New Study on Depression Screening Fuels Controversy Over Bill
A new study by UK researchers found that depression screening is both inaccurate and unhelpful—fueling controversy over a Senate bill called the “Mothers Act.” Critics say the bill, S.1375, is dangerous to mothers and newborns and a violation of informed consent, despite being promoted under the guise of ensuring that “new mothers and their families are educated about postpartum depression, screened for symptoms, and provided with essential services….”
Dr. Chris Manning, Chief Executive of Primary Care Mental Health Education, stated that he was not surprised by the results of the new depression screening study, published in the April issue of the Canadian Association Medical Journal. He warned that population screening was fraught with problems and would produce any number of false positives, resulting in inappropriate treatment and over-medicalization. Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Glenmullen also warns about the problem with depression questionnaires, stating that they “may look scientific,” but “when one examines the questions asked and the scales used, they are utterly subjective measures.”
According to the mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), if passed the Mothers Act will increase the number of new mothers falsely diagnosed with postpartum depression and given powerful psychotropic drugs like antidepressants—potentially lethal to both the mother and child. There is no language in the bill requiring full disclosure of the risks of these drugs and no language requiring mothers be given other non-harmful treatments and medical care besides drugs, violating their right to informed consent.
Antidepressants, the most common “treatment” for postpartum depression, are documented by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to cause mania, psychosis, hallucinations, suicidal ideation and in some cases, homicidal ideation. Additionally, regulators worldwide have warned that antidepressants prescribed to pregnant women can cause miscarriage, premature birth, and in babies born to pregnant women taking these drugs, congenital heart defects, life-threatening lung disease, neurological symptoms and withdrawal symptoms. Research also shows such drugs could affect the developmental process of the embryo.
One mother, Amy Philo, posted a YouTube video telling the story of what happened to her when she was prescribed psychiatric drugs after the birth of her child: http://youtube.com/watch?v=LQW23XCmOCw
CCHR maintains that mothers have a fundamental right to be fully informed that there are non-harmful, non-drug medical alternatives to being diagnosed with a mental disorder and prescribed dangerous psychiatric drugs, and that mental health “screening” is subjective and could lead to improper diagnoses. The Mothers Act opens the door to the violation of informed consent procedures, and should be defeated.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is an international psychiatric watchdog group co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights. Contact CCHR's Media Department at 800-869-2247 or humanrights@cchr.org.
