I swear I'm not making this up...

[logomancer]

So I'm going through one of the free weekly newspapers Charlottesville has, and I come across an ad for a study testing medication for the treatment of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). ODD, which is found in children ages 6-17, has the following symptoms:

• Loses temper
• Argues with adults
• Actively defies rules
• Deliberately annoys people
• Is angry and resentful
• Is touchy and easily annoyed
• Blames others for his or her behavior

So, astonishingly, being a kid is now a mental illness. The thing that bothers me is that they might have medication for it. How can you medicate someone for being defiant? This will go over well with the parents, though, as they like medical excuses for their kids' problems. Makes them feel like they're actually being parents by "helping" them.

This is the problem in this age; parents think their kids aren't perfect enough, and look for shortcuts to perfection. Kids too hyper? Give them Ritalin! Too sad and moody? Give them Prozac! And now they've found a disease -- and medication, eventually -- for kids that are too defiant. Good for the parents looking to show up their peers at the PTA meetings by showing off their perfect children. Bad for the kids, whose brain chemistries are being totally fucked with by the cocktail of medications they're on so they can "get better".

I guess this is my point: If parents would stop being so narcissistic and actually interact with their kids, find out why sometimes they're sad and moody, talk to them about their problems, be there for them, and recognize that they have thoughts and feelings, maybe things would be better.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Comments

[pathia.livejournal.com]

What ever happened to just disciplining children?

Oh wait I forgot, that's now considered child abuse.

[slitherrr.livejournal.com]

i agree that ever since parents stopped parenting, the world became a lesser place.

of course this isn't a problem just for this age, it's been an issue since people started having babies i'm sure, but the availability of western-style treatments probably doesn't help things. i'm pretty much diametrically opposed to this country's health system... it stands for so many good things, but has developed into something, hmm, less than ideal.

[robertliguori.livejournal.com]

Hmm. While I trust the collective health care / psychoanalitic machine as far as I can throw it (yes, the whole thing, including the buildings), they may be on to something. I mean, while I expect the goverment to be attempting to turn us into chemically loyal drones as the next person, children really are little bastards. If they really can make better kids through drug therapy, why not go with it? I mean, it wasn't that long ago that there weren't autistic kids, just antisocial ones, and no mentally retarded kids, just stupid ones. Perhaps the concept of the hellion we accept as normal for this age will be viewed as primitive and against all reason.

Of course, 90% of parental problems are caused by dumb-ass parents. But what if they could do something about the other 10%?

[slitherrr.livejournal.com]

but what about the large percentage of that ninety that will believe their particular hellion to have this disease when it's in actuality a normal phase of development? not that i believe it's ever a disease, but even conceding that sometimes it's a chemical imbalance, how willing will the doctors be to diagnose the ones that "need" the medication differently from the ones that "don't"? especially with parents clamoring for an easy solution to their problems.

i've seen plenty of instances where a kid's shortcomings were blamed on chemicals when they would be just fine with a little support and understanding from their immediate ancestors, yet the western view that drugs can treat any abnormality prevails, because no parent wants to take responsibility for his or her actions.

it makes me sick, man, sick.

and what about the side-effects of putting this shit into their bodies? hasn't anyone ever given thought to the fact that maybe our bodies are designed to eventually work things out, and that trying impatiently to speed the process with our severely limited understanding of human physiology is more likely to cause harm than good? the answer is yes, people have, but they've decided to weigh convenience against benefit, the same way that a fat man eats a big mac believing that his choice of a diet coke will keep him from gaining weight.

/me hates people