tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post8348894284269018813..comments2023-09-15T04:27:57.129-04:00Comments on Commentarama: Are You Nuts?AndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-71411471945282788952010-02-22T18:05:54.194-05:002010-02-22T18:05:54.194-05:00HamiltonsGhost: There is no substitute for carefu...HamiltonsGhost: There is no substitute for careful, personal observation by one caring professional who is reluctant to use drugs just because the DSM says his patient has the requisite symptoms. <br /><br />Since I've never been "treated" by a psychiatrist, and have been declared merely slightly off-kilter by my ex-wife and lifelong best friend (psychologists both), my experience with that lone doctor who cares was strictly medical. Some time back, before I had my current coverage and the truly great doctors I have seen over the past fifteen years, I had a recurring and debilitating knot in my stomach. No acid stomach. No "acid reflux." Just bend-over and hope for the best pain. I described my symptoms, and was referred to several different specialists. The cardiac doctor found my heart was just fine. The internists looked for gastro-enteritis and diverticulosis. After an unpleasant visit with a TV camera in places I would prefer not to have a camera, I didn't have either of those. The pain was in the right place, and the symptoms were classics for what the specialists looked for.<br /><br />The pain finally went away for awhile, and when it returned, I now had a good family doctor who knows how to listen and look before diagnosing. The symptoms didn't fit the classic symptoms. He decided that it was most likely an ulcer (which is rampant on my mother's side of the family, but he was the first to ask). I replied that my stomach didn't "burn," and I took lots of ulcer OTC medications which did nothing. His reply, "sometimes the symptoms don't fit." After the tests, it was by God, an ulcer. Easily cured, and it never returned. One caring doctor who knew what the word "asymptomatic" means.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-15573072919077737012010-02-22T17:48:39.953-05:002010-02-22T17:48:39.953-05:00Lawhawk--I see the logic behind symptoms as a &quo...Lawhawk--I see the logic behind symptoms as a "guide" to problems, but never as a final diagnosis simply because two or three psychiatrists observed the same symptoms and will therefore automatically make the same diagnosis. Drugs have become the first line of offense rather than the last line of defense. Too easy, and not helpful.HamiltonsGhosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07777000856977635480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-13071670696515226542010-02-22T13:26:19.047-05:002010-02-22T13:26:19.047-05:00StanH: I feel very good about Huxley and Brave Ne...StanH: I feel very good about Huxley and <i>Brave New World</i>. Of course that might stem from the fact that I take my daily Soma, so I feel good about pretty much everything. LOLLawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-89665707097344766732010-02-22T12:57:12.377-05:002010-02-22T12:57:12.377-05:00Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” Where the state...Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” Where the state administers Soma , to maintain bliss. Frightening prophetic book published in 1932, so here we are...StanHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07395708786509590321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-40948997177074942972010-02-22T12:24:00.507-05:002010-02-22T12:24:00.507-05:00I should add that much of my son's inattentive...I should add that much of my son's inattentiveness and minor speech defect was indeed a medical problem in his early years. But the doctors didn't even consider drugs. They just kept working at it. And then they discovered he had a hearing problem, not a behavior problem. They put those "tubes" in his ears, and the inattentiveness and speech defect went away practically overnight. But he was still boisterous, and somewhat stubborn. God love him, that has served him very well over the years.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-31010961081991883462010-02-22T12:17:45.384-05:002010-02-22T12:17:45.384-05:00Patti: Ain't it the truth? It's not bad ...Patti: Ain't it the truth? It's not bad enough that they give kids drugs just to shut them up, but it creates in their young minds the idea that any "problem" can be solved by the ingestion of another drug. You don't feel happy? Take a drug. You're anxious? Take a drug. You're not feeling strong enough today? Take a drug. Along with the "therapy" culture, we've created the whole sub-culture of "take a drug." It's not your fault. You have a chemical imbalance. Take a drug.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-12700073012515176042010-02-22T12:11:31.601-05:002010-02-22T12:11:31.601-05:00LL: That sounds very familiar. I was slightly bi...LL: That sounds very familiar. I was slightly bigger than the other boys in my class until about sixth grade. Then, they all started to get bigger at a rapid rate, while my rate was a little slower. So I just learned how to fight dirty. LOL<br /><br />None of us were drugged, and by far the vast majority of us turned out just fine. Not a single zombie in any of my schools. Another side effect was that the girls preferred the boys who could "take care of themselves," and defend the girls' honor.