http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/09/20/4793496
This article appearing in the latest issue of Newsweek is making the rounds on
many an Internet group and it's easy to see why. The headline begs the
question: If health care professionals can't detect a "mental illness" in a
child, then how do they know it exists? Instead of exploring this question,
author Claudia Kalb adopts the standard line of biological psychiatry in favor
of meddlesome psychiatric interventionism in the lives of children, and
ultimately shoving drugs down their throats. The author starts out the article
with a statement that is incompatible with the headline for the story: "The
sobering reality is that mental illnesses, from depression to autism, do strike
children." Pro-mental health articles like the one below adopt varying lines of
convoluted reasoning, like the example cited above, but no where in them does
the author feel the need to concede that the mental health business is a modern
form of alchemy that magically (I used "unerringly" here originally and
realized it wasn't the best term to use when comparing psychiatry to alchemy.
-Rick) transforms natural human behavior into medical pathology, helps parents
oppress the passion of their children and ultimately leads to the coercive
drugging of people with psychiatric labels, often with the encouragement of
parents.
Kalb does raise some of the ethical questions involved in children's mental
health when she writes, "Mental-health professionals worry over how to treat
their smallest patients: How young is too young to make a diagnosis? Are
children being labeled and medicated too quickly? Are psychotropic drugs, most
of which have not been specifically tested in kids, safe and effective?" But
this is immediately followed up by a dire warning of the "consequences" if we
don't implement the policy of meddlesome psychiatric interventionism in the
lives of children from an official with the pharmaceutical funded parents
organization National Alliance for the Mentally Ill: "The disorders, in the
meantime, are very real. Left untreated, they can lead to academic failure,
substance abuse and even suicide, the third leading cause of death in kids 10
to 19. Says Darcy Gruttadaro of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill:
'We're talking about very serious consequences.'" We must continue to abuse
school children with psychiatric labels and drugs. It's great for mental health
professionals, NAMI parents, and pharmaceutical companies. Terrible for the
esteem and physical health of children. Of course, the fact that there is a
growing opposition to the diagnosing and drugging of children across the nation
is not mentioned in the article. Kalb does not include a single voice from the
growing number of critics of the drugging of children in her article. This
reads like little more than a press release for the mental health movement.
-Rick
Troubled Souls: Mental illnesses are so complex in children that health-care
professionals can't always detect them
By Claudia Kalb NEWSWEEK
Sept. 22 issue - Tyler Whitley, 7, is 4 feet 4 inches and weighs 75 pounds. He
has blond hair, blue eyes, a generous spirit - and bipolar disorder, a serious
mental illness. Highly irritable and angry one minute, he'll be laughing
hysterically the next. Grand illusions kick in: he can leap to the ground from
the top of a tall tree or jump from a grocery cart and fly. And then there are
the heart-wrenching bouts of depression, when Tyler tells his parents, "I
should never have been born. I need to go to heaven so people can be happy."
IF ONLY TYLER could be happy every day of his life.
The sobering reality is that mental illnesses, from depression to autism, do
strike children. And they strike hard. In the United States, one in five
children and adolescents has a mental disorder that causes at least some
impairment. Many have more than one. The good news: kids' mental health is
finally getting some attention. The Office of the Surgeon General has called
for increased awareness and improved services for kids. Advocacy groups are
battling stigma and demanding better detection. Scientists are learning more
about genetic and environmental triggers - and about what the disorders look
like in children, and how to treat them. "We've made major progress in the last
30 years," says Dr. Daniel Pine of the National Institute of Mental Health, but
"we cannot ignore the fact that we have serious work to do."
The challenges are staggering. While pediatricians and school officials are at
the front lines of children's health, not all are trained to see the warning
signs. In kids, symptoms of mental disorders can be nonspecific - stomachaches
and irritability - and can blur from one disorder to the next. Parents and
teachers often can't tell the difference between a normally rambunctious child
and one who may be seriously ill. As a result, less than 20 percent of children
with mental illnesses get the care they need. "The myth is it's a phase,
they'll grow out of it," says Anne Marie Albano of the NYU Child Study Center.
"A lot of them don't."
Mental-health professionals worry over how to treat their smallest patients:
How young is too young to make a diagnosis? Are children being labeled and
medicated too quickly? Are psychotropic drugs, most of which have not been
specifically tested in kids, safe and effective? Researchers are working on the
answers. The disorders, in the meantime, are very real. Left untreated, they
can lead to academic failure, substance abuse and even suicide, the third
leading cause of death in kids 10 to 19. Says Darcy Gruttadaro of the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill: "We're talking about very serious consequences."
