In today's mental health system there is a pattern of fraud and
coercion that takes way the freedoms and dignity of children and their
families. Children are receiving stigmatizing labels and being
prescribed psychotropic drugs with many untoward effects. Psychiatrist
Thomas Szasz, MD made the comment that if an individual hit us with a
blackjack and robbed us of our dignity we would call them thugs, yet
psychiatrists label and drug children and rob them of their dignity and
nothing is said. All in the name of profit. Rarely, if never are the
families given informed consent. Szasz has also stated, "From a
sociological point of view, psychiatry is a secular institution to
regulate domestic relations. From my point of view, it is child abuse."
Families are provided with literature that appears so matter of fact but
is funded by the pharmaceutical companies and tainted with their bias.
According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, the 'support' or should it be
said front group for Children diagnosed with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder received substantial funds from the
pharmaceutical companies: "CHADD received $315,000 from drug companies
in the year ending June 2000, about 12 percent of its budget."
Children
are being beaten, improperly restrained, physically and sexually
abused, and emotionally scarred in residential treatment programs.
Juvenile probation officials are failing to understand the emotional
distress of our children, they are submitting to this "psychiatric
Gestapo". Educators rather than finding new methods of shaping our
children's learning are falling into the trap of psychiatric 'solutions'
as well. Never could it be that a school has simply failed to help a
child learn, rather it is always the child denigrated and labeled as
'disordered'. There are loving and concerned parents, and there are
others who lack love and compassion towards their children. There are
loving and concerned parents who become duped by the 'professionals'.
Below are some actual stories of experiences in my work as a therapist
with children as well as one story submitted to me by a concerned and
struggling parent. I share them to give some perspective as to what is
occurring.
I share this scenario because sadly it is becoming a
frightening reality: A child is considered overly active and has
behavioral issues at school. The school staff may recommend psychiatric
intervention and even go as far as to say that medication is necessary,
even designating which one. The child sees the psychiatrist for a brief
session- it is never examined if the child has any physical conditions,
allergies, etc. Immediately the child is labeled and given a dose of
psychostimulant. The child develops side effects such as weight loss,
insomnia, and possible tics. In order to counteract the insomnia, a new
drug such as Klonidine is added. The child develops emotional lability
and has crying episodes and manic behaviors. The psychiatrist is seen
again for a brief time, and on this visit its determined that 'bipolar
is emerging'. The child is then given Depakote or some other mood
stablizer. The child now must receive regular blood tests to insure that
liver toxicity does not arise. The child is not overly active, he is
quite docile, so it is reported that improvement has occurred. However,
with the combination of drugs, he develops some psychotic like symptoms
where he feels something is crawling on him and has some hallucinations.
The psychiatrist is consulted again, and its determined that bipolar
with psychotic features exists or maybe even the possibility of
childhood schizophrenia. The child is then given Risperdal or another
neuroleptic. Strangely, the child begins developing unusual jaw
movements and muscle rigidity. The parents are concerned and ask the
psychiatrist if this is medication related and if the child is
overmedicated. The psychiatrist brushes off the question and prescribes
Cogentin (used for Parkinson's) to alleviate the neurological problems
but fails to remove the offending agent. The child's behavior becomes
more unusual and bizarre leading to hospitalization where medications
are raised and adjusted and new ones added. Then the recommendation
comes from the psychiatrist that it would be better for the child to be
moved to a residential treatment facility. While in the residential
facility, the child is frequently restrained and is injured, he is
placed with other children with serious emotional and behaviorla
distress. he is discharged home having absorbed a lot of new negative
behaviors from peers, lacking knowledge of the outside world, and with
few skills. So, once the child nears adulthood, it is recommended that
he live in a group home where he can be cared for and the psychiatric
regiment can be maintained. The child has been 'treated.'
