Not for the squeamish

To protect against unwanted shock, I'm going to fill space so the picture needs to be scrolled to. These are plexiglass panels featuring a thin section of the human body; male on left & female on right.
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Are we over-medicating our children?

I come here to say what's on my mind. Sometimes it is fluff, other times it is something that really affects me. Today I want to talk about a nephew and some recent diagnoses that frankly worry me.

Things are very different than when I grew up. As a kid I was bored in school. I was smarter than the average student so I was already done with that section while the teacher was still trying to get the slower students up to speed. This hasn't changed in today's classroom. There has always been and will always be faster and slower students.

In my case, this boredom showed in talking to myself, talking to neighbors, or reading a fiction book when I could get away with it. I still remember at a very early age being put in the corner for talking in class and then having my parents called in because I was talking to myself in the corner. It's funny now.

This weekend at a birthday party I found out a nephew has been diagnosed with ADHD & Oppositional Disorder for what is effectively the same actions I had done. It scares me that they may medicate him for things that I consider normal. I said as much to his mother, my niece.

I hesitate to think of what they would do to the 13 yr old me in today's society. Would I have become me or some Borg equivalent to me? Are we dooming the thinkers of our society to having that "wild streak" medicated out of them.

Lest you think I have a high view of myself, I'll admit that I ended up self-medicating in high school and college. I don't recommend it. There is much of my childhood I don't remember at all. Not just fuzzy recollections, but none whatsoever. Those brain cells are dead.

I make a good living and someone thinks I'm productive or I wouldn't be making that living. But I wonder what I could have become in different circumstances. And I wonder what my nephew will be stopped from becoming. That's the saddest part of looking back with 50 year old vision.

What do you think?

Are we over-medicating our children?

Are we medicating the spark out of children that could become the next truly free thinkers.

Does this worry you?