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Weighing Your Options
An Excerpt From Should I Medicate My Child? Sane Solutions for Troubled Kids With and Without Psychiatric Drugs
By Lawrence H. Diller
Brandon has just turned 3 and is driving his parents crazy. He has temper tantrums several times daily, beating his arms, legs and even his head against the floor. On one frightening occasion, he cut his temple on the corner of the fireplace mantel. When his parents try to hold him in their arms for protection, he kicks, bites and hits them, arching his back until he wriggles out of their grasp.
Tantrums are not the only problem. Brandon picks up and tosses aside toys as if he were a human weed whacker; despite his mother's constant efforts to maintain control over her son's behavior, the house is strewn with plastic animals, toy racecars and broken games. His parents are embarrassed to let Brandon play at anyone else's house, and they have noted the disapproving looks of visitors. They would like to teach Brandon to pick up his toys, but all attempts so far have only yielded more of his violent tantrums which, his exhausted parents agree, they want to avoid whenever possible.
Carrie, Brandon's mother, dislikes the idea of giving psychiatric medications to children. She would prefer alternative therapies and has already consulted a food allergist. She is considering eliminating sugar from Brandon's diet. But, she tells me, no one else she knows has a child like this. She wonders aloud: "If Brandon has a disorder that makes him hyper and unhappy, wouldn't it be cruel not to give him a drug that would help?"
Eight-year-old Ruth cries every morning before she goes to school. "No one likes me," she says, adding that the teacher is mean. But the teacher has told Ruth's parents that their daughter is doing well in school, both academically and socially. When Ruth is introduced to new people, she won't talk and sometimes tries to crawl under her mother's coat. But with her family, Ruth is a Mr. Hyde. She insists on wearing only T-shirts and blue jeans and throws a fit if her mother insists that she wear something different, like, God forbid, a dress. In the midst her tantrums, she's yelled, "You're horrible! I'm going to kill myself!" Natalie, Ruth's mother, has tried techniques ranging from patience and reassurance to anti-anxiety medication for her daughter. But she feels it's only a matter of time before her family implodes under the pressure of the child's extreme sensitivity. "How do I know if she needs a different drug or if I've just been a lousy parent?" Natalie asks me, her voice constricting. "Or if I've just been a lousy parent?"
Jerry, nearly 16, came home with two Ds and two Fs on his latest report card. His parents recall a time when Jerry was an A student, but now he ignores major assignments as well as his homework. He doesn't appear to have a behavior problem, but it's hard to tell – Jerry spends most of his time these days in his room with the door closed, presumably on the computer or the telephone. Nor does he seem to lack for intellectual ability, since he still pulls a B+ in history, a subject he has always liked, and is enthralled by the cerebral computer game Myst