Illegal Screening Done on Student

The National Parents Association (Quebec) recently reported that a student had been kicked out of school because his mother refused to give him Ritalin. The 12-year-old claimed that he had been given a number of psychological tests, but his mother said she had no knowledge of those tests being done. When the school released the student’s records, it was discovered that, indeed, three tests had been administered—one of them instructing the students to keep the test “confidential.”

In Quebec it is illegal to conduct psychological, psychiatric, or medical tests without obtaining consent.

—Data taken from the Parents Rights Watch email newsletter, April 18, 2006, National Parents Association, info@npaquebec.org., www.npaquebec.org

Parents, Get the data on screening programs in your area. Don’t be left in the dark. Contact the NPA and lend your support. (You don’t have to live in Canada to sign their petition—this is a universal issue.)

Ditto Canadians: Support the U.S. efforts to stop screening. Get the truth about TeenScreen at www.psychsearch.net/teenscreen.html

DSM Authors Linked to Drug Companies

"’I don't think the public is aware of how egregious the financial ties are in the field of psychiatry,’ said Lisa Cosgrove, a clinical psychologist …

“The analysis comes at a time of growing debate over the rising use of medication as the primary or sole treatment for many psychiatric disorders, a trend driven in part by definitions of mental disorders in the psychiatric manual.

“Cosgrove said she began her research after discovering that five of six panel members studying whether certain premenstrual problems are a psychiatric disorder had ties to Eli Lilly & Co., which was seeking to market its drug Prozac to treat those symptoms. The process of defining such disorders is far from scientific, Cosgrove added: ‘You would be dismayed at how political the process can be.’”

—Shankar Vedantam, “Experts Defining Mental Disorders Are Linked to Drug Firms,” April 20, 2006, washingtonpost.com

“A majority of the medical experts who created the ‘bible’ for diagnosing mental illness have undisclosed financial links to drugmakers, says a study out Thursday.

“And some panels overseeing disorders that require treatment with prescription drugs, such as schizophrenia and ‘mood disorders,’ were 100% filled with experts financially tied to the pharmaceutical industry, says the study published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

“The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, or DSM, is the American Psychiatric Association's diagnosis manual. It is also used as the basis for insurance payments for psychiatric treatments, including drugs.

“’No blood tests exist for the disorders in the DSM, it relies on judgments from practitioners who rely on the manual,’ says lead study author Lisa Cosgrove of University of Massachusetts, Boston.”

—Dan Vergano, “Study: Medical manual’s authors often tied to drugmakers,” 4/19/06, USA Today

Too Dependent on Drugs?

“What is particularly depressing about many of these individuals is the overflowing cornucopia of psychiatric medications they are prescribed for their conditions. But are these people suffering from a disease?…

Alas, we are a nation fixated on "pathologizing" many complex demeanors — ranging from the overanxious state of some adults to the behaviors of children who have more energy and shorter attention spans than is comfortable for their overworked teachers or parents. Sadly, our reflexive need for diagnosis is accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to treat with a torrent of potent medications….”

—Howard Markel, MD, PhD, "The Trouble With Asperger’s* Syndrome," posted 4/13/06, Medscape Pediatrics, medscape.com

*People with Asperger's syndrome are said to have difficulty learning social skills and relating to others, but are intelligent and able to excel at subjects others would find challenging.

[The quote is from Lawrence Osborne, author of, American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger’s Syndrome]

They’re Not Unethical, They Have a Disease!

[The following quote is from a woman who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She may be a patient, but she’s nobody’s fool.]

But now, “Every time I turn around, whatever crime has been committed, they have mental illness,” Ms. Brown said. “All of them can't be schizophrenic.

"It really makes me nervous," she said. "What ever happened to criminals who committed crimes just because they wanted to commit a crime?"

—David M. Halbfinger, “‘A Beautiful Mind’? She Hasn’t Seen It, but She’s Heard the Voices,” March 24, 2002, The New York Times

Medical vs. Psychiatric Diagnosis

"The process of diagnosis is very different in psychiatry. Since there are no clear indications of a specific biological abnormality that causes any of the psychiatric disorders, no laboratory tests have been developed to confirm or refute any psychiatric diagnosis."

—Richard Keefe and Philip Harvey, Understanding Schizophrenia: A Guide to the New Research on Causes and Treatment, Free Press, 1994

Something's Rotten at Rotenberg

Described as "a special education school for children and young adults", the Judge Rotenberg Center engages in practices that are controversial, cruel and abusive.

Some of the methods used to modify unacceptable behavior are spanking, pinching, forced inhalation of ammonia, and administering shocks to students (as early as age six).

These aversive treatments are also used on disabled and autistic children sent to Rotenberg (at the staggering cost of $50 million dollars a year) by New York State, due to a lack of facilities.

*When CNN's Correspondent, Randi Kaye, reported on this "therapy" she actually tried the shock device herself. She was told that it would feel like a bee sting. Randi said, "Let me tell you it hurt far worse than that."

If parents did any of this to their children they would be hauled off to court in an instant. Psychologists and psychiatrists who engage in child abuse should have their licenses revoked.

—(data collected from assorted sources)

*I took a quote from a CNN blog that had Anderson Cooper's name on it but he did not write that post. I corrected the source. However, I still stand behind the position that behavior can be changed without cruelty. We are not animals. We think, we feel, we treat our fellow man (and that includes children) with respect. Just because psychiatry can't find the answers doesn't mean they're not out there.

Ritalin: A Parent's Decision

A 12-year-old child was suspended from school when his mother refused to give him Ritalin. The family’s lawyer claims that the school board bullies parents into drugging their children. He says parents should have the right to refuse the controversial treatment.

According to Marlies Sudermann, adjunct psychology professor, the reason Ritalin is prescribed so often is “it’s profitable.” She added, “When we can’t teach children self-control in a positive way, some want to do it chemically.”

[From an article by Ian Denomme, “Child suspended for not taking Ritalin - Lawsuit raises issues over behavioural drugs”, April 5, 2006, The Gazette, University of Western Ontario, Canada]