Look beyond psychiatry when helping our children
Letters to the EditorPublished April 16, 2005
Re: Scientology in schools.
Your April 12 editorial, regarding legislation supported by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (established by the Church of Scientology in 1969) to safeguard children against fraudulent psychiatric labeling and harmful drugging is not only full of half-truths, it also doesn't even get the facts right.
Aside from the fact that the legislation lambasted by the Times has nothing to do with "Scientology in the schools," the editorial states that the bill "would require that any mental health treatment become part of the student's permanent record." The bill states that parents must be informed that mental health treatment, including use of psychotropic drugs, becomes a part of the permanent school record and can stigmatize the child in the future. That is the current state of affairs.
The bill doesn't prevent anyone from seeing a psychiatrist if that is what they wish. It merely prevents children from being refused an education for refusing mental health treatment or mind-altering psychotropic drugs. There are more than 8-million children in this country who carry a psychiatric label and who are on addictive drugs ranging from amphetamines to powerful antipsychotics who may have a real educational, nutritional, disciplinary or actual medical problem. As you know, psychiatry doesn't address the source of a person's problem, it just labels and drugs.
The dishonesty of the Times editorialist is also transparent and hypocritical as demonstrated by the newspaper's own editorial just six weeks ago (Prescriptions for tragedy, Feb. 1) wherein the Times decries the overdrugging of the state's foster children with "unnecessary, and dangerous, psychotropic drugs." In that editorial the Times supported legislation by Rep. Water Campbell that requires informed consent to parents when medication is recommended by the state.
HB 209, the subject of the Times current editorial, requires informed consent for schoolchildren who are referred to mental health treatment, which predictably consists of "unnecessary, and dangerous, psychotropic drugs."
We need to care for the members of our next generation by finding real solutions that address the sources of their difficulties. Psychiatry's "treatments" are incapable of doing that. The difference between your support of the Campbell legislation and your distasteful diatribe against HB 209 is the Times' gross editorial bias and nothing else.
-- David Figueroa, president, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida, Inc., Clearwater
Don't take public health backward
Re: Florida House Bill 209.
The World Health Organization identifies mental illnesses as the leading cause of disability worldwide - surpassing all other disease groups. Untreated depression alone causes billions of dollars of lost productivity each year as well as untold human suffering. Suicide is the leading cause of violent death worldwide, surpassing homicide and war. Some would argue that mental illnesses are the major public health problem of our time.
Fortunately, our science base for preventing, diagnosing and treating mental health problems is strong. We now have identified biological and genetic markers for many of the common mental illnesses and increasingly recognize the complex interactions of genes and environments in promoting both mental health and illness. The reliability of mental health diagnoses and the effectiveness of treatments are on par with any area of medicine. Both the U.S. surgeon general and President Bush's Mental Health Commission have recognized the tragic gap between the strength of our science and the fact that most people with mental illnesses are not offered these effective treatments.
Florida House Bill 209 will widen this gap. It reinforces the myths that mental illnesses are not real medical conditions. It will make it more difficult for teachers to work with students who have mental health problems. It incorrectly suggests that mental illnesses cannot be reliably diagnosed. It reinforces stigma by inaccurately suggesting that a label of mental illness will become part of students' permanent records if they are referred for evaluation or treatment. It is a bill that looks to past eras when mental illnesses were considered moral failings or personal weaknesses rather than to the future where prevention, early diagnosis and effective treatment will dramatically reduce the disability associated with mental illness. HB 209 is bad public health law.
-- David L. Shern, Ph.D., dean and professor, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, Tampa
The failure of psychiatry
Re: Scientology in schools.
I was truly disgusted by this editorial. It is apparent that the author is not above belittling any viewpoint or idea exposed by those associated with the target of prejudice.
Scientology aside, truth is truth whether it is spoken by an Arab, a Jew, a Republican or a Seventh-day Adventist. The facts of the matter are that the solutions we have in place today for mental health are not working. They are ineffective at best and destructive of lives at the worst.
Why would the Food and Drug Administration finally concede to put black box warnings on certain psychotropic drugs alerting people to possible suicidal thoughts caused by the drugs? Why have so many children committed suicide on these drugs? Why are we seeing such a rash of homicidal behavior such as we recently saw in Red Lake, Minn, where a young boy on Prozac killed nine people in cold blood? It's not because psychiatry is working!
The answer to children who act up or who are depressed lies not in medicating them but in finding out what the problem is. It could be a medical problem, food allergies, metal poisoning, environmental toxins, academic difficulties or a disturbed home life.
It is the right of parents to make an informed decision as to the appropriate help for their children - not the teacher, school or mental health system. That is what this legislation is all about. The schools should not be a clearing-house to feed the giant psychiatric/pharmaceutical cartel.
