The topic of psychiatric care in adolescents and children is one that is controversial to many. The forced psychiatric care of minors is morally problematic. There are many concerns associated with coercive measures of treatment for children and adolescents in psychiatric care, including the dangers of psychotropic medication in minors. Psychotropic refers directly to a drug affecting one’s brain, as used to treat mental illnesses or defects. Research confirms an insufficient watchfulness of a patient’s overall well-being, a lack of the comprehensive measuring in the patient’s satisfaction of care, and issues with the opposing side not considering the patient beyond, simply, a hospital status—a human being. Although there are others who believe
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Children deserve the opportunity to be involved, because this system too often has adults mindlessly caring for these children through files and once-a-month visits. Foster children are often drugged forcefully and thus being involuntary psychiatric patients. There is also a trend related to the more frequent use of psychotropic medication for children in foster care, showing that these children’s chance to be prescribed with medication becomes increased to 1600% when compared to children outside of the foster care system (Sparks & Duncan, …show more content…
Through the 1990s to the early 2000s specifically, there has been a large increase in these prescriptions (Sparks & Duncan, 2008). Many professionals seem to rely on psychotropic medication to treat child/adolescent psychiatric ailments. In 2002, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ascertained that 11 million antidepressant prescriptions were written for minors, increasing in 49% in only a four-year period, 4efrom the year 1998. (Sparks & Duncan, 2008). This is just one example of the severe increase of psychotropic medication prescriptions for children/adolescents. There is a need for more advanced knowledge about the risks of psychotropic medication, as the prescription of medication is gradually more often being used to act as the sole treatment rather than a possible supplementation to a patient’s care (Sparks & Duncan,
Children deserve the opportunity to be involved, because this system too often has adults mindlessly caring for these children through files and once-a-month visits. Foster children are often drugged forcefully and thus being involuntary psychiatric patients. There is also a trend related to the more frequent use of psychotropic medication for children in foster care, showing that these children’s chance to be prescribed with medication becomes increased to 1600% when compared to children outside of the foster care system (Sparks & Duncan, …show more content…
Through the 1990s to the early 2000s specifically, there has been a large increase in these prescriptions (Sparks & Duncan, 2008). Many professionals seem to rely on psychotropic medication to treat child/adolescent psychiatric ailments. In 2002, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ascertained that 11 million antidepressant prescriptions were written for minors, increasing in 49% in only a four-year period, 4efrom the year 1998. (Sparks & Duncan, 2008). This is just one example of the severe increase of psychotropic medication prescriptions for children/adolescents. There is a need for more advanced knowledge about the risks of psychotropic medication, as the prescription of medication is gradually more often being used to act as the sole treatment rather than a possible supplementation to a patient’s care (Sparks & Duncan,