We all have our beliefs on which supersedes the other. This subject is one that’s a matter of discussion in many fields and mental health is no different. If you have a child that has behavioral issues, there is no doubt in my mind someone has broached the subject of medication at some point. I’m not a doctor, so at no point will I advise for or against what one should do in this context, but I can provide you with some facts and also experiences I’ve had and have witnessed.
There is special interest everywhere in the mental health field
There’s somewhat of a mental health “bible” that’s called the DSM-V. This is the most recent version at least. We know that there’s a certain amount of special interest involved. 69% of those who created the DSM-V reported having financial ties to pharmaceutical companies. I will say that those that create it say that it does not influence their decisions at all.
I’ll let you decide whether or not you think that’s true. The relevance of this is that in order to be prescribed psychotropic medication in most states, the client needs a diagnosis, and all that needs to happen in order to increase the frequency of a diagnosis is to do something such as changing the amount of environments symptoms appear in. For example, if a diagnosis requires symptoms to appear in 3 environments, for a child that’s going to be the home, school, and community. If you change that to 2 then it only needs to be at school and in the community. There could be many reasons as to why a child has issues in social environments outside of the home, and that small change could drastically increase the amount of diagnoses and drastically increase the amount of sales of the drug that treats that diagnosis.
The environment can always be improved; genetics can not
There’s this field called “Epigenetics.” It’s not discussed close to enough in mental health or any other health field, frankly. We know that what genes that are expressed can change based on the environment and our experience. This is quite relevant when trying to work with a behavioral child, since their experience will change frequently and sometimes significantly in a relative short amount of time.
With that out of the way, no matter if there is a diagnosis, or what that diagnosis is, there is one universal rule that always applies. More work can be done on the environment. I’m a professional parent and I still have plenty of room for improvement. We all do. Children and parents alike. So even if one states that you or your child should be on this or that medication for you or their mental health, it’s going to take more than the medication itself.
The biological and environmental factors will affect each other
I’ve never had a client that was put on medication and then everything was perfect 3 weeks later. Every single time, something in the environment needs to change as well. That environment doesn’t always have to be in the home. Don’t get me started on school buses and how nearly every problem that happens at school happens on one of those yellow shuttles. Either way, we all can always get better no matter how good we are at parenting.
When evaluating what is happening in an environment and why, one needs to analyze all variables contributing to the behavior. When we begin to have an understanding of what’s going on in the home, school, and community; medication being introduced can make it difficult to understand why a behavior change occurs. First of all, you typically need about 3 weeks or so for the individual to adjust to the medication. There can be a lot of ups and downs during that time.
Someone getting the diagnosis right the first time can save a lot of time and trouble
There is also the idea that a medication only works if the prescribed individual has the diagnosis associated with it. Some may find it wild that you would prescribe a child with AD/HD stimulants, but the idea is that if they do in fact have AD/HD it will help, but if they don’t it may not help or make things worse.
After that, you need to figure out which medication within that specific category of medications work for the client. Or don’t, and when they don’t the reaction can be a bit unsettling for all involved to say the least. Fortunately, there are some companies that allow you to send a swab of DNA to them and they’ll send you a list of psychotropic medications that will and will probably not jive with your body.
This is a big deal, because I’ve seen many families that are told to just guess and check and it can be a real roller coaster. On that subject, I’ve witnessed many kids that have long term side effects from the medications they take, so I will not tell you whether or not your child should be on medication, but I will tell you to be very careful if you choose to follow this path. I myself was one of these kids and it basically stole my childhood. I was a zombie until I got off all of them at 18.
Refrain from placing your child in negative categories
One thing that tends to get me into a bit of a frenzy is when someone decides to adopt a child and then when they have some behavioral issues, they tell the child it’s because they have their parents genes. This happens all too often, especially when these children are often adopted because their parents are incarcerated or no longer living (and they don’t always die in the best of ways.)
This is a surefire way to turn that child into what their parents are or were like. Children, people most often become what others expect from them, and telling a child they have no choice but to be like an undesirable character is not only completely untrue, but it is a downright awful thing to do. This also applies to associating a child with negative behaviors of those who are around or living. Don’t do it, because you’ll get your wish.
All authorities can be counterproductive to a child’s behavior
I always find it funny how schools have all these anti-bullying campaigns and then I see teachers criticizing students right along with their peers. Even further, schools often like to have a meeting with one single parent with ten of their staff telling them what they think the parent should do.
Some states have lawyers that can be hired via your insurance company (I highly recommend it if you have the chance.) Regardless, I’ve heard many a school staff tell a parent the child should be on medication. Unfortunately, school staff are not mental health professionals. I’m a mental health professional and it isn’t even my place to tell a parent whether or not their child should be on medication. This is what we call “unethical.” It is your choice as the parent and no one else’s.
Some of my personal opinions about nature vs. nurture and whether or not a child being put on medication (or drugs, because that’s what they are) may seem apparent in this post. However, I have also worked in residential facilities where the behaviors are severe, and have seen medication make a world of difference. Like every single topic I’ll discuss; it depends on the individual. Make sure you educate yourself entirely on the subject and especially individual medications and don’t take anyone’s word for it, mine included.