via the New York Times:
Drugs Used for Psychotics Go to Youths in Foster Care
a couple of excerpts:
"Foster children are being prescribed cocktails of powerful antipsychosis drugs just as frequently as some of the most mentally disabled youngsters on Medicaid, a new study suggests.
The report, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to investigate how often youngsters in foster care are given two antipsychotic drugs at once, the authors said. The drugs include Risperdal, Seroquel and Zyprexa — among other so-called major tranquilizers — which were developed for schizophrenia but are now used as all-purpose drugs for almost any psychiatric symptoms."
“The psychiatrists who are treating these kids on the front lines are not doing it for money; there are very low reimbursement rates from Medicaid,” said Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, a mental health services researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. “There’s enormous anguish because everyone knows that this is not what we should be doing for these kids. We as a society simply haven’t made the investment in psychosocial treatments, and so we are forced to rely on psychotropic drugs to carry the burden.” read here.
The final paragraph frankly, made me extremely angry---it is a disgusting attempt to justify something that is not in fact NOT justifiable--no matter how much these poor unfortunate psychiatrists who "treat" children feel they are underpaid by Medicaid!
Anybody who is above ground, and not in a coma, who has the ability to think critically, knows the reason, "We as a society simply haven’t made the investment in psychosocial treatments." It is because psychiatrists misled and outright lied about what was known, and not known about the nature of the conditions they diagnose and treat, and lied about the treatments as well! Stating psychiatric symptoms are evidence of diseases of the brain, and/or "chemical imbalances;" to market the bio-psychiatry belief system, is fraud not ethical medicine. Illusory "neurobiological" diseases which are treated with disabling and teratogenic treatments that are ineffective and even tortuous to a significant percentage of patients.
Psychiatrists lied about the safety of the drugs they use, and over exaggerated the drugs' potential for actual benefit; published the lies in professional journals and textbooks; taught the lies to students in Institutions of Higher Learning, and continuing education programs. So, when this researcher stated, “There’s enormous anguish because everyone knows that this is not what we should be doing for these kids." I almost vomited.
I am certain the anguish the professionals experience is nothing like psychiatric patients who are harmed by psychiatric treatment; and the parents who have buried their children, who are victims of iatrogenic, "physician caused" homicide. I know that I am damn lucky my son is alive, knows who he is, and where he lives, literally. The drugs have done to his overall health exactly what the drugs have always done. The first neuroleptics were used before I was born; the "new" ones, like the old ones, cause permanent neurological, cognitive, and physical impairments, disability and increased mortality.
I know that I have never had any psychiatrist tell me the facts I have found out myself about these drugs ever. I have had the last two psychiatrists who "treat" my son look me right in the eye and tell me the drugs do not cause brain damage. One said it 3 times, and then demanded my respect. That day, I had posted the American Psychiatric Association's newsletter discussing the brain damage the drugs are in fact known to cause! This was less than a year ago. There is no solace in knowing the doctors who treated my traumatized child were misinformed, or simply indoctrinated into a belief system that medicalizes all emotional and behavioral problems. There is no changing the past.
I simply hope to one day take my son to a doctor who has the ethical integrity
to tell the truth.
oringinally titled, "There’s enormous anguish because everyone knows"
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