Do you believe that it is appropriate to administer drug treatments to children who suffer from psychological disorders? Why or why not?

Administration of Drug Treatments to Children Suffering from Psychological Disorders

Children suffer from various psychological and mental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and posttraumatic stress disorders, among others. Depression, anxiety, and stress are common among children and may persist for a long time. Drugs such as chlorpromazine and modecate have been effective in treating mental disorders, but their use and efficacy in children is a debate. Some people feel that drugs should not be used to manage psychological issues in children. In contrast, others feel that using drugs is the best strategy to manage childhood psychological and mental disorders. I believe that drugs should not be used in the treatment of children who have psychological disorders because there are better alternative treatment methods and drugs have a lot of adverse effects on children.

Psychological issues affecting children are often caused by social, physical, and economic issues that happen in society. Defects in the body systems do not cause the conditions, and therefore, drugs are not the best treatment strategy. Best strategies should target the social, economic, and physical lives of children in society (Ogundele, 2018). Instead of using drugs, strategies that deal with social issues, such as group and family therapy, are the best. The child should feel accepted and have someone to address his or her issues. Strategies that focus on external factors affecting the child are the best (Ogundele, 2018). The children are also growing and learning, and therefore, using behavioral approaches to manage their psychological condition is the best. Children quickly learn new behaviors to deal with their condition; hence, drugs should be avoided in managing their psychological issues.

Children are still developing, and therefore, most of their organs and systems are immature. Therefore, subjecting them to drugs at an early stage of life is doing them more harm than good. Their body systems are not able to metabolize and clear the drugs from the systems within the required time (Padilha et al., 2018). Therefore, drugs administered to them are likely to be more toxic to their bodies, leading to severe symptoms of depression. Any drug should be administered to children in lower doses, but they still have adverse effects (Padilha et al., 2018). Therefore, instead of subjecting children to drugs, alternative methods of managing their conditions, such as family and group therapy, should be used.

References

Ogundele, M. O. (2018). Behavioral and emotional disorders in childhood: A brief overview for pediatricians. World journal of clinical pediatrics, 7(1), 9. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v7.i1.9