Excellent points. In addition to the hazards you cite, the reflexive prescription of such drugs to teens medicalizes their distress, communicating that they lack the inner self-healing resources to overcome difficulties with the aid of supportive professionals and others. Drugs deprive them of the growth in self-esteem and confidence in …
Excellent points. In addition to the hazards you cite, the reflexive prescription of such drugs to teens medicalizes their distress, communicating that they lack the inner self-healing resources to overcome difficulties with the aid of supportive professionals and others. Drugs deprive them of the growth in self-esteem and confidence in knowing that they surmounted their challenges, which is how personal growth occurs in all of us. If, on the other hand, their angst reflects a medical disorder, only a doctor can cure it and they must depend on the doctor and drugs. But as a long-practicing psychiatrist I have another gripe: the incompetence of swarms of psychotherapists who refer clients to MDs for drugs because of their own clinical ineffectiveness. For sure the assumptions of psychiatry must be challenged across the board, but so too must the evidently inadequate training of many therapists, who form a pipeline along with PCPs into the psychiatric prescription racket.
Agree on every point! Well said. I can add this... therapists are coerced by fear to refer patients to drugs. They are told ethical practice requires such a referral. It's a corrupt and dangerous system.
Excellent points. In addition to the hazards you cite, the reflexive prescription of such drugs to teens medicalizes their distress, communicating that they lack the inner self-healing resources to overcome difficulties with the aid of supportive professionals and others. Drugs deprive them of the growth in self-esteem and confidence in knowing that they surmounted their challenges, which is how personal growth occurs in all of us. If, on the other hand, their angst reflects a medical disorder, only a doctor can cure it and they must depend on the doctor and drugs. But as a long-practicing psychiatrist I have another gripe: the incompetence of swarms of psychotherapists who refer clients to MDs for drugs because of their own clinical ineffectiveness. For sure the assumptions of psychiatry must be challenged across the board, but so too must the evidently inadequate training of many therapists, who form a pipeline along with PCPs into the psychiatric prescription racket.
Agree on every point! Well said. I can add this... therapists are coerced by fear to refer patients to drugs. They are told ethical practice requires such a referral. It's a corrupt and dangerous system.