High School Suicide Test

(Cleveland) Northeast Ohio high schools will soon be instituting a program to screen for depression, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse in an attempt to identify suicidal tendencies in students. The screening is conducted via a written survey, called "SOS," developed by a Massachusetts company named Screening for Mental Health Inc.

SOS uses an optional, anonymous survey. Parents can decide whether their children will participate in the program. Schools also send home a version of the survey for parents, which asks questions about their child's behavior as a tool to raise awareness. [Emphasis mine - ed.]

I've a few comments. First, it would seem appropriate for the parents to see the exact same survey given to the students, not a version. Anything else and I'm automatically suspicious.

Secondly, I think that public school systems shouldn't be in the mental health business. Holy moly! They haven't mastered the teaching business. This is particularly true of Cleveland schools where students have only a 50-50 chance of graduating and, for those who do, it's a crap shoot as to whether they'll be able to read their diplomas. Schools should stick to teaching, not touchy-feely psychoanalysis.

Thirdly, if students are not depressed or anxious or substance abusers, the survey sounds like it would be a good vehicle to introduce them to the ideas. Also, if the survey were conducted immediately after an alarmist end-of-world, global-warming-kills class, one should logically expect that the results would indicate elevated levels of depression and anxiety.

Screening for Mental Health Inc. asserts that the survey produces a dramatic increase in help-seeking. With that in mind, I'd like some help in understanding why the parents don't see the same survey that is given to the students. Obviously, I'm no expert but, nonetheless, it appears to me that the suicide survey is a grand trolling-for-business scheme for clinical psychologists.