Friends,

As many of you know, I teach a psychology class here at CCHS.

As a lifelong learner, I have continued to stay current with research in the field.

I have been particularly focused on the issue of giving kids adult psychiatric diagnoses and then treating them with powerful psychiatric drugs that often have not been tested on kids.

Given that so many of my kids each year come with a diagnosis of ADHD, I have immersed myself in the research literature related to this new disorder which showed up in 1987 as the successor to ADD.

(ADD itself did not make an appearance in the literature until 1980.)

Earlier this year, I was Peter Breggin’s guest on the “Peter Breggin Hour.”

A Harvard-trained psychiatrist, Mr, Breggin has been a strong voice for decades suggesting that instead of drugging kids we should understand, support and love them.

If they are having trouble paying attention in school, we should change the school environment rather than changing the child’s brain.

Last month I had the pleasure of being the guest on a podcast sponsored by the non-profit organization, Mad in America.

Founded by Robert Whitaker, their mission is “to serve as a catalyst for re-thinking psychiatric care in the U.S. and abroad.”  They believe that “the current drug-based paradigm of care has failed our society. They believe that research, as well as the lived experience of those who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, calls for profound change.

My conversation with James Moore explores some of the issues which arise when teaching a psychology class at a time when many students have been given a psychiatric diagnosis and are taking psychiatric drugs.

As a teacher and a continuing student of psychology, I have been wrestling with a number of questions since I started teaching the class.

• Are these diagnoses objective?
• Subjective?
• Helpful?
• Limiting?
• Temporary?
• Permanent?
• Are the drugs safe?
• Effective?
• Have they been tested on kids?
• Are there long-term side effects?
• What does the research say about outcomes for those choosing psychotherapy vs. those being treated with drugs?
• Do other countries medicate their kids who are falling behind in school?
• Or is this unique to the U.S.?

An ongoing central question is:

How do you teach a class that examines research that raises questions about the safety and effectiveness of these medical interventions while respecting the fact that a certain percentage of kids in school (perhaps as high as 10 percent) are taking psychiatric drugs?

I suspect many of you have had some of these same questions as more and more of our kids come to school each day on powerful psychiatric drugs.

I have attached the link to the podcast.

There you will find a link to my earlier conversation with Peter Breggin as well as to the “60 Minutes” segment with Irving Kirsch. He shares the results of his research that indicates that, for mild and moderate depression, anti-depressants are no more effective than placebo.

Both sites, madinamerica.com and breggin.com are excellent resources for those of us who work with kids and who want to learn more about these medical interventions and the drug-free alternatives that exist.

www.madinamerica.com/2017/10/david-mielke-educating-psychiatric-diagnosis

Mr. Mielke may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org