Names have been changed to preserve confidentiality:
I worked
with a teen who had experienced sexual trauma by a relative. The
relative was arrested and sentenced. The teen was asked to attend the
setencing hearing and prior began acting out at school. She had an
incident where she left the classroom to de-escalate after an argument
with a teacher. She was restrained by a rather obese school staff. The
teen explained to me that sher was frustrated with the school because a
number of boys were exposing themselves to her and knew about her sexual
trauma and that school staff did not respond. She was charged with
disorderly conduct and had to appear before a juvenile judge. The judge
was made aware of her sexual trauma and her need to be at the sentencing
hearing. He locked her in juvenile detention for 10 days and said, 'we
will transport her from detention to the hearing." The teen ahd no
previous juvenile arrests. In this situation, Attorney Jana Markus was
also became involved and after consulting with the District Attorney's
office was able to secure her release and to encourage that she be
recommended for homebound education. The school district has agreed not
without some contention, particularly trying to continue to charge the
teen with truancy for the time between her leaving the school and
obtaining the recommendation of homebound education.
I received a
call from a mother who had a very young child who was displaying some
aggressive behaviors which caused the day care to have the child removed
until therapeutic services could be provided. The mother took the child
to one agency and was told, "you better medicate this child before he
tries to kill someone." The mother was appalled. I later spoke to this
mother by phone and explained my therapeutic approach. She told me her
situation and the response she had received. As I spoke with her at
length, she said, "You really care about children." I appreciated this
comment but at the same time was saddened as I thought, shouldn't this
be said about every person in the mental health profession? What has
gone wrong?
A client who is a physician and his wife related that
they sought assistance with their child diagnosed with autism and wanted
assistance in aiding him with communication skills. They saw a
psychiatrist who visited with them fr less than 10 minutes and began
writing a script for antipsychotic medication. When the parents noted
that they were not there for medications, the psychiatrist became
belligerent and asked, 'then what do you want and why are you here?"
A
staff of a agency working with mentally challenged adults related to me
that the supervisors insisted that a client in the residential program
was non-verbal and unable to communicate. This client was left
frequently to sit and watch television for hours and privided with no
real attention or work on skills development. The staff stated that she
sought to engage the client in dialogue and found that he was far from
non-verbal and after some work was able to write his name and other
words.
In visiting an agency working with mentally challenged
youth, I discovered that many of these youth's needs were completely
ignored. I recall two incidents of seeing a young girl seated in a
chair, the staff gave her paper and markers, and she would sit in the
same chair for hours. Every visit she would be seated in the same spout
with no one providing attention. Staff would walk past her and she would
try to reach for them or hug them. I always made sure to stop and hug
her and comment on her drawings. In addition, a young boy would pace
incessantly around the building, once again being provided no attention,
and no real work being done to aid this child in skill development.
I
was presented with a child who was having some serious behavioral
issues at school. I began to examine the situation and my assessment was
that this child was in conflict with his teacher and this was the only
cause for the behavioral issues. This child had been previously placed
on Ritalin which was actually cpurt ordered. The child had a very
adverse reaction and fortunatelt was removed. As I have mentioned about
the fraud of ADHD, this child I was convinced had no brain disorder as
the biological psychiatrists would like us to think. This child was
actually quite bright and was on the borderline for qualifying for
MENSA. I began to look at the dynamics at school, as it was only here
that he posed a problem. I learned as well that this child was witness
to abuse and trauma. So, as I thought further I saw that the teacher was
only aggravating this by his actions. The teacher showed hostility to
this child and made him a target, even writing in a journal that the
child was 'fat and ignorant." Was it any wonder that the child exhibited
behavioral issues in a classroom where he was treated with no dignity?
As I suspected, this child was moved to a different school environment
where he excelled. The "ADHD" symptoms all disappeared, so much for
theories about a brain disorder.
I received a call from a mother
who explained to me that her child was in a residential facility and
only recently was determined to have a diagnosis of Pervasive
Developmental Disorder after years of being labeled with 20 assorted
diagnoses. She was given Risperdal as well as Ritalin. The mother
reported that the child has tardive dyskinesia and was experiencing
tremors. The response was to eliminate Risperdal and replace it with a
different neuroleptic. This child is now permanently disfigured, and
will probably never fully recover from the damage done in the name of
'help'.
