“Are we too quick to medicate children?” Melissa Healy asks this question in the headline of an article in the Los Angeles Times. She also weaves the related question—”Are we able to discriminate between normal and atypical behavior?”—into her article.
These are generally sensible questions. They reflect issues of real concern in the scientific community. But, when the headline asks whether we presrcibe medications too quickly, one can guess the answer pretty readily. Unless I’m way off base, would many readers expect the answer to be “no?”
Indeed, the article is nearly chockfull of critical concern about diagnoses, labeling, and treatment. Ms. Healy cites research results (without revealing some of the sources) and quotes at least a half dozen experts. Some of these experts would probably be consider advocates by some of the other experts.
As is de rigeur in contemporary journalism, Ms. Healy leads (and closes) with a case example. She tells the story of a 38-year-old mother who takes her 11-year-old daughter to a psychiatrist, because the girl’s “behavior and performance in school were exemplary, but an ill-tempered outburst had gotten the preteen kicked out of a Girl Scout troop she had joined at age 5. The girl was confused and heartbroken over her ejection.”
Katie’s maternal instincts tell her she must protect her child. But from what, she asks — a disease that threatens health, happiness and future? A bogus label applied to an admittedly challenging kid? Or drugs with potentially harmful and little-studied side effects?
And protect her exactly how — by resisting or by medicating?
In general, this is not a dispassionate examination of the question under which Ms. Healy’s article appears. I say this not because I disagree with her slant, but because the treatment is sensational and poorly informed. Had she gone more deeply into the topic, she would have learned about effective behavioral treatments that provide viable alternatives to medicaiton for many child behavior problems. Instead, she stuck with the hidden-mysteries view of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders of children.
Link to Ms. Healy’s article.
But Melissa Healy at least talked to Ross Greene and Stanley Turecki.
True, Liz. She did talk with them. But, she didn’t talk with (just naming a few) Ken Gadow, Bill Pelham, Jim Swanson (who’s actually in the Times) market area), Karen Wells, Mark Wolraich, or a host of other very knowledgeable folks in this topical area. I know that journalist strive for balance, but sometimes those efforts result in giving excessive play to minor points.
For other resources, there’s the Center for Children and Families at SUNY Buffalo. Also, note that the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association jointly released a series of guides to medications for children and youths, two of which are specifically focused on providing sensible guidance to parents. One’s about ADHD and the other is about depression.
I have been visiting this site a lot lately, so i thought it is a good idea to show my appreciation with a comment.
Thanks,
Jim Mirkalami
PS: I am a single dad
Jim, thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. Too few folks do so. For those of us who are here regularly, it’s nice to know that others are in the neighborhood, too.