MISINTERPRETING BRAIN DAMAGE AS PROGRESS

I recall a child who came to me for an evaluation for wraparound services. This was my first encounter with the child. He entered the room staggering and swaying, barely unable to keep his eyes open. He almost fell out of his seat and his speech was slurred. When I commented to the parent that the child looked highly sedated, the parent responded, 'well, at least he's not aggressive." This led me to conclude that this parent was actually looking at this child's miserable state as progress.
All psychotropic drug effects occur by disabling the brain. Because a child becomes more subdued does not mean that there has been any real progress. The child has not learned any new skills. They have not learned self-control, they have merely been chemically strait jacketed. People are not understanding the damaging effects of psychiatric drugs on the brains and development of children. They are looking at children as being more subdued in their behaviors but failing to understand how these effects come about. Children may miss a dose of a psychotropic drug and their behavior becomes dramatically worse. Then it is said that, "oh, they missed their medication, they need their medication." But think of it this way, there is little if no difference between many prescribed drugs and illicit drugs. A drug addict who does not have his fix becomes quite crazed. This does not mean the addict actually needs more of the drug, though it may appear this way and he may feel he needs more of it. So it is with children on psychotropic drugs. When they miss their dose, their behavior can become erratic. But this does not mean they need the drug or need more drugs. It means that they are having a rebound effect.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.