports the spirit and findings

of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report, " says

H Bornemann, director of the Georgia-based centre's mental health

programme.

He added the centre is, " engaged with a variety of partners to use the

report as a platform to transform the current mental health system. Two of

the programme's annual lynn Symposia on Mental Health Policy

(2003 and 2004) are dedicated to meet the challenges of funding and

achieving these goals. "

According to the Centre, 77 percent of its budget is devoted to

health programmes, with 6.6 percent of the budget going to peace activities.

Drug firms such as GlaxoKline, Merck & Co, Pfizer, and Wyeth are listed

as having provided one million dollars or more to the centre, as is the

Wood Foundation, associated with & and TMAP.

Queries to the Centre regarding the total amounts of pharmaceutical

industry funding, the programmes that that money was applied to and the

industry's influence on the centre's policy, were not answered.

But in the " donated goods and services " section of the notes to the centre's

annual report's financial statements it is written that unattributed

" medication " donations totalled 54 million dollars in 2003 and 43 million

dollars in 2002.

The centre's " total expenses " for those years were respectively 82 million

dollars and 85 million dollars, according to its website.

Critics have repeatedly charged the drug industry with using its wealth and

power to manipulate advocacy and professional groups. The non-profit

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has repeatedly faced such

criticism, as has the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which have

both endorsed New Freedom.

Nevertheless, Read observed of New Freedom: " I would guess that there are

some ... who genuinely believe that these ideas are good for people, and

completely unaware of the sinister connotations, the Orwellian connotations

and the huge advantages for the drug companies ... well-meaning, but totally

misguided people. " (END/2004)

Congressman Ron

http://www.house.gov/paul/index.shtml

HEALTH: Finance First in Today's Drug Testing

http://domino.ips.org/ips%5Ceng.nsf/vwWebMainView/D96867890446E4FEC1256F25004DE0\

E9/?

OpenDocument

New Freedom Commission

http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Public_Policy/N\

ew_Freedom_Commission/Default1169.htm

Centre

http://www.cartercenter.org/default.asp?bFlash=True

[Guest guest]

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25904

HEALTH-U.S.:

Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

Ritt Goldstein

STOCKHOLM, Oct 18 (IPS) - 'Bush Plans to Screen Whole U.S. Population for

Mental Illness', read the headline in the 'British Medical Journal' (BMJ)

and the project, with increasingly controversial drug treatment at its core,

is underway as you read this.

Structures to put the scheme in place have been developed under a so-called

" Federal Action Agenda, " announced in Washington on Jun. 9, and include

mandatory mental health screening, which the plan recommends be linked with

" treatment and supports " .

The plan's full details have yet to emerge as the Action Agenda still " has

not been publicly released, " according to A Power, director of the

Centre for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the Bush administration body

spearheading the effort.

Developed by the President's New Freedom Commission On Mental Health, the

effort, critics charge, is a pharmaceutical industry marketing scheme to

mine customers and promote sales of the newest, most expensive psychiatric

medications.

Under 'New Freedom', mental health screening of adult Americans is slated to

occur during routine physical exams while that of young people will occur in

the school system. Pre-school children will receive periodic " development

screens. "

The plan highlights the importance of " state-of-the art medications, " though

a scandal has erupted recently regarding the safety and effectiveness of the

main types of drugs in question, particularly antidepressants. Deadly side

effects of these drugs have already claimed numerous lives.

In mid-September an advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) said antidepressants should come with " the nation's

strongest warning " that they can cause suicidal behaviour in children and

young people.

Recently released studies by famed British scientist and psychiatrist Dr

Healy highlight that some of these drugs -- Seroxat and Prozac, both

SSRI antidepressants -- appear linked to " homicidal " behaviour in adults.

" In the last 50 years, the quality of the new drugs hasn't matched the

hype, " says Healy, author of 'Let Them Eat Prozac' and the person

responsible for originally blowing the whistle on the link between

antidepressants and suicide in children.

Asked if he was saying: " the major breakthroughs, then, have been in terms

of marketing instead of medicine, " the drug scientist told IPS: " Yes, I

think so. And that extends all the way to having their (the pharmaceutical

industry's) policies put forward by departments of health in the U.S., the

UK -- things like the Bush plan. "

Drug therapy based upon " evidence-based " practices is the backbone of the

New Freedom programme's approach to treatment. But such practices have now

been badly tarnished, with recent findings indicating the drug industry

(called 'Big Pharma' by critics) has manipulated what were thought to be

independent evaluations of new drugs, as reported in previous IPS stories.

