In the last few years skepticism has been rising as regards what also seems to be an increasingly common practice of young kids being prescribed psychiatric medications. The horrific death of Rebecca Riley, at age 4, from an overdose of medications prescribed for her for ADHD and bipolar disorder should, hopefully, only make the outcry against the practice louder.
Let’s be clear, before anyone out there thinks I’m pulling a Tom Cruise – the availability of effective medications for diseases like depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders is a good thing and has saved lives – including probably the lives of people I know and love. However, I do believe they are not just over-prescribed, but too often casually prescribed (I remember going to a new doctor once and just being asked flat out if I wanted an anti-depressant because “a lot of women in high stress situations find it useful,” without my mentioning anything that might qualify as a symptom for such a prescription to be written. I changed doctors, as I was alarmed by this notion of merely being medicated because life is complicated and I am female). Their use in children particularly alarms me.
Which isn’t to say their use in children should be entirely banned. Pre-teen suicide does occasionally happen and depression, ADHD, and even bipolar disorder all do occur in children. That said, I do feel as if our nation has suddenly forgotten that children are often just difficult as they learn to test limits and interact with the world around them. And if we reach first to medication as opposed to good parenting and then talk therapies, we avoid teaching many children, who do not need to be medicated, how to conduct themselves in a world that may not be optimally designed for them but which they are entirely capable of successfully navigating. Psychiatric medications need to be an available, non-stigmatized last resort for kids and adults alike.
So who’s to blame for our overmedicating our youth? In the case of Rebecca Riley, it looks like the parents who apparently claimed prescriptions were lost and destroyed to get more pills and over-medicate their kids. Teachers described the girl as so weak she was like a rag doll, neighbors say the children were like little robots and something seemed wrong, a family friend acknowledges that the kids were often put to bed at 5pm, often only waking up to eat. What’s astounding to me though, and frightening, is that while people obviously expressed concern, no one ever expressed enough concern to truly put their foot down about it. This may well be a flaw in the system, but it may as easily be the simple fact that in our very positive efforts to destigmatize mental illness and its treatment not enough people feel comfortable saying, “this child shouldn’t be medicated!”
If I were a kid today, odds are somewhere along the line medication would have been encouraged for me. I was a handful, and, as it turns out, there was something wrong – celiac disease, a genetic autoimmune disorder whose symptoms include moodiness and depression. I didn’t manage to get diagnosed until I was an adult, but a quick fix of psychiatric meds as a kid would have only made solving this puzzle more difficult and less likely.
In the medical profession the jury remains out on whether it’s even possible to diagnose very young children with bipolar disorder – what’s normal age-appropriate tantrum throwing and what’s a mental illness? That said, I firmly believe that the best way to make use of the advances in all types of medical treatment is to use them sparingly. We must attempt to heal and understand ourselves to make the most effective use of the medication therapies available to us. After all, would you really go on high blood pressure medication without first, or at least in conjunction with it, trying a dietary change?
Read more about the case of Rebecca Riley here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17758170/
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Comments: 37
Good for you and your son! I'm going to be doing a piece on education in the next couple of months ad this is exactly the sort of thing I'm going to be talking about -- how by equipping our schools for only average students we're harming all of them, the "best and the brightest", the average and the special needs. Sounds like you guys made the right choice.
Good for you guys! I'm a big believer in food and diet's link to every part of our health.
No apology necessary. I really wonder if this trend towards medication (especially as advocated by schools) is the 21st century's version of wanting children to be seen and not heard? And I agree, i think there is over-diagnosis too. I think everyone wants a name and a label for things, when sometimes the only appropriate label is "childhood."
That sounds so shockingly difficult for you and your wife I don't know what to say. Thank you for sharing that, and I hope things are able to improve for you all soon.
Another aspect is the natural tendency of some parents to overdo the idea of medication because they think wrongly that it will "save" their children. Some children with very minor problems are going to become walking zombies due to this.
But i should admit that our 2 kids never had these problems so I am no expert.
It's a wonder she survived on that cocktail. She's been sober for almost 30 years now, but boy was my childhood rocky!
