According to a study conducted by the New York state mental health officials by Peter Jensen, Director of the Center for Children’s Mental Health at Columbia University there has been an increase in 1990 from 50,000 children aged 6 to 18 years taking antipsychotic medication children to 532,000 nationwide in 2000. This is excluding stimulants for ADD and antidepressants, the most commonly used psychiatric drugs.
It is estimated bye the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Drugs, 1996, that 80 percent of all medication use in children is off label. When one considers that the efficacy of these drugs is not known nor the long term side effects, especially given the amount of years the drugs are taken, we must ask ourselves why it is that we are allowing this to happen.
There are cases when medication is indeed required to assist those children who have definite psychiatric problems to be addressed, however for too many of these kids medication seems to be the easiest way to get them to behave in a manner more conducive to the adults around them.
In many situations where a child has obsessive-compulsive behavior, anger, anxiety and many other issues where behaviors or thoughts need to be changed, hypnosis can be a very effective means to handle these problems without the use of medication. In some cases the medication has been found to be of minimal use, maybe because the patient has decided not to take it, and is creating issues at home that need to be addressed. If you find yourself in a situation where you are being told that your child needs to go on medication for emotional or behavioral reasons I would first find out for what purpose and use it as the last resort. I know in my practice I have been able to work with children as young as 9 years old to let go of eye lash pulling, anger, depressive thoughts anxiety and many other issues without the use of any medication. Do however, make sure that the hypnotist is well trained and is working with the medical providers to be certain that all works out well. The health and well being of our young is in all our best interests.
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