Psychiatrist Criticizes Mother’s Act
Prompted by a recent article in Time that examined the question of whether all expectant mothers should be screened for depression, Emory University psychiatrist Doug Bremner offers his thoughts:
“The problem with this is the attitude that being a mother is a risk factor for a psychiatric disorder. First of all, there is no evidence that women without a prior history of anxiety and depression have any increased risk of getting post partum depression. So to screen all moms as if giving birth is a risk factor for depression is ridiculous. And whenever you start screening the general population, you get into problems with over-identification of people and an increase in the number of people that go on antidepressants. I am opposed to mandatory screenings of the population, like Teenscreen, which are bonanzas for the pharmaceutical industry, but a major intrusion into the privacy and autonomy of American citizens. In the case of Melanie Blocker-Stokes, she had already been treated with multiple courses of psychotropic drugs and electro-convulsive therapy, so there is no reason to think that her life would have been saved by “screening”. This legislation is typical of much that comes out of an individual tragedy, that results in an intrusion into the personal lives of individuals and the further relinqueshment of individual freedoms to the government.
“The article quotes psychiatrist Katherine Wisner MD as stating ‘how can you be opposed to something that will help mothers?’ But an examination of the fine print from one of her articles here [linked on Bremner's site] shows that she is on speakers bureaus for Pfizer and Lilly, makers of Zoloft and Prozac, respectively.”
Well isn’t it classic that the magazine quotes someone as an authority without noting their alliances with pharma companies?
As for the Mother’s Act itself, I really don’t feel like getting kicked around all over again, so I’ll let Bremner’s opinions speak for themselves.
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