<p>" over 75% of the students have at least one psychiatric diagnosis (mainly ADD our ADHD). The remaining kids could probably have one if their parents were so inclined."
-Yes, parents just do not want to deal with real life situations, yes, there are emotions in real adults and more so in kids who did not have a chance to learn to cope yet, they did not learn about their priority list yet, many responsibilites…and they never will as as are dulled down by drugs, parents who blame kids and will continue blaming them instead of teaching them, giving them opportunities to learn, experience obstacles together, guiding thru…</p>
<p>My son asked what he is if there are no more Aspies.</p>
<p>We are all human beings, aren’t we?</p>
<p>But of those 75%, are they all medicated? And of the parents of those kids, how many were pressured to medicate by the schools? I had my oldest diagnosed so we would know what we were dealing with, and to get appropriate accomodations - try telling a teacher how to run her classroom without an IEP or 504 plan. Then the school pressured us to medicate, and we refused. They then tried to blame anything that happened on her ADHD. She was bullied relentlessly, and the day she lost control and fought back (gave the biggest bully a bloody nose), we were told she had poor impulse control, when in fact it was pretty good if she managed to make it through 5 months without hitting him. She was suspended, he was not. I know other families who have been pressured in much the same way. Medicated kids don’t need as many accommodations, and the cost isn’t borne by the schools. Some parents do fight for their kids, but in the face of the school telling them medication is the best option, I’m not surprised many go that route. It’s easier for both the parents and the schools, so who cares if it’s the best long-term solution for the kid? </p>
<p>sakacar - were 75% of the students in most classes diagnosed, or were you just the lucky teacher to get them that year? In our elementary school several years ago, we had one 2nd grade classroom (out of 6) where they placed all of the special ed kids. 60% of the class was diagnosed, but that only represented 10% of the entire grade. Imagine a room with 4 high-functioning autistic kids, 2 partially deaf, 9 with ADHD. There was speculation they were trying to encourage that teacher to retire.</p>
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<p>To make a very long story short, it’s still in there but it now has the name “gender dysphoria,” which is what most trans people already call it anyway and is clearly a far less stigmatizing label. There are still some very problematic aspects, but I won’t get into them here. Overall, I think it’s an improvement, and it shouldn’t affect the ability of trans people to get hormone therapy and other medication prescribed, and to obtain insurance coverage for at least some of the costs of transition – although, as you pointed out, few if any insurance plans cover the major costs anyway.</p>
<p>I have about 10 disorders if not more according to above. I feel very very sick more so that I would not take any drugs. I am doomed, my poor family!</p>
<p>Can a dr clarify the following: some are commenting on labels for everything. I thought it was onky an issue if the symptom, thought, action affected the person over a leriod of time and in different situations? also for insurance purposes often times a label is needed . to miami ( with regards to seeing "antidepressent " on labels…) many meds are used either off label or have different uses. haldol ( commonly or most often used as an antipsychotic) i have also seen it used many times in hospice pts for the relief of nausea. or aldactone ( for hypertension) used to decreasr facial hair in women with pcos. this is just one example but many meds are used off label for something else.</p>
<p>I am trying hard to balance drug abuse by not taking any. I wonder how long it will last, I am conducting scientific experiement!</p>
<p>" However, if you consider entire population, the whole population is way over-drugged for mental and other (physical) reasons. So, if you look at statistics for entire population, the drugs are definitely abused, "</p>
<p>Firstly, the original post is not primarily about drugs. As far as I’m concerned, it is about how we, as a society, decide to pay for what we call mental or behavioral health. </p>
<p>Not well conveyed here, but on the psychiatry forums, is the belief that populations vary tremendously in this regard, particularly those with no resources ( financial social, cognitive, insurance, transportation, education, etc…), vs those with “average” resources, vs those with huge resources. To me, this is especially striking with inattentive ADHD. </p>
<p>I believe this is from a fairly large NIMH study.</p>
<p>[Most</a> teens with mental disorders take no medication](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/03/teens-mental-disorder-medication/1742995/]Most”>Most teens with mental disorders take no medication)</p>
<p>“The first two have objective, observable manifestations. Tooth decay isn’t voted on; you have it or you don’t. It’s observable; no one debates whether a tooth has decay or not. Diabetes is,admittedly, defined in that the number which actually indicates disease might be debated or re-set, but the manifestations of active disease are not–the mechanism by which changes in insulin and blood sugar lead to complications such as kidney failure, heart disease, vision problems, etc, are well-understood and clear”</p>
<p>I sure hope any specialists in these areas will chime in. It seems to me how vision problems, tooth decay and diabetes is defined has changed a LOT over the last several years. so has elevated lipids and blood pressure. When it comes to human experience and behavior, I like to say, once we have an objective test, we call it neurology. Imagine what “we” thought of diabetic neuropathy, “epilepsy” and “dementia” hundreds of years ago. Eneresis, not long ago was considered psychiatric. Encopresis is now on the fence, but most physicians would say is GI. How about migraines, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue? Tourette’s is now a neurological problem rather than psychiatric, but mostly because of advocacy groups. Now we have advocacy groups for a number of disorders currently called psychiatric. </p>
<p>So who get’s to say what’s “real” and what is not?</p>
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<p>Why do you feel the need to mock those who take medications as drug abusers? You think I enjoy saying that I’ve been denied both life insurance and long-term care insurance due to my history? Almost anyone I know who has been on multiple medications for one condition will, in their lifetime, be labeled as a risk to our society. Perhaps you should stop and think about how your comments come across and educate yourself on the struggles of real psychiatry.</p>
<p>Miami, I really hope, for the sake of everyone involved, that no one in your family ever has a mental illness.</p>
<p>shrinkwrap–who gets to say what’s " real" and what’s not?
