Maybe We’re Not Overmedicating Our Kids
“That the suffering of children with mental health issues (and their parents) is very real. That almost no parent takes the issue of psychiatric diagnosis lightly or rushes to ‘drug’ his or her child; and that responsible child psychiatrists don’t, either. And that many children’s lives are essentially saved by medication, particularly when it’s combined with evidence-based forms of therapy.”
This passage was taken from a new book, We’ve Got Issues, by Judith Warner. Read The New York Times review of the book here.
Interesting. At least there is another side to the issue.
Medicating children is not a black and white issue. I suspect that some unruly kids are given Ritalin at the request of parents exhausted from work. At the same time, there are probably parents who don’t take their kids to the doctor because of denial, lack of motivation or a belief that doing well in school is not a priority.
I’ve heard that the amount of drugs for AHDD is probably about right. But the drugs are not necessarily being prescribed only to the population of kids that need them. In this regard, it is probably similar to mental health treatments in general where some people receiving therapy are not mentally ill; while some who are mentally ill are not receiving care.
Maybe both propositions are true: (1) most kids are not overmedicated, but (2) many of them are, nonetheless.
Not being a parent, it is difficult to comment. If Ritalin has been around since the 1950’s and in widespread use since the 1990’s, then I think we should have relatively reliable data on the outcomes for kids taking it.
It makes you wonder what schools were like 100 years ago. Did parents raise their kids differently? And if so, how?
Virginia:
“Did parents raise their kids differently [100 years ago]?
Around 80 years ago, my father and his older siblings had to walk a mile to their country school every day. They also had to milk or feed livestock before school and perform chores after school ended. I doubt if they had excess energy.
Oh, I also sort of remember my father saying something about the mile-long walk to school was uphill (both ways) in a foot of snow year around.
It isn’t just about the parents and the kids. There are cases on record where schools have called social services alleging child abuse on the part of parents because the parents refused advice to “drug” their child.
Plus, are the kids actually taking the pills? There is a well established black market for drugs like Ritalin.