Essay on psychotropic drugs
One of important healthcare issues in the American society is the tendency to prescribe psychotropic drugs to children who are diagnosed with mental illnesses. This is a complex and ambiguous problem; on one hand, mentally ill children can harm themselves or other people and in such cases medications help to reduce health risks and to improve the quality of life for such kids. On the other hand, the long-term impact of psychotropic drugs on children is not properly researched, and therefore the tendency to prescribe psychotropic medications to children might cause adverse health consequences in future (Barnett, 2010). The key thesis of this paper is the following: over-medicating children is inadmissible, and the regulations for prescribing the medications to children should be toughened; it is also necessary to introduce serious responsibility for not following these regulations.
The number of children with serious mental diagnoses is increasing along with the proportion of children who are prescribed psychotropic medications. One aspect of this problem is the growing number of mental diagnoses among children; for example, the rate of children who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder increased during the recent decade (Frontline, 2009). Furthermore, the rate of using antidepressants for children above 6 years more than doubled since 1996 (Park, 2011). The question whether these diagnoses are justified is still left open. Children experience changes of mood and extreme emotional states more frequently than adults, and therefore mental diagnoses in children should be specifically justified.
Furthermore, antipsychotic drugs which are efficient for adults might have adverse results for children’s health. There are few long-term research studies exploring the impact of antipsychotic drugs on children. Although the use of such drugs might lead to short-term improvement of mental health of children with psychiatric disorders, the functioning of their nervous system might be suppressed in the long-term perspective, and the consequences of such suppression are likely to be more severe compared to the short-term adverse consequences of mental illness.
One more reason to oppose the use of psychotropic drugs in children is the probability that some parents might want to make their kids more manageable and controllable in a simple way instead of paying more attention to their children and using reasonable parenting practices. According to Park (2011), it is only justifiable to use psychotropic drugs in the situations when the child’s behavior is tremendously disruptive and is indeed caused by mental illness. Furthermore, Park (2011) states that there are many ADHD cases (which is on the rise among children) when medication is not required. In all cases when it is possible to avoid using psychotropic drugs in children, it is best to choose other ways of treatment because of potentially disruptive adverse effect on the future health of these children.
Reinberg (2012) opposes the view that American children are overmedicated and illustrates his claim with the statistics of medication use for ADHD treatment among children. According to Reinberg (2012), only 14% of children with mental illnesses receive medications. Basing on these data, Reinberg argues that American children cannot be viewed as overmedicated because the majority of those children who are diagnosed with mental disorders do not receive medications. However, such statements only illustrate the fact that the majority of children with mental disorders were not prescribed medications yet. However, these statements explain neither more than 6-fold increase of rate of ADHD children on medications during the recent two decades nor the fact that the majority of prescribed medications relate to such disorders as behavior disorders, ADHD, eating disorders, anxiety and substance use disorders (Reinberg, 2012). Furthermore, the majority of children who are on drugs are not receiving alternative methods of treatment.
While the effects of psychotropic drugs on children’s health are not studied and are not backed up by valid research, it is not safe to prescribe medications to children with mental illnesses. Along with the potential deterioration of their health and drug addiction, the issues of over-medication have one more negative consequence: readily available medications reduce the incentives for alternative, safer and milder methods of treatment (such as psychotherapy). In addition, the use of medications might be tempting for parents who fail to provide proper care for their children. Therefore, the regulations pertaining to prescribing psychotropic drugs to children should be made very strict in order to eliminate any possible variants of misuse or excess use and to make sure that the rights and future of children are properly protected.
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