I hope you do not become a parent of disabled children who require medication to be able to lead healthy and productive lives.
There is a question of whether or not such drugs are being over-prescribed though. I'd say that this is almost certainly true.
They are often used as a quick fix, rather than trying to address the broader causes of the problem.
Are psychiatrists stupid, evil, greedy or all three?
While some are greedy, it is probably a mistake to look at this as the cause of overmedication. There is a system that is creating the demand.
Drug companies want to sell their products, and like to talk them up as a cure for all sorts of ills. Many of the conditions that such drugs are prescribed for are disorders which require subjective evaluation rather than something that can be determined by a yes/no test. Children do have behavioural issues also, and parents seek a cure for these and medication can be an appealing option and may practically demand it from their doctor. Medical 'best practice' can also be incorrect, so even knowledgeable and ethical doctors can be part of the problem.
Putting it all on greedy, stupid or evil psychiatrists is an oversimplification.
What do you think of this? Do these children deserve better? Would athletic and music programs be better alternative to meds? I feel like the psychiatric industry is stealing the childhoods of these kids.
I would guess that the majority of children on psych meds would be better served with a different approach. The problem is that this different approach is not always very easy to implement. As someone who was diagnosed with ADHD myself, I'm not sure it should even be considered a disorder (not that the symptoms aren't real, or that some children wouldn't benefit from medication). Many of the 'symptoms' are actually beneficial in many situations.
The problem is less with the brain, and more with the environment in which the child is being forced to operate. This is where we are really failing these kids. School is a very unnatural environment, sit still, be quiet, read, write. Some people do well in this environment, others do not. For reasons of economics and efficiency, there is a one size fits all approach to education that follows a centuries old model and doesn't necessarily work for all children. If you have to medicate a child to attend school, then perhaps this child's education would be better served in a different environment.
Many psychological conditions are caused by exposure to a particular environment, the problem is it is often easier to medicate than to change the environment. For pre-existing conditions, therapeutic solutions are also probably more effective for most people, but are expensive and hard to access.
So while some children definitely do benefit from such medications, most would be better served with other solutions. Providing these other solutions may prove more difficult in reality though.
