by Phyllis Vine


Wednesday, 12.19.07


The motives and impact of the Child Study Center have been questioned by grassroots advocates and family organizations. Dr. Harold Koplewicz, center director, acknowledged in a public letter, “we unintentionally hurt and offended some people.” Read a copy of the letter.

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Sunday, 12.16.07





Reaction to “Ransom Notes,” the NYU Child Study Center’s edgy ads, is gathering hurricane strength for evoking messages of fear, despair and helplessness.

What’s clear is the failure of this strategy to speak for six complicated and stigmatized disorders simultaneously.

Dr. Harold Koplewicz, Director of the New York University Child Study Center, defends the campaign saying, "It's harsh and edgy and shocking but I don't think it's nearly as shocking as the diseases themselves, and the lack of treatment."

Comments posted on blogs and news sites came from people living with autism, Asperger Syndrome, or ADD, along with their parents and advocacy organizations. In the minority are those who think the ads speak to a shared experience. Most think they offend, and are pounding the message and the messenger.

Susan Senator’s “open letter” attacks the Child Study Center’s premise: “The lack of funding, resources, and understanding are what hold families hostage,” says the blogger and author. She also questions the motivation.

You also purport to be able to change the autism with your interventions, and that all it takes is a phone call to your clinic. That is an outrageous claim on so many levels. Does this mean that the parents who called other specialists, tried other interventions, etc., and yet their child is still fairly severe, did not do the right thing?

Fourteen of the nation’s most vocal advocacy organizations started an on-line petition to protest. And the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, urged contacting Koplewicz directly at through his office at NYU.

The ads were produced pro-bono by BBDO an internationally acclaimed ad agency with a list of clients including The Economist, GreenPeace, and FedEx. CEO Andrew Robertson was named earlier this year to the board to Autism Speaks a relatively young but well endowed organization funding research into autism. In some ways, it resembles NARSAD which has been responsible for supporting path breaking research about schizophrenia and depression.

This storm is just beginning. We'll keep tracking it through the cities where "Ransom Notes" is headed after the New York city debut.

. . . .

Friday, 12.14.07


A provocative advertising campaign to call attention to children’s mental illness hit New York City billboards and kiosks. And immediately drew blistering criticism from advocates and the general public. One has to wonder what was in the minds of people who created a publicity campaign using sophomoric ransom notes for children "captured" by serious disorders?

The ads feature facsimiles of ransom notes urging the rescue of a child from one of six disorders (OCD, bulimia, depression, ADHD, Asperger Syndrome, and autism). Each note begins with a threat that could have come from a B-movie: “we have your son,” or “we have taken your daughter.”

This so-called ransom to rescue someone from ADHD note is hand written.

Others patch together words from newspapers or typewriters, such as this warning about OCD.

All share a sophomoric quality.

The intent to alert the public to the seriousness of untreated psychiatric illnesses for children seems to have backfired. Blistering comments came earliest from Europe, later from around the United States, after the New York Times ran an article on-line. Most comments were critical of the campaign’s style, calling it “edgy,” “absurd,” and “offensive to all.” A few raised concerns about the intent. Could it be designed to over-medicate youngsters? asked some. One person from Mass. thought anything that calls attention to mental illness has accomplished its goal.

One has to ask, what was the goal? And could it have been achieved without antagonizing those who share a common concern for prevention, treatment, and recovery? Some in the autism community took particular aim at the implication that autism is a psychiatric disorder. And the Autistic Self Advocacy Network called the portrayal “highly offensive.” StigmaNet, a media watchdog, captured an underlying criticism when it said, “Particularly agonizing for families is the implication that they are complacent when finding and paying for help is a superhuman challenge.”

Harold Koplewicz, MD, is director of the New York University Child Study Center which sponsored the initiative. The ad was created by BBDO, pro-bono. They intend to bring it to other cities. Koplewicz is also Director of the Nathan Kline Institute (NKI), one of New York State’s two premier research institutes. “The campaign is not connected to OMH,” spokesperson Jill Daniels told MIWatch.

Friday afternoon update
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) returned a call to MIWatch, but refused to comment, saying they were still looking into the issue. And apologies to Dr. Koplewicz for omitting his complete name in the original post.