Corporate Drug Dealing In Public Schools- H.W. 1/28

Vlogging is an extremely effective medium of expression, especially in the current state of America, a place where the Television dominates a majority of our people’s time. Vlogging can be used for a wide array purposes. One can express his or her personal opinion, denounce that which they have found to be false information or they can even encourage the public to make a change. The addition of visual and auditory media to a thought bumps its significance to a whole new level. By adding these sensory stimuli, the possibility of reaching your audience is increased three fold from that which is offered by text alone.

This Vlog is a compilation of multiple news media sources and their coverage of the Teen Screen program. The Teen Screen program is an extremely controversial “diagnostic psychiatric service”, made possible by President George W. Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (sadly, it seems that the simple addition of a word like FREEDOM or PATRIOT is enough to confuse and distract the American public). The program asks predetermined questions to school age children and, based on their responses, provides a psychiatric analysis of the child as well as a referral for further treatment of any problem.

The program is supposedly aimed toward suicide prevention for youth, but in this there lies a problem. The program is targeting children and prescribing them to anti-depressants, anti-depressants were found, by the FDA in September of 2004, to spur “suicidal thoughts and actions” in minors. It seems very illogical to give children those same drugs, which induce the very effects they are marketed to prevent, in fact it seems very wrong. And it is.

Another problem with this program is its unethical approach to amassing student participation. Covert tactics are used to get these children evaluated; they are bribed with candy, pizza and gift cards for their participation. A document called a “Passive Permission Form” is sometimes used; this document assumes that when it is not returned to school the parent has consented to screening. This procedure is nonsensical and divisive, children have many ways to get rid of documents and are especially inclined to do so when they are being tempted with a prize. Why are these types of methods being employed? Why does the Teen Screen program feel it needs to use such coercion and deceit? If the intentions of Teen Screen are indeed so noble, why is all this needed?

One popular thought is that Teen Screen is nothing but a methodical drug rep., working within the school systems of America. Teen screen was one of two “model programs” included in President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Why, out of all the mental health programs in the nation, was Teen Screen chosen as a “model program”? Perhaps it had something to do with The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), who receives millions of dollars in funding from pharmaceutical companies every year. NAMI was found to be instrumental in the inclusion of Teen Screen in the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and continues to support the expansion and acceptance of the program in public schools.

This Vlog was created to spread an important message about health in America and to encourage counteraction. Because of the visual and auditory aspects of the presentation, the point was clearly represented and instilled within me was a desire to know more. The video encouraged me to look for other information about the Teen Screen Program and develop a better perspective of the issue. Though some of the images within the vlog were extremely simple in nature, they were still a great tool for maintaining my attention, and use of the vlog was enriching to my overall learning experience.