Outside View: Are your children crazy?

[Guest guest]

Outside View: Are your children crazy?

By Jane Orient, M.D.

Outside View Commentator

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20041214-022725-6385r.htm

Tucson, AZ, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Congress and President Bush apparently think

that a lot of children have a " mental health " problem. Or that enough of

them do to justify taking millions of dollars from taxpayers to fund a

universal " mental health screening " for children, and eventually for

everyone.

Personally, I think -- from the perspective of a person who never had any --

that almost all children act crazy. Those who don't are, by definition,

abnormal, because they don't act like the others.

The main problem with about half of them is that they are boys. Such

children are obviously made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails. On the

farm there is a solution for that: a procedure for turning boy lambs into

non-ram lambs. After a quick little operation, they act like peaceful little

lambs instead of aggressive, disruptive rams.

We don't do surgery like that on little boys, of course, but we do have our

methods: such as behavioral therapy and chemicals.

There are those who argue with some passion that society has to do

something. Bad, disruptive, antisocial or depressed little kids make lots of

trouble for parents and schoolteachers. Worse, they can grow up into

dysfunctional, unhappy or troublemaking adults. That snotty little boy might

become a dissenting, nonconformist or even a rebellious man, who could throw

a monkey wrench into our smoothly functioning society. We have to catch them

early -- for their own good.

Teams of experts are awaiting the infusion of cash. They'll be ensconced in

your child's school before you even know it. A bonus is that your little

darlings will probably give them quite a bit of information about you also,

and then you too can receive therapy you didn't know you needed.

Do you sometimes raise your voice? Ever spank them? Hug them

inappropriately? Have politically incorrect attitudes? Use forbidden words?

Own a gun? Smoke cigarettes, especially indoors? Read extremist literature?

Refuse to recycle? Prepare for a knock on the door.

There are many tools at the disposal of the mental health squad. Counseling

sessions. Drugs (Ritalin, antidepressants, tranquilizers, maybe some new

ones that need to be tested on some experimental subjects of your child's

age). Group therapy. Removing the child from the home. (This may be a " last

resort, " but often the mere threat can accomplish wonders.)

If an interview with a child raises concerns, the next step might be a home

visit. This could discover poor parenting skills, inadequate housekeeping,

harmful literature, or a baby who is crying or has a bruise (signs of

abuse?).

It is true that some interventions have potential side effects, say drug

dependence or suicide, but to assure the health of the population some

shared sacrifice and risk is needed. We will have excellent means of

tracking outcomes to improve future therapies. The mental health workers'

impressions will all be recorded in the school records. An added benefit

could accrue to would-be employers or college recruiters.

Some cautions are in order. Democrats might think that potential future

Republicans are crazy. Republicans might think the opposite. Should an

extremist Christian be one of the screeners, he might think that

nonbelievers are possessed by the devil. And an extremist secular humanist

(if such exist) might think that an overly religious child is at risk for

mental illness if not already impaired.

In fact, parents ought to be asking some very serious questions before the

government experts interview the first child:

What are the credentials of the screeners? Most importantly, how many

children have they raised to adulthood, and with what outcome?

What are the criteria for possible abnormality? What is the scientific

validation? How often do different observers agree? Have any long-term

studies shown a solid correlation with adult performance in life? Do today's

oddball children fail, or might they turn into our greatest achievers?

Will you be allowed to get a second opinion? Can you see the record and

enter corrections if indicated? Will the record at any point be destroyed,

or will the stigma of a diagnosis such as " personality disorder " follow the

child throughout life?

What will happen if your child fails the screen? What sort of treatment will

be given? Who will supervise it? What if you don't approve of it?

What's the very worst thing that the program will have the power to do to

you or your child, say if your worst enemy was to gain control of it?

Who might profit from the program (perhaps discoverable by asking who

lobbied for it)?

Do drug companies expect to have a large number of new consumers of their

psychoactive drugs?

What are the results of studies of long-term use of drugs like Ritalin,

which has effects on the brain similar to those of cocaine? Have there even

been any such studies?

Can you refuse to participate in the program? If you do refuse, what are the

repercussions?

What is the evidence that the program, at best, will be anything other than

a waste of millions of dollars? Miraculously, throughout human history most

of those crazy children have become stable, productive adults without

federally mandated psychiatric treatment. Still more amazingly, their

parents have managed also.

Psychiatry in the hands of government, instead of independent physicians who

are working for patients, reeks of Orwell's " 1984 " or the Soviet era. The

very need to ask the questions should tell us the right answer for this

program: It's crazy.

--

(Dr. Jane M. Orient is an internist practicing in Tucson, Ariz., and

executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.)

--

(United Press International's " Outside View " commentaries are written by

outside contributors who specialize in a variety of issues. The views

expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In

the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)