An Apr. 24, 2004 article in the British medical journal 'Lancet' said while,

" selective reporting of favourable research should be unimaginable, " it

appeared ongoing, distorting findings in the drug industry's favour.

" In a global medical culture, where evidence-based practice is seen as the

gold standard for care, these failings are a disaster, " the journal charged.

While questions surround the dangers of drugging large numbers of citizens,

also notable is who the New Freedom plan envisions will deliver psychiatric

services.

" Mental health education and training will be provided to general health

care providers, emergency room staff and first responders, such as law

enforcement personnel and emergency medical technicians, to overcome the

uneven geographic distribution of psychiatrists, psychologists and

psychiatric social workers, " the plan states.

New Freedom, " the future of mental health care in America, " is being rolled

out on a state-by-state basis, according to Power, who added in an Aug. 13

speech that the federal role is to " motivate, facilitate, and compel

change. "

According to Dr Read -- one of the Pacific's leading authorities on

psychiatric medications, author of 'Models of Madness', and director of

clinical psychology at the University of Auckland -- " this is all about

expanding the market for drug companies. "

On Sep. 13, U.S. Congressman Ron , a medical doctor, denounced the Bush

plan for its " forced mental health screening for every child in America, "

pointedly writing in a weekly column on his website, the " obvious

beneficiary of the proposal is the pharmaceutical industry. "

According to , who had introduced an amendment to eliminate funding for

the plan, " Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition to the state

as mental illness. "

Read also warns that the New Freedom plan " conjures up the image of 'state

control' of private lives, extending to an individual's feelings ... the

increasing medicalisation of life problems and the massive increase in the

prescriptions of all types of psychiatric drugs is 'social control'. "

According to noted Canadian-American psychologist, educator and author Dr

Burston, " any number of things that are, or could be, perfectly

natural responses to an environment can be construed as a sign of mental

disorder. "

Read told IPS that New Freedom appears essentially a way to " identify

between 10 and 20 percent of the population who will be labelled … offered

nothing other than medication in 90 percent of the cases, and the drug

companies will be laughing all the way to the bank. "

According to Power, about 20 percent of the U.S. population is " experiencing

mental disorders in any given year. "

In Auckland, on Sep. 16 to discuss the Bush plan, Power also said that an

associate, Curie, was working with mental health ministers from

Australia, New Zealand, and the UK to " promote policy innovation that

fosters improved mental health around the world. "

, a " whistleblower " who worked as an investigator in the

Pennsylvania State office of the Inspector General, voiced concerns similar

to Read's, linking the pharmaceutical industry to many of those who

developed Bush's New Freedom plan.

The industry was also instrumental in funding a prior state scheme that

became a " model programme " for the Bush plan, the Texas Medication Algorithm

Project (TMAP).

TMAP favours use of the newest medications over older, much less costly

alternatives.

It began in 1995, while Bush was Texas' governor. According to the 'British

Medical Journal', " the project (TMAP) was funded by a Wood

(as in & Pharmaceuticals) grant and by several drug

companies. "

On Jun. 19 the journal reported that believed " the same

'political-pharmaceutical alliance' that generated the Texas project was

behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission. "

According to his report, the effort would " consolidate the TMAP effort into

a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive,

patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, " added

the Journal.

New Freedom's pharma-oriented programmes have garnered considerable and

broad support, including from the Centre, the organisation founded by

former President Jimmy and best known for its human rights programmes

and election monitoring.

The " Centre Mental Health Programme supports the spirit and findings

of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report, " says

H Bornemann, director of the Georgia-based centre's mental health

programme.

He added the centre is, " engaged with a variety of partners to use the

report as a platform to transform the current mental health system. Two of

the programme's annual lynn Symposia on Mental Health Policy

(2003 and 2004) are dedicated to meet the challenges of funding and

achieving these goals. "

According to the Centre, 77 percent of its budget is devoted to

health programmes, with 6.6 percent of the budget going to peace activities.

Drug firms such as GlaxoKline, Merck & Co, Pfizer, and Wyeth are listed

as having provided one million dollars or more to the centre, as is the

Wood Foundation, associated with & and TMAP.

