Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness

[Boltzmann]

From the British Medical Journal: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/conte.../328/7454/1458

Looks like Bush is bending backwards for the big pharmaceutical companies again:

A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July. The plan promises to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," according to a March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/ne.../toc-2004.html). While some praise the plan's goals, others say it protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.

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," including preschool children.

But this is just the surface, there's a lot hidden beneath it:

But the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm (15 May, p1153). He was sacked this week for speaking to the BMJ and the New York Times.

And it gets worse:

Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab" (http://psychrights.org/Drugs/AllenJo...PJanuary20.pdf).

Larry D Sasich, research associate with Public Citizen in Washington, DC, told the BMJ that studies in both the United States and Great Britain suggest that "using the older drugs first makes sense. There's nothing in the labeling of the newer atypical antipsychotic drugs that suggests they are superior in efficacy to haloperidol [an older "typical" antipsychotic]. There has to be an enormous amount of unnecessary expenditures for the newer drugs."

And it's no wonder why such companies are getting helped:

Jones points out that the companies that helped to start up the Texas project have been, and still are, big contributors to the election funds of George W Bush. In addition, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to the Texas Medication Algorithm Project.

Furthermore,

Drug companies have contributed three times more to the campaign of George Bush, than to that of his rival John Kerry.

As an US doctor put it "The Bush plan to screen whole US population for mental illness clearly indicates that mental illness starts at the top."

I really hope that Bush gets voted out of the office in the upcoming elections. John Kerry is the best bet for those who want Bush out of the game (in fact, I read about the screenings in the transhumanist mail list, which most members are americans, and they are all unanimous against Bush).

Fortunately I don't live in the US, or else I would be taken down to the psychiatric ward

[Mr.Smith]

As an aspiring physician this sounds like absolute idiocy. Healthcare is being reduced to shambles because regular folks can't afford medicine because of HMOs and drug companies. Sad, just sad.

[Viper_Viper]

If the way things continue keep up, there will be no chance for bush. I slightly skimmed the very long article and i think that its bush who needs to see a physician.