A Rush to Medicate Your Children

"There was a time in the profession of child psychiatry when doctors insisted on hours of evaluation of a child before making a diagnosis or prescribing a medication. Today some of my colleagues in psychiatry brag that they can make an initial assessment of a child and write a prescription in less than 20 minutes. Some parents tell me it took their pediatrician only five minutes. Who's the winner in this race?

"Unfortunately, when a child is diagnosed with a mental illness, almost everyone benefits. The schools get more state funding for the education of a mentally handicapped student. Teachers have more subdued students in their already overcrowded classrooms. Finally, parents are not forced to examine their parenting practices, because they have the perfect excuse: Their child has a chemical imbalance.

"The only loser in this equation is the child…."

—"A Rush to Medicate Young Minds," by Elizabeth J. Roberts, October 8, 2006, washingtonpost.com

[The writer is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in California and the author of Should You Medicate Your Child's Mind?]

More Antidepressant Warnings: Effexor

"The reported overdoses of the world's most lucrative antidepressant resulted in death or such symptoms as rapid heartbeat, coma, seizures, vomiting and vertigo, Wyeth said in a letter it sent to health-care providers."

— data from "Wyeth Issues Warning On Antidepressant," October 26, 2006, as posted in FINDINGS, on washingtonpost.com

Screen Teens and YOU Could be Next

"There are those who argue with some passion that society has to do something. Bad, disruptive, antisocial or depressed little kids make lots of trouble for parents and schoolteachers. Worse, they can grow up into dysfunctional, unhappy or troublemaking adults. That snotty little boy might become a dissenting nonconformist or even a rebellious man, who could throw a monkey wrench into our smoothly functioning society. We have to catch them early - for their own good.

"Teams of experts are awaiting the infusion of cash. They'll be ensconced in your child's school before you even know it. A bonus is that your little darlings will probably give them quite a bit of information about you also, and then you too can receive therapy you didn't know you needed."

—Dr. Jane M. Orient, "Are Your Children Crazy?", Health Sentinel,
July 27, 2006

[Dr. Jane M. Orient is an internist practicing in Tucson, AZ and executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Copyright 2004 United Press International.]