Queries to the Centre regarding the total amounts of pharmaceutical

industry funding, the programmes that that money was applied to and the

industry's influence on the centre's policy, were not answered.

But in the " donated goods and services " section of the notes to the centre's

annual report's financial statements it is written that unattributed

" medication " donations totalled 54 million dollars in 2003 and 43 million

dollars in 2002.

The centre's " total expenses " for those years were respectively 82 million

dollars and 85 million dollars, according to its website.

Critics have repeatedly charged the drug industry with using its wealth and

power to manipulate advocacy and professional groups. The non-profit

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has repeatedly faced such

criticism, as has the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which have

both endorsed New Freedom.

Nevertheless, Read observed of New Freedom: " I would guess that there are

some ... who genuinely believe that these ideas are good for people, and

completely unaware of the sinister connotations, the Orwellian connotations

and the huge advantages for the drug companies ... well-meaning, but totally

misguided people. " (END/2004)

Congressman Ron

http://www.house.gov/paul/index.shtml

HEALTH: Finance First in Today's Drug Testing

http://domino.ips.org/ips%5Ceng.nsf/vwWebMainView/D96867890446E4FEC1256F25004DE0\

E9/?

OpenDocument

New Freedom Commission

http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Public_Policy/N\

ew_Freedom_Commission/Default1169.htm

Centre

http://www.cartercenter.org/default.asp?bFlash=True

[Guest guest]

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25904

HEALTH-U.S.:

Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

Ritt Goldstein

STOCKHOLM, Oct 18 (IPS) - 'Bush Plans to Screen Whole U.S. Population for

Mental Illness', read the headline in the 'British Medical Journal' (BMJ)

and the project, with increasingly controversial drug treatment at its core,

is underway as you read this.

Structures to put the scheme in place have been developed under a so-called

" Federal Action Agenda, " announced in Washington on Jun. 9, and include

mandatory mental health screening, which the plan recommends be linked with

" treatment and supports " .

The plan's full details have yet to emerge as the Action Agenda still " has

not been publicly released, " according to A Power, director of the

Centre for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the Bush administration body

spearheading the effort.

Developed by the President's New Freedom Commission On Mental Health, the

effort, critics charge, is a pharmaceutical industry marketing scheme to

mine customers and promote sales of the newest, most expensive psychiatric

medications.

Under 'New Freedom', mental health screening of adult Americans is slated to

occur during routine physical exams while that of young people will occur in

the school system. Pre-school children will receive periodic " development

screens. "

The plan highlights the importance of " state-of-the art medications, " though

a scandal has erupted recently regarding the safety and effectiveness of the

main types of drugs in question, particularly antidepressants. Deadly side

effects of these drugs have already claimed numerous lives.

In mid-September an advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) said antidepressants should come with " the nation's

strongest warning " that they can cause suicidal behaviour in children and

young people.

Recently released studies by famed British scientist and psychiatrist Dr

Healy highlight that some of these drugs -- Seroxat and Prozac, both

SSRI antidepressants -- appear linked to " homicidal " behaviour in adults.

" In the last 50 years, the quality of the new drugs hasn't matched the

hype, " says Healy, author of 'Let Them Eat Prozac' and the person

responsible for originally blowing the whistle on the link between

antidepressants and suicide in children.

Asked if he was saying: " the major breakthroughs, then, have been in terms

of marketing instead of medicine, " the drug scientist told IPS: " Yes, I

think so. And that extends all the way to having their (the pharmaceutical

industry's) policies put forward by departments of health in the U.S., the

UK -- things like the Bush plan. "

Drug therapy based upon " evidence-based " practices is the backbone of the

New Freedom programme's approach to treatment. But such practices have now

been badly tarnished, with recent findings indicating the drug industry

(called 'Big Pharma' by critics) has manipulated what were thought to be

independent evaluations of new drugs, as reported in previous IPS stories.

An Apr. 24, 2004 article in the British medical journal 'Lancet' said while,

" selective reporting of favourable research should be unimaginable, " it

appeared ongoing, distorting findings in the drug industry's favour.

" In a global medical culture, where evidence-based practice is seen as the

gold standard for care, these failings are a disaster, " the journal charged.

While questions surround the dangers of drugging large numbers of citizens,

also notable is who the New Freedom plan envisions will deliver psychiatric

services.

