A recent report states that between 1994 and 2003 there has been a 40-fold increase of children and adolescents being treated for bipolar disorder. I didn't say double or 10-fold but 40-fold. This is astounding! What the hell is going on?
Why isn't anyone questioning this dramatic increase? I know if the IRS sees even a 5-fold increase in your tax refund, you will surely come under scrutiny via an audit; or if my bank sees an unusual increase in credit card spending it will trigger a call from them. But why is no one looking into this? What has happened between 1994 and 2003 to cause such a spike in the number of young people to be treated for bipolar disorder.
Before I try to come up with some of my own hypotheses, I want you to look at the term bipolar disorder. Even if you didn't know anything about this the words themselves should give you some insight. Bipolar - bi, meaning more than one, two; polar - just think of the North and South Pole - they are in extreme opposite locations. Disorder - is something that is not in order.
If we relate this to someone's behavior we find it to mean that someone is not on an even keel. Well how many of us are? Don't we all have mood swings? During the course of a month don't we all more or less experience some highs and lows? Does that mean that we all have some disorder? Maybe we do. Do we all need to be treated with drugs?
In trying to make sense of the increase and giving 100% credence to the diagosis. I wondered what the underlying cause was and came up with the following:
1. Maybe there's something in the bottled water that many are drinking (hasn't consumption of bottled water risen through the roof?)
2. Maybe it's the increased usage of cell phones (something that's become a natural appendage to the face.)
3. Or how about all the excessive and constant loud noise that kids are exposed to.
4. How about all the time kids spend watching TV, DVDs, on the Computer and playing video games.
5. Could the fact that at least 50% of the kids live in a household with one parent be somehow causing additional anger and mood swings. Maybe it's their subtle way of rebelling to the situations that parents have put them in.
6. How about all the fast food meals that children eat today. Their bodies are being loaded full of sugars, additives, excess salt on top of some nasty chemicals. (There's nothing like a good bowl of pasta e fasul that my mom made me as a kid.)
I think in some ways parents in trying to keep up with the Joneses or Habibs are spending more time at work and less with their children and when they come home cannot deal with Jason or Heather acting up. They just don't have time and eventually think that something's wrong with their child and bring them to a psychiatrist. What does the psychiatrist do? Does he provide you with the correct diagnosis? Are you just happy and relieved that he tells you that little Drew has a bipolar disorder which can be helped with medication(s)?
Does anybody ever question the diagnosis that a psychiatrist makes? How can you be sure? The unfortunate thing is that many are accepting of what the doctor says. Remember this is all done by observation of your child and information provided by you. There are no X-rays or blood tests to confirm that someone has a mental illness; oops, I shouldn't have used such an offensive term. They don't call it that anymore, everything is a disorder.
Most disorders of aggression and mood swings in children and adolescents in my days were cured by exercise. We played ball (baseball, football, basketball etc.) outdoors. We played hopscotch, tag, and jumped rope. We were constantly moving (running, walking, bicycling, climbing and in the summer swimming) You see we were burning off our aggressions and when we came home we were too tired to do anything else never mind act up.
We always came home to a nice home cooked meal; it didn't have to be anything fancy or costly but it tasted good because of the love that your mother put into it while cooking. Most if not all of it was made with naturally fresh ingredients.
Today, you give little Cameron his pills, stick him in front of some electical device and feed him a lot of fatty fried foods loaded with chemicals. Does the psychiatrist ever take this into consideration when he makes his diagnosis? I doubt it.
I can't remember ever having to take a pill when I was young; maybe an aspirin whenever I had a fever but that was about the extent of it. Today it seems like everybody is taking something. And have you ever noticed that other that a few medications like antibiotics, once you've been put on a medication you'll never be able to stop.
The medical field has made great strides in the treatment and curing of many illnesses, however
a lot of the focus has been recently shifted away from taking care of the patient properly over taking care of the stockholder. Just think of the increase to the bottom line the 40-fold increase in bipolar disorder diagnosis has for drug companies. No wonder the health and healthcare system of this country is in shambles.
See the following story from N.Y. Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/health/04psych.html?th&emc=th
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