The Medicated Child is a moving documentary that demonstrates how so many children have felt victims of drugs that have not been tested to work. It is unfortunate that both the certified and the uncertified doctors are not sure if the strong medications they give the children will have negative or positive outcomes on the children. I think it is overly crazy and wrong for a parent to just try if different drugs will treat the child without proper diagnosis of the child’s problem.
Children, like adults, can suffer high profile psychotic disorders. However, in majority cases, the children may suffer the psychological problem because of the home environment or the developing brain structure (Ptacek, Kuzelova, Paclt, " Fischer, 2009). The number of children in the US being treated for brain disorders is on the rise, though the clinicians are not sure of the right diagnoses for the disorders.
Doctors do not have a clear definition for the term bipolar. Most doctors relate bipolar children with rapid mood swings, explosive irritability, and tantrums. The film presents mesmerizing and terrifying stories with the children’s heartbreaking tales. Jacob grows normally before his teachers starts complaining that he lacks pulse control. At three years the child is still very young and the lack of impulse could relate to just no discipline on his side or by environmental factors. The doctor places him under several drugs at four years after a diagnosis of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Jacob was taking eight different drugs by the time he was only twelve years as he was diagnosed “bipolar”. The end result is Jacob suffering several side effects of the drugs.
At one instance, a doctor tells a bipolar child who was suffering mood swings after the father travels to Iraq that because there was scientific explanation for his disease. Therefore, the doctor suggests that all they can do is to try different drugs and see if they can work. This shows how lame the doctors are lame in treating children with psychic disorders. The doctors need to perform therapies to the children and their parents to try and find out the root cause of their illnesses, and then try and understand how best solve their issues.
The children who are normal initially and only face psychological issues due to their developing brain and the environmental stress are given drugs that end up destroying their lives (Whitaker, 2016). The number of children who are being medicated psychiatric disorders is on the rise. The doctors assume that medication is the conventional solution for children with behavioral issues. There is minimal mention of the alternative approaches to these psychological issues. There are questions as to why the Americans are medicating more than any other nation. There is a suggestion that it might be a marketing strategy by the pharmaceutical industries.
It is clear that children are medicated prematurely even in cases where a child just lacks discipline. It might also be because the child does not spend quality time with the parents. The drugs should be given to the children only in cases where it is absolutely necessary. Some of the drugs may have certain chemicals which may have the implication of blocking the operations of the chemicals that make the brain stable. I would suggest that in a case where I had a child with such disorders, a behavioral therapy would be the first option. Medicating the child would the last option.
References
Whitaker, R. (2016). Medicating Children: If Long-term Outcomes Are Considered, Is This An
Evidence-Based Practice?
https://www.madinamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Medicating-Children.pdf
Ptacek, R., Kuzelova, H., Paclt, I., " Fischer, S. (2009). DHD and growth: Anthropometric
changes in medicated and non-medicated ADHD boys. Medical science monitor: international medical journal of experimental and clinical research 15(12):CR595-9
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40039364_ADHD_and_growth_Anthropometric_changes_in_medicated_and_non-medicated_ADHD_boys
