The responses to Dr Dillon's letter shows an overwhelming rejection of the drugging of children and the growing practice of labeling all and sundry with a mental disorder.Is it possible that any specialized field such as psychiatry could fail to make any progress for well over a century without coming under scrutiny as to its validity in the the field of mental health and warrant huge government funding at the expense of the taxpayer in every budget?What of the future?Surely all of the problems of mental health are not solved by the futile and debilitating use of pychotropic drugs,act,brain probes and so on.

I applaud Dr Dillon for putting the spotlight on this gravely important issue. To use the ADHD label to describe for medicare purposes the symptoms of hyperactivity, poor attention, etc may seem harmless enough. However, when the psychiatric profession uses this label convince over 60,000 children in Australia that they have a medical illness justifying the use of pharmaceuticals then the danger of this diagnosis becomes apparent. We must not lose sight of the fact that ADHD is a label for a group of individual symptoms which must be addressed individually so that the cause of each symptom such as diet, lack of attention from parents, lack of exercise, other medical causes, etc can be addressed, if needed. To mis-assign the cause to a "chemical imbalance" or other brain cause for which there is no x-ray, blood test or other way of scientifically proving is grossly irresponsible and the reason why pharmaceutical companies are forever being tied up in legal action for the damage caused to children as a result of their fraudulent ghost written studies supporting the use of their drugs.

Psychiatry will not stop their relentless march, driven by pure greed, until we are all taking their poisonous drugs just in case we may 'catch' or 'develop' a mental 'illness'. The fact that they cannot define their terms or that they have any scrap of science to prove their ridiculous claims seems to have escaped everybody. Money talks and science walks I guess in this new age.
Psychiatry is a sham and a fraud and the fact that our Government supplies them with the money and resources to subject any citizen, let alone our precious little 3 year olds, to their barbarism is beyond an outrage. Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing - never were truer words spoken when it comes to Psychiatry and their false science. The PR behind this outrageous attack on innocent children is dripping with platitudes around 'doing no harm' but the reality will be anything but that. The only outcome that these clowns are looking for is more poeple on mind-destroying psych drugs - and that will be the result of this ridiculous program. Labels and drugs is ALL psychiatry has - they do NOT help because they know they CAN'T! But that doesn't stop their insanity! The only real mental illness on this planet today is Psychiatry!

when men think they are god they give answers to questions that are not even being asked. The further we get away from the Word of God the less commonsense we have and the more people suffer. Often it is children if fortunate enough to survive the womb. These 'scientist' really think they are god.

Why is it that unacceptable child behaviour is now being looked at being mental illness. ?

Why is diet and parental control ignored ?

Who is wanting the population on drugs and who will benefit ?

When will people realise psychiatry and psychology are NOT sciences, they have no scientific basis and yet they put forward as if they are.

Screening 3 year olds - come on, let's confront the true causes and give REAL solutions that don't cause other problems.

Well said, Sandwich - though apparently falling on deaf or otherwise occupied ears on this thread - which appears to have brought some strange conceptions (or misconceptions) about medical psychiatry out of the woodwork. Reading many of these posts one might be forgiven for reaching a conclusion that at least a portion of our society really think there is no such thing as a psychiatric condition, or at least none that can't be resolved by a hug, a change of diet and some mild exercise.

So, because no simple blood test or scan can be used to positively diagnose a 'mental illness' it must follow that there can be no such thing, and the whole of psychiatric science is a deception and a money grab by a collusion of witches and drug companies?

It is a pity that someone's strange idea about subjecting children to mental health assessment should bring down such a torrent of abuse against the whole of psychiatry and psychology, deeming them unnecessary, unconscionable and a total waste of taxpayer's money. (It's also going to be something of a shock to all those who have benefited from psychotherapy and psychiatric drugs to learn that they weren't really 'sick' at all, and just needed to have a friendly chat with the local garbo to resolve all their 'issues'.)

If people can't suffer from a psychiatric or behavioral disorder, so how could children? Well, wake up Australia, mental illness is real, and it's on the rise - and why wouldn't it be, with all the pressures of modern life. But not all disturbed thinking arises from life pressures.

We have a magnificent but complex brain, whose chemistry will probably never be fathomable, and which can and does sometimes fail to function properly. Thankfully some portion of our medical fraternity take such 'human' problems seriously enough to try to help, to do research, and to use the best means currently available in a conscientious endeavour to relieve the distress of those who are genuinely suffering from what some posters here would contend are imaginary, or merely attention seeking. Give over.