Criticism of Mass.Child Mental Screening - Only 943 signatures Needed!

[Guest guest]

Last chance to do something in 2007 against the push to mental screen

American children:

Please assist before this infiltrates your area!

Send this video and petition to everyone you know . Only 943 signatures

against TeenScreen needed to reach 25,000

http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video:

Can you help get us there?

On Dec. 27, the Boston Globe ran a story about how Massachusetts plans

to do mental screening on children. The new requirement applies to the

460,000 children and young adults covered by state's Medicaid program.

Below are some responses to the article:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/200

7/12/31/screening_brings_labeling_drugs/

Boston Globe

Screening brings labeling, drugs

December 31, 2007

AS A psychiatrist since 1947, I am appalled that mental health screening

is now being required of Massachusetts children on Medicaid ( " Mental

screening for young to begin, " Page A1, Dec. 27). Such screening greatly

exaggerates the significance of the normal variations in psychological

state.

Normal kids will therefore be labeled " sick " and referred for

" treatment. " That labeling is often harmful in itself; once tagged, how

does a kid prove he's not mentally ill?

In some middle-class families, treatment may be individual or family

counseling. Whether it helps or is merely wasteful, it usually causes

relatively little harm. For Medicaid kids, however, treatment will

almost always involve powerful drugs whose serious side effects can

include the stunting of growth. Mental health screening is thus a

harmful invasion of the privacy of Medicaid youngsters.

Dr. NATHANIEL S. LEHRMAN

Roslyn, N.Y.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/200

7/12/31/a_needless_strain_on_health_dollars/

Boston Globe

A needless strain on health dollars

December 31, 2007

WITH ALL of the strain Medicaid has been reported to suffer already -

and health coverage in Massachusetts and in other states in general -

what makes mental health screening a good idea?

An almost automatic $4.5-million hit - if anyone bothered to do the math

- for a written questionnaire? To ask if your toddler has been fussy? If

your teenager has been emotional? Duh.

And this is going to be a yearly thing. Add to that the prescriptions

that will inevitably come, and the doctor followups, oh geesh Wouldn't

that money be better spent on schools? That could be more than 100

teachers' salaries.

COURTENAY DODDS

Exeter, N.H.

Massachusetts Takes Wrong Turn On Mental Health Screening

12/30/07

By Tony Zizza .

Mr. Zizza is a freelance writer who lives in Atlanta, GA. He writes

frequently about psychiatry and children's issues. Zizza can be reached

via email: tz777@...

For the entire article see here:

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/12/30/massa

chusetts_takes_wrong_turn_on_mental

A recent news article by Carey Goldberg in the Boston Globe newspaper

ought to have Massachusetts parents fuming mad. In fact, parents

nationwide need to be on the alert as well. The long and stretched out

arms of psychiatry are poised to put a choke-hold on your children.

Think I am kidding? Think again. In Carey Goldberg's December 27th

article, ( " Mental screening for young to begin: Mass. doctors to offer

questionnaires for children on Medicaid " ), we find out that on December

31st, " Annual checkups for the nearly half a million Massachusetts

children on Medicaid will carry a new requirement: Doctors must offer

simple questionnaires to detect warning signs of possible mental health

problems, from autism in toddlers to depression in teens. "

This is scary stuff. Pay close attention to this part again, " from

autism in toddlers to depression in teens. " Perhaps I am paranoid, but I

believe a Brave New World is here. Psychiatry just had an incredible

cash cow handed to them on a silver platter through the force of

government. That is, Massachusetts taxpayers fund Medicaid. In turn,

Massachusetts taxpayers are supporting through no choice of their own

the inevitable drugging of children.

Instead, we twist things to try and justify forced drugging and the

destruction of informed consent by throwing around subjective " national

estimates " that Carey Goldberg included in his article that attempt to

show " about 10 percent of children have some sort of significant

psycho-social problem from hyperactivity to anxiety to stress from

living amid domestic violence. " Again, it appears children and young

adults in Massachusetts, and nationwide, can no longer experience any

kind of feeling or thought or deep reflection without it being subjected

to a mental health screening or antidepressant psychiatric drug. This

isn't medicine. It's medicine gone mad.

