What is your opinion on giving kids (14 and under) medication such as Prozac, Ritalin, etc?

Question

I'm writing a paper for my child psych class on a controversial child psychology issue. My issue is prescribing serious medication to children, such as Prozac. Please give me your point of view on the subject, and also if you know any good sites for more information. Thank you.

(By the way, I'm against the majority of meds prescribed)

Answer 1

I can tell you from personal experience- I was against Ritalin. My son was doing terribly in school, not just grades but his social development because of the behavioural issues. I put him on Ritalin (after 4 years of debate with his doctor and school). Now he gets really good grades and is able to maintain friendships. It has made an amazing difference in him and he is a lot happier. (yes we discuss it and he is involved with every choice we make regarding his meds)

Answer 2

Excellent question! (I am an adult who takes Prozac, and, let me tell you, it has made all the difference, because I have organic depression--the kind you have for life.) Now, to get to the issue of children and meds. First of all, I think children are diagnosed at a far higher level with ADD, ADHD, etc than is realistic. My daughter, for example, who is homeschooled, would probably be diagnosed as such if she were in regular school, but I know she is just a very active person. She has no trouble concentrating, learning, reading, watching TV, etc, but by several of the standards other children have been diagnosed with, she would probably be diagnosed as having a "problem". I grew up with a brother who was diagnosed as "hyperactive", which is what is was called way back when, and, believe me, he really was. He was given Ritalin, and, if he hadn't been, he would not have been able to function at anywhere near a "calm" level. And Ritalin is not without its long-term side-effects, so there is a trade-off, but it was all that was available back then. I can tell the difference between an active child who has not been properly disciplined, a child who is bored and just needs more to do to stimulate his active, intelligent mind, and one who is truly hyperactive. For those children, it is important that they be properly diagnosed and treated, monitored carefully when it comes to the medications they are receiving, and it is also important that they not be lumped into a group or stigmatized (this happened to my brother). Perhaps, too, better alternatives can be found, as in meds that deal with the root cause of the hyperactivity, rather than suppressing it. However, if you are asking if I think these meds are being used and abused and overprescribed, my answer is a definitive yes. This is all observational on my part, and is not based on any objective scientific data that I am aware of, but I feel it is how society is dealing with (at times) the lack of parental involvement in children's lives and how it is also dealing with teacher's decreasing ability to administer discipline in the classroom, as well as an increase in overall classroom size. As to the issue of antidepressants being prescribed to kids (14 and under). Now that is a loaded question. I had severe OCD as a kid, the worst being when I was in Jr High School. I have suffered from depression, to varying degrees, for years, too. Since these are both organic in nature, and it is know that certain events can make both worse, I wonder if I had been properly diagnosed if some sort of med(s) might have helped me? Probably not, considering what was available in the past, although I'll never know, or even if they would have considered such a thing. So I guess my answer is this. In younger children, because their brains are still developing, this is not something I would consider to be such a great idea, even in adolescents. The problem is, however, that there are kids out there, like I was, who need help. And the long-term effects on developing brains (since these drugs are, on the whole, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are impossible to predict. Perhaps research is needed that will specifically target treating young children and adolescents who have true psychological difficulties that would benefit from properly prescribed and closely monitored meds that are tailored to them, rather than using adult meds.

Answer 3

My son has ADHD and has taken Ritalin from the time he was 7 years old to the present (age 26). If a child needs medicine - whatever the medication is - then that's what he should take. I don't think medication should be subject to a popularity contest or the whims of the public; it's a question, like so many others, for the patient/parents and a doctor. When the general public has walked in my son's shoes AND has a medical degree - then maybe they're entitled to an opinion, but until then, they need to butt out.

Answer 4

I am totally against giving children medications such as ritalin and prozac at any age unless they have serious conditions that cause them to hurt themselves or others. I am the sister of an AD/HD brother, the wife of an AD/HD husband and the mother of an AD/HD 7 year old boy. Both my brother and husband were treated with ritalin. My brother was also treated with valium. While he was on medication he was like a zombie...he was like an empty shell. I can't imagine medicating my child and draining him of his personality.

Answer 5

I think the correlation between the the decreasing amount of time parents spend with their children and the increasing amount of children on medication is something that cannot be ignored.

All these drugs- miraculously under patent and requiring life time prescriptions- has to be questioned-

Answer 6

my opinion goes lik this...i feel that giving kids medication or diagnosing them with adhd/add is a cop out for raising your kids. not all kids will be able to sit still and there is a neat thing now called re-directing. many child care facilities use this method to get kids to refocus. if we, as a society, teach kids at a young age thatthey can act how ever they want to and its ok bc they have adhd, then they are going to be crap as adults and think that they can act the same way as they get older. parenting is a hard job and not everyone is cut out for it. people need to think long and hard about it before they have kids rather than haviung kids, not wanting to work at raising them so they give them meds to calm them down.

Answer 7

Prozac is too readily prescribed. I have several times in my life been prescribed this drug because I said I was depressed. I was , but it was because of circumstances. Not a chemical imbalance.

Answer 8

Most kids do NOT need to be medicated - but psychiatrists and school districts use those drugs as a quick and cheap way to discipline kids by doping them up.

What kids need is better staffed schools and afterschool programs - but teacher's salaries cost money and narcotics are cheaper.

So that's why they dope the kids up!