October 8, 2006
IF YOU CAN'T DISCIPLINE THEM, DRUG THEM:
A Rush to Medicate Young Minds (Elizabeth J. Roberts, October 8, 2006, Washington Post)
I have been treating, educating and caring for children for more than 30 years, half of that time as a child psychiatrist, and the changes I have seen in the practice of child psychiatry are shocking. Psychiatrists are now misdiagnosing and overmedicating children for ordinary defiance and misbehavior. The temper tantrums of belligerent children are increasingly being characterized as psychiatric illnesses.Using such diagnoses as bipolar disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's, doctors are justifying the sedation of difficult kids with powerful psychiatric drugs that may have serious, permanent or even lethal side effects.
There has been a staggering jump in the percentage of children diagnosed with a mental illness and treated with psychiatric medications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2002 almost 20 percent of office visits to pediatricians were for psychosocial problems -- eclipsing both asthma and heart disease. That same year the Food and Drug Administration reported that some 10.8 million prescriptions were dispensed for children -- they are beginning to outpace the elderly in the consumption of pharmaceuticals. And this year the FDA reported that between 1999 and 2003, 19 children died after taking prescription amphetamines -- the medications used to treat ADHD. These are the same drugs for which the number of prescriptions written rose 500 percent from 1991 to 2000.
Sure, Timmy's a vegetable, but a well-behaved one... Posted by Orrin Judd at October 8, 2006 12:41 PM
I've heard tell tthat in some school districts parents have no option. If they want their kids in the public schools, they must give them the behavior control medication.
Talk about David & Goliath. The entire monolith of teachers union bullies are deathly afraid of adolescent boys.
Also, once diagnosed, ADHD and the like become a ready made excuse for all sorts of dysfunctional behavior.
Posted by: Patrick H at October 8, 2006 3:41 PMHey, it worked for the Kennedy's with that poor daughter that they lobotomized. Why not the masses?
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at October 8, 2006 4:00 PMI guess we should bring back the spanking of behinds with bare hands by parents when the kids are young enough to be disciplined. When parents let their kids misbehave, when parents are threatened with law suits for publicy discipline their kids, every misbehavior has to be tolerated. How do the kids know how to behave? They lashed out when things didn't go their way when they were two, why can't they lash out now when things don't go their way? (3 qualifications: "spanking of behinds" only and nowhere else, "with bare hands" not with a paddle or a belt, "by parents" not by other adults.)
Posted by: ic at October 8, 2006 4:49 PMTimmy'll make a great third base.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at October 8, 2006 6:41 PMTom Wolfe makes a good point about all this, one that shows that ideas certainly do have popular consequences. It isn't just that the parents themselves are messed up or trying to foist the problem on someone else. Many of them really have come to believe that any discipline--not just corporal punishment--is cruel and ineffective because, after all, little Tommy is genetically hard-wired that way and can do nothing about it. You might as well spank a pig to teach it not to squeal.
Posted by: Peter B at October 8, 2006 8:38 PMI hate to break this to you, but if you support the current form & structure of public education, you are supporting this drive to drug our kids.
Pharma is now interlocked with this establishment as well, fighting hard to get "mandated" psychiatric treatment into schools.
The suburban doped white mouse (who thinks their schools are good and have the tax bill to prove it) will willingly pony up even more booty so that Tiffany and Josh can add Paxil and Zoloft to their Ritilan. The fat kids will soon need Lipitor.
OJ's probably right that no one cares about corruption. We are swimming in it..., and just like fish, have no idea that "water" even exists.
Posted by: Bruno at October 8, 2006 9:04 PMIt's the parents, not the schools.
Posted by: oj at October 8, 2006 10:21 PMAlas, OJ is right, it only happens if you allow it. It will not happen here in my neighborhood...if I can help it...
Posted by: darryl at October 8, 2006 11:55 PMDarryl,
If you have a "District" in your neighbrhood and you are paying property taxes to support it, "it's happening", and none of your genteel (sp?) notions of "electing a school board" are stopping it.
OJs point would be valid had not the parent sold their souls to the 'District' long ago. OJ doesn't notice it because he is one of the few who maintains a level of involvement in his kid's lives.
The vast majority of parents checked their kids at the door decades ago. You can look at your kids and say "things are fine," but until you kill the beast that is eating the rest of the kids, the majority will continue to be eaten.
The parent's are beyond "awakening." We must kill the schools.
Posted by: Bruno at October 9, 2006 1:15 AMSo you'll have gotten rid of the schools as well as the parents? The kids should thrive....
Posted by: oj at October 9, 2006 8:00 AMSimple solution: Do not let "Psychiatrists" proscribe medicine. We don't let witch doctors do so. What is the difference between a witch doctor and a Psychiatrist? Well, other than witch doctors have a better success rate.
Posted by: Bob at October 9, 2006 12:08 PM