Your obvious bias against Scientology is a red herring. This bill is an issue for everyone who cares about our children and our future.
-- Linda Breeden, Safety Harbor
Creating a barrier to treatment
Re: Scientology in schools.
Thank you for sharing with your readers the campaign of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights to discredit psychiatry. The proposed legislation states that there are no medical tests that can be used for the diagnosis of mental illness. A more precise statement would be that there are no current lab tests that can diagnose mental illness. However, there are hundreds of psychological tests described in the Buros Tests of Mental Measurement which accurately differentiate mentally ill individuals from their normal counterparts.
Every day in my practice I meet with parents who agonize over their decision regarding the use of medication as one component of a multidisciplinary treatment plan to address the brain disorders of their children. Misinformed legislators who sponsor bills that are probably unconstitutional create another barrier to treatment for the citizens of Florida.
-- Michael T. Smith, Ph.D., Legislative and Public Policy representative, Pinellas Chapter of the Florida Psychological Association, Tarpon Springs
Thwart the drugging of children
The Scientologists, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and the Florida legislators, particularly Sen. Victor Crist and Rep. Gustavo Barreiro, should be lauded for their efforts to pass legislation (HB 209 and SB 1766) designed to protect parents' rights and that also thwarts the psychiatric industry's runaway compulsion to label our schoolchildren with bogus mental disorders that require they be put on dangerous mind-altering drugs.
Alarmingly, there are more than 6-million kids in the United States on these drugs because they were subjectively "diagnosed" as having a scientifically unproven "chemical imbalance." When I went to school (40 years ago), there were no mental "disorders," syndromes or labels and psychiatric pills to take. There was just good behavior and bad, and the appropriate use of discipline.
Psychiatry has taken common childhood behaviors and turned them into "diseases" which they claim can only be "cured" with a pill.
Those opposed to this legislation say it "perpetuates the shame, or stigma, attached to mental illness." Hogwash, they are the ones creating a stigma and shame associated with using good discipline, academics, sound nutrition and believing people should be responsible for their actions instead of chemical fine-tuning.
-- Mike Kaplan, Clearwater
Appropriate treatment works
Re: Actor lobbies against psychiatry for kids, April 13.
I am the parent of a person who suffered from a mental illness as a child, and I use the word suffer advisedly. The quote from actor Kelly Preston, "These psychiatric labelings are not actually medical disorders . . ." is not true. It is deeply offensive to me and the many parents of children with neurobiological brain disorders.
I do not wish to impose my religious beliefs on others, and I would never interfere with another person's attempts to get help for a suffering child. I would ask the same courtesy from Preston and the members of the Church of Scientology.
Science tells us that there are medical disorders that affect the brain. I know, personally, that early identification and treatment work. We are the lucky parents of a terrific person who got appropriate treatment and who thrives today.
Parents and teachers are uniquely positioned to sound the alarm when a child fails to thrive. Parents and doctors are in the best position to arrive at treatment plans to help that child.
Let us keep religion out of politics and allow parents to obtain appropriate help for their children.
-- Marcia Mathes, Orlando
Educate rather than medicate
Re: Scientology in schools.
I wholeheartedly support the efforts of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights. I am not a Scientologist. I've never read any of L. Ron Hubbard's writings on science fiction or mental health.
However, that the Times would offer such a vindictive slant against CCHR and Scientology is narrow-minded at best and discriminatory at worst.
I applaud Rep. Gustavo Barreiro and Sen. Victor Crist as they attempt to preserve parental rights. Both bills currently being considered by the Legislature, HB 209 and SB 1766, ensure that schools will not overstep their boundaries regarding the administration of psychotropic medication to students.
Children are all too often labeled ADD, ADHD, ODD, or other assorted acronyms. Many of these children only exhibit signs of normal childhood behaviors, a.k.a. misbehaviors.
Adolescent suicidal tendencies are definitely a concern for which education can be provided to teachers, students and families by organizations such as Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program. Let's educate, not medicate!
-- Cathy Corry, president, JUSTICE4KIDS.ORG, Clearwater
Stay away from the science fiction
Re: Scientologists push for mental health statute, April 9.
As a retired clinical social worker who provided psychotherapy for many years to individuals and families, I find it appalling that the Church of Scientology has helped formulate and is working toward the passage of two regressive bills in the Legislature affecting schoolchildren and their parents.
Decades of substantiated work by all mental health clinicians have demonstrated that the proper, careful identification of behavioral disorders (though systematic, objective criteria), and the implementing of appropriate treatment interventions have been life-saving or life-enhancing measures in most instances. For many children and adolescents, a combination of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches is often the most effective, rather than one or the other.
Removing the stigma from mental illness can only be accomplished when it is recognized and dealt with by children and their parents, with the help of qualified, credentialed professionals, not practitioners from the Church of Scientology. Anything else is only science fiction!