" Mental health education and training will be provided to general health

care providers, emergency room staff and first responders, such as law

enforcement personnel and emergency medical technicians, to overcome the

uneven geographic distribution of psychiatrists, psychologists and

psychiatric social workers, " the plan states.

New Freedom, " the future of mental health care in America, " is being rolled

out on a state-by-state basis, according to Power, who added in an Aug. 13

speech that the federal role is to " motivate, facilitate, and compel

change. "

According to Dr Read -- one of the Pacific's leading authorities on

psychiatric medications, author of 'Models of Madness', and director of

clinical psychology at the University of Auckland -- " this is all about

expanding the market for drug companies. "

On Sep. 13, U.S. Congressman Ron , a medical doctor, denounced the Bush

plan for its " forced mental health screening for every child in America, "

pointedly writing in a weekly column on his website, the " obvious

beneficiary of the proposal is the pharmaceutical industry. "

According to , who had introduced an amendment to eliminate funding for

the plan, " Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition to the state

as mental illness. "

Read also warns that the New Freedom plan " conjures up the image of 'state

control' of private lives, extending to an individual's feelings ... the

increasing medicalisation of life problems and the massive increase in the

prescriptions of all types of psychiatric drugs is 'social control'. "

According to noted Canadian-American psychologist, educator and author Dr

Burston, " any number of things that are, or could be, perfectly

natural responses to an environment can be construed as a sign of mental

disorder. "

Read told IPS that New Freedom appears essentially a way to " identify

between 10 and 20 percent of the population who will be labelled … offered

nothing other than medication in 90 percent of the cases, and the drug

companies will be laughing all the way to the bank. "

According to Power, about 20 percent of the U.S. population is " experiencing

mental disorders in any given year. "

In Auckland, on Sep. 16 to discuss the Bush plan, Power also said that an

associate, Curie, was working with mental health ministers from

Australia, New Zealand, and the UK to " promote policy innovation that

fosters improved mental health around the world. "

, a " whistleblower " who worked as an investigator in the

Pennsylvania State office of the Inspector General, voiced concerns similar

to Read's, linking the pharmaceutical industry to many of those who

developed Bush's New Freedom plan.

The industry was also instrumental in funding a prior state scheme that

became a " model programme " for the Bush plan, the Texas Medication Algorithm

Project (TMAP).

TMAP favours use of the newest medications over older, much less costly

alternatives.

It began in 1995, while Bush was Texas' governor. According to the 'British

Medical Journal', " the project (TMAP) was funded by a Wood

(as in & Pharmaceuticals) grant and by several drug

companies. "

On Jun. 19 the journal reported that believed " the same

'political-pharmaceutical alliance' that generated the Texas project was

behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission. "

According to his report, the effort would " consolidate the TMAP effort into

a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive,

patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, " added

the Journal.

New Freedom's pharma-oriented programmes have garnered considerable and

broad support, including from the Centre, the organisation founded by

former President Jimmy and best known for its human rights programmes

and election monitoring.

The " Centre Mental Health Programme supports the spirit and findings

of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report, " says

H Bornemann, director of the Georgia-based centre's mental health

programme.

He added the centre is, " engaged with a variety of partners to use the

report as a platform to transform the current mental health system. Two of

the programme's annual lynn Symposia on Mental Health Policy

(2003 and 2004) are dedicated to meet the challenges of funding and

achieving these goals. "

According to the Centre, 77 percent of its budget is devoted to

health programmes, with 6.6 percent of the budget going to peace activities.

Drug firms such as GlaxoKline, Merck & Co, Pfizer, and Wyeth are listed

as having provided one million dollars or more to the centre, as is the

Wood Foundation, associated with & and TMAP.

Queries to the Centre regarding the total amounts of pharmaceutical

industry funding, the programmes that that money was applied to and the

industry's influence on the centre's policy, were not answered.

But in the " donated goods and services " section of the notes to the centre's

annual report's financial statements it is written that unattributed

" medication " donations totalled 54 million dollars in 2003 and 43 million

dollars in 2002.

The centre's " total expenses " for those years were respectively 82 million

dollars and 85 million dollars, according to its website.

Critics have repeatedly charged the drug industry with using its wealth and

power to manipulate advocacy and professional groups. The non-profit

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has repeatedly faced such

criticism, as has the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which have

both endorsed New Freedom.

