Obviously the situation varies for each child. There are cases where a kid clearly needs some help in order to function in school and learn. That being said, however, I think Western culture is out of control with both medication and germophobia.

I think kids need to be kids. They need to hyper, excited, get overly fired up about minor things, run into walls, dig in the dirt, play with bugs and catch whatever virus is floating through the petri dish known as "a school." Our evolution is predicated on our body's ability to adapt and overcome disease. When we shelter kids too much, I think their immune system is weaker because of it. 

As for drugs to control mental issues, it's a huge crutch that is feuled by big-money marketing from the companies that make the drugs. Is your child hyper? Isn't that the way kids are supposed to be? As a race, we seemed to do okay without behavior-modifying drugs for several thousand years. Again, there are cases where this is necessary, but kids are supposed to have the option of being little spazoids if that's who they naturally are. 

Yes, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Yes, I was a lot of work for both teachers and parents. 

Some mental illness needs medication to help, and in those cases, medication is a wonderful and awesome thing. My main point, however, is that we are far too quick to use the words "mental illness." When it's real, help the person. When a child is running around being a little wild thing, that doesn't mean they are mentally ill. 

 Behavioral issues are often addressed clinically instead of socially.  I believe there has been a very radical shift in sphere's of responsibility within our societ that are having a severly detrimental effect on our youth as a whole.  Be it parents viewing it as the realm of the school to teach their children right from wrong, or the absence of involvement as children are increasingly being allowed to function independent of their family units with no boundries specified at all.  

These days, it appears that given the current social networking capabilities of technology, children are leaning less and less upon the family unit as a place for information and structure and more upon their peer group who are honestly mostly prepared to only alienate them more and more from their  their normally established authority figures.

 I also see a vast lack of respect among the youth of today, most likely attributed to many of the thoughts expressed above.

Given the lack of accountability anywhere within the system, I feel it was a natural tendency for schools, hospitals, and the government to clinically assign children with behavorial issues as a medical problem to be addressed by drugs as they offer the path of least resistence and responsibility.  Given, the drug companies probably couldn't be happier, but I believe the problem runs much deeper than that...   

Just my thoughts and ramblings.

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Are that you singing???

 I tend to agree with most of you. Short and sweet summation:

1. Parents need to take a more active role (and greater responsibility) when raising their kids.
2. Doctors need to communicate better with the parents and not let themselves be influenced by the drug reps so much
3. We shouldn't be afraid to prescribe Rxs, but it should be a last resort, not the first thing we turn to.

I turn on the TV and there they are commercials for drugs to make me sleep, lower my chlosterol, cure my depression, enhance my sex life. But wait, I can get off my big butt and get some exercise, which also helps depression and would help my sex life if I had one, i can choose not to eat that pork chop. But it's much simpler to go to the Dr., pay a lot of money, get some pills, pay more money and sit on my butt and wait for the next commercial for some medical advancement to improve my life. I can only hope that once the plaid tanks start rolling the FDO will ban all such commercials

Ugh. There's good point on commercializing drugs for everything. Though sometimes people are fat from a disease, and can't lose weight without drug help - but that's rare. It's mostly just America becoming lazier and lazier. Which is lame. Though I think some people really do need drugs for some things, but America has managed to turn it into a company that makes way too much money nowadays. Like it likes to do to everything (even in our bad economy), it seems.

There's also a good point at not wanting to take responsibility, or trying to control too darn much. Parents don't want to accept that their kids aren't the perfect little angels who always behave themselves, are magically thin, study every night, and get straight A's. Instead, they'd rather try a medicine to "fix" - or rather, mold - their child, so they can be the disgustingly perfect thing they saw in their mind, while at the same time letting their children just sit for hours on end in front of a TV watching shows, or playing video games.

 That's not to say that I don't also agree that some people just plain need that medicine. A kid I knew in middle school, for example. He was on ADHD medicine already, but his ADHD still mostly controlled him. I had one class in a (pretty strong) portable with the kid. He would  fold his arms over each other and just sit there banging his head up and down upon his arms, because he needed to be doing something, and that's all he had. He would shake the whole portable. Even when he ran for gym he still wasn't doing enough. He'd bob his head, almost in a chicken-like pattern, while he ran. He had ADHD really bad, and I'd hate to think how up the wall he was while not on his medicine. 

Or there's people with things like skitzophrenia, who go crazy enough, and are a harm to themselves and to the people around them. They need medicine just to be in the right mind. But America has definitely gone crazy with having drugs for everything and anything, and having taking the drug as the first solution, instead of, in most cases, just letting kids be kids.

"Urban legends go well with parmesan and horror. In fact their name is conveniently one and the same: Stevie."

So if you have ADHD or ADD you are "mentally ill".  Why are you considered "mentally ill"?  Because you aren't the norm!!!!!  Happens all the time in genetics.  You have the wild type and then you have the MUTANT.  The thought being if you aren't like MOST people, there is something wrong with you!!!!!  Not to say there aren't mutants that lead to disease.  At least in genetics we are now getting to the point of saying allelic variation instead of mutant!.  I say defy the norm - be a variant.  I know I am and I am proud of it!!!!!!  Smoochies! 

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Goethe

 that as beautiful raely

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