-- Susan Darlington, LCSW, Dunedin
Incentive projects are about jobs
This letter is in response to several recent articles in the St. Petersburg Times regarding an infrastructure grant for a Wal-Mart supercenter, and the provision of incentives to Sykes for a telecommunications center in Palatka and Putnam County.
Neither of these projects is what you might call "corporate welfare." These projects are about jobs. In rural Florida, we must use any and all available incentives if we hope to create new jobs, or help existing employers expand. Rural Florida does not have the assets or attractions of more populous areas. In today's competitive environment, incentives are not "corporate welfare." They are job creation necessities.
As to your two Putnam County references:
First, it is at best misleading to include the Palatka Wal-Mart supercenter as a component of the $51-million incentive figure you cite. The "incentive" we are talking about is not cash money to Wal-Mart. Rather, it is a financial incentive to our county to help build infrastructure to assist Wal-Mart in relocating its store and to increase job opportunities by more than 250 jobs. The rural infrastructure incentive of $330,000 and a community development block grant of $750,0000 were used to widen State Road 19 to facilitate traffic and enhance public safety, as well as to extend city water and sewer services.
Moreover, the incentives benefited many others businesses besides Wal-Mart. The newly available infrastructure has allowed the establishment of seven businesses, not connected with Wal-Mart, to locate in the general area. In addition, four new businesses were established in the old vacated Wal-Mart building. Altogether, we estimate that as a result of these incentives, some 65 new jobs have been created in addition to the new Wal-Mart jobs.
Additionally, the Wal-Mart supercenter is the largest sales tax contributor in Putnam County.
Also the Wal-Mart supercenter and other new businesses in the area contribute more than $404,000 in property taxes to the county. Indeed, a multifaceted improvement for our county.
Second, your reference to the Sykes building is also very misleading. Sykes delivered everything to Putnam County that it said it would deliver: jobs, more than 600 at one time with an annual payroll and purchase of local goods and services in excess of $22-million dollars, and an economic impact of $35.4-million.
Sykes, the company, may be gone, but a 42,000-square-foot building remains - the only building that size in the county that is available at this time for other prospects, and a critical need for a rural county. We currently have two companies (each with the prospect of creating more than 500 jobs) now vying for the Sykes building.
In addition, the federal and state grants that came to the county and the city of Palatka in connection with the Sykes building allowed the county to complete Phase I of its business park, which would not have happened had Sykes not come to Putnam County. Besides, having a first-class business park is an important asset in creating jobs.
-- C.W. Larson II, president, Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, Palatka
A long-term strategy
As the economic development manager in Charlotte County, I feel I must respond to the recent article about Florida's incentive program and share with readers key reasons why this program is necessary and why it merits statewide support. The state of Florida leads the nation in job creation due to a combination of its attractive business climate, improving education system, excellent quality of life, progressive tax environment, and its conservative and performance-driven business incentives. Our incentives generate thousands of high-wage jobs, a business-friendly environment and a higher standard of living for Floridians.
It is important to note that economic development in Florida is a long-term strategy, and the state's incentive program is a critical tactic in our competitive tool-kit. Florida's Qualified Target Industry (QTI) tax refund has been a positive and often deciding factor for many companies to relocate or expand in the state in exchange for the creation of new higher-wage jobs.
Communities such as Charlotte County can offer commercial land, the ability to accommodate new facilities, and a skilled labor force, plus a community commitment to financially support new business. In turn, our community receives generous returns from the company's local expansion. Florida faces continual stiff competition from other states, and internationally, and the incentive program is a tool we must continue to support and recognize for its successful contributions.
The bottom line in Florida is simple: Financial incentives may only be offered in situations where it is shown that they will play a material role in convincing a targeted business to locate or expand in the state. Even more important, Florida's incentives are 100 percent performance-based. Companies must meet the new job requirements outlined in their agreement before they receive the incentive payment or tax refund.
In Charlotte County we actively encourage business expansion as an excellent foundation for the continued growth of our community.
-- Betty H. Williams, economic development manager, Charlotte County Economic Development Office, Port Charlotte
Keep our nation secular
Re: Prescriptions.
Pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions that disagree with their faith? Am I still living in the United States of America? Did I fall asleep and wake up in a totalitarian country 20 years ago? It's not just birth control pills, it could be antibiotics denied by a Christian Scientist, or the refusal to supply blood products, or alcohol, or cigarettes, or clean needles, or even meds for HIV patients. The list is endless. This is a secular country where religious faith is supposed to be private, where people of all faiths or no faith can come together and work together and live together without fear of one religion making rules that others have to live by.
Wake up, people, before it is too late. We live in a secular nation where the government is supposed to uphold laws that protect all of us, not just the faithful. Let's keep it that way.
-- Gloria Julius, St. Petersburg