In response to pressure over the 40-fold increase of bipolar diagnoses in children, many of which are being reviewed and dropped in retrospect, the APA has proposed a new, potentially more transient “disruptive mood dysregulation disorder” that would apply to children with chronic irritability and recurrent temper outbursts, and would ostensibly be treated with antidepressants instead of antipsychotics. The proposal, according to the Boston Globe, has brought new scrutiny to Joseph Biederman, who argued that chronic irritability can be interpreted as juvenile mania.
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when a child is chronically irritable and disruptive, he/she needs attention, love and hugs not antidepressants and even less antipsychotics. These psychiatrists are often parents themselves, for crying out loud! I just don’t understand how their mind works-
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This is a backwards attempt to cover up for the APA’s earlier foolishness in traveling down this pathway. Rather than admit that irritability is a normal developmental event for many children which they eventually mature out of, we now have to reinterpret this as a new “disorder” so that the APA doesn’t have to eat crow. Naturally, this new “disorder” is to be treated with the exact same drugs as the old one – old wine in new bottles.
This is a classic example of Alice Miller’s observation that the powerful adults always have to protect their “rightness” at the expense of the children, who then grow to inflict similar damage to the next generation.
This is one of the most egregious misrepresentations in a book full of misrepresentations. It should not be allowed.
—- Steve
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Treatment with antidepressants isn’t good for children either! What’s the evidence this medication is necessary and safe for this extremely vague condition?
Why does the solution always have to be a drug?
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