WTF?

[conuly]

Spending Soars for Children's Behavioural Meds

They're now giving behavioural medication for children under five? Ritalin? For AD(H)D for children under five years of age? What is WRONG with people? At five years old, do you really know if the child isn't just being a little absentminded and hyper? You know, like five year olds are supposed to be? If they're prescribing medication that early, can we really trust people to actually try teaching these kids how to behave and control themselves? More importantly, do we really know what these medications do to young children when they take them for several years?

Of course, I don't really know enough about this to talk. So I'll hush now.

Comments

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

They're giving them to two-year-olds at this point, according to a few studies I've run across. Most of them are being pressured into it by schools that don't want to have to deal with kids that do anything other than sit quietly and exhibit perfect obedience from preschool on up. It's not really different, in that sense, from previous hyper-obedience-focused attempts in our society to force young children to act *very* unnaturally, it's just that now it's drugs instead of beatings.

I'm not into medicating anyway -- what are they expected to do, stay on the drug for the next 70 years? Why not change the person's environment or society's expectation of what they do (as opposed to expecting we all do precisely the same thing), so they don't need drugs to function? Or teach them ways to handle their brain?

Too much dystopian literature

[staircase-wit.livejournal.com]

A gram is better than a damn.

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

I was almost put on Ritalin at about that age. =\ Thankfully, my parents didn't agree with it.

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

Ugh.. This makes me feel ill.. They're kids for christ sake! Of course they're going to be hyper and not have an attention span longer than a couple minutes, it's because they're kids! If you teach your child to pay attention when they're supposed to, they will. I do agree that some kids do genuinely have the disorder, or disease or... Whatever term you'd use.. But you can show that at 5! At 5 every kid bounces off the walls! Well, I shouldn't say every kid, but most kids. Regular medications for something that isn't life threatening under 5 years of age (or even up to 7 or 8) is just ridiculous.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

You know how much it pisses me off to see the overmedication of society.

Especially because no one takes people with problems seriously anymore. My seriously bi-polar buddy gets loads of "oh, me too! I'm on medication A for it" "Funny... that's not a bi-polar med." "Oh yeah, yeah!? What're you on?" "Lithium."

The Obscenely Annoying Girl I was with at Bryn Mawr said her doctor wanted to prescribe Zoloft for her manic depression. WHY do people want these disorders and lie about it!? They're not fun!

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

WTF?!?!?!?! As far as I can see, Ritalin isn't good for anyone, and this is going way too far. Why don't people realize that these medications are hardly the best thing, or the only way out? I just hope my mom doesn't find out about this, she'll flip out..

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

They're giving them to two-year-olds at this point, according to a few studies I've run across. Most of them are being pressured into it by schools that don't want to have to deal with kids that do anything other than sit quietly and exhibit perfect obedience from preschool on up. It's not really different, in that sense, from previous hyper-obedience-focused attempts in our society to force young children to act *very* unnaturally, it's just that now it's drugs instead of beatings.

I'm not into medicating anyway -- what are they expected to do, stay on the drug for the next 70 years? Why not change the person's environment or society's expectation of what they do (as opposed to expecting we all do precisely the same thing), so they don't need drugs to function? Or teach them ways to handle their brain?

Too much dystopian literature

[staircase-wit.livejournal.com]

A gram is better than a damn.

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

I was almost put on Ritalin at about that age. =\ Thankfully, my parents didn't agree with it.

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

Ugh.. This makes me feel ill.. They're kids for christ sake! Of course they're going to be hyper and not have an attention span longer than a couple minutes, it's because they're kids! If you teach your child to pay attention when they're supposed to, they will. I do agree that some kids do genuinely have the disorder, or disease or... Whatever term you'd use.. But you can show that at 5! At 5 every kid bounces off the walls! Well, I shouldn't say every kid, but most kids. Regular medications for something that isn't life threatening under 5 years of age (or even up to 7 or 8) is just ridiculous.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

You know how much it pisses me off to see the overmedication of society.

Especially because no one takes people with problems seriously anymore. My seriously bi-polar buddy gets loads of "oh, me too! I'm on medication A for it" "Funny... that's not a bi-polar med." "Oh yeah, yeah!? What're you on?" "Lithium."

The Obscenely Annoying Girl I was with at Bryn Mawr said her doctor wanted to prescribe Zoloft for her manic depression. WHY do people want these disorders and lie about it!? They're not fun!

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

WTF?!?!?!?! As far as I can see, Ritalin isn't good for anyone, and this is going way too far. Why don't people realize that these medications are hardly the best thing, or the only way out? I just hope my mom doesn't find out about this, she'll flip out..