Medicating Kids should be an absolute last resort no matter what. All other options, such as therapy or a change in environment or routine, should be exhausted first. A parent should never put a child on medication simply because they cannot handle the child's behavior. However, if the child is exhibiting behaviors like self-injury or hallucinations or other severe behaviors, medication should be used to preserve a normal quality of life.
My sister is on medication for ADHD,
but I still don't know if I agree with that decision. When she was
three or four, we took her to a psychiatrist because she would have
multiple tantrums each day. [To be honest, I always thought it was
because my parents let her do whatever she wanted.] The doctor tried
therapy first, which didn't really work all that well. She had us
record Melanie's behavior every day for a month before deciding to
put her on medication. The first medication she was on curved her
appetite to the point where she was skin and bones. With the second
medication, she would lay on the couch after school each day and say
she just wanted to rest. I had never seen a child so still and
lifeless, and I think seeing her that way is what made me decide that
I did not agree with medicating her. She is now on a medicine that is
not actually behavioral, but rather a very low dose of blood pressure
medication called Intuniv. She has a healthy appetite and is still
very active, but I do still think that she only acts the way she does
because she is never told no. I do, however, agree with the way the
situation was handled; and I am glad that medicating her was the very
last thing they tried, rather than the first.
In September of 2010, a boy named Kyle and his mother were interviewed by the New York Times about medicating kids. At 18 months, Kyle was on about six different medicines because the doctor claimed he was autistic, bipolar, hyperactive, as well as an insomniac. They put him on two sleeping medications, antidepressants, an antipsychotic, and one pill a day for attention deficit; all by the time he was three. The side effects from the medicines made Kyle gain an obscene amount of weight. He also would drool a lot and seem heavily sedated, said his mother. She said that even at three years old, he barely knew how to speak. He couldn't say simple words like mama or dog; words that arguably, he should have known by the age of one. When she realized that Kyle was suffering from all the side effects, she had the doctors wean him off of all the medications except one for attention deficit. At the time of the interview, he was a normal, happy six-year-old boy. His mother said that if she could go back and do it all again, she'd have tried therapy first and never put Kyle on medication (Wilson, Duff). This story is proof that more often than not, medicating a child should be the last resort. The side effects of these strong antipsychotics and other medications designs for adults could rob a kid of the normalcy and personality that they should be guaranteed.
Also interviewed were seven-year-old Jessica and her mother Elaine. Jessica was put on an antipsychotic at the age of three. Later in the process however, it was discovered that Jessica was not psychotic at all; rather, she had developmental delays as well as an unstable home life. Because of this discovery, Jessica was weaned off the antipsychotic and participated in therapy until she was six, which was too old for the free therapy program. In the interview, the therapist explains that therapies are much more expensive than medication, which is often why low-income families choose medication over therapies. Elaine told NYT that medicating children is a good idea so that the mothers can have a break from the disruptive behavior of their children, and even if doctors asked her to, she would not take Jessica off medication (Wilson, Duff). A doctor clearly stated that Jessica was not psychotic, but instead had developmental delays and an unstable home life. Yet her mother put her back on medication. Children should not be medicated so that their mother's can "have a little break," as Elaine put it. They should be medicated only if the child truly has a disorder.
In one CNN interview with Dr. Shan Yin, he said that using medication this way can be compared to abuse. He claimed that often the motive of using drugs on children "could widely vary, such as overwhelmed parents looking for a break, amusement, or punishment." He said that "Anytime you're giving a medication for any other purpose other than for
what it's explicitly prescribed for, you run the risk of harming your
child." Jill Smokler, mother of a 1 1/2 year old girl, said that medicating your kid is "not the end of the world." She blogged about how giving your child Benedryl or cough syrup so they'll sleep is a selfish thing to do, but "sometimes you just need it" (Park, Madison).
A boy named Gavin, 11 at the time of the interview, took 119 pills each week. He has Asperger's syndrome and schizoaffective disorder, which is similar to schizophrenia. Without the medication, he couldn't tell the difference between reality and hallucinations, and often tried to jump out the second story window in his house, saying he could fly. His parents say that without the medication, Gavin wouldn't have a very good life (Park, Madison). This is a classic case where the child clearly needs medication, and there aren't really any other options.
As in the case of my sister, all options should be tried before medication. As in the case of Kyle, if the medication is ruining the child's everyday life, they should be weaned off and either put on different meds, or try a different way of coping. Jessica's mother should not have her daughter on medication just to get a break from her, but there are cases where the child does need help and medication is the only thing that can be afforded. There are cases like Gavin where medication is the only answer, and it should be used so that the child's life can be as normal as possible. But medication should only be used if absolutely necessary.
WORKS CITED
Park, Madison. "Drugging Kids for Parents' Relief Called Abusive." CNN.
Cable News Network, 22 July 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/22/drugged.children.parenting/index.html>.
Park, Madison. "Little People, Lots of Pills: Experts Debate Medicating Kids." CNN.
Cable News Network, 24 May 2011. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/23/kids.overmedicated/index.html>.
Wilson, Duff. "Child’s Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Young." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 1 Sept. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/business/02kids.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=homepage&src=me>.
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