Comments on: Kids and disease mongering http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/05/kids-and-disease-mongering.html medical blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:59:44 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Anonymous http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/05/kids-and-disease-mongering.html/comment-page-1#comment-85460 Anonymous Wed, 07 May 2008 01:46:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2008/05/kids-and-disease-mongering.html#comment-85460 My first public sector ADHD patient as psych resident was around five. Upon the first follow-up visit, I found the mother had not given him the med. Was it because of a commitment to addressing the problem by better parenting? No. Was a newfound commitment to "skills, not pills"? No. Was it a fear of side effects? No.<br/><br/>The kid didn't want to take the meds and she said "I'm not going to make my child do anything he doesn't want to do!" My first public sector ADHD patient as psych resident was around five. Upon the first follow-up visit, I found the mother had not given him the med. Was it because of a commitment to addressing the problem by better parenting? No. Was a newfound commitment to “skills, not pills”? No. Was it a fear of side effects? No.

The kid didn’t want to take the meds and she said “I’m not going to make my child do anything he doesn’t want to do!”

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/05/kids-and-disease-mongering.html/comment-page-1#comment-85459 Anonymous Wed, 07 May 2008 01:39:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2008/05/kids-and-disease-mongering.html#comment-85459 It goes well beyond DTC advertising. There is a cultural sickness that involves a preoccupation with technological fixes of what are not technological problems. A dominant belief that there are technological solutions to the problems of living and a refusal to accept that the most personal problems are those of mind and soul and not amenable to technology--but rather to virtues such as practice, self-discipline, patience, and faith--and that the cultivation of these qualities is a life-long struggle that begins in toddlerhood and persists with frequent failures throughout life. <br/><br/>In fact, to the many of the consumers of these meds, and their parents, the language of virtue, words like discipline, effort, and self-denial, is offensive language. <br/><br/>Much more comfortable is the language of "chemical imbalance" demanding the solution for selfish egocentric behavior be a "medication adjustment" because the child "can't control himself".<br/><br/>Well, he didn't have the neural wiring to control his bowels at one time either, but at some point his mother wouldn't tolerate it any longer and he made the effort and after many failures, the neural apparatus developed and he learned.<br/><br/>It is the same with learning to restrain the impulse to hit those who oppose his will, keep quiet until called upon, etc. Effort and attention, motivated by consequences, are required and that is work for the child and adults. Life should be free and easy and nothing ever hard nor one ever feel bad over having failed. It goes well beyond DTC advertising. There is a cultural sickness that involves a preoccupation with technological fixes of what are not technological problems. A dominant belief that there are technological solutions to the problems of living and a refusal to accept that the most personal problems are those of mind and soul and not amenable to technology–but rather to virtues such as practice, self-discipline, patience, and faith–and that the cultivation of these qualities is a life-long struggle that begins in toddlerhood and persists with frequent failures throughout life.

In fact, to the many of the consumers of these meds, and their parents, the language of virtue, words like discipline, effort, and self-denial, is offensive language.

Much more comfortable is the language of “chemical imbalance” demanding the solution for selfish egocentric behavior be a “medication adjustment” because the child “can’t control himself”.

Well, he didn’t have the neural wiring to control his bowels at one time either, but at some point his mother wouldn’t tolerate it any longer and he made the effort and after many failures, the neural apparatus developed and he learned.

It is the same with learning to restrain the impulse to hit those who oppose his will, keep quiet until called upon, etc. Effort and attention, motivated by consequences, are required and that is work for the child and adults. Life should be free and easy and nothing ever hard nor one ever feel bad over having failed.

]]> By: Dr. A http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/05/kids-and-disease-mongering.html/comment-page-1#comment-85416 Dr. A Mon, 05 May 2008 17:42:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2008/05/kids-and-disease-mongering.html#comment-85416 Thanks so much for the link! Thanks so much for the link!

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