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Bush's plan to screen for mental health meets opposition in Illinois

New York Jeanne Lenzer

A comprehensive mental health screening plan developed in concert with President Bush’s New Freedom Commission (BMJ 2004;328:1458, 19 June) has met with fierce resistance in Illinois, the first state to develop a draft plan to coordinate services for children’s mental health care.

In April 2003, a report by the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Task Force, which recommended screening for all pregnant women and all children, triggered fierce controversy. Opponents charged that mandatory screening could subject children to unwanted psychiatric interventions and drugs—drugs that are under increased scrutiny because of unproven efficacy and high rates of adverse side effects.

Barbara Shaw, chairwoman of the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership, told the BMJ that there was never any intention to make screening mandatory. "Neither the partnership nor the president’s New Freedom Commission proposes lining up every child [for] screening." Critics, said Ms Shaw, have "persistently mischaracterised what . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Scott, M. A., Wilcox, H. C., Schonfeld, I. S., Davies, M., Hicks, R. C., Turner, J. B., Shaffer, D. (2009). School-Based Screening to Identify At-Risk Students Not Already Known to School Professionals: The Columbia Suicide Screen. AJPH 99: 334-339 [Abstract] [Full text]