Her Blog - Jennifer Nickerson - Psychiatrist Says Kids are Over Medicated

Post details: Psychiatrist Says Kids are Over Medicated

10/11/06

10:17:29 pm, Categories: Social Issues, 844 words

Psychiatrist Says Kids are Over Medicated

The Washington Post

A Rush to Medicate Young Minds
By Elizabeth J. Roberts
Sunday, October 8, 2006

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.

Some psychiatrists speculate that this stunning increase in childhood psychiatric disease is entirely due to improved diagnostic techniques. But setting aside the children with legitimate mental illnesses who must have psychiatric medications to function normally, much of the increase in prescribing such medications to kids is due to the widespread use of psychiatric diagnoses to explain away the results of poor parenting practices. According to psychiatrist Jennifer Harris, quoted in the January/February issue of Psychotherapy Networker, "Many clinicians find it easier to tell parents their child has a brain-based disorder than to suggest parenting changes."

Parents and teachers today seem to believe that any boy who wriggles in his seat and willfully defies his teacher's rules has ADHD. Likewise, any child who has a temper tantrum is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After all, an anger outburst is how most parents define a "mood swing." Contributing to this widespread problem of misdiagnosis is the doctor's willingness to accept, without question, the assessment offered by a parent or teacher.

What was once a somber, heart-wrenching decision for a parent and something children often resisted -- medicating a child's mind -- has now become a widely used technique in parenting a belligerent child. As if they were debating parental locks on the home computer or whether to allow a co-ed sleepover, parents now share notes with each other about whose child is taking what pill for which diagnosis.

These days parents cruise the Internet, take self-administered surveys, diagnose their children and choose a medication before they ever set foot in the psychiatrist's office. If the first doctor doesn't prescribe what you want, the next one will.

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 poor parenting practices, because they have the perfect excuse: Their child has a chemical imbalance.

The only loser in this equation is the child. It is the child who must endure the side effects of these powerful drugs and be burdened unnecessarily with the label of a mental illness. Medicating a child, based on a misdiagnosis, is a tragic injustice for the child: His or her only advocate is the parent who lacked the courage to apply appropriate discipline.

Well-intentioned but misinformed teachers, parents using the Internet to diagnose their children, and hurried doctors are all a part of the complex system that drives the current practice of misdiagnosing and overmedicating children. The solution lies in the practice of good, conscientious medicine that is careful, thorough and patient-centered.

Parents need to be more careful with whom they entrust their child's mental health care. Doctors need to take the time to understand their pediatric patients better and have the courage to deliver the bad news that sometimes a child's disruptive, aggressive and defiant behavior is due to poor parenting, not to a chemical imbalance such as bipolar disorder or ADHD.

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

Letters to the editor: letters@washpost.com

Slow Down the Rush to Medicate Young Minds. Promote this: http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html

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Books

A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett
I recently read my first Jimmy Buffett book, A Salty Piece of Land. I found it to be well worth reading. On the back cover Michael Harris of the Los Angeles Times Book Review says, “It goes down like a pina colada: smooth and sweet.” Upon picking up the book I found this difficult to believe, now that I read it, I have to agree.

While I am not a hardcore fan of Buffett’s music, I do appreciate the emotions that he captures in his music and somehow this also communicates in his writing. It is almost like the music is a soundtrack for the main character’s life.

This book captures the feeling that all of us have had to be somewhere else, leading a different life without thoroughly romanticizing the “beach and margarita” lifestyle. The little bits of humor throughout, including some of the characters names such as Ix-Nay and Captain Kirk are well done without being overbearing. The improbable adventures of the characters are made probable.

This is definitely a non-cerebral read. But it is a fun little adventure.
Atlas Shrugged - A Book Review for Mike
Okay Atlas Shrugged is by far the most academic/philosophic novel I have ever read. I read it over Christmas break 3 years ago. It is also the most "dense" book I have ever read.

This book reads like a manual for capitalism. What I found to be most amazing about this book was the foresight that Ann Rand had for what could happen if business was suppressed and what communism would actually do to a country that had been operating on capitalistic values.

