Are children medicated for convenience/, or necessity? Many kids in today’s society are dependent on powerful pharmaceuticals at a young age. According to Mercola, “ In any given year, 20 percent of children will be diagnosed with a mental illness and treated by a pharmaceutical.”. Some children rely on medication for various different reasons, including depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Individuals believe that pharmaceuticals are prescribed to cover up the emotional and physical turning point in a child’s life. Some children grow up taking medication on a daily basis and this teaches the child that he or she cannot live without it. When a child grows up thinking he or she cannot live a regular life …show more content…
As Consumer Reports state, “Parents in our survey said medication helped equally—and most of all—with academic performance (very helpful for 35 percent) and behavior at school (very helpful for 35 percent). It also helped well with behavior at home (very helpful for 26 percent), and fairly well with social relationships (very helpful for 19 percent) and self-esteem (very helpful for 18 percent)”. What may appear to be serious illnesses or disorders, are very common to be related to improper diet and emotional problems. Parents would rather their child take medication on a daily basis rather than dealing with his or her child’s problems. Pharmaceuticals are proven to stimulate a child’s mind and make their problems “go away”. Overmedicating a child cannot solve his or her issues within one's self. Furthermore, prescriptions cover up the symptoms a child is having and lessens the symptoms to the point where their parents feel that they are “better” or “well”. When a kid takes medication, it only has its effect for a certain amount of time and eventually wears off, this is so that the parents or guardians do not have to deal with the child’s issues. When a parent/guardian or even doctors place a child on medication every day, it puts off a message to the kid that whoever is in charge of the individual cannot handle them or their issues. “Your teacher cannot handle you” and “I cannot handle you” are often comments made by parents who overmedicate their child. When a child receives this underlying message, he or she goes through an emotional course within themselves which can cause major issues for the child such as neglect, depression, anxiety, etc. If parents would be willing to deal with their child’s issues and problems in their everyday life, overmedication in today's society
In today’s society, a lot of emphasis is placed on administering drugs and medicating people with psychological issues; however, most of these ailments and issues have the ability be treated through the use of talk therapy rather than medication. Americans are particularly guilty of over medicating when it comes to our more common mental health diagnosis such as, ADHD, depression, and anxiety. We as a society expect things to be done at the snap of a finger; in our advancement of science, we have been able to discover ways of offering the results we want quickly, inexpensively, and with little effort. Unfortunately, although the use of medications, also known as psychoactive drugs, occasionally remove the symptoms, but they do little to remove the causes of these mental health issues. In addition, to the lack of solution that the use of psychoactive drugs offer, they can also have unwanted and dangerous side effects. These can include simple physical irritants such as dry mouth and head aches, and can range up to dependency and substance abuse, and in some cases even death. Moreover, there are cases of inappropriate prescribing, where doctors are authorizing the use of medications that don’t work or are not pertinent to the issue the patient is experiencing. Furthermore, some of these doctors are issuing these medications without subjecting the patient to a proper mental health evaluation by a psychological professional.
Again, the children suffer the most. ADHD has dramatically risen in diagnoses, whether it is a
Medications are also the fastest way for parents to see results in their unruly child. Ever
Psychotropic medications, also referred to as psychiatric or psychotherapeutic medications, are used to treat psychiatric disorders, such as: depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They have been used for many years and oftentimes come with dangerous side effects. The side effects that often occur in children taking these medications can include: fainting, blurred vision, vomiting, extreme weight gain, and even death ("Seroquel information,” n.d.). The use of psychotropic medication to treat mental disorders in children and adolescents is highly controversial because of ethical viewpoints (i.e. parents “drugging” their children to calm them down) and potentially harmful side effects, but one has to take into consideration whether the risks outweigh the benefits when deciding whether or not to give this type of medication to children.
In summary, the article talked about the effects that antidepressant pills have on children. Immense publicity about antidepressants causing suicidal behavior in children is prompting more parents to hesitate to take their kids to psychiatrists. More doctors are hesitating to put their patients on antidepressant prescriptions. Last October, the Food and Drug Administration ordered black box labels, the most severe warning, on all anti-depressants. Some doctors think that these medicines are "speed bumps" and might end in more suicides. Other doctors think, "For children who really need treatment, a wait and see' approach could be dangerous." The percentage rate of children's antidepressant prescriptions has dropped within the last couple months. Psychiatrist Bruce Black says, "Kids are unhappy for a lot of reasons, and antidepressants often aren't the solution."
Drugs used to help mental illnesses; however, they aren’t always the easiest to deal with. With new drugs being discovered each year, they each will have many side-effects that may not be known to the world. Just remember that there are other options when dealing with children with mental illnesses, than medication such as Xanax, Zyprexa, Lexapro, Adderall, and Dexedrine. It may not be best to use the “easy-way-out” when handling a young child with a mental illness. With prescribing medications to children, they may ruin the child’s life, by causing life-changing effects to happen to child’s body. There is no sense of using medications unless it is absolutely necessary, like when the child is sick with the flu or has a sinus infection. Choose another pathway for your child to cope with their mental illness.
When dealing with adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD may become a challenge for many parents. Knowing the facts about this disorder and how to treat the problem is the key to a healthy lifestyle for adolescents as well as families. Many therapies and medications are available to families with children with ADHD but many questions that parents have with their children with ADHD is which therapy is best and what would work best with their children and their quality of life. The question of which therapy, alternative versus medication therapy would improve adolescent’s quality of life and behavior modification.
