Yikes. I took Lexapro years ago as a mature adult for clinical depression. It worked okay for me but not great. When my insurance switched me to the generic version, I had to stop taking it because I felt like running over random people with my car. I can’t imagine teenagers or children taking this stuff.
It actually seems like more of a hassle to keep your kid drugged consistently than if parents just taught them that their feelings are normal and there are ways to cope. But, you know, that would actually require parents to be involved in their children's lives, and that's just too hard!
I highly recommend all prescribers of mental health medications to read “Saving Normal” by Allen Frances.
Our $ focused pharma industry and even worse government agencies (hint / FDA) don’t care a bit about us or our kids. Individual clinicians who do are much more numerous, but I’ve sadly seen quite a few hand the keys to their lake houses over to possible new hires...so my hope is more like this great article to help us make best decisions for our kids.
I would raise a few elements that I see connecting here.
Schools. Children are institutionalized and removed from their families as a matter of course. When educators say what they do in schools is "research based," what this involves is the very significant foundational premise that what is researched in institutionalized children would look the same generally.
When you offer up the foundational assumption of educational institutionalization as a question instead: what is that experience like for children? What is it like for specific children, in specific situations? If you observe what is different about the school experience from family life, what are the differences? What effect do these differences have upon children, and specific children? What can we discover by looking at children in other environments? What does that look like? What does it mean?
Media. Many children's lives and foundational developments occur within a technological application. This also includes a technological relationship by way of their parents, friends, teachers, caregivers. Inquiry is very fruitful here, and I can easily guess most people have many thoughts on this.
I was on clonazepam for about four years and weaned myself off earlier this year. I regret taking it. I didn't need it. I couldn't pinpoint precisely why I was having anxiety, but I know now, and if I had been able to pinpoint why, I would have never started clonazepam. There were changes in my life I need to make, such as dropping out of the paralegal certificate program I was in and apologizing to someone I needed to apologize to. That would have taken care of most of the anxiety. Most nights, I can't go to sleep any later than 10:15-10:30 when before, I could go to sleep earlier.
Yikes. I took Lexapro years ago as a mature adult for clinical depression. It worked okay for me but not great. When my insurance switched me to the generic version, I had to stop taking it because I felt like running over random people with my car. I can’t imagine teenagers or children taking this stuff.
It actually seems like more of a hassle to keep your kid drugged consistently than if parents just taught them that their feelings are normal and there are ways to cope. But, you know, that would actually require parents to be involved in their children's lives, and that's just too hard!
Thank you for keeping us informed of all the machinations in pharma.
FDA approved = BUSINESS DEAL MADE.
I highly recommend all prescribers of mental health medications to read “Saving Normal” by Allen Frances.
Our $ focused pharma industry and even worse government agencies (hint / FDA) don’t care a bit about us or our kids. Individual clinicians who do are much more numerous, but I’ve sadly seen quite a few hand the keys to their lake houses over to possible new hires...so my hope is more like this great article to help us make best decisions for our kids.
PS - TV drug ads are NOT the answer.
I would raise a few elements that I see connecting here.
Schools. Children are institutionalized and removed from their families as a matter of course. When educators say what they do in schools is "research based," what this involves is the very significant foundational premise that what is researched in institutionalized children would look the same generally.
When you offer up the foundational assumption of educational institutionalization as a question instead: what is that experience like for children? What is it like for specific children, in specific situations? If you observe what is different about the school experience from family life, what are the differences? What effect do these differences have upon children, and specific children? What can we discover by looking at children in other environments? What does that look like? What does it mean?
Media. Many children's lives and foundational developments occur within a technological application. This also includes a technological relationship by way of their parents, friends, teachers, caregivers. Inquiry is very fruitful here, and I can easily guess most people have many thoughts on this.
I was on clonazepam for about four years and weaned myself off earlier this year. I regret taking it. I didn't need it. I couldn't pinpoint precisely why I was having anxiety, but I know now, and if I had been able to pinpoint why, I would have never started clonazepam. There were changes in my life I need to make, such as dropping out of the paralegal certificate program I was in and apologizing to someone I needed to apologize to. That would have taken care of most of the anxiety. Most nights, I can't go to sleep any later than 10:15-10:30 when before, I could go to sleep earlier.
My adult son was prescribed Escitalopram, 20 mg, because he was having occasional panic attacks. He's dead now.
This just made me cry. No parent should outlive their child. I’m so so sorry.
Oh JFly, I am so sorry for the loss of your son.