I for one am opposed to giving something to someone who has not earned it. Although I am not opposed to assisting someone who is temporarily down on their luck. I believe that we need people who come up with bright ideas and are then acknowledged for their good contributions in the form of consumption and as a result of consumption, money. I don't think that money is the end all be all, but it rather a form of energy or a communication. Take Bill Gates for example. Love him or hate him, he built an empire on a product that is in virtually every household in the western world. He has earned his money. I for one admire Bill Gates immensely.

There is a part about 3/4 of the way through the book where one of the characters makes a radio address. I was thoroughly bored with it in the first few pages as it pretty much covers the viewpoints expressed earlier in the book. I looked ahead and it was something like 90 pages long. So I skipped it, vowing that if something seemed confusing, I would go back and read those pages. I never found it necessary to do so.

The book did also have some unusual twists in it that were interesting to read. I never fully knew what direction it was going to go. I think the key to actually finishing this book is to have plenty of time to sit down and get into it. I would re-read it if I had this kind of time. It might also be noted that I am not a huge fan of overly philosophic books. This is one of the few fiction books that actually caused a shift in my viewpoint.

Happy Reading -Jen
Book List
The following is a list of books. I have read and recommend most of them.

Gone with the Wind
Fortune's Rocks
Memoirs of a Geisha
Life of Pi
Time Traveler's Wife
Da Vinci Code
Snow Falling on Cedars
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood
Like Water for Chocolate
The Red Tent
Girl with a Pearl Earring
The Princess Bride
Empress By Shan Sa
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
The Five People you meet in Heven by Mitch Albom
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett
Ender’s Game by Orsen Scott Card
Alvin the Maker (series) by Orsen Scott Card
Lamb: The Gospel of Jesus Christ According to His Childhood Pal Biff
The Stupidest Angel
A Dirty Job
Outlander Series
The Stand
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Other Boleyn Girl
One Thousand White Women
Secret Life Of Bees
Atlas Shrugged
Great Expectations
The Wild Girl by Jim Fergus
Kite Runner
Forever by Peter Hamill
Janet Evanovich
The Good Earth
Battlefield Earth
Flowers for Algernon
Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
Need Books to Read
Personally, there is almost nothing worse than spending good money on books that suck. I am fresh out of books at the moment, having finished two Janet Evanovich books back to back. Please send your suggestions.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
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I did enjoy this book. While I was reading it I felt like I got a glimpse of what it is like for an autistic person and I could see the mechanisms that created this situation, what the being was operating off of. While this was not pleasant necessarily to confront, it was interesting because I know that there is a tech to handle that.

I would not say that the book is funny, but there are parts of it that are amusing and it is certainly interesting. The main character is not a victim and I actually admired him very much.

Comedy

Jorjeana at Late Night Live
Join Aaron Nicholson, Deedee O'Malley, Jorjeana Marie and a very special guest artist this Friday night at the Hub starting Oct 27th for a concert not to missed.

Aaron Nicholson - Singer/Songwriter
"Some music has the ability to stop time, and Aaron’s music does that." - Deedee O'Malley
"No cheap date!" - Ed Asner

Deedee O'Malley - Singer/Songwriter
"Mind-blowing power like you’ve never heard" - Inside Indie Music Magazine
Winner of the Lilith Fair Competition

Jorjeana Marie - Comic Hostess
Fun AND funny - a sarcastic breath of fresh air and engaging physical comedianne.

This Week's Special Guest - Bethany and Rufus
“Unbelievable!” is the word most used by audiences when first hearing Bethany & Rufus,hose cello and voice duo breaks new musical ground, sliding with seamless ease between groove, jazz and a gritty, unvarnished approach to traditional folk music.

Each Friday - Oct. 27 thru Dec. 8th, 10:30pm
Hub Theatre, tickets $15
5245 Lankershim blvd. North Hollywood, CA 91601
info: 818-859-7056 - myspace.com/latenightliveLA
A Woodriver Production

Her Blog - Jennifer Nickerson

Post details: Psychiatrist Says Kids are Over Medicated

10/11/06

Psychiatrist Says Kids are Over Medicated

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