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-17033078433007569562010-02-22T12:03:42.213-05:002010-02-22T12:03:42.213-05:00Andrew: You are so right. "Spare the rod, s...Andrew: You are so right. "Spare the rod, spoil the child." We don't have to take that literally of course (I think I did a mild spanking twice while raising the kids, and one was actually an accident where I had to give my son a spank on the bottom when he was very little. He kept standing up in the bathtub, and I didn't want him to slip and hurt himself. I connected slightly harder than I intended, and with the water and his white bottom, I left a superficial handprint. I felt guilty about that for years to come). <br /><br />As you've aptly pointed out, drugs aren't the solution. Parents who parent, and teachers who teach is the solution. For those who act up, punishment of some sort is necessary and proper. Drugs (except in those very rare cases that we've discussed) are a disease unto themselves.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-87903773186590899442010-02-22T11:55:41.624-05:002010-02-22T11:55:41.624-05:00Joel: Even when I was raising my own kids, I coul...Joel: Even when I was raising my own kids, I could tell my son was different from my daughters. Of course, I knew from personal experience that he was a boy, of all things. So in my world, boys who acted like girls were the ones with the problem. Bad behavior had to be punished, but if he hadn't been more aggressive and tougher to deal with, that would have worried me. The girls were no slouches (we didn't believe that girls had to do only "girly" things, either). Today, he would have been drugged for being "too defiant and inattentive to those around him." It all stems from the idiotic idea that since boys and girls are "equal," they must automatically be the "same." Nature hasn't changed in a million years, and the DSM and radical feminist psychology can't change that, no matter how hard they try. But they can certainly take a non-problem and turn it into one. It's the best example of taking all "patients" as a group, looking at the symptoms (boys are louder and more troublesome) and drugging those who have the "symptoms."<br /><br />I got into a few schoolyard fights, and was always in trouble for interrupting the teachers. A trip to the principal's office was the worst that ever happened, and nobody ever even considered drugs as the remedy for the "disease" of being a boy. The most radical treatment necessary was a warning that they were going to tell my parents. Now <i>that</i> was a very calming "drug" for me.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-60976426333655174852010-02-22T11:44:00.221-05:002010-02-22T11:44:00.221-05:00are you trying to make me puke this morning?!
as ...are you trying to make me puke this morning?!<br /><br />as a used to be tutor, i have seen many kids medicated that, in my humble opinion, were just being highly active kiddos. the drugs stripped the kids of their rambunctious and curious personalities and replaced it with the silent stare off into space. viola! easy to handle kids!<br /><br />i know had i been born later, i too would have been a candidate for drugs. *that girl be crazy-wild. to the meds!* what a shame for us. or perhaps, shame on us.pattihttp://www.notawonk.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-81202541100274077622010-02-22T11:40:39.427-05:002010-02-22T11:40:39.427-05:00StanH: I am one of those rare lawyers who stands ...StanH: I am one of those rare lawyers who stands in awe of good doctors and modern medicine. So I am not automatically dismissive of drugs the way many of my friends and colleagues are. But I can also see how many lawyers do their work by generalizing the charges against their clients--very much like doctors who use symptoms alone with a guidebook (DSM) to diagnose their patients. Doing that with adults is bad. Doing it to children as if they're sheep to be sheared is unforgivable.<br /><br />You got some of those historical figures absolutely on the money. Napoleon and Mozart most surely would have been declared ADHD by a school psychologist, and Churchill (who was nearly mute as a child, and couldn't seem to learn to read) would have been diagnosed with autism or at least serious Asberger's.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-66742578451283134772010-02-22T11:36:11.459-05:002010-02-22T11:36:11.459-05:00When I was a kid and in flights of anger, engaged ...When I was a kid and in flights of anger, engaged in ROMS - it was settled with a fist. I learned the discretion is often the better part of valor and never to ROMS unless I was a lot bigger and was absolutely confident I could kick the other kid's butt.<br /><br />So much of life is dealt with by -- life. I know there are extreme circumstances, but the VAST majority of humans fit comfortably within the lines that bounded normal conduct for the last 10,000 years.