"Its central argument was going to be that children were, by and large, being over-diagnosed and over-medicated, and that doctors and parents and teachers and schools who colluded in labeling kids and treating them with psychotropic medication were taking the easy way out . . .
"Then Warner started talking to parents.
"Warner had heard of parents who jumped to medicate their children at the slightest setback, but she couldn't find any of them — and when she talked to people who had criticized such parents in print, they couldn't point to any either."
[T]here is a world of difference between unique personality traits that may be quirky, annoying, or charming, and actual signs of pathology. [T]he difference between personality and pathology resides in pain, distress, and impairment.
"Because while it's easy to imagine that we live in a society of designer kids hopped up on drugs and diagnoses, in reality we suffer from a system where only a privileged few can get the care they need — and this, not some notion of the Med-Happy Parent, should be the target of our outrage."
We've Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication ~ Judith Warner
No comments:
Post a Comment