We are seeing a lot more adolescents for psych than we have in past years. Its not uncommon for mom or dad to call the police and have them bring teenage son/daughter to ER because they can't handle them. They want us to handle them. Sometimes its even hard to get mom or dad to come down to the ER.

A lot of teens are on heavy duty medication and have already been given a mental health label: depression, anxiety disorder, PTSD, bipolar. My favorite is "oppositional defiance disorder". Isn't it pretty much the job of teenagers to be defiant? Thats what they do.

I really wonder about all of this. Could it be that parents these days haven't got time for their kids and they are acting out, depressed? Maybe its easier to throw a pill at them, then give them attention. I'm not saying that there aren't teens with real problems, but it seems so easy to give them meds. Is it right to l
abel someone so young with a mental health disorder?

A lot of people are starting to wonder about all of this, espescially giving kids psych meds. There is a proposal in my state to have any doctor wanting to give psych meds to a kid having to consult with an agency that would be set up.

In our society we want a quick fix. We don't want to have to put effort into things, even our kids. We just want a medication that will make them act how we want them to act.