This is a post from Bec Sferco I thought important enough to share.
\nYOUR CHILD AT RISK: AUSTRALIA\u2019S MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING
\nIs it a license to drug our children with potentially dangerous stimulants, antidepressants or antipsychotics?
\nTAX DOLLARS CREATE CHILD ABUSE?
\nThe May 2011 Budget allocated $2.2 billion for mental health over the next five years, much of it for \u201cyouth mental health.\u201d Sound beneficial? Not really! What taxpayers and parents may not know is that children from the age of three will be screened for \u201cemotional and behavioural\u201d disorders passed off as a \u201chealth check\u201d.
\nWhile medical diseases will also be screened for, these can all be verified by physical tests; however, there is no such test \u2014 brain scan, blood or urine test or x-ray \u2014 to confirm any \u201cbehavioural\u201d or \u201cmental disorders\u201d. From this screening, children can be prescribed stimulants, antidepressants, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs or tranquillisers, placing them at risk of ill-health and potentially dangerous side effects, some even deadly.
\nTeachers will be expected to complete the \u201cAustralian Early Development Index (AEDI)\u201d checklist on children with nearly $22 million of federal taxpayer dollars allocated for its implementation. \u201cKey information about children\u2019s mental health and wellbeing will be collected through data on their social, emotional, behavioural and physical development,\u201d which will be made publicly available for around 96% of Australian local communities. Any mental health or behavioural screening can potentially be used to monitor your child such as the one planned for all NSW children aged 0-10 years, who will be tracked for the next 20 years.
\nNO MEDICAL SCIENCE TO SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING
\nThe questions are so subjective that any child could be at risk of being labelled mentally ill and potentially recommended for a prescription for a psychiatric drug. Such as:
\n\u2022 Would you say this child: Listens attentively, completes work on time, can\u2019t sit still, is restless, is distractible, has trouble sticking to any activity, is disobedient, has temper tantrums, is impulsive or inattentive? Answered negatively, this could be determined to be the symptoms of \u201cAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder\u201d (ADHD). And that can lead to cocaine-like stimulants being prescribed.
\n\u2022 Other questions include asking if the child appears worried, cries a lot, is nervous, high strung or tense? This could be misconstrued as depression or anxiety, with antidepressants or anti-anxiety pills prescribed. Depression Screening tools are notoriously faulty with one admitting an 84% chance the teenager will be wrongly stigmatised as depressed.
\n\u2022 Dr. Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry emeritus, states, \u201cThere is no blood or other biological test to ascertain the presence or absence of a mental illness, as there is for most bodily diseases.\u201d
\nDRUG SIDE EFFECTS
\n\u2022 Antipsychotics may cause diabetes, liver failure, muscle twitching, pancreatitis (inflammation of pancreas), restlessness or pacing, seizures, convulsions, and Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome\u2014a potentially fatal toxic reaction. Nearly 10,000 Australian children under 18 (almost 300 aged 6 and under) are prescribed antipsychotics, with 15 DEATHS linked to antipsychotics for those under 19.
\n\u2022 Stimulants such as Ritalin and dexamphetamine: hallucinations, psychosis, weight loss, stunted growth, heart irregularities, heart attacks. Suicide is a risk during withdrawal.
\n\u2022 Antidepressants: In Australia more than 13,179 adverse reactions were reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration for antidepressants; of these, 30 were for completed suicides and 244 were for suicidal thoughts. A staggering 513 were for children and adolescents under the age of 19, including 5 deaths in the 10-to-19-age group.
\n\u2022 Withdrawal Effects: Like illicit drugs, mental health drugs provide no more than a temporary relief from problems, unwanted behaviour or unpleasant emotions. If a child taking these drugs experiences a \u201crebound effect\u201d where their original mental symptoms return even worse once they begin withdrawing, medical experts point out that this is the drug effect, not \u201cmental illness.\u201d Withdrawal effects are common, indicating psychotropic medications are addictive.
\nPsychiatrist David Healy warns: \u201cIf there is withdrawal, then there is physical dependence.\u201d
\nFAMILY COERCION
\nUnder the Budget, from July 2011, the payment of the end-of-the-year Family Tax Benefit (approx $726) to parents on income support will be conditional upon those children turning 4 undergoing a pre-school \u201chealth assessment\u201d which includes subjective mental disorders. No screening, no rebate! This could be construed as coercion.
\nHEADSPACE: \u201cYOUTH MENTAL HEALTH\u201d CONCERNS
\nAlmost $200 million of taxpayers\u2019 money is to establish 30 more so-called youth mental health centres called headspace. As a May edition of Australian Doctor reported, headspace is \u201cunevaluated, unproved and yet to show it really works.\u201d The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has awarded $10 million to several leading Australian psychiatrists with financial
\nties to drug companies to study \u201cprediction, prevention and early intervention\u201d for youth mental disorders. The researchers admit that headspace centres \u201care becoming \u2018clinical laboratories\u2019 for applied research.\u201d In other words, youths attending headspace may be little more than guineapigs for psychiatric research and \u201cearly intervention\u201d.
\n\u201cEARLY INTERVENTION\u201d: THE DANGERS
\nAustralian psychiatrists have pioneered an invented disorder \u201cPsychosis Risk Syndrome\u201d that claims to be able to determine symptoms in teens (12-14 years old) that can predict future psychosis or mental disorder. Allen Frances, professor of psychiatry, calls Psychosis Risk Syndrome \u201cill conceived and potentially harmful.\u201d It would \u201cmisidentify many teenagers who are not really at risk for psychosis\u201d and the \u201ctreatment they would most often receive (atypical [new] antipsychotic medication) has no proven efficacy; but it does have definite dangerous complications.\u201d There is
\nalso an error rate of between 70-90%, \u201cmeaning that between two and nine youngsters would be misidentified for every one accurately identified.\u201d PRS is \u201ca bonanza for the pharmaceutical industry,\u201d for which patients would pay the \u201chigh price [of] adverse effects, dollars, and stigma,\u201d the psychiatrist stated.
\nSIGN THE PARENT\u2019S EXEMPTION FORM (see my other note)
\nParents can try protecting their child from mental health screening by signing the Parent\u2019s Exemption Form Prior to Mental Health and Psychological Screening or Counselling. Provide a copy to the school principal and if you have one, a lawyer. Copies can also be given to Citizens Committee on Human Rights:
\nP.O. Box 440 Marrickville 1475
\nGET THE FACTS
\nLog onto Citizens Committee on Human Rights Psychiatric Drug Side-effect Database at cchr.org.au.
\nFor further information, Email: enquiry@cchrnsw.org.au
\nCCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Professor of Psychiatry Thomas Szasz from University of New York Health Science Center, Syracuse, New York. Its purpose is to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights and bring about patient protections and reforms. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a post from Bec Sferco I thought important enough to share. YOUR CHILD AT RISK: AUSTRALIA\u2019S MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING Is it a license to drug our children with potentially dangerous stimulants, antidepressants or antipsychotics? TAX DOLLARS CREATE CHILD ABUSE? The May 2011 Budget allocated $2.2 billion for mental health over the next five … <\/p>\n