New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

[Xue Sheng]

What is New Freedom Commission on Mental Health?

I was in another post and I was doing a little research on it and I came across this. I cannot say that any source that I read would be considered a good verifiable one but it sounds like a government thing that is pushing for mental health screenings for everybody in the US.

If this is the case this is a little bit scary as far as personal freedoms and rights go since then the diagnosis cold be used against anyone for multiple reasons and it would seem to me that a psychological diagnosis can very from Psychologist to Psychologist by degrees that could make a big difference.

Is there a good source of information on this or is it just more garbage that is not likely true or highly exaggerated.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Here is what NAMI has to say about it.

It does seem that they want screenings for everyone.

 

[shesulsa]

Well of course they do. Can't you imagine what an incredible weapon this is???? The war on the American people by its government has begun and is in full swing - this is an all-out assault.

What do you think the government will *really* do with this information? Hm? Let's see ...

Most people have some idiosyncrasy of some kind - could fall under one of the DSM-IV labels if you meet enough criteria. Of course the DSM-IV criteria could change and we'd be working under DSM-V which would allow complete diagnosis with fewer criteria hence rendering the majority of the population the victims of a massive sociological depression/anxiety disorder epidemic, much like the "obesity epidemic" we have today.

If you have a mental health ratio of a certain level or below you may be ineligible to own firearms or any other weapon for that matter. Medications may become legally mandatory. Gee, we all go through depressions from time to time. If we treat our mental depressions as we do physical colds or sinus infections we'll be medicated out of our gourds! Then there's subliminal programming ... good lord.

Mmmph.

Okay, I'm going to switch to my DSL now and download that monster; will reply further after reading it.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Here is what NAMI has to say about it.

It does seem that they want screenings for everyone.

Thanks Jeff I will check this out

Well of course they do. Can't you imagine what an incredible weapon this is???? The war on the American people by its government has begun and is in full swing - this is an all-out assault.

What do you think the government will *really* do with this information? Hm? Let's see ...

Most people have some idiosyncrasy of some kind - could fall under one of the DSM-IV labels if you meet enough criteria. Of course the DSM-IV criteria could change and we'd be working under DSM-V which would allow complete diagnosis with fewer criteria hence rendering the majority of the population the victims of a massive sociological depression/anxiety disorder epidemic, much like the "obesity epidemic" we have today.

If you have a mental health ratio of a certain level or below you may be ineligible to own firearms or any other weapon for that matter. Medications may become legally mandatory. Gee, we all go through depressions from time to time. If we treat our mental depressions as we do physical colds or sinus infections we'll be medicated out of our gourds! Then there's subliminal programming ... good lord.

Mmmph.

Okay, I'm going to switch to my DSL now and download that monster; will reply further after reading it.

Well part of what is scaring me here is they are allegedly adding diagnosis to the DSM-IV. And as you mentioned they can then pretty much label everyone under something. Bend down to pick up a penny and you can be labeled with obsessive-compulsive disorder if the DSM-IV says so under new diagnosis criteria.

I took Abnormal Psych in college and as the professor said “don’t worry if you come across something that describes you, its normal but does not mean your crazy” It takes, or took, multiple criteria to diagnose but if you break those down to individual criteria then we all will have some psychological disorder.

I need to look at the site Jeff posted in greater detail but this is sounding to me like a potentially very bad thing.

 

[tellner]

There is a number of ways this could be good. But we do not live in a country where any of them is true.

The enlightened humane version would run something like this...

Mental illness is far more common than anyone wishes to admit. It is stigmatized. The human and economic costs to the Nation and its citizens are profound. Any comprehensive solution to our ridiculous health care system must include resources and procedures that make it easier for people to get help before the situation becomes life-threatening. An ounce of prevention where possible, a pound of cure when necessary. Mental health is just another aspect of this. Early diagnosis can prevent terrible misery.

I consider myself to be about three years old. That's when two friends, one of them a coworker, asked what I was taking for my ADD. When I said "Huh?" they replied (and I quote) "What do you mean 'Huh?' You're in the Club." I would have avoided the better part of forty years of hell if screening had been available, accessible and socially acceptable. The economy would have gained from my increased productivity, and things could have been different and better.

But that's not the way this is going to work.

The last thirty years have been characterized by radically decreased access to health care of all sorts. The post-WWII agreement which gave us widespread employer-paid health insurance has broken down. We end up paying more for less than any developed nation. The same drugs coming off the same assembly line cost us tens or in some cases hundreds of times what they cost a German or a Canadian let alone an Indian or a Kenyan. Over half of all bankruptcies in this country are due to catastrophic health care events and according to the GAO the majority of those happen to the insured. The share of health care costs borne by households has risen darned near monotonically since the late 70s. The fact that the drug and insurance industries each have more than one registered lobbyist for every single Congressman and Senator may have something to do with this.

The latest Administration proposal will eliminate coverage altogether for everyone except the wealthy. The plan is to get rid of employer tax benefits for employee health insurance and replace it with a (smaller) tax break for workers which they can use to buy insurance individually. There won't be any economies of scale. There won't be any way for people to negotiate better deals. The insurance companies will continue their pattern of denying coverage to all but the rich - who can pay any premium - and those who will not have to use the services.

