Frontline: The Medicated Child
by Marcela Gaviria and Will Cohen
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: .Director: Marcela Gaviria and Will Cohen
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 60 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-03-04
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS (DIRECT)
Movie Reviews of Frontline: The Medicated Child
Movie Review: *Emptying that Simpsons Episode out of My Head*
Summary: 3 Stars
One of my all-time favorite "Simpsons" episodes is "Brother's Little Helper" in which Bart is put on Focus-In. The episode mocks how nowadays there's a pill to "correct" any trait parents or teachers don't like in a child, usually male. However, Bart begins concentrating in class and ends wrapping himself in aluminum foil and promoting conspiracy theories. The doctors themselves want to just prescribe more drugs and seem like they are just rolling the dice on Bart's health. What is presented as hilarious on "The Simpsons" is presented here as a major problem for many families, and possibly the nation as a whole.
The Frontline episode speaks for how doctors are feeding children more and more drugs without knowing the risks of all these medications at such a young age. Further, it states that while drug companies test drugs on adults, they have done few tests on children. The narrator says, "Well, no one wants to see a child in a placebo group," somewhat pointing blame at the companies. However, I wonder if parents refuse to put their children in medical experiments whereas ill adults may be more than willing to play a role in a test.
This work can be seen as anti-climactic. It shows children and teens who committed suicide after being on these drugs. However, it also showed the suicide rate increasing when children-in-need were not taking such drugs. A severe catch-22 is established here. Only at the end of the work does an expert say, "Let's do like we did with pediatric cancer; have doctors try things and report it to their colleagues and as a group they can decipher what works and what doesn't."
The work doesn't speak about demographics, but I had read somewhere that boys are more likely to suffer from ADHD than girls. They showed a girl being interviewed whose answer for all problems was "Let's just cut that person's head off!" I was floored by that image. A boy saying such a thing should be equally frightening, but I must admit my own flaw in gasping when hearing a little girl say something so violent and destructive.
I don't have children and I can easily sidestep the spanking controversy. But I must admit that everyday folk often say a good spankypoo would solve all this acting-up better than these questionable drugs. The Frontline episode says nothing on that argument. Some also said at-home parents, usually women, could solve these problems, but our rush-rush society just wants to correct all with medicine. Also, some have questioned whether pollutants in the modern environment are causing the increase in autistic numbers. I do wonder if this rise in ADHD may have some environmental causes. Maybe if we went greener, fewer young people would have these intense mental challenges.
Summary of Frontline: The Medicated Child
Ten years ago, stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall were the drugs of choice to treat behavioral issues in children. Today children as young as four years old, are being prescribed more powerful anti-psychotic medications that are much less understood. The drugs can cause serious side effects and virtually nothing is known about their long-term impact.The increase in the use of anti-psychotics is directly tied to the rising incidence of one particular diagnosis - bipolar disorder. Experts estimate that the number of kids with the diagnosis is now over a million and rising.
As the debate over medicating children continues to grow, Frontline confronts psychiatrists, reserachers, and government regulators about the risks and benefits of prescription drugs for troubled children.
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