Nevertheless, Read observed of New Freedom: " I would guess that there are

some ... who genuinely believe that these ideas are good for people, and

completely unaware of the sinister connotations, the Orwellian connotations

and the huge advantages for the drug companies ... well-meaning, but totally

misguided people. " (END/2004)

Congressman Ron

http://www.house.gov/paul/index.shtml

HEALTH: Finance First in Today's Drug Testing

http://domino.ips.org/ips%5Ceng.nsf/vwWebMainView/D96867890446E4FEC1256F25004DE0\

E9/?

OpenDocument

New Freedom Commission

http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Public_Policy/N\

ew_Freedom_Commission/Default1169.htm

Centre

http://www.cartercenter.org/default.asp?bFlash=True

[Guest guest]

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25904

HEALTH-U.S.:

Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

Ritt Goldstein

STOCKHOLM, Oct 18 (IPS) - 'Bush Plans to Screen Whole U.S. Population for

Mental Illness', read the headline in the 'British Medical Journal' (BMJ)

and the project, with increasingly controversial drug treatment at its core,

is underway as you read this.

Structures to put the scheme in place have been developed under a so-called

" Federal Action Agenda, " announced in Washington on Jun. 9, and include

mandatory mental health screening, which the plan recommends be linked with

" treatment and supports " .

The plan's full details have yet to emerge as the Action Agenda still " has

not been publicly released, " according to A Power, director of the

Centre for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the Bush administration body

spearheading the effort.

Developed by the President's New Freedom Commission On Mental Health, the

effort, critics charge, is a pharmaceutical industry marketing scheme to

mine customers and promote sales of the newest, most expensive psychiatric

medications.

Under 'New Freedom', mental health screening of adult Americans is slated to

occur during routine physical exams while that of young people will occur in

the school system. Pre-school children will receive periodic " development

screens. "

The plan highlights the importance of " state-of-the art medications, " though

a scandal has erupted recently regarding the safety and effectiveness of the

main types of drugs in question, particularly antidepressants. Deadly side

effects of these drugs have already claimed numerous lives.

In mid-September an advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) said antidepressants should come with " the nation's

strongest warning " that they can cause suicidal behaviour in children and

young people.

Recently released studies by famed British scientist and psychiatrist Dr

Healy highlight that some of these drugs -- Seroxat and Prozac, both

SSRI antidepressants -- appear linked to " homicidal " behaviour in adults.

" In the last 50 years, the quality of the new drugs hasn't matched the

hype, " says Healy, author of 'Let Them Eat Prozac' and the person

responsible for originally blowing the whistle on the link between

antidepressants and suicide in children.

Asked if he was saying: " the major breakthroughs, then, have been in terms

of marketing instead of medicine, " the drug scientist told IPS: " Yes, I

think so. And that extends all the way to having their (the pharmaceutical

industry's) policies put forward by departments of health in the U.S., the

UK -- things like the Bush plan. "

Drug therapy based upon " evidence-based " practices is the backbone of the

New Freedom programme's approach to treatment. But such practices have now

been badly tarnished, with recent findings indicating the drug industry

(called 'Big Pharma' by critics) has manipulated what were thought to be

independent evaluations of new drugs, as reported in previous IPS stories.

An Apr. 24, 2004 article in the British medical journal 'Lancet' said while,

" selective reporting of favourable research should be unimaginable, " it

appeared ongoing, distorting findings in the drug industry's favour.

" In a global medical culture, where evidence-based practice is seen as the

gold standard for care, these failings are a disaster, " the journal charged.

While questions surround the dangers of drugging large numbers of citizens,

also notable is who the New Freedom plan envisions will deliver psychiatric

services.

" Mental health education and training will be provided to general health

care providers, emergency room staff and first responders, such as law

enforcement personnel and emergency medical technicians, to overcome the

uneven geographic distribution of psychiatrists, psychologists and

psychiatric social workers, " the plan states.

