Posted by Simcha on December 18, 2003, at 23:36:51
In reply to Re: UK Has Banned Medication for Depressed Children?, posted by KarmaFairy on December 18, 2003, at 23:26:34
Ok, I challenge you (a friendly challenge) to volunteer to work with depressed children. I would love for everyone who is anti-med for children to work for one day with me. It's an eye-opener.
It's very comfortable to sit in an ivory tower reading only one side of the medical studies. It's quite different out there in the real world working with real children.
I'm not playing the numbers game that these scientists and drug companies are playing. I work with real kids and real problems in the real world. In the real world some children really do inherit their parent's brain chemistry.
Personally, I wish that when I was a child someone would have found out that I was extremely depressed and would have given me something beyond just the lousy school counselling that was available to me. Of course, almost none of these treatments were available when I was a child. I was one of the lucky ones. I made it to adulthood. (I'm 34.)
Side-effects are part of any treatment. Talk therapy has side-effects, especially if it is bad talk therapy.
Most people and children do not have bad side-effects from these medications. This site is great yet it is a bit slanted. We tend to be the ones who have problems with medications. There are millions of others who don't come here because they have no problem with these medications.
I really believe that if parents were in touch with their own mental illnesses and knew more about mental illness, genetics, and inheritance then they might be quicker to get their children help. Like I said, meds alone don't do it. Good therapy and proper medication works. Trust me, I see it every day in the real world.
Simcha
> You say that parents are not educated about mental health and medications, but perhaps if they were they would be even LESS likely to agree to such treatment. Some of these medications have side-effects that are worse than the ailments they treat. If weight gain, acne, and somnolence don't depress a child, I wonder what would? I am not saying that all medications should be banned, but perhaps it's time we acknowledge that there are often better ways. Not all heartburn is indicative of acid reflux disease. Likewise, a child's sadness is not necessarily a product of poor brain chemistry.
>
> One can successfully treat high blood pressure with pills, but most often diet and exercise can prevent and reverse such a condition. The policy will be a huge loss to a few...but for the most part, they'll just look for the new magic pill.
poster:Simcha
thread:291460
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031213/msgs/291488.html