The controversy of medicating children

Drugs vs. no drugs - the controversy of medicating children

Therapists and doctors in Canada don’t seem to believe in the diagnosis of childhood bipolar disease. They call the symptoms a myriad of other diagnoses. On Monday, Jan 3, 2011, I was a call-in guest on a blog-radio internet talk show, Together Again with Marsha Dean Walker and Jim Eastwood, with Dr. Stuart Jeanne Bramhall, a psychiatrist and a noted authority on bi-polar disease. Dr. Bramhall is the author of The Most Revolutionary Act. However, I strongly disagree with Dr. Bramhall's denial of the need for medical help with many of these children.

Having been a foster mom in the 1980s, when there was no "childhood bipolar" diagnosis, and having “toughed it through” with many of these children, I am so grateful for the new classification and the medical help with my son, now! It was so damaging to my bipolar daughter’s self-esteem to not have any help with her mood swings and inability to control herself. It affected her self-esteem. It was very hard on our relationship, too.

Doctors said she was borderline personality disorder, etc., etc., but she got no help for her missing brain chemistry. Now that my son has been diagnosed, I look back and realize that my daughter had the same symptoms and behaviors as a child. I hope Canada isn't dis-servicing these children by denying them the available medical help.

While many medications have harmful physical side-effects, talking therapy alone doesn't work for most bipolar children. Their adrenalin-spikes can take them from zero to rage in less than 60 seconds. They tend to be perfectionists with control issues, and often have no tolerance for Murphy’s Law or the Golden Rule (the wants of others). With my youngest son, we have changed his medications multiple times until we found a combination with the best benefits for the least amount of side-effects.

Our goal was to keep his core personality intact by not numbing him out, nor having him sleep all day. He is a humorous, delightful character when he’s not angry, and we wanted to preserve that. He is also very organized, can get the job done, and is a leader (the positive aspects of having OCD).

Sometimes the most difficult children grow up to be the best leaders! The trick is to not squelch their spirit while pointing their energies in a positive direction. Let's help them get there, with their self-esteem intact, with the best possible combination of nutrition, therapies and/or medications.

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/SavingJackJillthecontroversyofmedicatingchildren