Massachusetts has taken a wrong turn here on mental health screening.

Cute code words and catch phrases don't cut it. Lambert, executive

director of the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, falsely compares

the screening of children and young adults for mental illness to that of

acting as a " check engine light " for parents to gauge if their children

have any problems. I'm sorry, growing up is a little more complicated

than this. On the other hand, mental health screening sets off alarms

when no alarm needs to be sounded.

It's time for parents all over this country to get in the front seat

when it comes to parenting their children and young adults. I find it

hard to believe a subjective mental health " questionnaire " can serve

somehow as a substitute parent. Something is seriously wrong when

460,000 Massachusetts children and young adults wake up one morning to

find out that they must now submit to a subjective mental health

screening at their next annual checkup.

Happy New Year!

24,057 signatures against TeenScreen

http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video:

[Guest guest]

Last chance to do something in 2007 against the push to mental screen

American children:

Please assist before this infiltrates your area!

Send this video and petition to everyone you know . Only 943 signatures

against TeenScreen needed to reach 25,000

http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video:

Can you help get us there?

On Dec. 27, the Boston Globe ran a story about how Massachusetts plans

to do mental screening on children. The new requirement applies to the

460,000 children and young adults covered by state's Medicaid program.

Below are some responses to the article:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/200

7/12/31/screening_brings_labeling_drugs/

Boston Globe

Screening brings labeling, drugs

December 31, 2007

AS A psychiatrist since 1947, I am appalled that mental health screening

is now being required of Massachusetts children on Medicaid ( " Mental

screening for young to begin, " Page A1, Dec. 27). Such screening greatly

exaggerates the significance of the normal variations in psychological

state.

Normal kids will therefore be labeled " sick " and referred for

" treatment. " That labeling is often harmful in itself; once tagged, how

does a kid prove he's not mentally ill?

In some middle-class families, treatment may be individual or family

counseling. Whether it helps or is merely wasteful, it usually causes

relatively little harm. For Medicaid kids, however, treatment will

almost always involve powerful drugs whose serious side effects can

include the stunting of growth. Mental health screening is thus a

harmful invasion of the privacy of Medicaid youngsters.

Dr. NATHANIEL S. LEHRMAN

Roslyn, N.Y.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/200

7/12/31/a_needless_strain_on_health_dollars/

Boston Globe

A needless strain on health dollars

December 31, 2007

WITH ALL of the strain Medicaid has been reported to suffer already -

and health coverage in Massachusetts and in other states in general -

what makes mental health screening a good idea?

An almost automatic $4.5-million hit - if anyone bothered to do the math

- for a written questionnaire? To ask if your toddler has been fussy? If

your teenager has been emotional? Duh.

And this is going to be a yearly thing. Add to that the prescriptions

that will inevitably come, and the doctor followups, oh geesh Wouldn't

that money be better spent on schools? That could be more than 100

teachers' salaries.

COURTENAY DODDS

Exeter, N.H.

Massachusetts Takes Wrong Turn On Mental Health Screening

12/30/07

By Tony Zizza .

Mr. Zizza is a freelance writer who lives in Atlanta, GA. He writes

frequently about psychiatry and children's issues. Zizza can be reached

via email: tz777@...

For the entire article see here:

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/12/30/massa

chusetts_takes_wrong_turn_on_mental

A recent news article by Carey Goldberg in the Boston Globe newspaper

ought to have Massachusetts parents fuming mad. In fact, parents

nationwide need to be on the alert as well. The long and stretched out

arms of psychiatry are poised to put a choke-hold on your children.

