We are seeing a lot more adolescents for psych than we have in past years. Its not uncommon for mom or dad to call the police and have them bring teenage son/daughter to ER because they can't handle them. They want us to handle them. Sometimes its even hard to get mom or dad to come down to the ER.
A lot of teens are on heavy duty medication and have already been given a mental health label: depression, anxiety disorder, PTSD, bipolar. My favorite is "oppositional defiance disorder". Isn't it pretty much the job of teenagers to be defiant? Thats what they do.
I really wonder about all of this. Could it be that parents these days haven't got time for their kids and they are acting out, depressed? Maybe its easier to throw a pill at them, then give them attention. I'm not saying that there aren't teens with real problems, but it seems so easy to give them meds. Is it right to l
abel someone so young with a mental health disorder?
A lot of people are starting to wonder about all of this, espescially giving kids psych meds. There is a proposal in my state to have any doctor wanting to give psych meds to a kid having to consult with an agency that would be set up.
In our society we want a quick fix. We don't want to have to put effort into things, even our kids. We just want a medication that will make them act how we want them to act.
5 comments:
My youngest daughter was awful from 13-16. I think this is natural although in my family (7 kids, 5 of them girls) this was not tolerated. And now she is a sweet and wonderful daughter.
Yes teenagers are difficult during this phase of synaptic pruning, but don't mock a very real behavioural disorder such as O.D.D. Unless you have had a child who has this and or other diagnosis you will never, ever, comprehend the reality, for starters it doesn't just happen at puberty they have had issues usually for many many years, even as toddlers. Just as I dont know your daily woes of working your obviously traumatic job please don't pretend to be a parent of a kid with O.D.D or A.D.H.D, or bipolar, try having a knife to your throat from your own kid, and get kicked in the stomach and back for saying no, it's 24 hours, seven days, a week and no holidays for 20+ years....that's a hellish job. Now call me one of your looneys, or whiners......
As a nurse (An old ED nurse too) and child therapist I can tell you that it is absolutely not as simple as spending time with these kids or not throwing medication at them. Medication is often the last resort after years of trying everything else. One hint, if it is only one child in a family with behavioral or psychiatric problems it is probably not a parenting problem and it is time to stop blaming parents. We do not blame them when their children have diabetes or other disorders that have a genetic basis and it is almost indisputable that these disorders have a genetic predisposition. You cannot believe how difficult the family lives are for these parents and they are very aware that society, schools, and medical providers blame them for their child's problems. It is really indefensible. They turn to EDs because they are simply at their wits ends and do not know what else to do.
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