[geeks] Psychotropics aka anti-depressants, etc

[wa2egp at att.net]

> Many, if not most of the kids who are getting these drugs

> have not been thoroughly diagnosed as having chemical imbalances.
> Teachers recommend drugs, parents listen to teachers, and the
> next thing you know, kids are on drugs.  There are cases where
> school districts have *refused* to allow a child back into school
> because they wanted the child on these types of drugs and the
> child's parents refused.
> 
> The "standards" for ADD/ADHD diagnosis are vague.  This dramatic
> increase for Ritalin and related drugs is primarily in the US as
> well.  The pharmaceutical companies advertise these drugs like
> they are the panacea for the stress of modern life.
> 
> <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/backlash/ 
> un.html>
> 
> I'm all for helping those that need help with drugs, therapy or
> whatever else is *effective*.  But I do not think giving drugs
> to kids so their parents and teachers don't have to deal with
> them is appropriate.
>
Hey, don't include me in that blanket statement that teachers recommend drugs.
As a teacher, I have never recommended a drug as a solution for a child's
bad behavior.  Many teachers have complained that kids have been given drugs
when other solutions would have been better.  (I wish I had saved the union
newletters where this debate raged.)  I have, in rare occasions, suggested
professional help (not necessarily a doctor) but only in severe cases.
Bob