Think I am kidding? Think again. In Carey Goldberg's December 27th

article, ( " Mental screening for young to begin: Mass. doctors to offer

questionnaires for children on Medicaid " ), we find out that on December

31st, " Annual checkups for the nearly half a million Massachusetts

children on Medicaid will carry a new requirement: Doctors must offer

simple questionnaires to detect warning signs of possible mental health

problems, from autism in toddlers to depression in teens. "

This is scary stuff. Pay close attention to this part again, " from

autism in toddlers to depression in teens. " Perhaps I am paranoid, but I

believe a Brave New World is here. Psychiatry just had an incredible

cash cow handed to them on a silver platter through the force of

government. That is, Massachusetts taxpayers fund Medicaid. In turn,

Massachusetts taxpayers are supporting through no choice of their own

the inevitable drugging of children.

Instead, we twist things to try and justify forced drugging and the

destruction of informed consent by throwing around subjective " national

estimates " that Carey Goldberg included in his article that attempt to

show " about 10 percent of children have some sort of significant

psycho-social problem from hyperactivity to anxiety to stress from

living amid domestic violence. " Again, it appears children and young

adults in Massachusetts, and nationwide, can no longer experience any

kind of feeling or thought or deep reflection without it being subjected

to a mental health screening or antidepressant psychiatric drug. This

isn't medicine. It's medicine gone mad.

Massachusetts has taken a wrong turn here on mental health screening.

Cute code words and catch phrases don't cut it. Lambert, executive

director of the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, falsely compares

the screening of children and young adults for mental illness to that of

acting as a " check engine light " for parents to gauge if their children

have any problems. I'm sorry, growing up is a little more complicated

than this. On the other hand, mental health screening sets off alarms

when no alarm needs to be sounded.

It's time for parents all over this country to get in the front seat

when it comes to parenting their children and young adults. I find it

hard to believe a subjective mental health " questionnaire " can serve

somehow as a substitute parent. Something is seriously wrong when

460,000 Massachusetts children and young adults wake up one morning to

find out that they must now submit to a subjective mental health

screening at their next annual checkup.

Happy New Year!

24,057 signatures against TeenScreen

http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video:

[Guest guest]

Last chance to do something in 2007 against the push to mental screen

American children:

Please assist before this infiltrates your area!

Send this video and petition to everyone you know . Only 943 signatures

against TeenScreen needed to reach 25,000

http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video:

Can you help get us there?

On Dec. 27, the Boston Globe ran a story about how Massachusetts plans

to do mental screening on children. The new requirement applies to the

460,000 children and young adults covered by state's Medicaid program.

Below are some responses to the article:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/200

7/12/31/screening_brings_labeling_drugs/

Boston Globe

Screening brings labeling, drugs

December 31, 2007

AS A psychiatrist since 1947, I am appalled that mental health screening

is now being required of Massachusetts children on Medicaid ( " Mental

screening for young to begin, " Page A1, Dec. 27). Such screening greatly

exaggerates the significance of the normal variations in psychological

state.

Normal kids will therefore be labeled " sick " and referred for

" treatment. " That labeling is often harmful in itself; once tagged, how

does a kid prove he's not mentally ill?

In some middle-class families, treatment may be individual or family

counseling. Whether it helps or is merely wasteful, it usually causes

relatively little harm. For Medicaid kids, however, treatment will

almost always involve powerful drugs whose serious side effects can

include the stunting of growth. Mental health screening is thus a

harmful invasion of the privacy of Medicaid youngsters.

Dr. NATHANIEL S. LEHRMAN

Roslyn, N.Y.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/200

7/12/31/a_needless_strain_on_health_dollars/

Boston Globe

A needless strain on health dollars

December 31, 2007

WITH ALL of the strain Medicaid has been reported to suffer already -

and health coverage in Massachusetts and in other states in general -

what makes mental health screening a good idea?

An almost automatic $4.5-million hit - if anyone bothered to do the math

- for a written questionnaire? To ask if your toddler has been fussy? If

your teenager has been emotional? Duh.