I think if it’s happening to YOU it’ll be very real. Unfortunately, psychiatry is pretty hard–no broken legs to set, no infection to cure. Sometimes the mental patient isn’t sure there’s a problem either–it’s the people around them who get the final say.
If a medication is involved, did the drug work or did the patient’s symptoms go away to just come back later? The early anti-depressants took 3-4 weeks to work (same as now actually) and the joke was you would be over whatever was depressing you anyways. That’s a joke until you meet the person who literally can’t get out of bed or brush their hair and has been that way for months with no apparent cause.
Is it all in your head? Yeah, that’s where the brain chemicals live–even a car battery needs the right mix to start your car. Someday I hope science is able to get a better fix on those amounts and be able to help more people. The human brain is impressive in that it can manufacture chemicals on it’s own but sometimes it needs a “jump start”.</p>
<p>"-it’s the people around them who get the final say.*"</p>
<p>Sometimes it seems it’s the insurance company that gets the final say. Sometimes it seems particular country or community does. Sometimes it is defined by what is acceptable or adaptive in a particular time and place.</p>
<p>I just got a letter from one company defining who will be reimbursed for what under a diagnosis of autism.</p>
<p>Right on all counts.</p>
<p>Shrinkwrap’s posts (as usual) make a lot of sense. Hey, the pendulum even swings about the benefits/risks of eating eggs.</p>
<p>"Miami, I really hope, for the sake of everyone involved, that no one in your family ever has a mental illness. "
-Very far from being true, very very serious illness, the worst one and absolutely requires drug. As I indicated there are very serious illnesses that require very serious attention, neglect to which will be fatal. Another reason to ponder about severe drug abuse and resources wasted in many situations only because parents are lazy. Yes, there is real mental illness and people will definitely die. Being on drug for this people means to be highly functional. This specific person is a prof. at university. His life would be complete waste without a drug. I am not even sure if he would be alive.</p>
<p>Miami- please stop. Just stop.</p>
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<p>Too late…</p>
<p>I teach one “regular” class in an affluent school in which - no exaggeration - over 75% of the students have at least one psychiatric diagnosis (mainly ADD our ADHD). The remaining kids could probably have one if their parents were so inclined.</p>
<p>I have two kids who are “twice gifted”, possible exacerbated by their traumatic births.
( oldest was ten weeks early after she tied her cord into three knots, youngest aspirated meconium before a high forceps delivery after three days of labor)</p>
<p>We managed to find a private school that would accomodate the oldest after schools in our city informed us that because she was not gifted in all areas, she would not qualify for enriched education & she wouldnt qualify for any extra help because she was not delayed in all areas- she recieved a scholarship, otherwise it would have been much cheaper to move to the city we had just moved from, because they had a very good school system that would have worked for her.</p>
<p>Her sister did qualify for special education with the district, but with her concerns I knew that she would have daily meltdowns attending class with 26 other kids.
I found her a private school that had three classrooms & 20 kids. She stayed there for three years, until I felt she needed more formal service that only the public school could provide.</p>
<p>Now I feel I should have kept her in private school, or again moved back that affluent district, that is more responsive to students and their families.</p>
<p>Dont write off the kids in a school with involved parents, just because they have a diagnosis.</p>
<p>I wonder if the " autistic spectrum " individual in conn this morning was on medication to manage his symptoms or if perhaps he was pressured to “buck up” by foolish individuals who thought they knew best.</p>