Free Addict Nation by Sandra Mohr Jane Velez-Mitchell Page B

and there’s a drug to keep them from killing themselves, then it clearly makes sense.
    What I’m questioning are the less extreme physical and psychological ailments. If someone is suffering the kind of depression that is not severe enough to keep them from eating, sleeping, and working, should they try to blot out the sadness they are experiencing . . . or should they try to figure out why they’re sad and try to fix what’s wrong? The biggest problem with antidepressants and antianxiety pills is that they don’t fix the underlying problem that’s making you depressed and anxious! So when you try to get off the pills, the sadness and anxiety return. Then you go back on the pills and . . . become hooked!
    What we call depression is often nature’s warning bell that something is out of balance and needs to be corrected. Often that “problem” is not something we can see, hear, smell, touch, or taste. It’s often an emotional or psychological problem: an unresolved childhood trauma, a skewed view of how the world operates, a simmering resentment, a toxic relationship, or a distorted perception of self. A woman who is “blue” and is told to take antidepressants may actually be trapped in a loveless marriage that she should end. If she takes medication to numb herself, then she is simply prolonging her problem and postponing judgment day for her relationship. She is certainly not confronting the real crisis in her life. A young man who is depressed may actually be deeply unfulfilled by the soulless career that he has chosen. Taking medication allows him to remain glued to a computer while trapped inside a cubicle all day. However, he’s betraying himself by taking a drug that makes that bad choice tolerable.
    Children Should Be Seen and Not Heard?
    I’m absolutely convinced that if I were a kid today, I would be diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a doctor would be pushing my parents to get me on meds to calm me down. As a kid, I was beyond hyperactive and extremely mischievous. Basically, I was acting out a lot. Some of that had to do with growing up in an alcoholic household. Like most kids who get into trouble, I was unconsciously expressing anger that had no other outlet. It’s a common story. So is the best solution to sedate the child . . . or to confront the dysfunction in the home? Obviously, it’s a lot easier to numb the child than to deal with the messy family issues underneath the misbehavior.
    While rich and even middle-class kids often have the luxury of psychological therapy, where they can talk out their problems, poor children do not. Studies show children covered by Medicaid are given powerful antipsychotic meds at a rate four times higher than kids whose parents have private insurance. These Medicaid kids are more likely to get drugs for less severe conditions than middle-class kids. These drugs have serious side effects, often causing drastic weight gain and producing lifelong physical problems. Antipsychotic drugs are now being used on about 300,000 minors in America. It’s such a problem that a group of Medicaid professionals has formed a group called Too Many, Too Much, Too Young. 35
    Kids First, Then You and Me
    Given the trend of ever-increasing drug use, is it really all that farfetched to imagine a gray future where everybody is on mood-altering substances for one reason or another? In this heavily sedated future, medication might even be “required” not just for unruly children but also for rebellious segments of the adult population. The opiate of the masses may well turn out to be prescribed! As it stands now, a stunning one out of every two Americans is on some sort of prescription medication. 36 How long before it’s two out of two?
    Pharming
    So how do we reverse this insidious trend? First, let’s avoid becoming our children’s primary drug supplier. Within the prescription drug abuse crisis, there’s another epidemic of teenagers stealing