And this is going to be a yearly thing. Add to that the prescriptions

that will inevitably come, and the doctor followups, oh geesh Wouldn't

that money be better spent on schools? That could be more than 100

teachers' salaries.

COURTENAY DODDS

Exeter, N.H.

Massachusetts Takes Wrong Turn On Mental Health Screening

12/30/07

By Tony Zizza .

Mr. Zizza is a freelance writer who lives in Atlanta, GA. He writes

frequently about psychiatry and children's issues. Zizza can be reached

via email: tz777@...

For the entire article see here:

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/12/30/massa

chusetts_takes_wrong_turn_on_mental

A recent news article by Carey Goldberg in the Boston Globe newspaper

ought to have Massachusetts parents fuming mad. In fact, parents

nationwide need to be on the alert as well. The long and stretched out

arms of psychiatry are poised to put a choke-hold on your children.

Think I am kidding? Think again. In Carey Goldberg's December 27th

article, ( " Mental screening for young to begin: Mass. doctors to offer

questionnaires for children on Medicaid " ), we find out that on December

31st, " Annual checkups for the nearly half a million Massachusetts

children on Medicaid will carry a new requirement: Doctors must offer

simple questionnaires to detect warning signs of possible mental health

problems, from autism in toddlers to depression in teens. "

This is scary stuff. Pay close attention to this part again, " from

autism in toddlers to depression in teens. " Perhaps I am paranoid, but I

believe a Brave New World is here. Psychiatry just had an incredible

cash cow handed to them on a silver platter through the force of

government. That is, Massachusetts taxpayers fund Medicaid. In turn,

Massachusetts taxpayers are supporting through no choice of their own

the inevitable drugging of children.

Instead, we twist things to try and justify forced drugging and the

destruction of informed consent by throwing around subjective " national

estimates " that Carey Goldberg included in his article that attempt to

show " about 10 percent of children have some sort of significant

psycho-social problem from hyperactivity to anxiety to stress from

living amid domestic violence. " Again, it appears children and young

adults in Massachusetts, and nationwide, can no longer experience any

kind of feeling or thought or deep reflection without it being subjected

to a mental health screening or antidepressant psychiatric drug. This

isn't medicine. It's medicine gone mad.

Massachusetts has taken a wrong turn here on mental health screening.

Cute code words and catch phrases don't cut it. Lambert, executive

director of the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, falsely compares

the screening of children and young adults for mental illness to that of

acting as a " check engine light " for parents to gauge if their children

have any problems. I'm sorry, growing up is a little more complicated

than this. On the other hand, mental health screening sets off alarms

when no alarm needs to be sounded.

It's time for parents all over this country to get in the front seat

when it comes to parenting their children and young adults. I find it

hard to believe a subjective mental health " questionnaire " can serve

somehow as a substitute parent. Something is seriously wrong when

460,000 Massachusetts children and young adults wake up one morning to

find out that they must now submit to a subjective mental health

screening at their next annual checkup.

Happy New Year!

24,057 signatures against TeenScreen

http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video:

[Guest guest]

Last chance to do something in 2007 against the push to mental screen

American children:

Please assist before this infiltrates your area!

Send this video and petition to everyone you know . Only 943 signatures

against TeenScreen needed to reach 25,000

http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video:

Can you help get us there?

On Dec. 27, the Boston Globe ran a story about how Massachusetts plans

to do mental screening on children. The new requirement applies to the

460,000 children and young adults covered by state's Medicaid program.

Below are some responses to the article:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/200

7/12/31/screening_brings_labeling_drugs/

Boston Globe

Screening brings labeling, drugs

December 31, 2007

AS A psychiatrist since 1947, I am appalled that mental health screening

is now being required of Massachusetts children on Medicaid ( " Mental

screening for young to begin, " Page A1, Dec. 27). Such screening greatly

exaggerates the significance of the normal variations in psychological

state.

Normal kids will therefore be labeled " sick " and referred for

" treatment. " That labeling is often harmful in itself; once tagged, how

does a kid prove he's not mentally ill?

