Updated: Oct. 10 2005 20:55 EST
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SCREENING CHILDREN FOR MENTAL DISORDERS
Columbia University has developed a screening questionnaire for children. It is designed to indicate whether a child may have "a mental disorder."
The whole Columbia program is called Teen Screen. The program site stresses that this is a voluntary undertaking resting on parental consent, and that it does not constiture a medical or psychiatric diagnosis. If a child "tests positive" on the questionnaire, he is referred to a "clinician" who does an "in-depth interview"...
Basically, Teen Screen is a feeder line, a funnel. It is organized so that schools or communities anywhere in the world can set up their own replicas of the program. Such expansion is encouraged.
The questionnaire is "a testing tool" for revealing that a child may be clinically depressed, may have anxiety disorder, may have suicidal thoughts.
In one study conducted on high-school students in New York, 27% of the group tested showed "positive" on the questionnaire.
As you can see, this whole exercise is a funnel that moves in the direction of prescribing psychiatric drugs.
The site for the Minnesota Department of Health provides links to a short and long form of the questionnaire. I assume these versions are Columbia's, since they are labeled Teen Screen.
Here is the short form.
DO YOU WEAR A SEAT BELT ALL THE TIME?
HAVE YOU BEEN IMMUNIZED FOR HEPATITIS B?
DO YOU SMOKE OR CHEW TOBACCO?
DO YOU DRINK ALCOHOL (BEER, WINE, OR HARD ALCOHOL)?
HAVE YOU TRIED DRUGS (MARIJUANA, SPEED, COCAINE/CRACK, OR ACID)?
HAVE YOU HAD SEX (INTERCOURSE, "DONE IT")?
HAVE YOU HAD AN INFECTION FROM SEX (STD OR VD)?
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF SUICIDE?
HAS ANYONE EVER HURT YOU PHYSICALLY OR SEXUALLY?
ARE YOU HAVING PROBLEMS GETTING ALONG WITH YOUR FAMILY?
I leave you to imagine the various permutations of yes answers that could add up to a "positive reading" for possible mental disorders.
My favorite is question 2, which amounts to a survey on the Hep B vaccine.
I would ordinarily point out that any program which starts out as voluntary can later become compulsory, but as we know, Bush has already proposed a nation-wide mental-health screening program for kids that is mandatory.
Welcome to the Psychiatric State.
Step one is getting adults and children to concede that "mental disorders" are widespread among children. To falsely concede that these disorders are well-defined and real and can be pinpointed as organic (biologically/chemically based).
From there, everything flows into the arena of toxic drugs.
Schools love programs like Teen Screen. They allow teachers and counselors to pretend they are possessed of prestigious medical knowledge. Phony psychiatric terms can be thrown around like gold coins. And of course it's a way to drug kids who cause problems in the classroom or on the playground.
Chemical dyes in the school lunches? Vending machines for drinks that are loaded with sugar and jolts of uppers? Processed snacks containing scores of chemicals? Forget it? Not relevant. Much too pedestrian. We are talking about real science here. The brain. Neurotransmitters. Serious mental disorders. Teachers and counselors unite. You are finally being called to a higher cause. Diagnosing children and thus saving them. A bright future awaits in which every child will know exactly what mental disorder he/she has. This is a crusade for a new world. Sign up now. Take a workshop. A professional will be on hand.
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