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Elysium · Feb 11, 2010, 09:38 PM

I haven't read everyone's posts yet so I apologize if this is repeated from someone else's post.

I read about this new TDD disorder...and honestly, it urks me a bit. It's like...Orange is the new Black....TDD is the new ADD. There's a new label in town and since it's a mood disorder I bet over the next 6 months Big Pharma is going to re-invent Divalproic Acid (AKA Depakote) and name it something STUPID like Bequietin, or something like that and they're going to be pushing it on these kids and warn out parents, just like the good old Ritalin craze of yesteryear.

I read that this new "language" in the DSM, as they call it, is going to help discern between childhood Bi-Polar Disorder by having this new label, but really???

I know that some kids are genetically pre-disposed to anxiety and even poor temperament, but it's also about Culture and Environment. How has the child been raised? A lot of Kids that I see act out, act out because they are not having their needs met by their parents or caregivers and when someone else comes in and cares for the child appropriately, often times the behavior improves.

So why is it that the kids are the ones that get labeled? Don't these Doctors realize that these labels are going to be following these kids around for the rest of their natural lives. Don't they realize that the stigma of a label like this is going to open this child up to all sorts of mistreatment and judgement from others. I mean, what do we know about anger? We know that when it is suppressed, it is turned inward and can lead to depression and anxiety. And if parents aren't teaching their children how to cope well as it is...what's going to happen when the kids become more depressed and dysfunctional?

So, yeah....let's label the kids and dumb them up with crazy chemicals that poison their bodies and minds, so their parents, who aren't meeting their children's needs can have a little more piece and quiet so they can do their Sudoku puzzles. Let's ban anger and emotional expression altogether!! Oh...wait...we have Lithium for that.

When are we going to see the first Dysfunctional Parenting Disorder and start identifying and treating the real issue? I'm sure there are plenty of kids out there that have serious issues that need medications to treat it, and have really great parents. There are those kids that were born addicted to drugs, or had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome...etc. But I am really concerned that Practitioners and parents are going to be throwing this label around and anytime a child expresses anger, they're going to haul them to the Doctors to load them up on Bequietin!!

Do you ever wonder if labeling kids and medicating them for their poor behavior is merely treating the symptoms of poor, dysfunctional parenting? How about evaluating the parenting skills too? Maybe some of the kids just need a more structured environment, or a different way of discipline. Maybe it's not always the child's fault!!!

Maybe we should be medicating the parents instead?