Comments on: Psychiatric drug cocktails for kids http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/11/psychiatric-drug-cocktails-for-kids.html medical blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:50:49 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Michael Rack, MD http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/11/psychiatric-drug-cocktails-for-kids.html/comment-page-1#comment-69076 Michael Rack, MD Sat, 25 Nov 2006 14:18:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/11/psychiatric-drug-cocktails-for-kids.html#comment-69076 "Where were all these kids when we were growing up decades ago?"<br/>Some were in institutions, special education, etc. Children with psych conditions are now more likely to be in regular classrooms. “Where were all these kids when we were growing up decades ago?”
Some were in institutions, special education, etc. Children with psych conditions are now more likely to be in regular classrooms.

]]> By: After Prozac http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/11/psychiatric-drug-cocktails-for-kids.html/comment-page-1#comment-69071 After Prozac Sat, 25 Nov 2006 05:24:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/11/psychiatric-drug-cocktails-for-kids.html#comment-69071 I agree that overprescription is a problem, as is the medicalization of social problems (ie problems with the way we organize schooling ends up making kids take pills, rather than re-organizing schooling). And once the kid gets labelled as "sick" there's very little he/she can do to escape that label and the treatment that ensues. Still, there <i>are</i> mentally ill kids who need drug and talk therapy, so it's a really difficult issue for doctors. Perhaps part of the solution begins with different and better medical education for doctors. I agree that overprescription is a problem, as is the medicalization of social problems (ie problems with the way we organize schooling ends up making kids take pills, rather than re-organizing schooling). And once the kid gets labelled as “sick” there’s very little he/she can do to escape that label and the treatment that ensues. Still, there are mentally ill kids who need drug and talk therapy, so it’s a really difficult issue for doctors. Perhaps part of the solution begins with different and better medical education for doctors.

]]> By: Gasman http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/11/psychiatric-drug-cocktails-for-kids.html/comment-page-1#comment-69067 Gasman Fri, 24 Nov 2006 19:51:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/11/psychiatric-drug-cocktails-for-kids.html#comment-69067 Where were all these kids when we were growing up decades ago? That is, kids allegedly this massively out of whack didn't seem to exist back then. Yet now that the tools of psychiatry have expanded the rate of diagnosis has seemed to increase to follow. If your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like a nail; if you have lots of different hammers, then you can refine problems into many different types of nails, but the problem is still seen pretty much the same never-the-less.<br/><br/>My nephew, with a severe organic brain condition, bludgeoned my sister-in-law to death last year. He was on escalating polypharmacy. We still wonder whether his behavior came to this in spite of the drugs, or because of the drugs. Where were all these kids when we were growing up decades ago? That is, kids allegedly this massively out of whack didn’t seem to exist back then. Yet now that the tools of psychiatry have expanded the rate of diagnosis has seemed to increase to follow. If your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like a nail; if you have lots of different hammers, then you can refine problems into many different types of nails, but the problem is still seen pretty much the same never-the-less.

My nephew, with a severe organic brain condition, bludgeoned my sister-in-law to death last year. He was on escalating polypharmacy. We still wonder whether his behavior came to this in spite of the drugs, or because of the drugs.

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