My questions and comments are in green

1. Is the TeeNSCREEN test sponsored by any groups who might have financial interests in more people getting labelled with depression or some other psychiatric diagnosis? Pharmaceutical corporations, as well as psychiatrists, could conceivably profit from this test?

2. Are the usual negative feelings associated with daily living(everyone feels depressed or anxious at some points in their lives)being pathologized?

3. Are people being diagnosed or judged according to culturally determined standards of how people should feel or act?

4. Are people being diagnosed and judged according to the cultural standards of the predominant socioeconomic and cultural groups to which professionals in the fields associated with the behavioral sciences belong?Most people in these fields are whites from middle or upper class backgrounds.

5. Would these tests pathologize temporary emotional difficulties brought on by situational stresses that most people pass through in their lives and overcome without the involvement of professionals from the fields of the behavioral sciences?

6. Does this test pathologize the developmentally typical feelings and insecurities of adolescence?Almost everyone has felt insecure as an adolescent, and most people are somewhat unhappy during adolescence.

7. Will this test pathologize adolescents who have beliefs that are dissident?

Diagnostic Predictive Scales DPS-8 (Youth)

“This interview (survey) is designed to be used by qualified professional as an aid to diagnosis. It is not a substitute for a thorough clinical evaluation.”
 

Clinical evaluations are often conducted by people with their own subjective biases and judgments. Most of them have financial stakes in labeling people as “mentally ill”. Many dissidents who lived under authoritarian regimes have been labeled “mentally ill” in order to institutionalize and otherwise control them.

1. “Who spent the most time taking care of you in the past 3 months?:

Both parents

Mother, only

Father, only Would children be pathologized because they don't

Grandparents (s) live in “perfect” nuclear families.

Sister/brother

Aunt/uncle

Foster parents

Other adult”

2. “In the last three months did you have trouble seeing the chalkboard”?

3. “Do you wear glasses”?

4. “Have you seen an eye doctor about this”?

5. “In the last three months….did you have a toothache”?

6. “Have you seen a dentist about this”?

Would children be pathologized because their parents are poor? Could this be an excuse to place children in foster care because their families are financially disadvantaged? Children are often put into the psychiatric system through the foster care system, often because children with psychiatric labels receive more funding from social “welfare” authorities.

SECTION A

1. “In the last three months….have you often felt very nervous and uncomfortable when you have been with a group of children…say, in the lunchroom at school or at a party”?

In my opinion, most adolescents feel anxious when they are with their peers. Teenagers can be cruel and they often ostracize each other, sometimes because of their own insecurities.

2.“Have you often felt very nervous when you had to do things in front of people”?

All people feel nervous when performing in front of others. All people have experienced stage fright.

SECTION B

1. “For this question, I want to know if you have ever had a sudden attack of feeling very afraid. In the kind of attack, I mean someone becomes very afraid even though there is nothing around them to frighten them. Sometimes they feel they can’t breathe…sometimes their heart beats very fast. The attacks come on very suddenly, then goes away, but they get afraid that the attacks might come back. In the last three months have you had an attack when all of a sudden you felt you were very afraid or strange”? Lots of people have felt fear, such as fear of the dark.

2. “Have you had a time when you were suddenly feeling like you were suffocating or you couldn’t breathe”? This happens a lot in crowded elevators and similar places.

3. “Do you have asthma”?

4. “The only time you felt afraid or couldn’t breathe was when you were having an asthma attack”?

SECTION C

5. “In the last three months….Have often worried a lot before you were going to play a sport or game or some other activity Have you had a lot of headaches”?

Everyone has felt anxious before performing.

6. “In the last three months have you had other aches and pains”?

Many feel aches and pains after physical activity. There may be other physical causes.

7. “Are you the kind of person who is often very tense, or finds it very hard to relax”?

Many people have felt that way because of the stresses of modern society.

