
Ok, so I find the petition's argument biased, uniformed and misleading and the TeenScreen site equally as self-serving but what about the actual issue of screening children for mental illness? This is not a simple issue. Firstly, I think screening only for depression and suicidal tendencies is myopic. If we are going to allow our children to be tested, get them tested for every type of mental health issue. Test them for eating disorders, bi-polar disorders, anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders to name but a few. Have the children take a complete physical and mental health check-up. Children with mental health issues tend to fall through the cracks. Their mental illnesses are chalked up to personality traits and instead of proper medical care, disciplinary actions are taken. If there was a way to point out potential problems what parent wouldn't want that option made available to them. If it were possible to screen for children with the potential to become sociopaths wouldn't society benefit from this knowledge?
So those are some of the positive aspects of mental health screening for our children, my next article will cover the flip side of this argument; the downside to mandatory screening.






» Mantatory Mental Health Screening for Our Children Part 2 from PharmaGazette
I previously wrote about the benefits of screening our children for mental health issues. That all stemmed from a comment made to another article I'd written that sent me off on a bit of a rant.Now the downside. Firstly, I have... [Read More]
Tracked on: September 23, 2007 9:15 AM | Permalink to Trackback