PsychSearch.net reports that the co-directors of TeenScreen, Laurie Flynn and Leslie McGuire, have resigned. Teenscreen is a controversial “diagnostic psychiatric service” which, according to Marcia Angell (author of “The Truth About Drug Companies”) is “just a way to put more people on prescription drugs.”
This is a good reminder of why fundamental reform is needed first. We can’t continue to encourage people to “get help” from a system shown to actually cause harm. Depending on each community, it’s not extreme to encourage people to stay away from the system until their are enough reforms put in place to actually assist them in a humane way. For most communities this change will happen somewhat gradually rather than all at once (preferable but I’m not sure always practical). Any vehicle (like TeenScreen) that increases people to a harmful system must be questioned. Of course there’s all the issues of the instrument/process itselt which the article discusses.
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