It's much more convenient for the medical community to prescribe a 'pill for all ills'. Most of you have no idea how much money pharmaceutical companies shell out to provide doctors with nifty logo items advertising their most recent product. I see my Doc on a 3-4 month interval and every time I sit in the waiting room I check out how many Drug company reps there are waiting right along with me. And every one of those reps hands out free samples by the bucket load for these Doctors to 'give' to their patients to 'try out'. Once the patient becomes dependent on that particular drug the pharmaceutical company makes a fortune on mothly renewals of the prescription. Don't get me wrong, some of these new meds actually do make a positive difference in patient's lives. However, more often than not, Dr. will change them from whatever generic med they were taking (that was working just fine!) and given them samples and then a prescription for the latest wonder drug that cost three times as much as the first one and doesn't really make that much difference in their disease process!
Sorry to highjack your thread Racheline... I'll just pack up my soap box and bow out now...:)
In my 26 years of raising children, and all the researching I've done over the years to make sure I wasn't following a trend-rather than fact-I have learned much.
Looking back over the years, it is amazing to realize the changes in attitude concerning: Health issues; discipline; childbirth; education; medication; and parental rights (er-minimal rights). And it is frightening.
It is extremely frightening to see the increase in disease, mental deterioration, social issues, crime etc...
What kind of experts have we, anyway?
Keep up the great writing!
Soni
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2BgGlpBVew
I do apologize if my speech is broken or incomprehensible.....I just woke up! :)
Netira
I agree, there is a rare place for medication, but assuming it's the answer every time a six year can't sit still is too much.
The reason I know that their inabilities in sitting still and paying attention not a physical problem i.e. not worthy of medication- is because when I read to them stories such as, "A Long Way Gone.." by, Ismael Beah, they will sit for over an hour at a time and not say a word.
Love and Hugs
Soni
Scary scary story, and like Soni, I wouldn't be surprised to hear many similar ones.
I have seen parents demand a doctor increase a child's meds to improve their behavior toward them, while their behavior toward the rest of the world was just fine. Methinks the problem was not the child's mental illness! How can a doctor not catch that one? Well, I can think of lots of answers...overworked, overwhelmed, lack of support for the doctor, belief that the parent always has the child's best interest at heart, inability of a child, especially an older child/teen to speak for themselves when others their age might be able to....all sorts of things I guess. Mostly, I think doctors believe what they are told by the pharmaceutical industry, i.e., there is a solution and it is in a pill. We, as a species, believe we are so intelligent that we can find an answer for every question and a solution for every problem. Why should doctors and parents be any different.?
It's time we start to challenging our assumptions! How many of reach for aspirin or acetaminophen or ibuprofen when we have a headache? We have to have that quick solution. I don't know how many of those stupid pills I go through when I need new glasses before realizing that I need new glasses.
And why should we assume doctors are competent? Just because I bring my car to a mechanic doesn't mean that whatever is wrong with my car will be taken care of properly. Who has ever had 100% luck in the automotive department? We have to start being active in the process of taking care of our health and the health of our children. Health care shouldn't happen to us, it should be a process we are involved in. I have made some mistakes along the way, bad decisions and what not but at least I a have been a part of the process. My doctor's know me and they know I don't just sit back and 'TAKE IT" and they respect me for it. But you know, any system can be abused. Those parents should be reported to the proper authorities.
My next experience was when my godson was taken away from his parents, because of inappropriate child behavior (for goodness sake, he's a child... so he is going to act like a child). My godson is still in the system, where he has been for over 5 years. The system said that he was ADD and then ADHD and now it's ADHD with Emotional Disturbance. (I'd be disturbed if I couldn't see my relatives or talk with them.)
I know that when I was younger, I bounced off the walls and was very active (to what they now call hyperactivity)... but I was doing well in school, with peers, with everyone that knew me. I paid attention in school, even when the "spring fever" hit. I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD, since my parents didn't trust doctors to begin with, but my parents knew (coming from a family of 8 siblings) that I was just "normal". (Quotations around the word normal, since no one can actually define normal when it comes to human nature!!).
