16 Henrico middle school students charged in prescription drug case

Has anyone on this post ever seen the movie Taxi Driver and if so, do you recall who the main character was? It is all starting to make sense now. Scary thought ...

In 1798, Americans were confronted with the task of abolishing slavery, peacefully and without violating the rights of others. They refused to face that daunting task and we are still paying the price of their refusal. In 2009, we Americans are faced with the task of abolishing psychiatric slavery, peacefully and without violating the rights of others. I accept that task and am committed to working for its successful resolution. As Americans before us have eventually replaced involuntary servitude (chattel slavery) with contractual relations between employers and employees, I seek to replace involuntary psychiatry (psychiatric slavery) with contractual relations between care givers and clients.

In the words of the American humorist Josh Billings, “The trouble with people is not what they don’t know but that they know so much that ain’t so.”

Just giving you some pity credit, but you’re a bit biased in a direction, as has been alluded to by Firfrog, that puts you alone out on a limb. Perhaps you’re just a little angry person seeking a fight.. maybe you’ve not seen the sun in a while due to becoming a recluse who receives education of the outside world via the Internet (Interwebs?), but you’ve not convinced me that you can have rational, fact-based discourse.

Sorry to disappoint, but I have no fear of being “alone out on a limb.” There are others far wiser than I who are with me in fighting the biological reductionists to the end. If some people regard my statements as “wrong, obnoxious, or obsolete” it is because they embody a historical set of concepts and values with which most such as you disagree or by which they are threatened. I am critical of psychiatry because I disagree with fundamental psychiatric concepts and values. My relationship with psychiatry is shaped by ethical and philosophical conflicts which are rooted in historical and political currents. I will spare you a discussion of these concepts – it would be pointless given your frame of reference

Furhter, present biological theories of mental illness touted by many at this site are highly problematic. In the first place, they are incomplete, because they are biological, reductionistic and ignore the psychological dimensions of human experience and thus ignore what is most characteristic of and fundamental to the human experience. Secondly, they are weak in themselves, having been deduced entirely, and not entirely logically, from the actions of tranquilizers and anti-depressants on neuro- transmitters.

The fact that Prozac, for instance, which boosts inter-synaptic serotonin, can help lift depression does not logically imply that the depression is cause by low brain serotonin. It may equally well be, and is in my opinion more likely, that the individual’s psychological response to life events condition the levels of brain serotonin. In spite of the strident brain reductionism of modern biological psychiatrists, there is strong scientific evidence that experience influences the brain’s physical structure and development. Babies will die without sufficient love. Children will lose their capacity for speech if they have not learned to talk by a certain age. A crowd of sports fans in a frenzy over the last-minute victory of their team will undoubtedly have elevated blood catecholamines.

Although psychiatrists are publicly engaged in a media blitz to propagandize the idea that mental illnesses are medical diseases which are treatable with medications, privately they admit that their research is flawed and their theories are, as yet, unproved. Every few years they convene a committee to write a new diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM), in which the primary proof of the existence of the diagnostic categories of mental illness is that psychiatrists, who train each other to see them, believe they exist. What no psychiatrist will publicly admit is that they want badly to transform their discipline into a hard, quantifiable science that is on a par with molecular biology, or genetics, but they have often been frustrated. Every time they think they have unearthed a real, analyzable gene to explain a mental disorder like manic depression or alcoholism, the finding dissolves on closer inspection or is cast into doubt.

Bottom line: If ADD, OCD, and/or any of these so-called psychiatric disorders (“mental illnesses”) may be explained by human biology alone, then they should be treated by neurologists, not psychiatrists, let alone diagnosing by individuals who have absolutely no medical training whatsoever. Think: School teachers!

Ella,
If you are still keeping up with these posts, I want to thank you heartily.  Your description of living with ADD was the best one that I’ve read.  I showed it to my 14 year old son who has the condition and he was so happy to see someone had put into words just what he has dealt with throughout his educational process. I had been told since he was in kindergarten that medication would help him, but I fought the idea because of the ideas perpetuated that these medications were simply to “control these kids”.  After watching him struggle for five years, I decided to give the medication a try…then I kicked myself heartily for having listened to the propaganda against these meds and having waited so long before giving them a chance. The difference in my son was wonderful to see.  For the first time, he was able to focus in the classroom.  His grades improved dramatically, as did his confidence in himself.  Yes, these drugs can be overprescribed, but for those that actually do need them, they are life-changing. (Sorry Travis!)

I have never submitted a comment to an article before, but after reading some of these comments, I couldn’t resist.  It seems that some people are very quick to judge others without the benefit of walking in their shoes.  One thing that I am learning as the parent of three adolescent sons is to never say never.  I, too, did all the right things:  I had the right talks with my sons, I volunteered in the school often, I knew where they were and who they were with, I spoke to the parents before they spent went over to friends homes (much to their embarrassment).  These are clean-cut, everyone’s mom loves them, good student kids.  I’d been patting myself on the back for a job well done, and yes, feeling like an above average parent.  Then I got a phone call from the mother of one of my 16 year old’s friends saying that she had caught the boys smoking pot behind the garage.  They had gotten the drug from someone at school (and yes, it is one of the West End private schools)  I was horrified!  I was the perfect parent!  I had done everything that I was supposed to do!  Where did I go wrong?!!  I thought that I’d had everything under control! 

And that’s the thing…we can give our kids all of our love, our wisdom, our morals and ethics, but they are the ones who ultimately make the decisions.  We cannot follow them into the classroom, into the bathroom, or stand over them when they sleep at night.  And just like parents of small children will tell you, all you have to do is turn your back for one second to have disaster strike.  Please don’t vilify the parents of these kids.  It would just take a moment looking the other way for a child to grab the medication bottle out of the cabinet, and a parent would not notice it missing until the next morning when it was time to give a dose.  Please don’t vilify the kids either.  The pressures that these kids are under these days compared to our pre-MTV days is huge.  I’m not excusing the behavior or trying to waive consequences, but just stand a minute in their shoes.  They are lambasted constantly with images of sex, violence, and drug use on TV, in the media, and on their video games (something else we didn’t really have, unless you can equate Pac Man and Pong to Grand Theft Auto).  Mix this with the horror of Middle School or High School, and it’s a lethal combination.

Let’s just try to practice a little compassion and work together to keep our kids on track.  Throwing blame and holier-than-thou attitudes does nothing to help our kids. 

PS - and about my son, don’t look for him on the road, he won’t be driving for the next six months.  Don’t try to call or email him either.  He can’t come over anyway since he’s grounded for a LONG time.

lwj- did you post in the wrong article?  Not only does the article not provide any socioeconomic details about the 16 students, but it says they were charged with XYZ not convicted of XYZ.  I don’t know what case you reference in Hanover, but in Powhatan it was a jury that made the decision… the CA holds responsibility for how it presented the case, but the jury is responsible for the outcome.  The judge/ jury is responsible for the sentence.