Reply #21: Gone from this thread for awhile, sorry

[juslikagrzly]

and it appears you may have put us all on ignore, but I'll attempt to answer your questions. BTW, what are your opinions? All I've seen are questions.

No, I am not currently a member of APA, dropped my membership several years ago. Oppositional personality, and it's just too damn expensive.

Possible abuses? Poorly trained personnel manning the programs; well done assessments require specialized training and experience and there is no way such a program will properly fund what would be needed to carry out such assessments. Hell, No Child Left Behind isn't even funded well. Funding issues leading to short-cuts, quick fixes rather than reasoned, well-thought out responses. Based on my experience in both practice and academics, we the American people, seem to believe that all can be fixed with medication and "behavioral programs" based in part on what we see in TV ads. Well, here's a question for you? How can hunger, poor medical care, poverty, or just a plain old crappy life be fixed with medication and behavioral programs? I'm not completely against meds, they are quite helpful for some people. But, the FDA is currently reviewing its policies regarding the use of psychopharmaceuticals in young people. We just don't know enough about how drugs affect kids. As I stated in the other thread, harried, underpaid teachers may be more likely to refer kids for assessment just because the kid gets on his/her nerves. If there are actually so many mentally ill children out there who are in need of such a program, WHY? Why aren't we addressing the social ills that underlie many so-called disorders? Because it's cheaper, and faster, thats why.

Any kind of program like this, mandatory or not, should scare all of us silly.

Life Problems vs. Diagnoses? The question should be why have we decided that sadness or grief is automatically depression? Why is active curiosity now ADHD? Why is caffeine addiction in the DSM? There ARE mental illnesses, of course, and people may need help and guidance to work through those issues or learn to cope, but these algorithms remove the humanity from the equation. Mental health diagnosis is subjective and very susceptible to bias and prejudice. The best minds in the field can't agree.

Where does it occur? In every community mental health center, psychiatric hospital, counseling center, etc. We have students in practicum at all kinds of sites and I hear about it everyday. I'm certainly not implying that all mental health professionals are unethical money-grubbing idiots. Most go into this field with a true sense of altruism and compassion. It's the system that is broken, not the folks in it necessarily.

Who is doing the treatment and why? Depends. Since most states now license masters level counselors, and since they generally can be hired for less money than Ph.D.s, they tend to bear the brunt of this. Most (not all) masters programs do not focus on assessment and testing. As I said earlier, proper and ethical assessment requires specialized coursework and supervised experience. And not all Ph.D. mental health professionals specialize in assessment. I'm not sure there are enough assessment specialists out there for this kind of program.

Now you know what my opinions are, what are yours?

And I recommend reading Thomas Sasz. An oldie, but a goodie.