Bush to Screen Every American for Mental Illness

A frightening article made the rounds of Rapid Response - Iowa this weekend and set off warning bells all around.  After checking and double checking sources and doing further research, the good folks at Rapid Response - Iowa determined that this plan does indeed exist and has already been funded to the tune of $20 million.  Oh, and Bush is going to start the national evaluation by testing and medicating (for mental illness) our teachers and school children first.

Christina Butts of Des Moines describes why this is so alarming:

"The people pushing for this have an agenda not to help the truly mentally ill but to start on an invasive government program to start requiring testing, diagnosis, and then medication for increased labeling of behaviors NOT presently listed by American Psychiatric Associations, but to start falsely labeling enemies, and the public in general for coercion, control, manipulation, and conditioning - for the benefit of the powerful corporations in control of the present administration.

[For people who suffer from mental illness or who have some kind of brain injury,] the fear and terror that are involved when they are aware that their every move and response is what can be used to deny them rights and liberty is barely imaginable by the normal public. To think that a slow, insidious move like this is trying to be implemented to get the US citizenry literally addicted and dependant on 'Soma'-type pharmaceutical drugs, for mood enhancement or combating mislabeled ADHD or other 'mental illness', is horrendous. No more protests or wrong-thinking voters will ever be a problem again for the extreme conservative rightwing. Why try to solve the problems of society when they can make money and medicate the public to accept and forget.  No more competing with 'illegal' drugs, because now the government and business can feed the good stuff to us at a market-valued profit."

Here's the article that set off the flurry of concern, and below, you will find links to further reports corroborating this information.


Now Bush wants to test every American for mental illness--including you! And guess who will create the tests?
By Jordanne Graham, InterventionMag.org

Next month, George W. Bush plans to unveil a broad new mental health plan called the “New Freedom Initiative.” Never mind that it couldn’t have less to do with freedom; if you’re a thinking American, this initiative should scare the hell out of you.

The New Freedom Initiative proposes to screen every American, including you, for mental illness. To this end, the pResident established a New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, to study the nation’s mental health delivery service and make a report. It’s interesting to note that many on the staff appointed to the Commission have served on the advisory boards of some of the nation’s largest drug companies.

The commission reported that “despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed,” so it recommended comprehensive mental health screening for “consumers of all ages,” including preschool children because “each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders.”

Children and school personnel will be the first to be screened. The panel concluded that schools are in “key positions” to screen the 52 million students and six million adults who work at the schools. By doing this, the commission expects to flush out another six million persons not now receiving treatment. But who will decide the screening criteria? Bush and his people? The drug companies? What are their qualifications?

...The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was named by the commission as a “model” medication treatment plan that “illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes.” Medical algorithms are a decision-tree approach to treatment. If symptoms A, B, and C are evident, use treatment X. In 1995, TMAP began as an alliance of individuals from the University of Texas, the pharmaceutical industry, and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas.

...In an article in the British Medical Journal, Jones shows that many companies who helped launch TMAP are also major contributors to Bush’s re-[s]election funds. For example, Eli Lilly manufactures olanzapine. This is one of the drugs recommended in the New Freedom plan. Lilly has numerous ties to the Bush administration according to the British Medical Journal. It says George Herbert Walker Bush was once a member of Lilly’s board of directors. Our current [pseudo-]pResident Bush appointed Lilly’s chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, as a member of the Homeland Security Council. Eighty-two percent of Lilly’s $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000 went to Bush and the Republican Party.

Read the rest of the article here.


Here are a couple of links to corroborating reports:
Bush to screen population for mental illness

The New Freedom Initiative (US): Ready To Be Tested?