Children’s Social, Emotional & Behavioral Health Plan:
A Response To: Indiana Commission on Mental Health
“Children’s Social, Emotional & Behavioral Health Plan”
Presented 25 October 2006
By: Ed Sparks Indianapolis, Indiana
Click the play button to watch the video:
Below is the draft of the speech given:
My name is Ed Sparks. I am the grandfather of a six-year old first-grade boy. Since my last trip up here I have done my homework and I have more concerns for this plan.
I am concerned about many unanswered questions regarding the Children’s Social, Emotional and Behavioral Plan.
I am also concerned about what the Plan doesn’t mention.
One nagging, still unanswered, question is “Who wrote the Senate Enrolled Act 529?” Does anybody know?
The Plan mentions the words “Suicide” and “Screening” a combined total of 100 times and it states that suicide is the third leading cause of death in children in Indiana.
What the Plan doesn’t mention is the incredibly rare occurrence of these tragedies in Indiana. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2003, (the last year the statistics are available) there were 20 suicides out of 1.7 million Indiana children, 0-18. This is a statistically insignificant figure.
The solution is certainly not to screen nearly 1.7 million Indiana kids, many of whom will wind up on psychiatric drugs that have a black box warning that says these drugs can cause suicidal ideation.
What the Plan doesn’t mention is the report by a federal panel of independent experts called the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force, which says: “There is no evidence that screening for suicide risk reduces suicide attempts of mortality and no studies were found that directly address the harms of screening and treatment for suicide risk.”
What the Plan doesn’t mention is what the chairman of that Task Force, Ned Calonge, has to say about suicide screening. He says: “Whether or not we like to admit it, there are no interventions that have no harms… There is weak evidence that screening can distinguish people who will commit suicide from those who will not… And screening inevitably leads to treating some people who do not need it. Such interventions have consequences beyond side effects from drugs or other treatments… Unnecessary care drives up the cost of insurance, causing some people to lose coverage altogether.”
The Plan mentions psychiatrist David Shaffer the inventor of a very controversial suicide screening program called TeenScreen. (Page 54)
What the Plan doesn’t mention is a recent study by Shaffer that says that children who took their own lives were 15 times more likely to have been on antidepressants. (Archive Gen. Psychiatry, 2006;63:865-872)
What the Plan doesn’t mention is the real epidemic – overmedication of Indiana’s children on psychiatric drugs. (News Target.com 9/27/05)
The Plan mentions exploring expansion for even more Medicaid reimbursement for mental health services. (Page 17, 18 and 31)
What the Plan doesn’t mention is that medical science has no biological or chemical tests that can determine whether a person is depressed, suicidal, schizophrenic, or afflicted with another mental problem. According to Steven Sharfstein, the 2005 president of the American Psychiatric Association, “There is no laboratory test that establishes a specific diagnosis”. (National Journal, May 20, 2006)
What the Plan doesn’t mention is the 53 MILLION DOLLARS paid out by Indiana Medicaid last year for psychiatric drugs for children alone.
That’s $53,311,878.26 (Indiana Office of Medicaid Policy & Planning)
What the Plan doesn’t mention is the future cost to the taxpayers of Indiana if adopted. It could cost billions.
Let’s face it. This plan is not about our children. The Plan is a strategy to line the pockets of pharmaceutical companies, the mental industry and schools that will profit from labeling more children.
This is the Great State of Indiana. It is not the psychiatric pharmaceutical state of ELI-ana.
I want my grandson educated, not medicated.
Please discard the “Children’s Social, Emotional & Behavioral Health Plan” and repeal the Senate Enrolled Act No. 529.
A Response To: Indiana Commission on Mental Healt
