doctor disease redux

[Christopher Rhoades Dÿkema]

Wojtek,
Your skepticism in response to Marta is sometimes justified, but here you're
unfair. Boot-camps are the worst quack nostrum yet discussed here. There are
children, quite horrible ones, for whom medication is the only alternative,
though it certainly is true that there are class and race discriminations in
the administration, and managed care scants psycho-social approaches which
demonstrably are just as key. That is what you ought to focus on.

Christopher Rhoades Dÿkema

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:


> At 09:23 AM 5/23/01 -0800, Marta R. wrote:
> >A 10 year old child--who has been prescribed psychotropic drugs since
> >age 3-- now suffers brain damage --tardive dyskinesia, a common adverse
> >consequence of neuroleptic drugs in adults. The child was "diagnosed" at
> >age 3 as having "conduct disorder" --whatever that means... Powerful
>
> Marta, please spare us that tripe.  The fact of the matter is that today
> you cannot control unruly children without risking being accused of child
> abuse (which unlike criminal charges do not require any "due process" to be
> followed by investigating agencies, a mere report can result in a child
> ending up in a foster care).
>
> So if the brat that happens to be your child throws repeated tantrums, say,
> because you did not buy him what his peers have, you have basically two
> choices:
>
> (1) sending the brat to a boot camp (if you can afford the $2,000 -$6,000
> per month tuition), or
> (2) medicate him (most insurance plans cover prescription drugs).
>
> Now, if you are, say, a single parent with a "hyperactive" (i.e.
> out-of-control) child, which option would you be able to afford?
>
> Thank goddess for drugs - without them mental asylums and prisons would
> thrive.
>
> Wojtek