Jung at Heart writes about "Things to Worry About" on his blog. His worries? Overmedicated children.
He first describes working with children in the 1970's as part of a treatment team...
Just a side note about treatment teams. A treatment team is a group of people, each from their own specialty or profession, who work as a team to address a client's problem. I have worked on such a team (in an adult treatment program) and it really is wonderful. We had a social worker, a nurse, a psychiatrist and a therapist. What was remarkable was that there was no hierarchy. The doctor's opinion was not placed above anyone else's. Each person was considered an expert in their area and each one had input from their point of view. Our clients really got the best of all possible worlds. But this program was funded through a grant.
Jung at Heart's team consisted of the child's therapist, psychiatrist and teacher. Today I can't imagine such a meeting occurring. The primary barrier seems to be the cost. The insurance companies won't pay for it. And the cost issue typically results in children only seeing a psychiatrist, who is allotted a 15 minute medication check. As a result children are being medicated, even before they are a year old.
Jung at Heart cites an article in the New York Times, "Child’s Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Young", regarding the overmedicating of a 6 year old with strong antipsychotics. Some quotes from the article:
"Dr. Lawrence L. Greenhill, president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, concerned about the lack of research, has recommended a national registry to track preschoolers on antipsychotic drugs for the next 10 years. 'Psychotherapy is the key to the treatment of preschool children with severe mental disorders, and antipsychotics are adjunctive therapy — not the other way around, (emphasis added)' he said."
"But it is cheaper to medicate children than to pay for family counseling, a fact highlighted by a Rutgers University study last year that found children from low-income families, like Kyle (the child in the story), were four times as likely as the privately insured to receive antipsychotic medicines."
"Texas Medicaid data obtained by The New York Times showed a record $96 million was spent last year on antipsychotic drugs for teenagers and children — including three unidentified infants who were given the drugs before their first birthdays."
"In addition, foster care children seem to be medicated more often, prompting a Senate panel in June to ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate such practices."
"Dr. Mary Margaret Gleason, a professor of pediatrics and child psychiatry at Tulane who treated Kyle from ages 3 to 5 as he was weaned off the heavy medications, said there was no valid medical reason to give antipsychotic drugs to the boy, or virtually any other 2-year-old. “It’s disturbing,” she said.
Dr. Gleason says Kyle’s current status proves he probably never had bipolar disorder, autism or psychosis. His doctors now say Kyle’s tantrums arose from family turmoil and language delays, not any of the diagnoses used to justify antipsychotics."
An article from the Boston Globe, "Mother convicted of second-degree murder in daughter's drug death" reports the story of Carolyn Riley whose 4-year-old daughter, Rebecca, died after taking a lethal dose of psychotropic medications. The article states that all three of Riley's children had been on psychiatric medications since the age of 2. People may villainize Riley for using psychotropic meds to sedate her children to keep them quiet, but isn't that what we are teaching people? I don't see psychotropic meds being used to energize children. We want them quiet. We want them to remain seated and comply. And we use medications to achieve this.
When I worked in a county mental health the children's section was bombarded every September by parents who had been referred by their children's teachers for "Ritalin". The teachers took it upon themselves to call the child "ADHD" and told the parents to see a psychiatrist for "Ritalin". They specifically told the parents the medication to ask for. The problem? The children wouldn't sit quietly in first grade and comply. When I audited 2nd and 5th grade classes for the public school system I saw the same values. Children who were quiet and compliant were rewarded. Precocious, active children who asked a lot of questions or thought outside the box were frequently silenced and their activity squelched.
If the child is expressing behavioral problems we also use medications to quiet those. We should be looking for the origins of the behavior. I firmly believe that 99-100% of children are born healthy and normal. If they are exhibiting behavior problems I look to the family. And I'm not usually disappointed. Whether it's something as serious as child abuse or something as relatively benign as a disorganized and chaotic family the structure and functioning of the family directly affect the behavior of the child. To me, this should be where we start, not with the child and not with medication.
But then it depends on what your priorities are, what's best for the child - or the adults.