ANXIETY DISORDERS
Anxiety disorders affect 13 percent of kids between 9 and 17. The category
includes an array of conditions, from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to
social anxiety. OCD is among the easiest to spot. A child with the disorder
might wash his hands repeatedly or perform a ritual — counting to 25 every
time he gets on the bus. In very rare cases, children contract sudden and
intense bouts of OCD from strep infections, but in general the condition
appears to be triggered by a mix of genes and environment. One of the unique
and challenging characteristics: "Kids know what they're doing doesn't make
sense," says NIMH's Dr. Susan Swedo, "and they hide it from their parents."
Every parent knows about separation anxiety, and it's perfectly normal in
infants and toddlers. But when a 9-year-old begins to fear that her mother is
going to die and refuses to go to school, the condition may warrant treatment.
Kids with social anxiety disorder want to avoid school for a different reason:
they worry intensely about being judged. Even the simplest tasks, like eating
in the cafeteria, can bring on intense embarrassment and sweating.
Not all anxiety is so specific. Kids who worry excessively about everything,
from homework to earthquakes, may fall into the category of generalized anxiety
disorder (GAD). One of the telling traits is incessant fears about the future.
Like other anxiety disorders, which often clump together in kids and can be
linked to depression, GAD must interfere significantly in a child's life and
last for at least six months in order to fit the official psychiatric
diagnosis. Treatment consists of cognitive behavioral therapy (coping
strategies for parents and kids) and, in some cases, medication (typically
antidepressants).
DEPRESSION AND BIPOLAR DISORDER
Depressed kids don't necessarily look like depressed adults: they're often
irritable, rather than sad and withdrawn. Experts are now hunting for the
disease's earliest footprints. In a study of preschoolers 3 to 5, Dr. Joan Luby
of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identified depression
through play. Luby had children watch two puppets discuss their emotions, then
asked the kids to point to the one that sounded most like them. The study found
that depressed kids showed far less pleasure in play and some explored themes
of death. "Preschoolers are inherently joyful beings," says Luby. Too often,
"parents don't consider that a child is depressed." No one is suggesting that
preschoolers be given Prozac (box, page 70). But given the disease's chronic
effects, early recognition could ward off problems down the line.
Bipolar disorder, an ongoing cycle of depression and mania, used to be thought
of as a disease that began in early adulthood. But psychiatrists are now
detecting it much earlier, especially in kids with a family history since the
disorder is so highly heritable. "These kids have always been there," says
Martha Hellander of the Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, an online
support group. "They just haven't been properly identified." The illness is
often confused with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but bipolar kids
are more prone to elated moods, grandiose thoughts and daredevil acts. While
bipolar adults have fairly well-marked periods of depression and mania, kids
may have more rapid cycles. First-line treatment: mood stabilizers, and
possibly antipsychotic or anticonvulsant drugs. "When children get properly
treated, they feel better," says Dr. Jean Frazier of McLean Hospital in
Belmont, Mass. "Parents will say, 'I finally have my child back.'"
BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS
Concentration problems and hyperactivity can be symptoms of diagnosable
disorders. ADHD, the most well known, affects 3 percent to 5 percent of
school-age children, the majority of them boys. No, bad parenting isn't the
cause, says Stephen Hinshaw, a child psychologist at the University of
California, Berkeley. "Parents cause ADHD largely from the genes they pass on."
While critics worry about an ADHD epidemic, experts say the condition may be
underdiagnosed, especially in girls who are more likely to be daydreaming than
hyperactive. The consequences can be disastrous: poor school performance, low
self-esteem and substance abuse.
Oppositional defiant disorder can look like ADHD, and some kids have the
inflammatory mix of both. But kids with ODD aren't necessarily inattentive.
Instead, they exhibit a relentless and extreme pattern of defiance, anger and
lashing out. The aggression is even more pronounced in a condition called
conduct disorder, which tends to be diagnosed later, as kids enter adolescence.
These children are not only unruly, they destroy property, harm animals and
beat up other kids. While stimulants may be prescribed for ADHD, there are no
specific drug classes for ODD and conduct problems. Behavioral therapy,
including parent training programs, can make a world of difference.
There's still a long way to go in the quest to conquer children's mental
illnesses. Tyler Whitley's mom, Leah, is taking it one step at a time. Early
on, doctors said Tyler's moodiness was "just a little boy being a little boy."
Finally, after several difficult years of searching for answers, her otherwise
sweet and funny son has received a proper diagnosis. "This illness is
nightmarish," says Whitley, but with the help of our doctors, treatment and
family support, we can get through it. And maybe one day Tyler can experience
the happiness he - and every other child - deserves.
With Joan Raymond.