<br /><br />Circumscribing children into a politically correct box does more harm, IMO, than allowing them to develop normally.LLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05538854359365988863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-78625099549650986192010-02-22T11:32:58.171-05:002010-02-22T11:32:58.171-05:00WriterX: Drugs are so much easier than actually h...WriterX: Drugs are so much easier than actually having to deal with an obstreperous or inattentive child, particularly boys. When my older daughter (who should have known better) told me that her first son had been diagnosed with ADHD and they wanted to give him drugs, I told her to tell them to go to hell. I have no degree in psychology or medicine, but I know an overactive kid when I see one. I spoke to my lifelong friend (who is a clinical psychologist) and he recommended a psychiatrist who was more along my line of thinking and uses the DSM only as a guide. The final diagnosis was mild Asberger's, and a very mild matching drug was prescribed, to be used sparingly. He is now in junior high school, no need for drugs, a top athlete and exhibits his grandfather's "won't shut up" syndrome, for which there is no cure. I am proud to say I had made sure they didn't turn a rather wild little kid into a zombie based on "symptoms" rather than genuine observation.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-57349781228992851462010-02-22T11:23:59.980-05:002010-02-22T11:23:59.980-05:00ScottDS: In case you haven't guessed, as a ch...ScottDS: In case you haven't guessed, as a child I suffered from ROMS (running off at the mouth syndrome), a primitive form of Tourette's. When the words I wasn't supposed to say came out, the main drug was Palmolive Hand soap, applied to the mouth. I was never cured, but it is under control (most of the time).LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-66684154268865213062010-02-22T11:23:31.837-05:002010-02-22T11:23:31.837-05:00My problem with all of this is that the psychiatri...My problem with all of this is that the psychiatric profession is merely catering to bad parents who want to shift the blame for their bad decisions. They would rather assume their kids are misbehaving or are not-socially adjusted because of some medical condition rather than what they've done, and then "treat" the problem with medication rather than acting like a parent.<br /><br />And in so doing, the profession merely encourages these people to continue to act irresponsibly, allows children to be medicated who shouldn't be, and makes these conditions into jokes -- which harms the few children who really do have real conditions.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-43577963259428192462010-02-22T11:21:52.127-05:002010-02-22T11:21:52.127-05:00And how about the boys that become dysfunctional a...And how about the boys that become dysfunctional after being drugged at an early age?<br /><br />More and more we are seeing boys being drugged for no particular reason than he acts up in class. Less and less recess and more and more drugs. <br /><br />When I was growing up, I would never have seen a cop in my highschool unless it was career day. Now, there is a cop car "stationed" on campus.<br /><br />I believe that repressing the natural urges of young boys causes far more damage in the long run.Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-49547390101643417012010-02-22T10:48:12.532-05:002010-02-22T10:48:12.532-05:00Dr. Benjamin Spock’s treatise on child rearing , a...Dr. Benjamin Spock’s treatise on child rearing , and his belief in the barbarity that is an occasional spanking IMO led directly to, spanking our children with drugs. By taking thousands of years of civilization and flipping it on it’s head, “spare the rod spoil the child,” …to be stylish was, and is foolish. I don’t mean too sound like a brutish draconian jerk, but many of the psychoses of today were, as you say “phases,” in yesterday. You can be certain they would drug, Mozart, Einstein, etc. people behaving outside the “norm.” <br /><br />Some psychotropic drugs do indeed work, Manic Depression with Lithium, etc. but drugging kids in most cases IMO, are criminal!StanHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07395708786509590321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-31859987852810012992010-02-22T10:36:58.971-05:002010-02-22T10:36:58.971-05:00It's a little scary how much (and how quickly)...It's a little scary how much (and how quickly) children are medicated. It seems for too many medication has taken the place of parenting.Writer Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16505411188186283813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-34009075665502220712010-02-22T09:10:08.703-05:002010-02-22T09:10:08.703-05:00I don't have much to contribute to this... onl...I don't have much to contribute to this... only that I was seeing shrinks when I was ten years old and we also went for family therapy (my folks, younger brother, and myself). I also saw a shrink when I was 19.<br /><br />My brother was always acting up and I had what I guess can now be referred to as "social anxiety disorder" a.k.a. shyness (part of me thinks SAD is a crock; the other part of me is more than sympathetic, because I've been there).<br /><br />But I shudder to think of what the situation would be today, if I were 10 and my brother was 7. Would the shrink have recommended drugs? I doubt our parents would've done that but who knows? I'm totally against the whole "Your kid is acting up so give him this" approach to therapy.<br /><br />And as for BS disorders, I have a friend from film school who suffers from "seasonal depression" or words to that effect. Is it real? I don't know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com