what's up with all these medicated kids today?

[Guest guest]

first post and a little bit off the personal, i apologize. but i'm

wondering, i've been reading the book ahilwe and getting into it but

have

a question

online i saw another long story this am about kids on psychiatric

drugs - this one is about teenagers going off to college. theres a

quote in there that 95 percent of college counseling programs are

seeing an increase in the number of these medicated kids.

now if someones really bipolar, sure they should be on whatever med

helps with that. but my friend who has taught for 20 years at the

elementary school level is also seeing many more medicated kids than

in the past and there just can't be that many bipolar kids in the

world. usually when a kids in trouble she says the parents are the

ones who arent coping or dont have the time for the kid and the kid

gets the worst of it

so OK many more kids are getting diagnosed than ever before. im

sure the system wants to help but what if whats really going on is

the breakdown of the social system in some way. lots more

unhappiness and screwed up families and the wilingness of doctors

and parents to pump up the unhappy kids with drugs because the kids

are the ones who show these symptoms of unhappiness first or maybe

more than the adults whove learned to conceal. a kid cant object to

being medicated but an adult can.

shouldn't ACT be involved in this somehow educating people as to

the dangers here? other stories say we use these medications so much

taht it gets in the groundwater and now the fish in our rivers now

have antidepressants in our blood. isn't this crazy and how do we

get out of this?

[Guest guest]

Dig a bit deeper and you'll find the pharmacudical company that

lobbied to get the criteria for diagnosing ADD so vague that every

child I know would be a candidate to medicate.

I know this is a charged topic, my apologies for feeding the fire.

Grade cards came home this week, and my 13 year old had a page full

of " too social " , " disruptive in class " -- along with

several " Pleasure to have in class " from the same teachers! The

system has made up their mind and I have certainly picked up the rope

and have drifted far off into my own mind made battle.

If there's any work with ACT and teens, I'd be interested in doing

some homework of my own.

~Em

>

> first post and a little bit off the personal, i apologize. but i'm

> wondering, i've been reading the book ahilwe and getting into it

but

> have

> a question

>

> online i saw another long story this am about kids on psychiatric

> drugs - this one is about teenagers going off to college. theres a

> quote in there that 95 percent of college counseling programs are

> seeing an increase in the number of these medicated kids.

>

> now if someones really bipolar, sure they should be on whatever med

> helps with that. but my friend who has taught for 20 years at the

> elementary school level is also seeing many more medicated kids

than

> in the past and there just can't be that many bipolar kids in the

> world. usually when a kids in trouble she says the parents are the

> ones who arent coping or dont have the time for the kid and the kid

> gets the worst of it

>

> so OK many more kids are getting diagnosed than ever before. im

> sure the system wants to help but what if whats really going on is

> the breakdown of the social system in some way. lots more

> unhappiness and screwed up families and the wilingness of doctors

> and parents to pump up the unhappy kids with drugs because the kids

> are the ones who show these symptoms of unhappiness first or maybe

> more than the adults whove learned to conceal. a kid cant object to

> being medicated but an adult can.

>

> shouldn't ACT be involved in this somehow educating people as to

> the dangers here? other stories say we use these medications so

much

> taht it gets in the groundwater and now the fish in our rivers now

> have antidepressants in our blood. isn't this crazy and how do we

> get out of this?

>

[Guest guest]

I read the article in the NY Times, too. It profiled two students

with bipolar disorder, one who took medicine, one who did not, and

the challenges they faced in staying healthy while going through the

major transition of beginning college. It didn't strike me at all

like a pro-meds piece.

Here is the actual quotation from the piece:

" In a 2005 national survey of the directors of college counseling

centers, 95 percent of counseling directors reported an increase in

students who were already on psychiatric medications when they came

in for help. While universities grapple with how to serve the

growing number of students with mental disorders, students are

taking the initiative by helping one another. "

I personally would not like to see ACT take any sort of stand on

medication. ACT can be used and can be helpful whether or not a

person takes meds, or even has any sort of diagnosis.

ACT practitioners and researchers tend not to be medical

researchers, so I don't imagine most of them have the expertise to

expound on the medical treatment of illnesses such as bipolar

disorder (just as most psychiatrists and MDs do not likely have the

background and expertise to take a position on ACT).

There are organizations that work to educate people about the

dangers of psychotropic drugs, if that is what a person is

interested in. Just as there are groups that educate about their

benefits. ACT educates about the benefit of ACT--which is how it

should be, I believe.

