Question: Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

[jokerman93]

http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/address.html

The other threads here seem a little thin on actual analysis. This concerns me. People are saying Bush's plan will have the entire population of the U.S. screened for mental health problems so the may promptly be placed on the latest expensive psycho-active medications.

Where does it say "entire population"? I don't see that implication in anything I've read, except the reactions of people posting.

Can someone clarify this for me?

[Snoggera]

1. you're right about the specification

however,

If you are like anyone with an investigative brain, after watching what has been done, you will not assume, but expect

Read between the lines, turn the lines upside down, wash the lines in bleach and hang them out to dry at sunset.

Small sounding plans turn into big projects.

All the projects are coming into place.

I'm not paranoid.

I'm just informed.

[Cronus Protagonist]

2. It's not there, that's why

It is, however, an additional expansion of government. Given that Bush and his supporters are always claiming to want to diminish government, not expand it, I have to think that the purpose behind these expansions, in the face of the tax cuts and revenue losses, is to irretrievably cripple government and send the US back to a pseudo 18th century condition where the monied robber barons controlled the destiny of the rest of the population and government was almost non-existent.

ANYBODY BUT BUSH

Click here for "ANYBODY BUT BUSH", and other fair and balanced yet stunning buttons, magnets and stickers

[Snoggera]

3. It's an expansion for what purpose?

Come on, put the thinking cap on. What has happened over the past 3 1/2 years? Everything that was supposed to be saved or funded has been decimated.

ANY question about what this group of mafia thugs would do with info should already be answered.

[Cronus Protagonist]

17. Ummmm they're not going to test the entire population

It's just not something they would do - costs too much money. This has some other purpose, I'll grant you that, but if they ever decide to imprison dissidents or liberals, they'll do it without mental health examinations.

A good final solution has to be cheap or it won't work.

ANYBODY BUT BUSH

Click here for "ANYBODY BUT BUSH", and other fair and balanced yet stunning buttons, magnets and stickers

[jokerman93]

4. I see what you're saying

So the alarm here is that we're looking at a new fascist wedge, and given Bush's profile and track record, People are projecting as to where this is intended to go.

Can't argue with the axienty everyone feels, I just never saw that distinction made in any of the posts. I thought there was a document I hadn't seen somewhere.

[GoldenOldie]

6. Call-in Guest to ED Schultz -Air America

Can't remember her name but she is a writer for The English Medical Journal and she is monitoring this "Freedom Commission," and their plans to examine all citizens, starting from the age of 2 to include their care-givers in nursery schools all the way up. "The Commission," determined that this would be a better method to determine who and what specific drug should be given.......meaning the Drug Corporations will not only can become legal pushers but control the entire population. This is verrrrry scary and just when you think things can't get worse.

[fdr_hst_fan]

5. Considering the fact that Shrub has been following the Nazi trail

rather closely these last 3 and a half year, this is just a prelude to hiw OWN T4 program. Fow those who don't know what T4 was, it was a program for dealing with Germany's mentally deficient, those individuals living a "life unworthy of life," as the Nazis put it. It was named after the building on Tiergartenstrasse in the government quarter of Berlin where it was devised.

[cosmicdot]

9. this was started in February 2001

... the coronation was barely over ...

missing W's on keyboards ... throwing out Clinton's ergonomic regs and other executive orders ... tax cuts for the wealthy ... trying to make it more difficult to file bankruptcy (I guess that's still holed up somewhere in Congress ... limitations in tort cases ...

George W. Bush is not a compassionate person. They like to backdoor their 'agenda'. Put a pretty face and a clever name to it -- New Freedom -- who would not like "New Freedom" -- make some backdrops with an American Flag flying in the background ...

54 million people, the report cites,
as being "unemployed"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html

The Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) are also affiliated with the Domestic Policy Council.

Just who researched and penned this "Progress Report, 2004"???

imo ... I agree that there are ulterior motives involved -- what think tanks might have already White Papered this for this moment in US History??? the Manhattan Institute??? It must be a thorn somebody's claw.

I don't trust any of this cabal further than you throw Denny Hastert.

Domestic Policy Council

The Domestic Policy Council (DPC) coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House and offers policy advice to the President. The DPC also works to ensure that domestic policy initiatives are coordinated and consistent throughout federal agencies. Finally, the DPC monitors the implementation of domestic policy, and represents the President's priorities to other branches of government.

~snip~

Under President Bush, the Domestic Policy Council oversees major domestic policy areas such as education, health, welfare, justice, federalism, transportation, environment, labor, and veterans' affairs. The Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) are also affiliated with the Domestic Policy Council. The Domestic Policy Council's formal membership includes the cabinet Secretaries and Administrators of federal agencies that impact the issues addressed by the DPC.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/dpc/

[doni_georgia]

7. What I see immediately from this new act

Looks to me like it is to move mental healthcare from "institutions" to community care. What concerns me is the instant deja vu of when Reagan closed government funded mental health hospitals and put mental patients on the streets (thus creating the HUGE homeless problem we have today). This is the first thing that concerns me. Secondly, I do worry about a blanket policy for screening the public. Mental health diagnosis is extremely subjective. My husband was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder 5 years ago. We later found out that he has Asperger's Syndrome (as do two of my children). The number of women I know who have been incorrectly diagnosed with bipolar disorder is staggering. Two had real medical conditions causing their mood swings (one had thyroid disease, the other a blood sugar problem). I am a teacher, and the numbers of children in the school system of psychotropic drugs concerns me greatly. Who knows what lasting effects it will have on their health. Then there is the real concern of a Nazi-style labeling of the "mentally-deficient." It worries me.

