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Chemical Straight-Jacketing
How kids are drugged into submission.
Ask anyone to name the chief dangers facing children today, and
they're likely to tick off a predictable list-homelessness and
malnutrition, poor education and inadequate healthcare. They're not
wrong. But the longer I work with children, the more concerned I am
about another quiet wave that carries just as a great a menace: the
mindset of avoidance. Call it what you want-convenience, denial, or
stubbornness-but if there's anything that characterizes education
across the board, it's the persistent habit of turning our backs on the
hardest questions, and falling for the answers that soothe us back to
sleep. Though the tendency to settle for the most painless solution to
a problem is a normal human trait, it is rarely a healthy approach to
child rearing.
From parenting journals to popular books, the wisdom is the same:
children may be cute, but raising them is a thankless chore. Childhood
itself has come to be viewed as a suspect phase. Children of all ages
and means are being squelched on the playground and in class, not
because they're unmanageable or unruly, but simply because they're
behaving like children should. Diagnosed with "problems" that used to
be recognized as normal childhood traits-impulsiveness and
exuberance, spontaneity and daring-millions of children are being
diagnosed as hyperactive and drugged into submission. I'm referring,
of course, to the widespread use of Ritalin and other related
stimulants, and to the public's fascination with medicine as the answer
to any and every problem.
Ritalin is surely a legitimate drug for certain specific conditions. But
given the threefold increase in its use in the last decade, one has to
wonder if it isn't being misused as an easy cure-all for problems such
as ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder) and to rein in lively
children who may not even have the disorder. After all, much of what
is designated as ADHD is nothing more than a defense against
over-structuring-a natural reflex that used to be called letting off
steam-or alternately, a symptom of various unmet emotional needs.
Jeff, an old friend, gives a poignant example:
"Jerome, an eight-year-old from Seattle, came and stayed
with us last summer for a break from the city. When he
arrived he was a mess, though he was on Ritalin. After
two or three days, however, we weaned him off his dose,
because with all the room to play he was no longer
bouncing off the walls, but beginning to take himself in
hand. (At home in his apartment building there was
nothing for him to do but watch TV.) I could definitely see
the change.
When this little guy first arrived he could barely keep his
attention on anything for more than a minute, he was so
keyed up and distracted. I laid down some ground rules
and gave him some time. I took him out with a bike, since
he was unsure of how to ride…By the end of his stay he
was so settled and happy that at one point he even asked
me if he could call me Dad. I just about lost it. This child
didn't need Ritalin: all he needed was fresh air-and love."
Put Jerome back in the projects, and he will probably revert. He'll be
put back on Ritalin, and his "symptoms" will be re-suppressed.
Whether he'll ever get the attention he really needs, either at home or
at school, is quite another question. Fortunately it's one that
increasing numbers of people are asking, like Peter Breggin, a
pediatrician and author:
"People call drugs like Ritalin a godsend for emotional and
behavioral problems…But I think the way they're overused
is absolutely horrifying. When I was asked by the National
Institutes of Health to be a scientific discussant on the
effects of these drugs at a conference they held, I
reviewed the important literature, and I found that when
animals are given them, they stop playing; they stop
being curious; they stop socializing; they stop trying to
escape. Ritalin makes good caged ani-mals…We're making
good caged kids. It's all very well to talk about it taking a
whole village to raise a child, but in practice, we're acting
as if we think it only takes a pill."
Given the dismal state of the culture described above, parenting in
the 21st century is clearly going to involve a lot of hard work. But
why should that frighten us? As long as we run from the
responsibilities that will always be there, we will not only squander the
most formative moments of bringing up children, but rob ourselves as
well of its most meaningful joys.
Copyright © J. C. Arnold. Excerpted from "ENDANGERED: Your Child in a Hostile World". Free ebook at his interactive website. Order the paperback 1-800-521-8011(US), 0800 018 0799(UK). Reprinted with permission.
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