Chris Murphy: “speaking as a psychologist and one who has spent a career working with children, let me say that this amendment is…”

“speaking as a psychologist and one who has spent a career working with children, let me say that this amendment is misguided, misinformed, wrong for America, and wrong for medicine. First of all, this bill does not fund universal screening. HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt and SAMHSA Director Charlie Curie have both testified that mandatory screening of all children for mental illness has never been, nor will it ever be, a part of the Federal plan to respond to the Nation's mental health crisis. The President's New Freedom Commission on mental health clearly stated that schools should work collaboratively with families on mental health services and support to children. This amendment is another witch hunt against mental illness and its passage will only serve to further stigmatize mental illness. If our concern is about overmedicating children, let us deal with that. You do not deal with it by attacking screening. Just as pediatricians routinely screen newborns for heart and liver diseases and sickle cell anemia, appropriate mental health screening done by qualified professionals is vital to identifying mental health and the potential substance abuse problems of our youth. Screening does not cause diabetes, screening does not cause metabolic disorders, screening does not cause cancer, and screening does not cause hyperactivity.…”