When it comes to giving psychoactive drugs to children, I think it best to follow this advice: PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION. Most anti-depressants are given to children "off-label", meaning that they haven't been tested in children or approved for use in children. In general, I think this is a dangerous practice, as recent cases have shown.
On the other hand, some children genuinely have mental illnesses with neurophysiological causes--e.g. bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depressive illness. ADHD is considered a learning disorder, not a mental illness, but there is good evidence that it is also neurophysiological in nature. These are genuinely biological and genetic in origin,and they are not the fault of the parents (unless you can blame a person for the genes they pass on to their children). In CAREFULLY DIAGNOSED cases of these disorders, medication should be considered as an option.
I do agree that children are often misdiagnosed (for instance, high-functioning autistic kids may be misdiagnosed as having ADHD. These disorders can look similar symptomatically, but their neurological causes are very different, and so if you give ADD meds to an autistic kid, bad things may happen...) I agree that medications are over-prescribed and that some children's misbehavior can be attributed to societal and educational and parental failings...despite everyone's best intentions. I recently read a very good book called "Should I Medicate My Child?" written by a child psychiatrist who thoroughly examined the pros and cons of this issue. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this question. Another interesting book is "The Bipolar Child," which makes you realize that there are some children who suffer terribly from this devastating mental illness and that the right combination of drugs can be a godsend for the children and their families.
In general, I think this is a question that really needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
On a personal level, I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 30, and while I have benefitted from taking Adderall (which is basically just a very low dose of speed), I'm actually glad that it wasn't given to me when I was a child.
Peace.



.




Bookmarks