Really bad. But maybe it opened somebody’s eyes. Campbell Brown opens by saying we’re drugging kids with everything from Ritalin to Adderal.
Brilliant thing to say, bringing up two drugs from the same class!
The truth is kids are on stimulants, antipsychotics, SSRIs and moodstabilizers among all sorts of other stuff.
These are drugs with drastic and dangerous longterm side effects and they’re being used on kids who brains and bodies are still developing.
I’m totally messed-up from the use of these drugs and I didn’t start them until I was a young adult. What do they do to little developing brains and bodies? We know they can cause diabetes, weight gain and heart attacks for starters and I could go on. Kids start these drugs as early as 2 years old now.
Everything matters 
Holden Caulfield, the character of Catcher in the Rye who galvanized many a youth to strike out and forge their own identities and question authority is apparently losing his aura with today’s kids. In an article in the NY Times June 22nd a teacher states:
“Holden’s passivity is especially galling and perplexing to many present day students. In general, they do not have much sympathy for alienated antiheroes; they are more focused on distinguishing themselves in society as it is presently constituted than in trying to change it.”
First, WHY are they more focused, and second, it’s logically inconsistent to say that someone is passive or helpless but also a potentially threatening agent of change. This, coming from the mouth of a teacher.
Then, cultural critic Morris Dickstein goes on to state “I wouldn’t say that we have a more gullible youth…”
(perhaps a more MEDICATED youth…)
But the coup de grace is childrens’ literature maven Barbara Feinberg’s statement which ends the article. She states:
“Holden is somewhat a victim of the current trend in applying ever more mechanistic approaches to understanding human behavior. Compared to the early 1950’s, there is not much room for the adolescent search, for intuition, for empathy, for the mystery of the unconcious and the delivery made possible through talking to another person.”
She then recalls a 15 year old who told her:
“Oh, we all hated Holden in my class. We just wanted to tell him, ‘SHUT UP AND TAKE YOUR PROZAC.’
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Psychiatrists are too quick to pathologize typical childhood behaviors. The “symptoms” listed for “ADHD” are listed as “impulsiveness” and “high activity levels”,which describe typical childhood behaviors. “Pediatric bipolar” is a new label because psychiatrists did not “diagnose” “bipolar disorder” in children so much in the past. The normal enthusiasm of children and adolescents is being pathologized as “mania” or “bipolar disorder”. Psychiatry is increasingly pathologizing human behavior in general. Being worried is now getting pathologized as “anxiety disorders”. Feeling sad is now pathologized as “clinical depression”. Psychiatrists and the drug companies get to make money from this.
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Exactly, Mary, my neurologist is always saying psychiatrists are delusional. I really think that the majority of them believe they are helping and refuse to look at ANY of the evidence to the contrary.
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I thought the EXACT same thing about the Ritalin and Adderall comment. Um, yeah.
That psychiatrist is ridiculous and my only hope is that SOME of the public is educated enough to understand what is really meant by “treating the symptoms”. In other words, these drugs do nothing to heal, that’s not the goal. The goal is to suppress symptoms and then they say the patient is better.
ADD is absolutely the most ridiculous dx in the DSM. Look, they even have “ADD with hyperfocus” now. I’m not saying that people don’t have problematic attn spans, I’m saying giving them speed and labeling them abnormal is so wrongheaded as to be criminal.
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to Dorothy Caruso,
can you email me: Suepeg2000 (at) yahoo.com
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i definitely agree too that kids are over medicated, mine also, and forced by the doctor
anyone in Toronto, Canada that you can recommend me to talk to about this, that may be able to help us
thank you
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Thanks for putting this up Gianna. I didn’t see the CNN show. I agree that this is just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a start and I’m glad to see that 81% of those who voted think we’re overdrugging kids!
That doctor is so off the beam when he talks about “assessment”s and trained doctors” et al, trained to “see” what? What will benefit them?
Kelly came back with the best defense and we should all use it…What are you assessing…what are you treating…what are you drugging…?
These are symptoms of what? Made up “disorders?
I’ve just rented space to give a workshop on informing parents on thes subjects with a focus on “informed consent”. They are uninformed.
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Pushing drugs on our children is a crime against humanity. When psychiatrists prescribe psychotropic drugs they have no medical objective science to validate their action. They do nothing to address the real causes. Drugs are toxic. They have serious adverse effects especially when they are used longterm. They are also very addictive and can be impossible for some people when they want to withdraw. Psychiatric survivors worldwide know from experience that ‘drugs do more harm than good’. Stop drugging our children. Psychiatrists worldwide are in denial. Wake up and admit you are doing a very bad job. Who is delusional?
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