Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of this.
But the more I look at it, the less I like it.
1/5 of the human population will suffer from some form of psychiatric disorder in their lifetime. That means 20% of people will have to deal with
things ranging from major depression to ‘simple’ phobias of things like spiders. Teenage depression and/or suicide is a serious issue and
obviously it is good to catch problems early on … BUT … Teenscreen mass screens ALL children for a host of psychiatric problems and they do so in
ways that leave me uncomfortable.
Teenscreen is active in 40 or 42 states (depending on which info you are looking at). So this isn’t a small time operation. They say that parents
have to give permission for the tests. That’s not entirely true. Teenscreen first promises the kids who participate pizza parties and other treats
and then they hand them ‘opt out’ slips. In other words; they will get the test unless the parent receives the form; fills it out and signs it;
and the student returns it to the school. Yes … the same student who was just promised a pizza party with all his/her peers if they take the test.
So how many parents actually see the ‘opt out’ forms? And shouldn’t it be ‘opt in’ anyways??
Teenscreen claims that drug companies do not sponsor them. They may or may not sponsor them, but those drug companies sure do make out when children
and teens are ‘discovered’ to have psychiatric illness’. There are claims that the companies who do sponsor teenscreen are FRONT companies for
the drug industry. (geee … what a surprise. NOT!) And then there are the problems with the anti-depressant drugs; problems that are many times
(up to 85% of the time)
WORSE than the alleged mental health problem of the child/teen. In many cases
the kids were better off WITHOUT drug intervention. But of course all the kids
that are alleged to have been discovered through this test to have mental health
problems will have to make a decision if they are to take the drugs that will of
course be offered to them ....
The children and teens are mass tested. Everyone.
This is what they say about themselves -
www.teenscreen.org...
Info from Columbia University (pro-teenscreen) and their claim that the drug companies don’t sponsor teenscreen.
www.teenscreen.org...
A MUST read!! Completely counters Columbia’s claims and will
scare the heck out of any parents of school-aged children.
usa.mediamonitors.net...
Some of the accusations of getting children hooked on psychiatric drugs and
of the involvement of drug companies.
www.psychsearch.net...
A blog on parental consent and a few other statistics on teenscreen
www.newswithviews.com...
Children’s health site – (note how many thousands are being tested)
www.npr.org...
Chelsea Rhodes lawsuit against teenscreen
community.cnhi.com... 