During the 1980s Ronald Reagan gutted public mental health in this country. The lie we were told was that "mainstreaming" and private charity would take up the slack. Everyone would be happier. Of course it didn't work that way. The mental hospitals were emptied. There was no followup care. There was no money for doctors, medication or inpatient care for those who could not cope. Prisons have increasingly taken on the role of inadequate badly cobbled together mental institutions.

When children die of brain infections because neither private insurance, their parents' purse or public assistance will cover a simple tooth extraction no rational person can expect public coverage for counseling, inpatient psychiatric care or anti-psychotic drugs.

The point of the exercise is control and the elimination of dissent, privacy and troublesome serfs.

The degree to which we have lost our civil liberties over the last quarter century would be shocking if I were still capable of being shocked. Habeas Corpus, the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Amendments are gone. The government's new doctrine celebrates torture, arbitrary detention without trial, abrogation of treaties, Star Chambers, the use of firefighters as spies, "Total Information Awareness", kidnapping and more.

The warrantless searches which George W. Bush (may his name and memory be erased) and his Wazir Cheney damned in Russia are now available without restraint. Your mail, phone calls, email and conversations are now freely accessible by the government. We've learned to accept strip searches and "Papers, Citizen" whenever we travel. And we can arbitrarily be denied the right to travel freely without reason or appeal. The Department of Homeland Security - which translates quite nicely and exactly to "Committee for State Security" in Russian - has announced plans to use military spy satellites on us here in this country. Dissent even without violence can be considered terrorism and result in one's secret kidnapping, torture, imprisonment and killing without a soul ever knowing.

Under a regime like this what does exposure to universal screening for mental illness mean?

It certainly doesn't mean that you will be given an appointment with a psychiatrist, a scrip for medication and counseling to cope with your emotional and cognitive troubles. It means the birth of Soviet-style psychiatric prisons.

A martyred dissenter is a problem. He can serve as a rallying cry and focus for others. A madman is ever so much easier to deal with. He can be sent away for as long as is politically necessary. His objections need not be considered because he's a pathetic lunatic. He becomes an object of pity and scorn rather than a threat to the Established Order.

This is exactly what the infamous Soviet "psychiatrists" did and Chinese ones do. Dissidents could be carted off and subjected to horrors practically beyond imagining. It wasn't prison. Oh no. They were mad. It was all therapy for (I love this term) "Slow Schizophrenia".

Look at the process by which our propaganda arm prepares us for war. Hudson Austin, Manuel Noriega, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad all got the same treatment. First they're labeled as threats. Next they're compared to Hitler. Finally they're turned into madmen.

So look for troublemakers to be diagnosed, committed, disappeared and drugged. Their civil rights will be automatically removed, probably forever. It fits nicely and precisely with the discussion elsewhere on taking guns away from anyone who has ever suffered from PTSD. But take care of the unbalanced, the helpless and the ill? Heaven forfend. It would be Un-American. Why do you hate America? Why do you hate Capitalism? Are you some kind of Commie who wants socialized medicine? 9-11! Support the troops! War on Christmas! Hillary!

 

[Xue Sheng]

Tellner

I agree that the potential for good is great and I also agree the potential for abuse is equally as great.

Things like this, from the link Jeff gave me make me nervous based on those 2 potentials and also say this might be a good thing... but... why is my gut telling me to watch this very closely

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Se...Management/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=28321

Features
All youngsters in a school, with parental consent, are given a computer-based questionnaire that screens them for mental illnesses and suicide risk. At no charge, the Columbia University TeenScreen® Program provides consultation, screening materials, software, training, and technical assistance to qualifying schools and communities. In return, TeenScreen® partners are expected to screen at least 200 youth per year and ensure that a licensed mental health professional is on-site to give immediate counseling and referral services for youth at greatest risk. The Columbia TeenScreen® Program is a not-for-profit organization funded solely by foundations. When the program identifies youth needing treatment, their care is paid for depending on the family's health coverage.
Outcomes

The computer-based questionnaire used by TeenScreen® is a valid and reliable screening instrument.151 The vast majority of youth identified through the program as having already made a suicide attempt, or at risk for depression or suicidal thinking, are not in treatment.152 A follow-up study found that screening in high school identified more than 60% of students who, four to six years later, continued to have long-term, recurrent problems with depression and suicidal attempts.153

And computer based screening does not give me a warm fuzzy and why, in a capitalist society were as you mentioned, you have a hard time getting health care and it is likely to get harder, is this going to be free?

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Put it to you this way.

When the guy who loves what his country is *supposed* to stand for, and wears its flag on *two* uniforms( MA State Guard, US Civil Air Patrol) is seriously considering emigration.............

 

[Xue Sheng]

Put it to you this way.

When the guy who loves what his country is *supposed* to stand for, and wears its flag on *two* uniforms( MA State Guard, US Civil Air Patrol) is seriously considering emigration.............

I’m learning Mandarin and after that German, I want options

Actually that is in part true.