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Forcing Kids Into a Mental Health Ghetto
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | Servo |
| Last Edited | Servo Nov 25, 2004 09:25pm |
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| Category | Opinion |
| News Date | Thursday, November 25, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | A presidential initiative called The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has issued a report recommending forced mental health screening for every child in America, including preschool children. The goal is to promote the patently false idea that we have a nation of children with undiagnosed mental disorders crying out for treatment.
One obvious beneficiary of the proposal is the pharmaceutical industry, which is eager to sell the psychotropic drugs that undoubtedly will be prescribed to millions of American schoolchildren under the new screening program. Of course a tiny minority of children suffer from legitimate mental illnesses, but the widespread use of Ritalin and other drugs on youngsters who simply exhibit typical rambunctious, fidgety, and impatient behavior is nothing short of criminal. It may be easier to teach and parent drugged kids, but convenience is no justification for endangering them. Children's brains are still developing, and the truth is we have no idea what the long-term side effects of psychiatric drugs may be. Medical science has not even exhaustively identified every possible brain chemical, even as we alter those chemicals with drugs.
The greater issue, however, is not whether youth mental health screening is appropriate. The real issue is whether the state owns your kids. |
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