Speed for Your Toddler? ADHD Medicating Soars in the Under 4 Set
About Kelly Brogan
KELLY BROGAN, MD, is a holistic psychiatrist, author of the New York Times Bestselling book, A Mind of Your Own, Own Your Self, the children’s book, A Time For Rain, and co-editor of the landmark textbook Integrative Therapies for Depression.
According to a NY Times report
More than 10,000 American toddlers 2 or 3 years old are being medicated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder outside established pediatric guidelines
...with Medicaid covered toddlers, under 4, being specifically affected. With 11% of children age 4-17 and 1 in 5 boys carrying a diagnosis of ADHD, we have to stop, look, and listen to the snap of rubber bands around the stacks of pharmaceutical cash. This is a prime instance of psychiatry's license to treat any and all humans because of its impressionistic diagnostic system that requires no objective testing or validated measures prior to prescribing - in this case - completely unstudied, and otherwise questionably evidence-based medications rife with known and unknown side effects. Psychiatry preys on the seemingly ambiguous nature of contributors to our modern chronic diseases, offering us a shiny apple, promising a quick and easy fix.
Child behavior is a litmus test for imbalance - physiologic, environmental, social - and commands attention to the web of factors that support or detract from healthy growth and development. It is an unacceptable abuse of evidenceless medicine to poison children for their responses to these triggers. There are many aspects of modern life that we will come to regret, but highest on the list will be turning our children into pharmaceutical receptacles because we can't or are unwilling, as a society, to appreciate the complex consequences of our decisions during pregnancy and parenting.
For more on a holistic approach to child behavior, read my article here, or listen to my interview of holistic pediatric psychiatrist Scott Shannon here.
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