Strattera may increase suicidal thinking
Strattera is the newest drug available to treat kids and adults with ADD or ADHD. The FDA has now required a labeling change for the drug to include a warning statement regarding an increased risk of suicidal thinking in children and adolescents.
One correlation which is clear to us is the increasingly rapid pace of our highly technological society and a growing number of children diagnosed with ADD. We live in an extremely overstimulated society. Children spend hours playing Nintendo rather than romping through the woods or playing outside. Many are glued to the television set. Movies are speedier, scarier, and more violent than ever before. There is a growing atmosphere of hurriedness, intensity, and urgency. Many children and teenagers do not leave home without their beepers for fear of missing something for even a moment. We eat fast, play fast, and channel-surf. We eat in fast-food restaurants known to decorate their premises in jangly colors so that their customers will eat quickly and move on to make space for the next shift. People look for caffeine and drugs of all kinds to make them go faster and stay up longer. They buy double espressos to pick them up more quickly. They use highly caffeinated amphetamine-like herbs, including ma huang and guarana, that contain seven times as much caffeine as coffee. Our society places little value on tranquillity, quiet, solitude, and the simple joy of being in nature.
Is our society and the medical community doing more harm to our children by treating kids with these medicines. Many of the antidepressants also have similar labeling by the FDA.
There are truly kids who cannot function in the school systems without medicine and need treatment, but there are others being medicated out of behavioral issues not associated with ADD.
We need to consider other options for the management of these problems. I am not sure mainstreaming all kids into the public school system is the appropriate choice.
One correlation which is clear to us is the increasingly rapid pace of our highly technological society and a growing number of children diagnosed with ADD. We live in an extremely overstimulated society. Children spend hours playing Nintendo rather than romping through the woods or playing outside. Many are glued to the television set. Movies are speedier, scarier, and more violent than ever before. There is a growing atmosphere of hurriedness, intensity, and urgency. Many children and teenagers do not leave home without their beepers for fear of missing something for even a moment. We eat fast, play fast, and channel-surf. We eat in fast-food restaurants known to decorate their premises in jangly colors so that their customers will eat quickly and move on to make space for the next shift. People look for caffeine and drugs of all kinds to make them go faster and stay up longer. They buy double espressos to pick them up more quickly. They use highly caffeinated amphetamine-like herbs, including ma huang and guarana, that contain seven times as much caffeine as coffee. Our society places little value on tranquillity, quiet, solitude, and the simple joy of being in nature.
Is our society and the medical community doing more harm to our children by treating kids with these medicines. Many of the antidepressants also have similar labeling by the FDA.
There are truly kids who cannot function in the school systems without medicine and need treatment, but there are others being medicated out of behavioral issues not associated with ADD.
We need to consider other options for the management of these problems. I am not sure mainstreaming all kids into the public school system is the appropriate choice.
posted by Anonymous at 5:23 AM
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