As another school year begins, our children have a lot
more to fear than the common bullies and peer pressure
that is undeniably associated with "being in school."
There are two horrible things going on right now that
we all must be aware of. More than the music our
children are listening to. More than the movies our
children are watching. Even more than the friends our
children are talking to.
First, something needs to be done about the state of
Illinois coming up with The Children's Mental Health
Act of 2003. This insane Act basically forces all
children and pregnant women to be screened for mental
illness. Only men over the age of eighteen would be
exempt.
What's with all this talk about mental health
"screenings" anyway? What good comes out of being
"screened" for mental illness? Mental health
screenings do not prevent suicide. These screenings
are just more government intrusion. Both Republicans
and Democrats are for them because these screenings
are just another extension of the sick idea that the
state knows how to run our lives more than we do.
What's also disturbing, Orwellian if you will, about
The Children's Mental Health Act of 2003 is a little
known goal of the Act. It appears the state of
Illinois, and I would imagine every state who approves
The Children's Mental Health Act of 2003, receives
discounts on psychotropic drugs. So don't tell me
mental health screenings are good for children and
basic wisdom such as exercise more, eat better, sleep
more, will be what awaits them. What awaits our
children are more drugs and bogus mental disorders.
Second, if you think The Children's Mental Health Act
of 2003 is a form of new child abuse, perhaps you were
not aware of what The New Freedom Commission on Mental
Health, a commission appointed by President George W.
Bush, has in store for us.
After I read their progress report, called the "New
Freedom Initiative", I started to think that
politicians and pharmaceutical companies must believe
there is something noble in the entire U.S. population
being labeled with a mental disorder, and subsequently
drugged.
The report would be laughable if it wasn't for its
bold initiatives and broad support from groups who
operate as if there is a mental disorder for every
American. In fact, the report doesn't really tell us
what a mental illness is, just that they are
"shockingly common."
If supporters of The Children's Mental Health Act of
2003 and The New Freedom Initiative have their way, it
will soon be shockingly uncommon for anyone not to be
diagnosed with a mental disorder that of course
requires "drugs." Is it a stretch of the imagination
to suggest that in the future if any of us ever try to
work through emotional problems in a manner safer than
drugs - we will be the ones stigmatized as being in
denial of our cultural mental illness?
After all, the doublespeak and lies have come full
circle. The new child abuse that is being mandated in
this country can correctly be called mandatory mental
health screenings. The doublespeak is evident in that
it's all coined in words of freedom. The Commission
on Mental Health appointed by President George W. Bush
knew what they were doing when they called their
reports and goals - the "new freedom."
I find it painfully ironic that The Child Medication
Safety Act of 2003, S.1390, has essentially been cast
aside with the announcement of certain states
approving mandatory mental health screenings, and a
push for national mental health screenings as well.
Furthermore, I wonder if all these mental health
screenings and new freedom nonsense is just a
smokescreen for our government and pharmaceutical
companies to hide behind when real suicides and
murders have occured because both children and adults
have taken powerful antidepressants and psychotropic
drugs.
Again, forget about your children's favorite movies,
music or friends for a minute. It's time to look at
what our government wants to do to them - and to you
as a parent.
There's no good health in The Children's Mental Health
Act of 2003. There's no freedom in what The New
Freedom Commission on Mental Health wants to do with
our children's lives, and our own.
I can't help but wonder, have we gone mad?
Zizza is the Vice President/Georgia of
Parents For
Label and Drug Free Education.
A former Massachusetts resident for over twenty years,
he writes frequently about mental health issues.
Email comments to him at:
tz777@yahoo.com
