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Misdiagnosis:
Dr. Gabrielle Carlson of Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Professor of Psychology
and Pediatrics stated, "Bipolar is absolutely being overdiagnosed in children, and the major downside is that people then
think they have a solution and are not amenable to listening to alternatives." He added, "Every serious problem has an easy
solution that is usually wrong." This in response to the fact that in 10 years there has been a 7-fold increase in the
number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Dr.
Russell van Der Kolk, Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University runs a trauma clinic there. He stated, "Most of the patients
who have been misdiagnosed have been told they have bipolar disorder."
Treating the Symptoms not the Illness:
It is said that
psychiatric medications address "the symptoms", but do not address the "illness" itself. For this reason, psychiatric
medications are different than an antibiotic such as penicillin, which addresses a specific bodily contaminant. The
use of psychiatric medications is often long term, usually for at least one year, whereas antibiotics are prescribed for a
limited time. But often the use of psycotropic drugs might be for as long as 2 or 5 years or quite often even for the rest
of one's life. Also, in the example of diabetes, while there is one specific drug for diabetes, insulin, there are hundreds
of different psychiatric medications that can be prescribed, and it is not an exact science.
There
is no scientific method of determining if a person has or does not have a specific type of mental illness, the diagnosis
is subjective, based on observation and based on the opinion of the therapist of doctor. Prescribing appropriate medications
can often be a matter of "trial and error," according to a number of sources, and not all practicioners are committed to spending
the time necessary to get to the roots of problems. Economics, also has increasingly become a
factor in the type of treatment being prescribed by some in the medical profession.
Pharmaceutical Treatment is not always simple:
Some who have started taking such medicines have found initial success in their mood
adjustment. However, quite often, problems surface later. Many of the psychotropic drugs for treating more serious psychiatric
disorders can be extremely sedating. Because of severe side effects, many stop their treatment.
Most
of the drugs for bi-polar disorder or schizophrenia, and even for ADHD, put one's mind on a different level, SOME ARE
VERY SEDATING, And many report that they don't feel quite like themselves or that their children "are not the same person,"
on amphetamines or other mood altering pharmaceutical drugs.
At times, starting on medications
leads to the use of other medications, or to other disorders. Treated ADHD can lead to a secondary condition
of depression. Treated depression can sometimes lead to bipolar disorder. At times, a teenager or an adult might be
prescribed multiple medications, taking 4-6 different types of medications at one time for mental health problems
alone, not to mention other physical problems. This has been described as "drug cocktails". This is of serious concern, as
the danger of problems associated with drug interactions escalates exponentially as each new drug is added to the regimen.
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