In some middle-class families, treatment may be individual or family

counseling. Whether it helps or is merely wasteful, it usually causes

relatively little harm. For Medicaid kids, however, treatment will

almost always involve powerful drugs whose serious side effects can

include the stunting of growth. Mental health screening is thus a

harmful invasion of the privacy of Medicaid youngsters.

Dr. NATHANIEL S. LEHRMAN

Roslyn, N.Y.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/200

7/12/31/a_needless_strain_on_health_dollars/

Boston Globe

A needless strain on health dollars

December 31, 2007

WITH ALL of the strain Medicaid has been reported to suffer already -

and health coverage in Massachusetts and in other states in general -

what makes mental health screening a good idea?

An almost automatic $4.5-million hit - if anyone bothered to do the math

- for a written questionnaire? To ask if your toddler has been fussy? If

your teenager has been emotional? Duh.

And this is going to be a yearly thing. Add to that the prescriptions

that will inevitably come, and the doctor followups, oh geesh Wouldn't

that money be better spent on schools? That could be more than 100

teachers' salaries.

COURTENAY DODDS

Exeter, N.H.

Massachusetts Takes Wrong Turn On Mental Health Screening

12/30/07

By Tony Zizza .

Mr. Zizza is a freelance writer who lives in Atlanta, GA. He writes

frequently about psychiatry and children's issues. Zizza can be reached

via email: tz777@...

For the entire article see here:

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/12/30/massa

chusetts_takes_wrong_turn_on_mental

A recent news article by Carey Goldberg in the Boston Globe newspaper

ought to have Massachusetts parents fuming mad. In fact, parents

nationwide need to be on the alert as well. The long and stretched out

arms of psychiatry are poised to put a choke-hold on your children.

Think I am kidding? Think again. In Carey Goldberg's December 27th

article, ( " Mental screening for young to begin: Mass. doctors to offer

questionnaires for children on Medicaid " ), we find out that on December

31st, " Annual checkups for the nearly half a million Massachusetts

children on Medicaid will carry a new requirement: Doctors must offer

simple questionnaires to detect warning signs of possible mental health

problems, from autism in toddlers to depression in teens. "

This is scary stuff. Pay close attention to this part again, " from

autism in toddlers to depression in teens. " Perhaps I am paranoid, but I

believe a Brave New World is here. Psychiatry just had an incredible

cash cow handed to them on a silver platter through the force of

government. That is, Massachusetts taxpayers fund Medicaid. In turn,

Massachusetts taxpayers are supporting through no choice of their own

the inevitable drugging of children.

Instead, we twist things to try and justify forced drugging and the

destruction of informed consent by throwing around subjective " national

estimates " that Carey Goldberg included in his article that attempt to

show " about 10 percent of children have some sort of significant

psycho-social problem from hyperactivity to anxiety to stress from

living amid domestic violence. " Again, it appears children and young

adults in Massachusetts, and nationwide, can no longer experience any

kind of feeling or thought or deep reflection without it being subjected

to a mental health screening or antidepressant psychiatric drug. This

isn't medicine. It's medicine gone mad.

Massachusetts has taken a wrong turn here on mental health screening.

Cute code words and catch phrases don't cut it. Lambert, executive

director of the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, falsely compares

the screening of children and young adults for mental illness to that of

acting as a " check engine light " for parents to gauge if their children

have any problems. I'm sorry, growing up is a little more complicated

than this. On the other hand, mental health screening sets off alarms

when no alarm needs to be sounded.

It's time for parents all over this country to get in the front seat

when it comes to parenting their children and young adults. I find it

hard to believe a subjective mental health " questionnaire " can serve

somehow as a substitute parent. Something is seriously wrong when

460,000 Massachusetts children and young adults wake up one morning to

find out that they must now submit to a subjective mental health

screening at their next annual checkup.

Happy New Year!

24,057 signatures against TeenScreen

http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video: