Mental illness in our young people is a serious problem with 27,000,000 postings on the internet under ‘Mental Disease in Children’.
Symptoms of mental illness range from nervous tension or stress, temper, crying, hyperactivity, digestive disorders, to more serious signs such as hallucinations, nightmares, fear, anxiety, depression, self-arm and intellectual impairment.
Baffled by the extent of psychological disturbances or behavioral irregularities, psychiatrists and doctors are now prescribing potent drugs for many mental health problems diagnosed in infants and children even before the age of puberty. This is a dangerous practice that cannot replace the long term needs and simple disciplines that are possible within a loving home environment.
We are now hearing more about bipolar disease that manifests in symptoms of mood changes that fluctuate between depression and mania, or euphoria. It is not hard to apply these symptoms to an adult and that possibly many in our population are suffering in this way as a result of stressful modern conditions, but in the U.S. there are 800,000 children diagnosed as suffering bi-polar disease and given drug medication accordingly, even though they are aged less than ten years of age.
In Australia at a forum involving child psychiatrists from Australia and New Zealand, 90% were of the opinion that Bipolar disorder is over-diagnosed and therefore overmedicated. We are fortunate that there is a more conservative attitude that allows common sense to remind us of the many contributory factors influencing young minds and the psychological make up of pre-puberty infants and that our professionals are still capable of being shocked to think that there is basis for a report of bipolar being diagnosed in babies of only 2 years of age.
All psychiatric drugs have a downside, both in the immediate and long term side effects. In addition, many cause severe reactions when withdrawing from their use.
We trust that it is the majority of both professionals and members of the public that remain cautious about exposing children to mind changing chemicals that could stimulate future litigation based on the possible claim of physical violation or medical abuse of children.
Not only for ourselves, but as parents we should demand to know the statistics related to any drug prescribed, as with any other health measure, including vaccinations. We should have this information before allowing action so that we can assess for ourselves the risk and degree of risk of side effects and long term use of any medical technique offered in general use by the medical or naturopathic profession.
Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: The complete Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions.