Wasn't there a mental health privacy law passed during the Clinton administration?

[H2O Man]

8. I'm curious....

does anyone have anything that supports the often said, "Bush is going to mandate a mental health exam for all citizens"? Because too often, a rumor twice repeated is accepted as fact, when it is not.

Bush has advocated taking a large step towards divesting in mental health facilities that get federal assistance. And, for the sake of accuracy, Reagan did not start the deinstitutionalization process: well-meaning democrats started it, because many people who should have been released were ware-housed for decades in state hospitals. The republicans, including Gov. Rockefeller of NYS, took it a step farther, and hoped to reinvest funds from the state hospitals into community treatment. Reagan then hijacked the funding.

Bush is trying to privatize treatment .... which is already occuring in many states. In and of itself, it does not necessarily hurt the quality of services for the population with severe and persistent mental illnesses.

The potential problems include cuts in funding, and "stretching" funds to cover forensic cases that are not SPMI's. This results in an increase need for legal services at the local level (court, jail, public defender, etc) which are not covered by federal funds.

This is a very serious situation, and deserves our full attention. But it is distinct from the current reaction.

[Tamiati]

10. Links for your to judge

Original post
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458

There are some comments
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/328/7454/1458
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/328/7454/1458#63077

[SmokingJacket]

11. Here is the British Medical Journal link...

Which has been posted before, but it's the reason people are concerned about the "whole population" being screened.

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458

I've looked at it and it seems like they're only advocating screening in schools (as of now).

What bothers me is Bush's attitude that mental illness is this simple thing, easily caught with a simple screening and easily cured with a specific, targeted (and pricey) drug. This attitude leads to too many people taking very powerful, dangerous, and expensive drugs instead of getting the careful attention they need. It fills the pockets of drug companies first --

I'm as paranoid as the next DUer, but in this case, I think Bush is doing his usual thing: favors for big business (and if it helps him look like a "compassionate conservative" in the process, all the better.)

[shraby]

12. Here is the telling sentence:

The president's commission found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages,"

The kicker is "consumers of all ages". That means all Americans the way I read it.

[H2O Man]

13. I'm as anti-bush as anyone....

...but the word "consumer" does not denote or imply the general public in any way. It is a word specific to the field of mental health, and it means "client." The word "consumer" was advocated by the more humane mental health advocates, including the families of consumers. It was a sincere attempt to take some of the terrible stigma out of being a client. I am a retired psychiatric social worker, and have read all the posts and related material with great interest. There is nothing that suggests that bush is planning to mandate the diagnosis of every citizen.

As far as schools, you should be aware that most schools identify students with emotional disturbances and with potential mental illnesses. There is a horrible trend towards dosing children with massive amounts of dangerous drugs, to make them docile. Think: if a girl or boy comes from a home with abuse, isn't it NORMAL for them to act out? And isn't it then CRUEL to "medicate" them into a stupor where they accept the abuse quietly? These are the very real problems we do face. Let's not confuse the issue.

[Trillo]

16. Don't you think the potential Double Meaning is relevant?

Ever hear of DoubleSpeak? The definition of Consumer:
con·sum·er (kÃn sÁÆmÃr), n.
1. a person or thing that consumes.
2. Econ. a person or organization that uses a commodity or service.
3. Ecol. an organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals.

con·sume (kÃn sÁmÆ), v., -sumed, -sum·ing.
–v.t.
1. to destroy or expend by use; use up.
2. to eat or drink up; devour.
3. to destroy, as by decomposition or burning: Fire consumed the forest.
4. to spend (money, time, etc.) wastefully.
5. to absorb; engross: consumed with curiosity.
–v.i.
6. to undergo destruction; waste away.
7. to use or use up consumer goods.

From Random House Webster's unabridged.


Have you noted that whenever you talk to a corporate rep on the phone for anything consumer oriented, you can hear them typing in the background?

Edit: Added last paragraph

[tom_paine]

14. ANY time a Tyrannical Monster uses the word "freedom"

he means the EXACT OPPOSITE.

The Orwellian name itself is an indication of where this is going and why.

"The Freedom Commission"?!? :wtf:

A Free People would NEVER stand for such Orwellian nomenclature.

Pity the Imperial Subjects of Amerika are no longer free.

[Trillo]

15. I may have read something from which I projected vast

and centralized databases about each and every citizen specifically including mental health information. This would obviously occur with a Single Payer System, or Nationalized Health Care.

These projections are based upon existing technology and data sharing that is routine with insurance companies and this:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/chapter4-2004.html
1) Americans understand that mental health is essential to overall health;
2) mental health care is consumer and family-driven;
3) disparities in mental health services are eliminated;
4) early mental health screening, assessment, and referral to services are common practice;
5) excellent mental health services are delivered and research is accelerated; and
6) technology is used to access mental health care and information.
snip
"Every adult with a serious mental illness or child with a serious emotional disturbance must have an individualized plan of care coordinating services among programs and across agencies. Every state must have a comprehensive mental health plan, the ownership of which is shared by all state agencies impacting the care of persons with serious mental illnesses."
snip
"The Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will release a technical assistance guide on six evidence-based practices (family psycho-education, integrated care of co-occurring disorders, personal illness management, supported employment, assertive community treatment, and medication management). The guide will clarify what services are billable under Medicaid.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are working with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and constituent representatives to configure how a consumer self-direction initiative can address persons with mental disorders, as part of a series of planning meetings resulting in action steps.
snip