The atypicals, which are also now being used to treat bipolar and anxiety disorders, cost roughly $8 a day, about 100 times more than the older antipsychotic drug, Haldol, the study noted.
Front Groups As Funnels
TeenScreen's promotional materials and web sites says its not supported or affiliated with any pharmaceutical companies. What a joke.
The pharmaceutical industry has long funneled money through front groups like NAMI which in turn provides funding for marketing campaigns.
According to Dr Peter Breggin, psychiatrist and founder of The International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, "These groups hold national meetings that bring together drug advocates to talk directly to consumers. They also put out newsletters and other information that praise medications. Sometimes they actively suppress viewpoints that are critical of drugs - for example, by discouraging the media from airing opposing viewpoints."
Flynn is also the author of an article titled, "Before Their Time: Preventing Teen Suicide," in which she states: "The TeenScreen Program developed 10 years ago by Columbia University and offered in partnership with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill helps communities across the nation identify teens with mental illness who might be at risk for suicide."
Its kind of hard to dispute the charge that NAMI is a funnel for drug money being that its website lists "Corporate Partners, Grants, and Foundations," as Abbott, AstraZoneca, Bristol-Meyers-Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest Lab, Glaxo-Smith-Kline, Jannsen, McNeil, Pfizer, and Wyeth.
So if TeenScreen is being "offered in partnership," with the NAMI, it stands to reason that drug money is involved.
Laurie McGuire, second in command of the TeenScreen project, gave a speech at the annual NAMI national convention, and explained the need to con kids and their parents into taking the survey. She told the audience that while only around 54% of parents would consent to the screening, when children themselves were asked, nearly 98% agreed to the idea of being screened.
"Getting the kids to buy in is such an essential thing because for the most part, you're distributing the consent forms to the kids to bring home to their parents and bring them back. So you have to get their buy in, you have to get them interested in it," McGuire said.
TeenScreen also recommends bribing kids with movie passes or gift certificates for pizza parlors.
Passive Consent is another trick TeenScreen uses to get around the law which requires obtaining a valid parental consent. Passive consent requires parents to return a form only if they do not want their child to participate in the screening. In Oregon, one NAMI member complained that consent forms were being returned with a large "NO" scribbled across the paper.
The problem is, even with passive consent, parents still have to agree to seek mental health treatment their children.
At the convention, NAMI members were told of the need to "loop" the kids to a mental health provider. The importance of getting kids to that first appointment was stressed. They were told that sometimes that might entail calling insurance companies to get the information on where to go and what is covered, and sometimes it would mean picking kids up and driving them to the first appointment.
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