TeenScreen - New York Times - Danger Signs

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By Evelyn Pringle (about the author) Page 3 of 8 page(s)

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Only word-of-mouth? According to Flynn at that 2004 AACAP Meeting, they mailed a copy of, Catch Them Before They Fall, "to people who were on key committees" in all 50 states," Weibert reports.

Also the Times might want to check out the $180,000 that was funneled through TeenScreen to Florida officials to try to sell the survey to schools that state.

The Times said TeenScreen's aim is merely to identify kids at risk, not to encourage use of antidepressants. Then I'd like to know what Shaffer meant at the February 2004, FDA hearing, after hearing all the other professionals testify about the reports and studies documenting the serious adverse reactions in children while on SSRIs, when he said:

"There have been no direct studies with frequent and careful measurement examining whether SSRIs increase, decrease, or have no effect on suicidal ideation and behavior, so that we are dependent very much on inference, but maybe that is always the case."

"I just would like to conclude with the following," Shaffer told the panel. "After increasing for years, teen suicide rates have been declining consistently in many countries. During this period, there has been a marked increase in exposure of teens to SSRI antidepressants," he claimed.

"We have nothing to do with providing recommendations for treatment," Flynn told the Times reporter, who evidently bought it hook, line and sinker.

People temped to believe that claim ought to watch TeenScreen's video-taped presentation at the annual convention of the National Association for Mental Illness, where the TeenScreen crew tells the army of NAMI members that helping TeenScreen might require them to contact a child's insurance company to check on coverage or drive a child to an appointment with a shrink.

The video also shows the TeenScreen crew passing around a pad of paper for NAMI members from all across the country to sign on as volunteers and agree to rise up against anyone who speaks out against TeenScreen when it tries to move into a new community.

In the video, the presenter also explains the importance of tricking kids into agreeing to take the survey first, by bribing them with pizza or movie coupons or other perks, because according TeenScreen, the parent won't agree to the survey so they need to win the kids over first and then send them home to talk the parents into it.

The Times reporter might want to check and see how much drug money has actually been funneled through NAMI, the nation's number-one front group of all time, to set up this marketing scheme in schools all over the country.

Its actually comical to watch Flynn change her talking points depending on the audience. On March 2, 2004, she testified at a congressional hearing and said that in the screening process, �youth complete a 10-minute self-administered questionnaire that screens for social phobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and suicidality.�

After the school tells parents that TeenScreen determined that their child has one or more of the mental health disorders she listed for Congress, what is Flynn inferring will happen to the kids, if they are not put on drugs?

I read one meaningful statement in Danger Signs which said: "Other critics worry that TeenScreen will funnel too many kids into treatment and lead to overuse of medication, with possibly dangerous results."

However, even that comment is an understatement. The concern about the overuse of drugs with children is far more than a "worry."

According to an on-going investigation of Pinellas County, Florida, by expert records researcher, Ken Kramer, a review of relevant information for 2002 and 2003, revealed that 81% of the teens who committed suicide were either on psychotropic drugs or had received psychiatric treatment.

Dedicated anti-child-drugging advocate, Doyle Mills, made a good point about teen suicide when he said, "try to find a suicide victim who has not already received some form of psychiatric treatment, usually drugs."

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