One of the things I learned when I was studying psychology (4 years man, 4 years, so yes I do know what I’m talking about) was the utter contempt for the over-prescription of legal drugs. That is, professional pill pushers have my scorn (doctors and other health professionals who have made contracts with major pharmaceutical companies and gain commissions based on the amount they fucking sell hence, ‘pill pushers’). However, my major hate (yes, I say hate) is the over prescription of Methylphenidate, it is usually branded by the commercial name of Ritalin.
Methylphenidate is a stimulant that targets the central nervous system. It keeps people calm and allows them to focus (focus my fucking arse). It is mostly used on children suffering from ADHD, when I say children I’m talking about kids between the age of 6-14, fucking 6 to 14-yr-olds. This is beyond stupidity, first off; all symptoms of ADHD described in the DSM-IV are BEHVIOURAL problems, at no point does it state the illness as a fucking bio-chemical or physical. So why the fuck is health professionals prescribing a CHEMICAL altering drug to target a behavioral problem? Why are parents accepting this? Because the world is populated by greedy-soul-sucking dickheads and people who should’ve never been allowed to reproduce.
Children are loud, they move when they are bored, intelligent children will become disruptive in class if they are not being stimulated, children will throw tantrums because they are not happy, they will get angry when something doesn’t go their way. Yes, this can all be very irritating for parents and teachers, but this does NOT give them the fucking right to dope children into submission, to make them into the equivalent of fucking robots. You provide disciplinary actions, you act like a parent and not a fucking stranger who can’t be bothered to go to the effort of caring.
Any drug used in the field of psychology and psychiatry produces bio-chemical disruptions in the normal functioning of the brain. Yes, even the drugs prescribed to people who suffers from manic depression and schizophrenia (while drugs are needed for schizophrenia, as it is an issue of bio-chemistry, the side effects for such drugs are damn horrifying. There’s always a trade-off.) There are millions of children out there doped up to the gills because their fucking parents can’t deal with the reality of children. These children’s brain functions are effectively being disrupted by the use of Ritalin. They are fucking up their children so they don’t have to deal with the reality of children.
I have no problems with the prescription of the drug itself to people who do need it, i.e. people who has suffered from brain trauma. However, to let it be prescribed to parents who can’t handle their hyperactive children makes me go into a blind rage
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chasethestars
chasethestars
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marked consesus among medical professionals here that it's being overdiagnosed
This makes me very happy; during my last year of psych all my lecturers told us in very clear terms that we do not refer a client to a specialist who can prescribe drugs unless we are 100% sure that the client is suffering from an illness that can only be treated by drugs and not just therapy alone. My whole class was very anti-drug by the time we graduated, and there was an underlying belief that even the illness that does require drugs can be aided by simulatenarous cognitive behavioural sessions.
I'm personally a big believer in the 'retrain the brain' process--When I worked with severe autistic adults, one resident went from what could only be described as a plastic state to one of activity and interaction when guided to.
It's all a matter of motivation--My son has started getting 'good notes' in his agenda book from his teacher and surprise surprise--He's a star pupil! I kept telling them they would get more bees with honey with him, he has the personality that won't work for you unless he knows what the reason why he should and what he's going to get out of it.
Ritalin is far too much of a quick fix to be taken seriously, IMO, and I wholeheartedly agree that it's scary there are no real long term studies on the effects of this drug on developing brains. Kids have enough crap to contend with: caffiene, pesticides, food dyes, overabundance of a single enzyme (ie: corn, peanut), 'engineered' foods, processed foods, trans fats--why add yet another chemical to the already deadly mix?