Jrc I believe it. But kids and even adults are never sure it is right. I am sorry. I have been the patient for forty years. There isn't much difference now than then when it comes to diagnosing. There are no tests to prove a diagnosis and, per many psychiatrists words, no way to be sure a diagnosis is right. Sorry but those are facts that doctors have told me and I am passing their words along to others so that they can research, try harder, get second opinions and fight for their kids. It is the only way. No one psychiatrist is God or always right. Did you know that we medicate for psychiatry more than in any country on earth? We do yet we are no more successful in treating mental illness. Many countries wont medicate kids, let alone give them heavy diagnoses. We are in the minority. It is my opinion only, of course, but I think they have a safer, better approach because medications are not benign and no diagnosis is a certainty.
The DSM itself, which I believe is only used in the U.S. ( I think Europe has another book) is all there is. Nothing else. And the opinion of the doctor. A second, even third opinion is a good thing, even for diseases that can be proven, like cancer and diabetes. Every fo docTor is different and some help us and some don't. If the doctor is unhelpful, what point is there to keep using him or her?
Why would you be against having a fresh second opinion? I don't get it. And why cling to one diagnosis for. 13 year old child? Like most, this kid has many diagnosis. Because nobody really knows. Helping this child function is most important. If he had not been evaluated for all mental health areas AND physical illnesses too, he has not been completely checked out. Things like a bad thyroid and epilepsy can cause behaviors. They should be ruled out. All she has is one doctor group that hadn't helped and their opinion. Yes, opinion.
JRC, I am a long time mom too and a long time patient in the mental health community and I am an advocate now and I sympathize with you and your need to think that psychiatry can be pin pointed in the same way cancer can. I am a patient and I know it isn't the same. Without a definitive way of testing, which hopefully will come with time, we need to treat the behavior. Too much medication for a child....sorry, but it just makes common sense that it is harmful to kids and adults. There are other ways to help change behaviors. I know FIRST HAND. I don't really care if there is a bipolar in kids. How good is it to give them Haldal with two mood stabilizers which I have taken and they really made me zombie like...but I could say "no more." A child may be acting calmer because of being drugged. This is different from being helped. Drugged feels horrible but certainly calms certain kids. This child is not better. The psychiatrist is so unsure of what to do he is asking HER to do the work. Why? Because medication is a crap shoot. I lived this. They try things but they dont know. The test for drug compatibity is promising but mentally ill patients I mentor tell me that I me Tor it doesn't always work. And side effects to all these medications are brutal. I am one who had many. So did my son.
I am very involved with helping young people who are in the mental health community. I am a mentor. The patients talk to me. I am close to many. I work along side others who are older and survived mental illness. I see and hear a lot. And talk to the other mentors too. We are all very close and confide.
JRC, I don't remember your story. But I do know that getting the medications right along with therapy can take years. And every diagnosis is the doctors best guess. The doctor from the esteemed Mayo Clinic said so and, being a doctor, I trust him more than either than us. He said verbatim "Any diagnosis is just our best guess. Mayo misdiagnoses all the time." Then he added something like I said...there is no way to prove a diagnosis. I can't quote how he said it. The exact words elude me but he meant that. The scary part is he was the latest one to say this to me, but not the only one. Not at all
JRC, I'm glad your son's doctor is helping him. Every person helped is a victory to be celebrated.
I will still tell posters this if their dear children suffer even while in a doctor's care. The DSM changes as often as cell phones and the DSM is all we have and it is not absolute or it would never change. And too many medications affects a person's body. And children's brains are still developing. Yes, some adults take five medications, especially if they are schizophrenic. I know people who take this much in order to stop hallucinations. But they are adults and have a say and still often have to change medications.
I care less about diagnosis than putting that many medications into the brain of any child. Contradictory drugs. Two mood stabilizers. A stimulant. Latuda which advertises vile side affects. Now thinking of Haldal???
He is 13. Is this helping him? Not a bit. His brain is still changing. Although I had severe anxiety as a young child and horrible depression at 13, I am glad there were no medications for children at the time. I am 64 and still have all my faculties. I shutter at the possible effects of children on Haldal and other heavy duty medications....what it will do to their brains in their futures.
I stand strongly by that second opinion. I am sorry that you don't like it but I always share my own experience and opinions. Nobody has to listen to me or you. People will do what they want to do. I feel safe that parents can take it all in and think for themselves. I am not afraid for parents to get as much input as possible, even opposing opinions. It helps them. I happen to be a big believer in second opinion if the doctor is not helping. That is in my opinion the very best way to get well. And this child is not well.
Love and light and nothing malicious meant. It is only how I strongly feel that my own experience shaped and I wish to share it.