Following the lockdown of many schools due to Covid-19, we are seeing reports that teachers are being instructed to emphasize emotional and stress-related curricula instead of academics. We are also seeing increasing reports of emotional and stress related issues with the teachers themselves.
Prestigious universities and foundations are devoting considerable resources to “research” the emotional and stress-related issues of both teachers and students due to panic over Covid-19 and lockdowns. Such research continually demands more funds from both governments and private sources, making funds less available for urgently needed research with a better return on investment.
We predict a renewed effort by the psychopharmaceutical industry to put more “mental health screening” into schools countrywide. This is a very bad idea.
A “screen” is a test for some condition, in this case a test for mental illness. A person who is screened and found to exhibit so-called symptoms of mental illness can then be diagnosed with a mental “disease” or “disorder” and referred to a psychiatrist or psychiatric facility (or even to a General Practitioner) to be prescribed psychiatric drugs. Typical screens are usually nothing more than a few questions about one’s level of stress or anxiety, since there are no clinical tests for mental disorders.
Mental health screening aims to get whole populations on drugs and thus under control. The kinds of drugs used create further medical and social problems due to their adverse side effects, and these subsequent complications require additional taxes and laws such as the expansion of Medicaid to handle them. The net result is a sick and fearful population dependent on the government to “solve” all their problems. The pandemic is the perfect foil.
We remind people that resilience and unity have kept us all on track before without resorting to mind-altering drugs to get through. Epidemics do take a significant toll, also creating uncertainties and worries about the future. But we also want to ensure that one of the legacies of the Coronavirus is not minds damaged by psychotropic drugs and other harmful psychiatric interventions that can carry with them long-term risks and harm.
CCHR encourages anyone who is being advised that they or a loved one should take psychiatric drugs to demand a “differential diagnosis” where the doctor obtains a thorough history and conducts a complete physical exam, ruling out all the possible problems that might cause a set of symptoms and explains any possible side effects of the recommended treatments with Full Informed Consent.