New Freedom, " the future of mental health care in America, " is being rolled

out on a state-by-state basis, according to Power, who added in an Aug. 13

speech that the federal role is to " motivate, facilitate, and compel

change. "

According to Dr Read -- one of the Pacific's leading authorities on

psychiatric medications, author of 'Models of Madness', and director of

clinical psychology at the University of Auckland -- " this is all about

expanding the market for drug companies. "

On Sep. 13, U.S. Congressman Ron , a medical doctor, denounced the Bush

plan for its " forced mental health screening for every child in America, "

pointedly writing in a weekly column on his website, the " obvious

beneficiary of the proposal is the pharmaceutical industry. "

According to , who had introduced an amendment to eliminate funding for

the plan, " Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition to the state

as mental illness. "

Read also warns that the New Freedom plan " conjures up the image of 'state

control' of private lives, extending to an individual's feelings ... the

increasing medicalisation of life problems and the massive increase in the

prescriptions of all types of psychiatric drugs is 'social control'. "

According to noted Canadian-American psychologist, educator and author Dr

Burston, " any number of things that are, or could be, perfectly

natural responses to an environment can be construed as a sign of mental

disorder. "

Read told IPS that New Freedom appears essentially a way to " identify

between 10 and 20 percent of the population who will be labelled … offered

nothing other than medication in 90 percent of the cases, and the drug

companies will be laughing all the way to the bank. "

According to Power, about 20 percent of the U.S. population is " experiencing

mental disorders in any given year. "

In Auckland, on Sep. 16 to discuss the Bush plan, Power also said that an

associate, Curie, was working with mental health ministers from

Australia, New Zealand, and the UK to " promote policy innovation that

fosters improved mental health around the world. "

, a " whistleblower " who worked as an investigator in the

Pennsylvania State office of the Inspector General, voiced concerns similar

to Read's, linking the pharmaceutical industry to many of those who

developed Bush's New Freedom plan.

The industry was also instrumental in funding a prior state scheme that

became a " model programme " for the Bush plan, the Texas Medication Algorithm

Project (TMAP).

TMAP favours use of the newest medications over older, much less costly

alternatives.

It began in 1995, while Bush was Texas' governor. According to the 'British

Medical Journal', " the project (TMAP) was funded by a Wood

(as in & Pharmaceuticals) grant and by several drug

companies. "

On Jun. 19 the journal reported that believed " the same

'political-pharmaceutical alliance' that generated the Texas project was

behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission. "

According to his report, the effort would " consolidate the TMAP effort into

a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive,

patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, " added

the Journal.

New Freedom's pharma-oriented programmes have garnered considerable and

broad support, including from the Centre, the organisation founded by

former President Jimmy and best known for its human rights programmes

and election monitoring.

The " Centre Mental Health Programme supports the spirit and findings

of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report, " says

H Bornemann, director of the Georgia-based centre's mental health

programme.

He added the centre is, " engaged with a variety of partners to use the

report as a platform to transform the current mental health system. Two of

the programme's annual lynn Symposia on Mental Health Policy

(2003 and 2004) are dedicated to meet the challenges of funding and

achieving these goals. "

According to the Centre, 77 percent of its budget is devoted to

health programmes, with 6.6 percent of the budget going to peace activities.

Drug firms such as GlaxoKline, Merck & Co, Pfizer, and Wyeth are listed

as having provided one million dollars or more to the centre, as is the

Wood Foundation, associated with & and TMAP.

Queries to the Centre regarding the total amounts of pharmaceutical

industry funding, the programmes that that money was applied to and the

industry's influence on the centre's policy, were not answered.

But in the " donated goods and services " section of the notes to the centre's

annual report's financial statements it is written that unattributed

" medication " donations totalled 54 million dollars in 2003 and 43 million

dollars in 2002.

The centre's " total expenses " for those years were respectively 82 million

dollars and 85 million dollars, according to its website.

Critics have repeatedly charged the drug industry with using its wealth and

power to manipulate advocacy and professional groups. The non-profit

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has repeatedly faced such

criticism, as has the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which have

both endorsed New Freedom.

Nevertheless, Read observed of New Freedom: " I would guess that there are

some ... who genuinely believe that these ideas are good for people, and

completely unaware of the sinister connotations, the Orwellian connotations

and the huge advantages for the drug companies ... well-meaning, but totally

misguided people. " (END/2004)

Congressman Ron

http://www.house.gov/paul/index.shtml

HEALTH: Finance First in Today's Drug Testing

http://domino.ips.org/ips%5Ceng.nsf/vwWebMainView/D96867890446E4FEC1256F25004DE0\

E9/?

OpenDocument

New Freedom Commission

http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Public_Policy/N\

ew_Freedom_Commission/Default1169.htm

Centre

http://www.cartercenter.org/default.asp?bFlash=True