Anyways, I got side-tracked there, for which I apologize. My godson's parents' rights to visitations have been completely taken away. The new therapist says that he throws tantrums and is not conforming to acceptable behavior when he was able to see them. What child wouldn't cry out when it's time for the visit to end? And what is acceptable behavior for an almost 14 year old male that does not have a male figure in his life to talk with. The only male therapist that he had was when he was first taken and he was doing so well that the therapist was talking about returning him to his parents. But the system couldn't deal with that, since they get about $8,000 a month per kid that has some "disease" or "mental defect". (Not only are the pharmaceutical companies and doctors getting paid a large amount for the medicine, but the system gets paid by the government for each child!!!) There was nothing untoward going on, but yet the mother's relatives got involved saying that he was being abused, not fed, and all other kinds of nonsense... I should know, since the parents and the child was living with me until they were able to get back on their feet and a new place, so I know that there was no abuse of any kind going on. (Usually, DCFS will check allegations out, but in this case, they did not.) I remember sitting with my godson and helping (with moral support) with his homework. When it came to math, I would have him "hold" the first number in his mind and have him count up to the solution of the math problem... he was only in addition and subtraction at the time when I first started working with him. He kept focussed as much as possible and every 15 to 20 minutes, I would ask him if he needed a break (sometimes he took them, but the majority of the time he didn't want them until one subject was finished). They say that he can't sit still and runs out of the on-campus school room (and in his class, there are 6 other children, one teacher and 6 teacher's aides), throws tantrums, displays age-inappropriate behavior and other things, such as vandalism and theft (but we only have their word of what's going on there). I know my godson and I helped with guiding him into a world where he knows right from wrong. Because I am the godparent, I don't have the rights of seeing him. The funny thing is that the new therapist, just like the old therapist, calls me or his parents on how to "deal" with him!!!
The one time that I did get a visit with him, he was a perfect gentleman (which they said was all an act, go figure). The group home's cafeteria was a complete mess... food all over the place, staff members in there talking loudly about some kid's behavior (they said the child's name, but I don't remember it, since it's been over a year since any visits were allowed). I did find out after my visit that they had him on about 5 different medications and that there had been 4 deaths from overmedicating at just that home. They were going to adopt him out to his former foster mother (who had: 1. kicked out a wheelchair bound girl out, in order to get him 2. had put other children back into the system because she couldn't handle them), but she decided to back out after having him put back into the system for the second time. She found out that she couldn't move back to Canada with him for a few years after the adoption, because the system wanted to make sure of his well-being.
I just know that children will be children and they should be allowed to be, not put on medication to control them and walk around like zombies, but that is how the system (and some of) society wants it. I may not have kids of my own, but I helped raise some of my nephews, nieces and godchildren (and I had one year of teaching at an elementary school, while I was still in my senior year of high school)... so I know a bit about being a parent and the majority of it is commitment and common sense.
Thanks for the article and forgive my ramblings.
I agree that there is too much over-medicating and a rush to medicate children these days. But in some cases I do believe that medication can also be of great help. My daughters situation was not due to abuse or bad parenting or laziness on our part. There seems to be a hereditary component with these types of disorders and I grew up suffering from anxiety myself. Its possible that my daughter might have turned out okay---years from now---without medication but maybe not. And I would hate for her to endure years of stress and ridicule from other kids for not being able to talk. I only hope that we made the right choice for our daughter but I really do feel that we did.
Any child on meds should be monitored closely and I think its highly irresponsible for a dr to give a child a mixture of these medications like in the case mentioned in the article.
We have alot of therapy drop outs. Dr. R looked at his schedule one day and said, "Oh, we are being Juvie Hall today..." He is supposed to give out medications and be responsible for the children because their parents cannot be bothered.
We do have some children who are on medication and are in therapy and they are doing well. We also have some just on medication management who are also doing well. Their parents care about them and take the time to be with their children...
What causes ADHD? and And the Gloves are off!
I am looking for any personal stories to back up our own research, as the school is NOT listening!
I have been scouring the web and here on Gather hungrily devouring information against medicating.
Through the schools philosophy, if a person seems to be thirsty all the time, and uses the restroom frequently, they NEED insulin by casual observences. My son was diagnosed by the Connors Rating Scale - a survey. Is this how narcotics are prescribed? I am furious the school is in favor of doping my kid up as opposed to finding the CAUSE and treating the findings. (THAT process takes too long, please endanger your sons health to make MY job easier.)
This school has ruffled the wrong feathers!
I wouldn't be surprised, with what I've read about the family, if the actual issue at two and a half was that the child was incredibly emotionally neglected, and any strange behavior was acting out in order to receive adequate attention.
As far as medication - My parents were told repeatedly to have me medicated, and they refused (good for them!). Granted, I have never stayed on medication as an adult, and what I've read about bipolar disorder says I am more likely to die young from several organic illnesses, and have a 50% chance of dying by my own hand, but I'd rather be who I am, and let my brain function as it will, than be limited by drugs and some of their more annoying side effects.
The Child Disorder
http://www.naturalchild.org/jan_hunt/child_disorder.html
I'm a former public school teacher turned homeschooling mom...