K

>

> first post and a little bit off the personal, i apologize. but i'm

> wondering, i've been reading the book ahilwe and getting into it

but

> have

> a question

>

> online i saw another long story this am about kids on psychiatric

> drugs - this one is about teenagers going off to college. theres a

> quote in there that 95 percent of college counseling programs are

> seeing an increase in the number of these medicated kids.

>

> now if someones really bipolar, sure they should be on whatever

med

> helps with that. but my friend who has taught for 20 years at the

> elementary school level is also seeing many more medicated kids

than

> in the past and there just can't be that many bipolar kids in the

> world. usually when a kids in trouble she says the parents are the

> ones who arent coping or dont have the time for the kid and the

kid

> gets the worst of it

>

> so OK many more kids are getting diagnosed than ever before. im

> sure the system wants to help but what if whats really going on is

> the breakdown of the social system in some way. lots more

> unhappiness and screwed up families and the wilingness of doctors

> and parents to pump up the unhappy kids with drugs because the

kids

> are the ones who show these symptoms of unhappiness first or maybe

> more than the adults whove learned to conceal. a kid cant object

to

> being medicated but an adult can.

>

> shouldn't ACT be involved in this somehow educating people as to

> the dangers here? other stories say we use these medications so

much

> taht it gets in the groundwater and now the fish in our rivers now

> have antidepressants in our blood. isn't this crazy and how do we

> get out of this?

>

[Guest guest]

danger danger danger

let's leave out the kids who trully need meds ok no arugment there.

thats not the point

its not medical reserachers who prescribe all these meds these days

its the same as it always was . its your family doctors your gp,

the same ones who 20 years ago overpresicrbed tranquilizers which

later medical resreachers showed was a huge mistake and messed up

many peoples lives. okay right? so its not reserachers or experts at

work here its a big system.

handing out meds to " fix " people hwo are " broken " is the biological

approach but ACT says that the reason so many of us are hurting is

lagnuage not biology and if this is the case handing out meds wont

help. if that s not true someone please correct me.

heres the thing about ACT. yes its good for individuals and no one

whos interested in ACT should have to " believe " that meds are good

or bad especially an adult whos capable of making a choice.

but meanwhile if the country continues moving towards more and more

meds as the asnwer what does that do to ACT as a way of helping

folks?

it makes it less and less part of the discussion. it pushes it to

the side. there it goes WOOOPS over the side. its just another

little talk therapy that if its lucky gets some reimbursement from

your insurance - except WOOOPS we all know that insurance companies

are cutting out reimubrsmenet for tlak therapy (this happened to me)

but they WILL ALWYAS PAY FOR PILLS.

but i dnot want to start a fight and peace to you i respect your

opinion. im just concerned with what i see. so sorry if i sound

obnoxious and i will stop tlaking about this just wanted to get my 2

cents in.

> >

> > first post and a little bit off the personal, i apologize. but

i'm

> > wondering, i've been reading the book ahilwe and getting into it

> but

> > have

> > a question

> >

> > online i saw another long story this am about kids on

psychiatric

> > drugs - this one is about teenagers going off to college. theres

a

> > quote in there that 95 percent of college counseling programs

are

> > seeing an increase in the number of these medicated kids.

> >

> > now if someones really bipolar, sure they should be on whatever

> med

> > helps with that. but my friend who has taught for 20 years at

the

> > elementary school level is also seeing many more medicated kids

> than

> > in the past and there just can't be that many bipolar kids in

the

> > world. usually when a kids in trouble she says the parents are

the

> > ones who arent coping or dont have the time for the kid and the

> kid

> > gets the worst of it

> >

> > so OK many more kids are getting diagnosed than ever before. im

> > sure the system wants to help but what if whats really going on

is

> > the breakdown of the social system in some way. lots more

> > unhappiness and screwed up families and the wilingness of

doctors

> > and parents to pump up the unhappy kids with drugs because the

> kids

> > are the ones who show these symptoms of unhappiness first or

maybe

> > more than the adults whove learned to conceal. a kid cant object

> to

> > being medicated but an adult can.

> >

> > shouldn't ACT be involved in this somehow educating people as to

> > the dangers here? other stories say we use these medications so

> much

> > taht it gets in the groundwater and now the fish in our rivers

now

> > have antidepressants in our blood. isn't this crazy and how do

we

> > get out of this?

> >

>