Wekk 4: Medication and Young Minds

The most interesting theme to me this week was children and medication. It seems to be a topic that has a lot of controversy, and rightfully so I would think. Is medication acceptable for young minds? Will it change their development? What if they can’t function without the medication?

                “Medicating Young Minds,” by Jeffrey Kluger, examines a case of a young girl who has both OCD and ADHD, which made her teen years much more difficult than your average teenage years. She was prescribed Lexapro which helped but does have side effects. It alters your brain chemistry and “artificially manipulates the very chemicals responsible for feeling and thought.” (Kluger). Her brain, as we have learned through our text book, has years to go before it is fully developed. She was also put on Ritalin to counteract her symptoms of ADHD. Unfortunately that drug also caused weight loss and sleeplessness. I can’t remember what chapter it was in our text, but we have learned how important sleep is for children. So these drugs have made her symptoms much more manageable but at what cost?

                I can’t say for sure what I would do if I had a child who needed these drugs. Bipolar Type 2 runs in my family and you are usually diagnosed between the ages of 15-24. If my 15 year old was diagnosed, would I let them take medication that alters their brain chemistry? I don’t really know to be honest. What do you guys think? I hope that many doctors are continuing to do long term studies on these drugs so we know what will happen 15, 20, 30 years out. I would love to hear people’s thoughts on this topic. Thanks for reading!

Week 3: Barbie and G.I. Joe

I found the article, "What's the Difference Between Boys and Girls?" to be the most interesting this week; probably because I have a younger brother who is nothing like me. We are 2 and a half years apart and growing up we did have some mutual toys and interests, and then some that were as opposite as could be. We both rode bikes and played outside, but I had pink streamers and a basket (for flowers of course) and he wanted a bike that could, "go fast, fast, like Batman and Robin." Speaking of Batman and Robin, he was obsessed with one super hero after another, whereas I always wanted an American Girl Doll. So there were definitely lots of differences between us that most people link to genetics, but I began to wonder how much is environment (which we've been reading a lot about lately).
According to Deborah Blum, " In a study involving almost 300 children, researchers found that if little boys asked for a soldier equipped with battle cannons for their birthday, they got it some 70 percent of the time. It they asked for a Barbie doll, or any of her plastic peers, the success rate was 40 percent or less." I know that my brother asked for a Barbie doll for his 3rd birthday and didn't get one, later we found my Ken doll decapitated with a ransom note by my door, so that may have been for the best. But it does prove the authors point that we seem to raise boys versus girls, instead of raising individual children. yes physically and biologically children have differences, but they are also more similar then we tend to think.

Week 2: To test or not to test?

I found chapters 2 and 3 in our textbook pretty interesting this week. My best friend had her son almost 3 years ago and I got to be there from the beginning through the present and it is an amazing process, although scary at times. When you start to think about how much development a child goes through in just a short amount of time, and how long adults go without rapid development, it’s no wonder children need naps all the time! “At 3 years of age, for example, the brain has achieved 80% of it’s ultimate weight. (Kail & Cavanaugh, pg. 96).

It also seemed a bit overwhelming to me how much testing they can do before you even have a child. As someone who would like kids one day, I began wondering if it would be better to know before, or just let nature take it’s course? Personally, I think I would opt out of the testing. It would not change my decision about having my child. What do you guys think?

Week 1 Post - Monkey See, Monkey NOT Do

I decided to focus my reflection on our article, "The Identity Dance".

The section about George the monkey was particularly interesting to me, as I have both an alcoholic father and uncle (brothers). They were raised in the same home, roughly 4 years apart, with the same abusive parents. It seems that although they may or may not have the gene, it was their environment that sparked the alcoholism.

Now my brother and I, who are 2 years apart, are neither alcoholics. We were raised by one alcoholic parent, and one non-alcoholic parent. Most likely one of us has the gene, but we have luckily not suffered from the disease. I would argue that it was because of our environment. Not only did we see what my Father went through when trying to get sober, but we saw how my Mom excelled in life. Those things make me personally believe that nuture is more important than nature. I do believe in genes playing a huge role in who we become, but I believe that your environment is more influential.

George and his cousin Jim prove this theory. George and Jim both have the same short gene but one is an alcoholic, one is not. Jim, who was raised in a "normal" environment with his biological mother, did not become an alcoholic. Unlike George, who was not raised in a "normal" environment.