Have we turned childhood into a disease? - Saskatchewan - CBC News
"This country has become too reliant on pills as a means of solving life’s problems says the editor of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
According to Joel Paris, over the past few decades the Canadian medical establishment has increasingly viewed behaviour problems as biologically caused.
“It’s an attitude that says mental problems are due to chemical (imbalance), drugs restore chemical balances, therefore lets prescribe them,” Paris explained.
“I find it troubling.”
He said it’s likely that decades ago doctors overlooked legitimate mental disorder, chalking it up to merely bad behaviour. But he said now this country has the opposite problem.
“Every nerdy kid is being told... ‘maybe this is autistic spectrum disorder or asperger’s,’” Paris said. “Any kid who’s disruptive in school may be diagnosed with ADHD.”
And he said it’s by no means a problem limited to children. Paris argued that right across the board there has been a “radical over-diagnoses” of mental illness.
“We’re giving psychiatric diagnoses to people who don’t merit them, are just unhappy and may not really require drug treatment.”
Care used to be holistic
Paris said decades ago when he was trained as a psychiatrist there was a more holistic approach to treatment, which involved psychotherapy. However now “we’re only on this one track and a patient can’t get out of our offices without a prescription.”......
(Continued on Link)
I agree and I've noticed this trend for years. I was put on anti-depressants for a year and then got off them.
The reason why I got off them was because I knew I was depressed, I just needed to know why and fix it. I was depressed because of things in my life. I dropped the relationship I was in, dropped the so-called friends, found a better job and got my life on track. That and I stopped taking Ecstasy with those so-called friends. That stuff will make you feel great about life and love everybody around you, but 48 hours later, life sucks, everything is sh*t and you have the worst life on the planet.... and it all starts to add up.
The anti-depressants were more just to allow me to put up with the things I didn't like in my life and that's not really a solution.
Yes, there are people who truly have mental disorders, but Depression itself isn't a mental disorder, it's an emotion, at least that's what it was when I was growing up.
People can't be happy all the time, there are reasons why you get upset, sad and depressed, it's a part of life.
And just because a kid acts out or does things out of the norm from other kids, that doesn't mean they have a mental disorder. I was a show off in school, but I also wasn't very popular either.... I also didn't pay attention to much in school except the things that interested me.
The things that didn't interest me, I just did what I needed to to get a pass so I could keep going and focus on the things I liked.
Did that make me someone with ADHD, ADD or ADIDAS?
In today's world, it probably would make me one.... but I'm an adult now, I am a functioning member of society, I pay my taxes and I haven't chopped anybody up with an axe.
Life isn't perfect and if you truly want life to be perfect, there's a pill for that.
"This country has become too reliant on pills as a means of solving life’s problems says the editor of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
According to Joel Paris, over the past few decades the Canadian medical establishment has increasingly viewed behaviour problems as biologically caused.
“It’s an attitude that says mental problems are due to chemical (imbalance), drugs restore chemical balances, therefore lets prescribe them,” Paris explained.
“I find it troubling.”
He said it’s likely that decades ago doctors overlooked legitimate mental disorder, chalking it up to merely bad behaviour. But he said now this country has the opposite problem.
“Every nerdy kid is being told... ‘maybe this is autistic spectrum disorder or asperger’s,’” Paris said. “Any kid who’s disruptive in school may be diagnosed with ADHD.”
And he said it’s by no means a problem limited to children. Paris argued that right across the board there has been a “radical over-diagnoses” of mental illness.
“We’re giving psychiatric diagnoses to people who don’t merit them, are just unhappy and may not really require drug treatment.”
Care used to be holistic
Paris said decades ago when he was trained as a psychiatrist there was a more holistic approach to treatment, which involved psychotherapy. However now “we’re only on this one track and a patient can’t get out of our offices without a prescription.”......
(Continued on Link)
I agree and I've noticed this trend for years. I was put on anti-depressants for a year and then got off them.
The reason why I got off them was because I knew I was depressed, I just needed to know why and fix it. I was depressed because of things in my life. I dropped the relationship I was in, dropped the so-called friends, found a better job and got my life on track. That and I stopped taking Ecstasy with those so-called friends. That stuff will make you feel great about life and love everybody around you, but 48 hours later, life sucks, everything is sh*t and you have the worst life on the planet.... and it all starts to add up.
The anti-depressants were more just to allow me to put up with the things I didn't like in my life and that's not really a solution.
Yes, there are people who truly have mental disorders, but Depression itself isn't a mental disorder, it's an emotion, at least that's what it was when I was growing up.
People can't be happy all the time, there are reasons why you get upset, sad and depressed, it's a part of life.
And just because a kid acts out or does things out of the norm from other kids, that doesn't mean they have a mental disorder. I was a show off in school, but I also wasn't very popular either.... I also didn't pay attention to much in school except the things that interested me.
The things that didn't interest me, I just did what I needed to to get a pass so I could keep going and focus on the things I liked.
Did that make me someone with ADHD, ADD or ADIDAS?
In today's world, it probably would make me one.... but I'm an adult now, I am a functioning member of society, I pay my taxes and I haven't chopped anybody up with an axe.
Life isn't perfect and if you truly want life to be perfect, there's a pill for that.
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