SECTION D

8. “Some young people have times when one thought comes into the mind over and over again. When people have these thoughts they usually get upset, because the thoughts are strange. No matter how hard they try the thoughts keep on coming back.

Now I am going to ask you if you have had thoughts like these in the last three months. Have you had to count things over and over again? Or make yourself do things a certain number of times”?

9. “In the last three months…was there a time when you washed your hands or body over and over again or changed your clothes many times each day because you thought they were dirty”?

10. “Have you often felt you should check on things over and over again? For example: checking that the front door is locked…or the stove is turned off or that something else was done, though you knew it had been done”?

Many people might have forgotten to turn off the stove, for example. They often check up on things to be safe.

11. “In the last three months….have you often worried that things you touch are dirty or have germs”? Many people are made fearful because of ads for antibacterial products and stories about diseases in the media, such as bird flu.

Many adolescents are experiencing the awakening of sexual desires, and they might have a lot of “unwanted thoughts” they might like to get rid of or don't know how to handle, such as teenage crushes.

12. “In the last three months…

Have you done things like counting, checking, washing, over and over again because you like to do these things”?

13. “Have you done these things like counting, checking, washing, over and over again, only because you’ve been told by someone else to make sure that you’ve done them right”?

SECTION E

12. “In the last three months…

Has there been a time when nothing was fun for you and you just weren’t interested in anything”?

Life isn't happy all the time, and no one feels good all the time. Everyone might feel this way when tragedy happens. This test pathologizes peoples' reactions to tragedies.

13. “Has there been a time when you had less energy than you usually do”?

Everyone has had times when they felt less energetic than usual, including adolescents. Real, physical illnesses can cause these feelings.

14. “Has there been a time when you felt you couldn’t do anything well or that you weren’t as good-looking or as smart as other people”?

This is a normal adolescent concern. Every adolescent feels insecure.

15. “In the last three months…

Has there been a time when you thought seriously about killing yourself”? All adolescents go through periods of despair because they don't have as much control over their lives as adults do. Many people feel that way because of difficult circumstances, particularly with our society's high divorce rates, for one cause.

16. “Have you tried to kill yourself in the last year”?

Many adolescents have threatened or committed suicide to get attention, perhaps because so many of them feel lonely. Loneliness is often a part of adolescence. However, adolescents are often punished for loneliness causing them to engage in “attention-seeking behaviors”.

17. “Has there been a time when doing even the little things made you feel really tired”?

This can be common because of poor-quality food, insufficient sleep due to television or partying, and real physical problems, among other causes.

18. “In the last three months…

Has there been a time when you couldn’t think as clearly or as fast as usual”?

This would be true because of insufficient sleep or poor eating habits. Drugs, prescription as well as recreational drugs could also cause this to happen, among other causes.People under stress often find they have more difficulty thinking clearly.

“I have just asked you about the last three months. Now, I want you to think about the last year”.

SECTION F
 

19. “The next questions are about you use of alcohol-beer, wine, wine coolers, or hard liquors like vodka, gin or whiskey. Each can or bottle of beer, glass of wine or wine cooler, shot of liquor, or mixed drink with liquor it it counts as one drink.

In the last year…Have you had six or more drinks”?

Most adolescents drink, despite what the law says. Everyone has drank alcohol in adolescence. Adolescents don't let adult authority figures tell them what to do.

20. “Did you get in trouble with the police when you were drunk or because you had been drinking”?

Young people may be more likely to get into trouble for that because of the proliferation of surveillance cameras in our society. Police have always had a tendency to use racial profiling. Adolescents of color or those who are poorer are likelier to be hassled by the police than white adolescents from affluent families.

21. “In the last years…

Did you get into arguments with your family or friends because of drinking”?

Young people who are not drinking get into arguments with their families. This may happen with alcohol because the parents are upset over it, even though all teenagers have experimented with alcohol at one time or another.

22. “Did you miss school to go drinking or because you were hung over”?

