Would there be behavioral and psychiatric disorders in children without the factors that favor them?

Recently the Andalusian pediatricians have met in Seville in the framework of a conference organized by the association that represents them (APap - Andalusia). Among other topics discussed, they seem to have identified a significant increase in the number of cases of behavioral, emotional and psychiatric disorders among the youth and youth population.

These health professionals are not only concerned about this increase in incidence, but also the 'side effects of some of the pharmacological treatments received by children and adolescents'. There is a spectacular growth in prescription - by Child Psychiatry Units - of antipsychotics.

For obvious reasons, this has led me to remember something I have read in the blog Children of Japan, from which Dr. Baughman is quoted as saying that 'Where only common sense was needed, the discipline and responsibility of the teacher, psychiatry and large pharmaceutical companies have been involved'. Baughman, is a well-known American neurologist who has been exposing his critical posture to the overdiagnosis of ADHD for years. psychiatric pharmacological treatments that are administered to minors. And this long before the "discoverer" of set disorder - psychiatrist Leon Eisenberg - made the claim that ADHD is a fictitious disease.

In case you wonder what exactly are behavioral disorders?

According to Medline, they encompass a series of behavioral and emotional problems that occur in children or adolescents, and can consist of impulsive or challenging behavior. That is to say: a behavior associated in normal conditions to preadolescence, and later stage, we turn it into a problem. They can also translate into drug use or criminal activity.

From the American Academy of Child and Juvenile Psychiatry we extract that children and adolescents who suffer from these disorders have great difficulty in following the rules and behaving in a socially acceptable manner.

However, and again remembering (this time Laura Bermejo when she told us that we are forcing children to adapt to a sick society), we should know that There are a number of factors external to the child, which can lead to the appearance of these disorders.

Among them, school failure, traumatic experiences, poverty, having suffered some form of abuse, brain damage, or genetic vulnerability

So why have we come to believe that only pharmacology will respond to these problems? If the solution is to label the child and treat him, it seems to me that we choose a simple path that can have uncertain, if not negative, consequences. In addition to the fact that, at a minimum, we miss the opportunity to ask ourselves why children behave, to address it satisfactorily for everyone.

Pharmacological treatments are sometimes linked to unwanted side effects.

According to APap, commonly may cause weight gain, drowsiness or endocrine problems. In addition, clinical trials studying these adverse effects only report these when their frequency is greater than 10 percent. Pediatricians believe that in cases where it is considered necessary to administer them, the patient's lifestyle should also change, affecting the diet to avoid weight gain.

And I still think that before medicating other options must be exhausted, and we must all consider how to prevent these problems

Regarding ADHD (one of the developmental disorders), it seems that in Andalusia there are seven percent of children between six and 14 years diagnosed, in fact it is the most frequent in childhood. I only ask that while the fact that his own discoverer unmasks this supposedly fictitious disease, it doesn't have to lead us to stop believing that it exists (or maybe, I don't know); we should remember the inconveniences of overdiagnosing it.

This is because It presents a negative transcendence in the development of the child, and its diagnosis and approach should be conscientious, with the objective of providing children and their families with strategies for their control.

I fully agree with Andalusian pediatricians, when they express the importance of enhancing the communication of patients and relatives, as a basis for weighing therapeutic possibilities

Breaking a spear in favor of childhood, and of children who behave like what they are; I must refer to the recent information that associates the environmental toxic load with the possible appearance of diseases such as cancer or obesity, and also with some developmental disorders. I do not say that it is the only cause, but in certain circumstances it could be flattering, so we should abandon the comfort of throwing the blame on the children's behavior to themselves, and lower our expectations, while we wonder what else we can do for our children.

Finally, I would like to remember that we are forcing children to adapt to a sick society, so let's not be surprised how they react later. In this sense it does not seem that we have taken the right path, since those who will drag the ballast are them, and their descendants.

Video: What Causes Borderline Personality Disorder? CC English & Español. Kati Morton (March 2024).