Children and drugs

In its one hour documentary Medicating Kids, FRONTLINE examines the dramatic increase in the prescription of behavior-modifying drugs for children.
FRONTLINE followed several families through time who had been pressured by child care workers and school officials to put their children on mood altering drugs and described their struggle to adjust dosages and reconcile the fact that more and more drugs were added over time to their "regimen" to try to get the proper balance and control side effects. FRONTLINE also showed that after the diagnosis of ADD and ADHD, many children are now being given a new diagnosis of bi-polar disorder, which comes with a different drug cocktail. Some children are being "diagnosed" with these labels at four years or even younger!

Although some psychiatrists were interviewed who wondered if too many children were being diagnosed, or that some were being overmedicated, or that some of the drugs were inappropriate for children, none of them questioned the labeling and subsequent drugging of children. Voices from the minority of psychiatrists who question this practice were not included.
Human beings come into this earth with distinct personalities and some have difficulties both physical and emotional. It is not surprising that many parents feel that they must accept that their child has a "chemical imbalance" when he/she is difficult to deal with. Often for children to behave the way we wish them to in school, they are forced to think and act in certain ways that we deem "normal." (I'm not talking about children acting out violently or being rude)
There are many alternative therapies that can be explored if a parent feels that their child has problems above and beyond normal behavior. A good resource is the writings of Thom Hartmann

But I think we have forgotten what "normal" is. Our parents or grandparents expected children to be children; to be emotional or moody or euphoric one minute and gloomy the next. It is a parent's job to reassure their children and to correct misbehavior, but also to deeply listen to them and accept them for who they are--to respect the beauty of their unique expression of Life itself.
All drugs have side effects. In the case of the S.S.R.I.s, no new seretonin is created; instead, seretonin is prevented from re-absorbing into the synapses of the brain. This creates an amphetamine-like effect, and in the long term might cause less seretonin to be manufactured, leaving the child with permanent negative side effects. The bi-polar drugs have their own set of negatives, including weight gain and heart disease! No drug truly is correcting a chemical imbalance in the brain, unless you think that you can strengthen a delicate rose petal by firing a cannon.