I was doing an observation of one of my clients in a
school setting when I took note of another child who began a
conversation with me and in the process was showing facial grimaces and
constant repetitive blinking. I pulled the teacher aside and asked her
to examine the child for a minute and tell me if she witnessed anything
out of the ordinary. "Well, he keeps making faces and twitching." I
asked her, "Why may that be?" "Well, um, I do not know!". I asked her to
see what medication the child was taking and if it might be a 'blue
pill'. She asked the child and indeed he was taking Adderall, the cause
of all his grimaces and contortion. What a price to pay to get a child
to 'function' in class!
I was presented with a child who the
teacher insisted was ADHD. The school guidance counselor was called in
and told the mother, "without a doubt, he is ADHD and could benefit from
Ritalin. It helps with academic improvement." I asked the school
guidance counselor if he had actually met the child or was going on
reports. "No, I have yet to meet him." I then asked him if he could name
a study that proved that academic performance could be enhanced and how
he was so sure of the ADHD diagnosis." He responded that he knew of no
such study and that such diagnosis was based on teacher reports. Where
is the science in that? I explained further that studies have actuallt
shown that short term improvement in rote learning does occur, but that
no long term improvement has ever been shown. The family sought a second
opinion from a different psychologist who stated he saw nothing and
sent the boy on his way. In this situation, I saw that the child was
bright and that he learned in a way that the teacher just plainly was
not providing. This idea was reinforced when the following year with a
different teacher his academic performance dramatically increased with
no intervention.
I worked with a delightful 5 year old child.
Prior to him being referred to me, he had been on Risperdal. He had
convulsions in the classroom and was taken to the emergency room. I
happened to read the hospital report and it was deemed that these
convulsions were a direct effect of the Risperdal. The mother was
unfortunately an unconcerned parent, and there were frequent calls made
to Child protective Services regarding abuse by herself and her
paramour. I found it immensely difficult to work in the home with this
mother, and after seeing the child with brusing, I too called the Child
Protective Services but each time they found the cases unfounded. I
would take the child into the community for my sessions. The mother had
described him as a 'little brat', a 'monster', and a kid 'who didnt
deserve sh-t'. She described all these negative behaviors in the home
and yet I never saw one of them in his time with me. Occassionally he
would have some difficulty in the classroom, but with some guidance and
redirection, problems were always averted. It broke my heart to see that
within 5 minutes of me dropping him off at home he would be in tears.
The mother requested me to leave this case, and I reluctantly agreed and
transferred it to a colleague and friend. My colleague informed me that
the paramour was caught sexually abusing the child, and the child was
taken to foster care. I feel that foster care should certainly be a last
option, but here it was a blessing. I recommended that at least one
member of the therapeutic staff he was familiar with continue to work
with him in the new setting and I offered to go and visit him to help
with his adjustment. Though it will take some time for him to adjust, I
think it will be a fresh new start, as he is in a place where maybe for
once he will receive love and compassion.
I was presented with a
very difficult child who had received multiple psychiatric diagnoses and
who had been in residential mental health treatment for the majority of
his life. This child had been heavily medicated and was exhibiting
slurred speech, poor motor coordination, inner feelings of agitation,
and unusual jaw motions and tics. The family was told of the possibility
of tardive dyskinesia. This also became a concern of a psychologist who
observed him. Unfortunately, the parents stated they were never given
informed consent about potential side effects and had never heard of the
term 'tardive dyskinesia'. This neurological problem is a significant
problem affecting individuals taking neuroleptic medications.
It
is challenging to speak the truth in a corrupt system motivated
frequently by greed. I have heard that "if you challenge psychiatry, the
doctors will not refer to us anymore'. Or, as just as is done with
patients, if you see a behavior or idea that you disagree with, label
them and suppress them. Among the labels are "weird ideas",
"non-mainstream", "un-orthodox", 'radical", or "Scientologist." The
Church of Scientology has been active in tackling psychiatric abuse, so
it is assumed that anyone who would dare speak out must be affiliated
with the Church of Scientology. It is very easy to try to look at the
problem as a "Scientology issue' rather than for what it is. For me, it
would not matter if Hasidic Jews, Muslims, or any other group were
speaking out on the corrupt mental health system. The issue should be
whether there is validity to what is being said and there most certainly
is.
