‘Screening tools’ are being used to score the behaviour, impairments, symptoms and social functioning of children and young people who are experiencing difficulties and who have been erroneously labelled as having mental health problems.
As there are no physical tests to determine the presence of a so-called mental illness, children and their parents are being asked questions which could be described as ‘loaded,’ a term defined as a ‘question that contains a hidden trap or implication.’
Screening Tools
One of the screening tools is called the ‘Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents.’ One of the versions of the tool, which is self-rated, contains questions such as:
- Have you suffered from lack of concentration or restlessness?
- Have you experienced difficulties keeping up with your usual educational abilities?
- Have you been feeling in a low or anxious mood, or troubled by fears, obsessions or rituals?
- Have you been troubled by a lack of satisfactory friendships or bullying?
The questions cover a wide range of normal emotions and situations that every child and young person may go through when growing up, or which they may currently be experiencing. However, these emotions and situations when analysed by psychiatrists or other ‘experts,’ are turned into potential ‘mental health’ problems.
Parents should also know of another screening tool called the ‘Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire’ (SDQ). It is described as a brief behavioural screening questionnaire about 3-16 year olds.
It contains invasive and evaluative questions about separation anxiety, specific phobia, panic/panic attacks, post-traumatic stress, obsessions and compulsions, generalised anxiety, depression, irritability, loss of interest, deliberate self-harm, troublesome behaviour, trouble with the police and just to capture everything, a category called “less common difficulties.” Children from 11 – 16 years are asked to fill out the survey themselves while carers or parents fill out the survey for 2 – 4 year-old children.
Again, it could be considered difficult to escape being labelled with some kind of mental problem when answering these questions.
It is therefore important, as a parent, to be fully informed about the nature of these screening tools, and to know that there are self-rated questionnaires which may or may not be drawn to your attention.
Parental Rights
Parents should know they have the right to say no and to refuse to have their child tested.
You can download and submit a Parent Exemption form to your child’s school, stating your child may not be subjected to any form of mental health, psychological, social services or counselling screening or tests without your written consent.
While it is true that some children and young people can be boisterous, argumentative or disruptive, or that they can experience difficulties in life, it is the labelling of these behaviours as so-called mental illnesses that are of concern.
Behaviour is not a mental illness, but the psychiatric profession has been gradually redefining behaviour to the point where many parents think their children do have a mental problem and need treatment.