In this modern age of therapists and medication, it would seem that everybody is on some type of medication. Once unthinkable to speak about depression, anxiety, or any other psychological disorder in public, now it can be difficult to find individuals who have spent their lives undiagnosed, even at young ages. Children are branded as hyperactive, anxious, depressed, and a plethora of over disorders that require medication. With so much medication being prescribed, on wonders where is the line between legitimately sick and overly medicated? It has recently come to the attention of the medical community that though there are a number of children in legitimate need of medication, many are being prescribed drugs in lieu of proper parenting or because of a system flaw. In short, the world’s children are being overmedicated.
According to Josette Luvmour’s article, “Nurturing Children’s Well-Being: A Developmental Response to Trends of Overdiagnosis and Overmedication,” the results are conclusive, and today’s youth are being overmedicated . Luvmour states that it is normally at no fault of the child, that they are just being children. The children are effectively being overmedicated because of over diagnosis, followed by the parent’s realization that they now have a tool to control their child’s mood . Essentially, a child may be diagnosed with a mood disorder or ADHD when they are between the ages of seven and ten. These can be difficult years for parents, but with medication, the disorder, as well as the typical pitfalls of raising a child can be easier. When the child begins to outgrow the mood disorder or ADHD, they may be taken off the stabilizer, causing true chaos for the parent, i.e. they have to be a parent. Parents sometimes find themselves taking their child back to therapists in order to seek more medication, not for the child’s disorder, but simply to make parenting easier. The medication was completely unnecessary, thus making the child overmedicated .
Further evidence was included in Judith Warner’s “We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication .” The novel was originally written in defense of parents and children who are on long-term medication, as well as parents who choose to attempt getting their children medication. While it did defend the parent’s wishes, as well as the daily struggles of parents and children, the novel also suggests that many children are silenced by their parents about their lack of symptoms, or prompted to make their symptoms seem more severe in order to get medication . Therapists at this point are essentially listening to the parent’s wishes, spoken through the child. They may not need the medication and there is no way to know, because the parent has coached them. Again, the evidence shows they are overmedicated.
In sum, while there are some children who do need medication, there are many who have outgrown it or may never have needed it at all, but are still on it. The evidence shows that a large portion of the population is overmedicated because parents cannot deal with their children, and because the therapeutic system has yet to come up with a strategy to dispel meddling parents from coaching their children in order to get more medication that they need. While it seems like a harmless thing to do right now, and something that may make the child’s life easier, the medication can have adverse impacts on the child psychological, socially, and physically if they are continuously medicated unnecessarily. Unfortunately, nobody appears to be considering that.
References
Luvmour, Josette. "Nurturing Children’s Well-Being: A Developmental Response to Trends of Overdiagnosis and Overmedication." Journal of Humanistic Psychology (2010): 650-368. Article.
Warner, Judith. We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication. Austin: Riverhead Trade, 2011. Book.
