Dissecting the Teen Screen Survey Process

In these days of pressured academic achievement, many teens are exhausted and have a high pressure class load and just may need some rest. That does not mean (in any way) that they are suicidal or need drugs in order to function. The process for the Teen Screen situations are not extensive enough to fully determine if a child has a mental disorder.

The beginning of the process is a parental consent given through the child's school that is participating in this program. This is called an Active Consent which explains the program and what could potentiality happen if their child is found to be mentally ill. The second part is participation consent, teens are given a form to sign which explains that their participation is voluntary.

A question may arise: If it is voluntary, then why are the parents required to sign a form as well?

It's not the same as the children signing up for an after school club, it's diagnosing a mental defect. Most teens do not feel that there is anything wrong with them so most will decline. The next part is a screening questionnaire which is used to see what level the child may be on and to see what areas to look further into.

A sheet of paper can not determine mental defects and who is to say that the teen is being completely honest about their feelings? Then there is the clinical overview of one session. This is supposed to be done by a mental health professional because the teens are questioned and are asked to discuss what they are feeling.

Those that score a positive or high on the screening is said to have some problems and will need further help. The others that scores a negative or low marking will not go further with the program. So the more mental the teen seems to be, the more beneficial the program supposedly is. The last part of the screening are the results.

There has been a high rate of false positives that have been produced from the Teen Screen Program. False positive? Think of a pregnancy test. If a woman receives a false positive, the test shows that she is in fact pregnant, but biologically she is not. The same goes with the Teen Screen program. When a child scores a false positive, the program labels him or her as "Mentally Ill", when in fact he or she is NOT!! The false positive result precentage is from, are you ready for this?

84-90%

Now, how much faith do you have in the Teen Screen Program. These poor 84-90 percentile kids get put on psychiatric drugs to contain and maintain mental illnesses that are not even there! Teen Screen is DANGEROUS. How much do you value your child.