Many adolescents have experimented with alcohol and had this happen to them. Adolescents often make foolish choices as part of growing up.

SECTION G

23. “In the last year…

Have you used marijuana six or more times”?

Many adolescents have used and experimented with marijuana.

24. “Did you miss school to use marijuana or because you were too high

on marijuana to go to school”?

Due to the drug testing associated with this repressive drug war, this might happen with adolescents. Risk-taking behavior is often a part of adolescence.

25. “In the last year…

Did you get into arguments with your friends and family because you were using marijuana”?

Many parents have been indoctrinated because of the War on Drugs. The effects of marijuana have often been exaggerated by the mainstream media.

SECTION H

26. “Have you used any opiates to get high. This includes things like codeine, Demerol, morphine, percodan, methadone, Darvon, opium, Delaudid, Talwin and so on”.

“In the last year…

Have you used any of these to get high””?

27. Have you used any kind of hallucinogen? This includes LSD or “acid”, mescaline, peyote, DMT, psilocybin and so on. Have you used one of these?

28. In the last year…

“Have you used stimulants or amphetamines…like speed, diet pills, Benzedrine, methamphetamine or anything like that to get high”?

29. “Have you used cocaine or ‘crack’?”

30. “In the last year…Have you used heroin”?

31. “Have you used PCP or “Angel Dust”?

32. “In the last year…Have you used ecstasy”?

33. “Have you used any inhalants…like glue, cleaning fluid, gasoline or paint to get high”?

Most young people have experimented with drugs. Many of them might have used their friends' Ritalin or other stimulants to get high. Most young people have survived their drug use, and became successful despite it and other foolish choices they have made during youth.

34. “How often did your parents feel worried or concerned about the way you were feeling or acting?

    1. A lot of the time

    2. Some of the time

    3. Hardly ever

    4. Not at al”

All parents worry about their children, especially today with all the dangers of the modern world. Adolescence in general is a risk-taking time of life.

35. “Were they worried or concerned because of:

    1. You were feeling anxious or worried?

    2. You were feeling sad or depressed?

    3. Problems with your behavior?

    4. Problems with alcohol or drugs?

    5. Other things you did?

36. How often did you parents get annoyed or upset with you because of the way you were feeling or acting?

    1. A lot of the time

    2. Some of the time

    3. Hardly ever

    4. Not at all

37. Were they annoyed or upset because of:

    1. You were feeling anxious or worried?

    2. You were feeling sad or depressed?

    3. Problems with your behavior?

    4. Problems with alcohol or drugs?

    5. Other things you did?

38. How often were you not able to do things or go places with your family because of the way you felt or acted?

    1. A lot of the time

    2. Some of the time

    3. Hardly ever

    4. Not at all

     

39. Were you not able to do things or go places because:

    1. You were feeling anxious or worried?

    2. You were feeling sad or depressed?

    3. Problems with your behavior?

    4. Problems with alcohol or drugs?

    5. Other things you did?

     

40. How often did the way you were feeling or acting make it difficult to do your schoolwork or cause problems with your grades?

    1. A lot of the time

    2. Some of the time

    3. Hardly ever

    4. Not at all

41. Did you have problems with your schoolwork or grades because of:

    1. You were feeling anxious or worried?

    2. You were feeling sad or depressed?

    3. Problems with your behavior?

    4. Problems with alcohol or drugs?

    5. Other things you did?

     

42. How often were your teachers annoyed or upset with you because of the way you were feeling or acting?

1. A lot of the time

2. Some of the time

3. Hardly ever

4. Not at all

43. Were you teachers annoyed or upset because of:

    1. You were feeling anxious or worried?

    2. You were feeling sad or depressed?

    3. Problems with your behavior?

    4. Problems with alcohol or drugs?

    5. Other things you did?

44. How often did the way you were feeling or acting make you feel bad or feel upset?

    1. A lot of the time

    2. Some of the time

    3. Hardly ever

    4. Not at all

END