I find this very worrying

[woolybanana]

Filling kids with drugs for very little.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8763431/Shy-children-at-risk-of-being-diagnosed-with-mental-disorder.html

[Clarkkent]

Agreed.

I do note the words "in America" at the beginning of the article and suspect that America's commercialised health provision "system" may be responsible. Another way for pharmaceutical companies - who are running out of new useful drugs - to make some money: pathologise the normal.

[woolybanana]

In 2013 these criteria are expected be adopted in the UK. Disaster waiting to happen, but then, who cares about kids !!!!

[Patf]

I used to work in that field, and always resisted labelling - it's just a way of removing responsibility from the people who should be doing something about the problem. Also stigmatises the child for life.

Glad I'm not there now or I would just refuse to accept the new terminology.

[Hoddy]

The trouble is that it has been going on for ages. As a student I spent a short time working in a school in New England. I was astonished that each morning a group of children lined up to be given their 'medication'. At first I assumed that they pills were for genuine illnesses but it turned out to be something to modify their behaviour. I don't actually remember the word Ritalin although with hindsight it seems likely.

At the time I thought it could never happen in the UK - now I'm not so sure.

Hoddy

[idun]

I am against general use of drugs and there is an awful lot that would need doing with each child before anything like this was considered at all.

I know that children are given drugs, at least in France, mine was eventually put on anti depressants and given some sleeping tablets in his teens, for a limited amount of time, no wonder really, not sleeping, very depressed and as an alternative to suicide, seemed the lesser of the two evils really.  And we've got through the last 12 years, but only just.

He was later offered ritalin, when they eventually worked out the worst of his problems, which actually was in plain sight, but there you go. He refused the ritalin, I wished he had tried it.