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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by stjames on September 20, 2000, at 10:32:36
While the popular press uses scare tatics here is the real issue, from the Washington Post:
Don't Be Frightened . . . Of Medicine That Helps
By Patricia Dalton
Sunday, September 17, 2000; Page B01When the Journal of the American Medical Association reported last February that there had been a dramatic increase in the use of psychotropic medications for children between the ages of 2 and 4, I could see what was coming.
The JAMA report, citing data on 200,000 youngsters from different parts of the country, revealed that the use of stimulants such as Ritalin and antidepressants such as Prozac had doubled, in some cases even tripled, between 1991 and 1995. One important fact was lost: The number of preschoolers on those medications was low to begin with.snip
The Office of the Surgeon General reports that of the 70 million children and adolescents in the United States, 6 million to 9 million have a serious emotional disturbance--and only one in five of those receives professional help. By conservative estimates, 3 to 5 percent of school-age children are affected by ADHD and 2.5 percent by mood disorder; only 1.2 percent of these children are treated for ADHD and .3 percent for mood disorder. The proportion affected by depression rises to 8 percent in adolescence, and far fewer get treatment than need it in this age group as well.
Full text at http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17735-2000Sep16.html
james
Posted by JackD on September 20, 2000, at 12:12:16
In reply to Don't Be Frightened . . . Of Medicine That Helps, posted by stjames on September 20, 2000, at 10:32:36
God, I hate how the media distorts information. Leaving important information out is almost the same as lying at times. I get so angry when I read or see reports about Ritalin and how it turns kids into zombies, or how antidepressants make people less human, in a sense, by taking away their pain. That's absolute bullshit. Sure there are patients that are misdiagnosed, or are hypocondriacs, but people don't realize the kind of trouble truly mentally incapacitated patients are facing. My analogy compares drug therapies to wearing corrective eye wear or braces. To some degree you could use the same arguments that people have against medications for mental disorders against people that wear glasses or get their teeth fixed by braces. Sure, people could live without these crutches, but at a what cost? Aren't these aids (glasses and braces), as "unnatural" as medications? Why people think not to fix their problems by taking advantage of our technology is beyond me.
I've always believed in the expression "the masses are asses", and regarding psychiatrics, this especially holds true.
This is the end of the thread.
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