A Safer Route

Holistic psychiatrists like Hyla Cass, MD, believe that mental illness can be treated with nutrition, exercise, and supplements. If you are interested in finding alternative, non-drug approaches to mental health problems, visit: www.alternative medicine.com
or Cass also recommends www.alternativementalhealth.com

The best-known legal case against TeenScreen involves Chelsea Rhoades of Mishawaka, Indiana. Chelsea, then 15, was TeenScreened without her parents' knowledge or consent. She was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder and social anxiety disorder "based on her responses that she liked to clean and didn't like to party too much," according to a press release from the Rutherford Institute, which represents Chelsea's parents in suing TeenScreen for encroachment on parental rights.
Despite the clamor over its methods and intent, Teen Screen is thriving, with 460 screening sites in 42 states as of late 2005.

A cure worse than the disease?

what makes this more than just a story about influence-peddling to boost profits, of course, is the harm psychiatric drugs can do to the intended users, in this case, our nation's children. Consider the so -called atypical anti psychotics, a group of newer, pricey drugs created to suppress psychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions.
"Atypical" refers to the industry's claim that these medications have nearly eliminated the risk for Parkinsonian and "tardive" side effects. the drugs the a typical were designed to replace were notorious for causing brain damage after prolonged use. That damage could lead to movement disorders like the tremors, flat emotional expression, and shuffling gate seen in patients with parkinson's disease. It could also bring on tardive dyskinesia, or abnormal movements of the mouth and tongue, tardive dementia, or permanent harm to memory, judgment and the ability to plan, and even tardive psychosis, meaning that the psychotic symptoms themselves become irreversible.

Bits & Pieces

Did you know that the horseshoe crab precedes dinosaurs by more than 100 million years? Its closest relative, the trilobite died out more than 250 million years ago. It is called the living fossil. They are not crabs, nor crustaceans, they are more related to arachnids, such as spiders, ticks, and scorpions. The American horseshoe crab can be found between Maine and the Yucatan Peninsula, most of the population is concentrated between Virginia and New Jersey. They spend winters in deep waters and in springtime head to shallow waters and beaches to spawn.

Delaware Bay, hosts the largest concentration of spawning horseshoe crab in the world.

Why I am bringing this odd creature to our blog? Over fishing of these animals has endangered the marine turtles, birds, and other species, and also humans. The horseshoe crab is important to disinfect our hospitals, in 1950 scientists discovered a copper based compound in their blood that clots when in contact with harmful bacteria. Many countries around the world including the US, now require that the biomedical industry use this compound, called lysate, to test almost any object or substance used during a medical procedure that could cause infection--syringes, scalpels, intravenous drugs.

Thanks to lysate ability to alert against infection, the horseshoe crab has helped save many lives, more than a million people, according to one estimate, since the compound was discovered. In order to supply the industry, with this compound, it is necessary to catch and bled 300,000 crabs per year.

Scientist are working hard to stop de decline of the horseshoe crab, establishing limits in its catch, there is nothing to replace it. We need them, especially now when micro-organism are mutating and causing havoc. Horseshoe crabs are indispensable for us.

Source: Adapted and summarized from Nature Conservancy magazine, article by Jennifer Uscher, titled Jurassic Beach, p.34-43 Summer 2008.

LET'S KEEP OUR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS HEALTHY

Be aware that there are certain medicines like Zoloft, commonly given to adults in case of depression, and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitos SSRIs, were well known within the research community to cause suicidal thinking and behavior in young people. Critics such as British Medical Journal, Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schafly, the Rutherford Institute and Republican Congressman Ron Paul also a physician had been among other outraged by the dispensation of this dangerous drugs amon children and young adults. A safer route for ADD children and depression is look for holistic psychitrists, like Hyla Cass, M.D. who believe that mental illness can be treated with nutrition, exercise and supplements. If you are interested in finding alternative, non-drug approaches to mental health problems, visit: www.alternativemedicine.com or www.alternativementalhealth.com

If you want to take action protecting our youth enter:

www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Petitions designed to be delivered to school board memebers and state and federal legislators.

www.ahrp.org Alliance for Human Research Protection

www.psychsearch.net PsychSearch.net information and an access to public records regarding psychiatric abuses.

www.teenscreen-locations.com Help parents find out if Teen Screen is used in their child's school.

www.teenscreen.org Stories