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.