Efforts Against Child Mental Screening and Drugging a Success
Update on Washington Briefing, Conference and ACTION
The national conference on Universal Mental Screening and Drugging of Our Children: Risks vs. Benefits, sponsored by ICSPP (the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology), as well as the subsequent Capitol Hill Briefing on that topic were terrifically successful. The conference was co-sponsored by EdWatch, PsychRights, MindFreedom, and Eagle Forum. The Briefing had additional co-sponsorship by Concerned Women for America and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Briefing speakers included:
- Dr. Joseph Tarantolo, a Washington DC psychiatrist whose practice is dominated by the need to help patients safely stop taking psychiatric drugs;
- Theresa Rhoades, whose daughter Chelsea was mentally screened and inaccurately labeled without merit and without parental consent;
- Mathey Downing, whose daughter committed suicide after being started on an antidepressant for test anxiety, and
- Dr. Karen Effrem, who spoke about the dangers of and federal programs that promote mental screening and drugging.
Many congressional staff, interested groups, and media were informed about these important issues. Conference attendees fanned out all over Capitol Hill to visit members of Congress. See below for a very well done, balanced report by Accuracy in Media.
These issues will be prominent in legislation currently before Congress, including the budget battle over domestic spending, such as the Labor/Health and Human Services (HHS)/Education appropriations bill, the State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
Please tell your members of Congress that you SUPPORT:
- 1) Threatened Presidential veto of the Labor /HHS/ Education bill, because it contains so many programs that promote the unscientific mental screening of children starting in infancy and leads to more drugging of even young children with medications that are ineffective and cause dangerous side effects. (See here for details of the programs.
- 2) S 891, the Child Medication Safety Act, as written. This legislation will prevent schools from coercing parents who refuse to give their children ANY psychiatric drug, not just controlled substances, with threats of child abuse or neglect or suspending their children.
- 3.) HR 2387, the Parental Consent Act , which prohibits coercive screening.
Please tell your members of Congress that you OPPOSE:
- 3) SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program), because it includes mental health parity for children and will further increase the already rampant and unscientific screening, over diagnosis, and over drugging of children.
- 4) Efforts to have states and schools assess non-academic factors influencing student achievement in NCLB. The federal government has no authority to require that states and schools dig into, take control of, and manipulate every aspect of a child and familys life, including their mental health, in order to receive federal education funds
The October 13th/14th Conference
(Please check www.icspp.org for DVD ordering information):
The ICSPP conference drew an international crowd of practitioners, academics, psychiatric survivors, and parents to hear presentations on psychiatric screening, the dangers of psychiatric drugs, tragic stories of parents whose children had been screened and drugged, and how to care for children with emotional problems in a sane and humane manner that does not destroy their minds or bodies. Among the many highlights were
- Theresa Rhodes and Laurie Yorke These two mothers told the truth about the effects of psychotropic screening and drugs on their children.
- Peter Breggin, M.D. The founder of ICSPP told about how the suddenly in fashion diagnosis of bipolar disease in children is being used as a marketing tool for dangerous antipsychotic drugs
- Vera Sharav, MS Executive Director of the Alliance for Human Research Protection spoke of the over diagnosis and over treatment of children, particularly poor children in government programs with dangerous drugs.
- Karen Effrem, M.D. spoke about the dangers of universal mental health screening, including the programs that promote it, consent issues, and screening based on attitudes and values
- Honorable Indiana State Representative Cindy Noe As a legislator that is fighting imposition of universal mental health screening in her own state, she spoke of these programs as another attack on parental rights
- James Gottstein, J.D. As an attorney courageous enough to get the truth to the public about the dangers of Zyprexa intentionally hidden by Eli Lilly, he spoke of parents and childrens rights regarding screening and drugging
- Bose Ravenel, M.D. This practicing developmental pediatrician spoke about non-drug alternatives to treating common behavioral/learning problems in children.
Stay tuned for further developments,
both in Washington, DC and your own state on these important issues.
Now Available from EdWatch, Newly updated
The Dangers of Mental Health Screening Briefing Book by Karen R. Effrem, M.D.
The book also comes with a CD of all its these articles, and a powerpoint presentation
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