Many are unwilling to take any stand or confront anything because it
is more to their advantage to sit behind a desk, make money, and
pretend they are helping.
First, we must stop looking through the
eyes of a medical model, where we see children as broken and disordered
and attempts are made to attributing their behaviors and emotions solely
to a malfunctioning brain. There is no evidence supporting the
psychopathology of a number of disorders. The linkage between the
pharmaceutical companies and psychiatry needs to be evaluated as well as
the information that is disseminated via the research and materials
provided by pharmaceutical company money. The goal should be to examine
the underlying factors of a child's behavior, looking at the child with
dignity and respect, and seeing the child as one in conflict rather than
a person who is disordered. Such stigmatization remains indefinitely,
and labels can often become a self fulfilling prophecy and will follow
our children for years to come and shape the way that they view
themselves and also the way others view them, particularly the
educational system. We cannot look to solely the most cost effective
solution when our children's lives are at stake. Indeed, providing a
prescription may control aspects of behavior and be though to have a
'therapeutic effect' but never gets to the root cause, and whereas it is
far less expensive to medicate than to provide ongoing psychotherapy,
it is appropriate and compassionate counsel that will make the
difference. Second, the realm of psychotherapy must return to its
original roots. The word psychotherapy literally means the healing of
the soul. We must return the soul to therapy, encouraging therapists to
instill within themselves the principles of compassion and empathy that
are crucial for any therapeutic relationship to blossom forth.
Therapists need to be compassionate and creative, and willing to give
additional time and effort to see that a child's needs are met and to
also provide community linkages and ongoing support within their
environment and to encourage the least restrictive setting for our
children. The coercion of parents and families into forced 'treatments'
needs to be eliminated. Third, the educational system must be willing to
accommodate to meet the various learning styles of children and not
seek to place them in a box of rote learning or limit them to one
particulat style. Some children may falter in a visual setting and need a
hands on approach, whereas others may need other methods of encouraging
their effective learning. We must return time, attention, and
individuality to the classroom. Fourth, parents need to continue to take
an active role in the lives of their children, providing ongoing
guidance, validating emotions and not taking a dismissive, disapproving,
or hands off approach. Rather, parents must be involved in helping the
children develop their own sense of being, and being able to assess
themselves. Parents need to avoid nagging their children and becoming
entrapped in the propaganda that their children are disordered and need
drugs to function. Fifth, our society must change in it attitudes. We
are a society where we try to find our answers to ailments within a
simple pill. We are a society that has unfortunately lost sight for the
welfare of our children. We are a societry where we are prosperous, yet
greed often blinds us. Such disorders such as ADHD can be looked upon as
a social construct. 90% of Ritalin sales are in the US. This tells us
that there is something to be examined within our society that needs
correction. Somewhere along the line we have failed our children. We
need to rely less on psychiatry and its devices to solve our problems
and more on what we can do within ourselves- to take a holistic
approach, to understand the child as a whole person- physical,
emotional, and spiritual, and to examine in each of these areas where
there may be difficulties that can be alleviated. We need to rely less
on others dictating the course of our own and our children's lives and
develop workable plan within our own family structure. Nothing will ever
be perfect, but even in the most serious disturbances, love and
compassion can heal much. We must realize that in some situations within
society and within our own lives, we may never be able to evoke
complete change. This is the cause of much distress, not problems
themselves but how we respond to them. To battle those things beyond our
control can lead us to emotional distress, but if we seek live as
principled individuals, we can make a difference.
Dr. Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D. is a noted counselor, scholar,
theologian, and lecturer. Edmunds has been a vocal critic of
bio-psychiatry and an advocate for a more humane and dignified mental
health system. Edmunds' website can be found at
http://www.danedmunds.com
You can listen to Dr. Edmunds' on the nationally syndicated radio
program "Take America Back" at
[http://www.cchr.org/radio/radio_edmunds.mp3]