There has been an increase in the Misuse and Abuse of prescription drugs to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). the number of children on medication for ADHD has grown from 600,000 in 1990 to 3.5 million in 2013 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But although there is an over-medication of ADHD drugs, there is actually and under-medication since not all the right people are getting medicated. Many individuals lack insurance or are insured with health plans that do not cover the outpatient prescription drugs they need and cannot afford.10 Therefore, Individuals covered by various health plans and programs, and those who have no prescription drug coverage, pay significantly different prices for the same medications. As the demand for ADHD drugs grows, higher prescribing rates and increasing drug prices result, which creates problems for these number of Americans who cannot afford the treatment they require.
Typical ADHD drug overdoses lead to an estimated 3,000 Emergency Room visits each year (Vinerd. 2006). In 2010 alone, there were 17, 000 human exposures to ADHD medications. This number is just what was reported to the Poison Control Center. Eighty percent of these overdoses occurred in kids younger than 19 years old. The other twenty percent of the overdoses occurred in adults (Stiller, 2013).This leads to the number one question: Who is to blame for these overdoes? Do we blame the doctors prescribing the medications or do we blame society?
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder that causes children to have problems with paying attention, trouble with following instructions, have impulsive behaviors and become easily distracted. Medications, such as Adderall and Ritalin, are used to treat the symptoms of this disorder by helping the patient to focus and pay attention while also curbing their impulsive behavior and hyperactivity. Side effects of these medications are, but not limited to, anxiety, addiction and in some cases psychosis. Proponents of giving ADHD medication to children argue that ADHD is a real disorder in children and the medication does improve the symptoms of the disorder by a large margin as well as being cost effective. Also, not only are the parents happy with the outcome of their children taking the prescribed medication but so are the children themselves. Proponents also argue that by not letting parents of the children, young adults and adults choose to take these prescriptions when diagnosed with ADHD that the medical and psychiatric communities would be in violation of the principle of autonomy. Justice as well would be violated since most of the burden of dealing with all the symptoms caused by this disorder would fall onto those with ADHD and partly on their families. Opponents of giving ADHD medication to children point out that it is not only going to children with ADHD but also being prescribed to those not diagnosed with the disorder as well as the pills being given or sold to other children and young adults. They also claim that the full side effects of ADHD medication are still not known and could have harmful long- lasting side effects on the children taking the medications. In this case, the princip...
The documentary “The Medicated Child” gave me a lot of insight into the lives of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder. When we hear and learn about bipolar disorder, we do not normally think of children. However, there are many children diagnosed with bipolar disorder ranging from all ages. As we saw in the documentary, bipolar disorder can be very hard on both the child and the family, so finding a cure that is effective and safe is important. The video also highlighted how little research there has been on the effectiveness of antidepressants on children.
Many children are diagnosed with a “neurobehavioral disorder” known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) it affects approximately five to ten percent of children around the world (Kolar, Kelleer, Golfinopoulos, Cumyn, Syer, Hechtman). What some people do not know is that it continues throughout a person’s adulthood. ADHD affects approximately six percent of the adult population (Kolar, Kelleer, Golfinopoulos, Cumyn, Syer, Hechtman). Treatment for this disorder is of course medication. The question is, is this an effective way to treat both children and adults? I believe that ADHD medication is an effective treatment for ADHD in children and pre-teens, but is less effective in adults.
These alarming figures call us to question the causes behind this influx of diagnosed mental disorders as well as the consequential drug prescription as a solution. When asked to discuss the ethics of the mental pursuit of perfection, there are several different aspects to consider. The main ethical issues raised lie in the prescription of drugs to children and the over prescription of drugs. In addition, I will discuss who and what are responsible for our culture’s desire to “quick fix” every definable problem with some type of drug, be it prescribed, non-prescribed, or self-prescribed.
The document states that an untreated case of ADHD can have serious effects on the lives of both children and their parents (Withrow, Hash, & Holten, 2011). Before treating children, physicians must look for a coexisting conditions which could affect the diagnosis and treatments of ADHD. Parents and children should aid their physicians by using the support of their community and the resources of their school (Withrow et al., 2011). Physicians should take several courses of action: educating the parents and patients, monitoring patients for the emergence and severity of side effects, and evaluating the treatment each year. Pharmacotherapy, or therapy using pharmaceutical drugs, is another accepted way for physicians to treat children with ADHD. The documents says that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves certain drugs for the treatment of ADHD (Withrow et al., 2011). The list of approved drugs include the psychostimulants D- and DL-methylphenidate, atomoxetine, amphetamine, dextroamphetamine, and a noradrenergic reuptake inhibitor (Withrow et al., 2011). To see if a child’s behavior demonstrates the symptoms of ADHD, an analysis of that child’s behavior is needed. According to this document, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) emphasises classroom behavioral interventions and parental training in behavioral therapy (Withrow et al., 2011). The AAP considers both of these to be of
ADHD is diagnosed more often than it needs to be, meaning that a many of the children who are currently on Ritalin and other stimulant medications really do not need to be. This happens because there is a lot of pressure for boys to conform and because schools expect kids to sit for hours on end. Little kids are meant to move around and to play. When they have a hard time sitting down the schools think there is something wrong with them. Teachers get frustrated with their students' behavior and because their classrooms are overcrowded they pressure parents into getting medications for their children. Sometimes even it is the parents who are frustrated with their kids, maybe for many of the same reasons. We live in a society that expects kids to be like little adults and to be quiet and calm. Kids are not wired the same way as adults, and it does not mean that there is something wrong with them. Even though it's doctors who are prescribing the medications, if the children do not really have the condition isn't this just another form of drug