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Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

nytimes.com

191–200 of 339 posts

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The illnesses they treat are ones of terror and loneliness. I will note however that there’s no purpose in them here except to force submission, and that’s abuse and spits on the good that can be done. Modern antipsychotics are useful for conditions beyond schizophrenia. Seroquel is commonly prescribed for insomnia at doses lower than those used for Schizophrenia. Adding Abilify is a common second-line strategy whe…

I’m on Abilify and Vraylar. Makes me feel normal. Love it.

I think the negative and totally inaccurate depiction of psychiatric care on TV and in movies is why people are surprised that antipsychotics actually really help most people who are prescribed them.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I traveled to the east coast near DC to help take care of my mother in her final years I talked with some people about my work with startups and the tech side projects I was developing and not only did they all think I was completely crazy but I got referred to a psychiatrist who was insistent that I should get started on antipsychotic medications right away.

Why would talking about tech make people think you're crazy?

I wonder what the side projects were…

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some teachers (maybe even the majority) do make carefully considered decisions In the United States, teachers do not prescribe medications. They may make a recommendation that parents seek the guidance of a doctor, and a qualified medical professional (usually a psychiatrist) will diagnose the child, and the parent may choose to pursue medicating or not. In our case, we had regular checkup appointments with a psych…

>Unless the laws have changed since then in Australia, Ritalin is a controlled substance, according to this, and it's not even guaranteed a general practitioner can prescribe it, and a psychiatrist is preferred.[1] Maybe you misheard, or maybe the teacher misunderstood what their capabilities were? Just like in the US, teachers here can make recommendations for parents to seek medical treatment. Said recommendations…

> if the parent follows up on it there's a good chance the child will be medicated.

You say that, but we went through three recommendations over 5 years or so and following doctors visits where we were told initially that it was hard to tell because she was young, and that she might grow out of it, and the doctors did not recommend medication at that time (so we didn't, until on the last one where that diagnosis and recommendation changed based on her age and behavior).

The problem with statements like "there's a good chance" is that it's likely based on your understanding of things and not actual statistics or hard data, and meanwhile I have my understanding of things based on my singular experience (anecdote) that's also not based on hard data, so without any of that data all I'd agree with you on is that sure, some parents might end up with medicated children that don't need it based on a teacher recommendation, but I'm not sure whether it's a "good chance" or not, and unless you have more info you haven't disclosed, I'm not sure whether you know that either.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#194
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids do not choose to be born. We can't expect them to serve us when we get old. They owe us nothing. We forced them into this world.

Such a nihilistic viewpoint. Others consider bearing children a gift of life.

Where was the consent?

That's right - it cannot be given.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#195

Phony Diagnoses not just at nursing homes, also in mental facilities. Was really surprised (better word-traumatized) that one flippant casual mention of not valuing my life in a private text message was enough to to get me detained by police in a facility for a night. "Doctor" threatened me with drugging just because I refused to answer some of their questions and instead insisted on a lawyer. Funny how freedoms can…

LPS holds are 72hr. It's the only situation where you can be detained against your will. Unfortunately, many seriously ill people can not get the psychiatric help they need because of how difficult it is to forcibly medicate(in CA, at least) or keep a person beyond 72hr if they improve slightly.

IMHO, the system errors too much on the side of caution when it comes to psychiatric holds and ignores history of repeated hospitalizations.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Unless the laws have changed since then in Australia, Ritalin is a controlled substance, according to this, and it's not even guaranteed a general practitioner can prescribe it, and a psychiatrist is preferred.[1] Maybe you misheard, or maybe the teacher misunderstood what their capabilities were? Just like in the US, teachers here can make recommendations for parents to seek medical treatment. Said recommendations…

> if the parent follows up on it there's a good chance the child will be medicated. You say that, but we went through three recommendations over 5 years or so and following doctors visits where we were told initially that it was hard to tell because she was young, and that she might grow out of it, and the doctors did not recommend medication at that time (so we didn't, until on the last one where that diagnosis and…

>The problem with statements like "there's a good chance" is that it's likely based on your understanding of things and not actual statistics or hard data

That's a fair comment. I'd be interested to hear directly from someone who does have hard data, or at least a teacher who's actually done this multiple times.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#197
This is nothing new, and a worldwide phenomenon. If you have to read about this in nytimes for the first time, please get a life and talk to your fellow humans. Its a mixture of personell being overworked and sometimes being plain mean. This is the price we pay for not investing enough into the system that cares for the elderly, or, in other words, this is the price for having outsourced caretaking. And dont fool yourself. If you put a relative into a nursing home, you have absolutely no idea how they are treated after you close the door behind you.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Not necessarily does not mean never, so be careful of a claim like that, and maybe back it up. That's definitely correct. It can be a great help for some children, and some teachers (maybe even the majority) do make carefully considered decisions where the primary concern is for the welfare of the child receiving the drugs. Other times, though, they just want some ratbag kid to STFU so they can get on with their job…

> some teachers (maybe even the majority) do make carefully considered decisions In the United States, teachers do not prescribe medications. They may make a recommendation that parents seek the guidance of a doctor, and a qualified medical professional (usually a psychiatrist) will diagnose the child, and the parent may choose to pursue medicating or not. In our case, we had regular checkup appointments with a psych…

Ritalin absolutely is a controlled substance in Australia and requires a psychiatrist or paediatrician to prescribe it. I've never heard of a GP prescribing it (unless they're also appropriately qualified as one of the above).

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Phony Diagnoses not just at nursing homes, also in mental facilities. Schools too. My mum spent two decades as a primary schol teacher, and it's an open secret in that industry that Ritalin and other behavioural drugs are, at least in some cases, administered for the benefit of the teacher and other students in the class - not necessarily for the child receiving it.

Wait, where on Earth are teachers free to dose students with “behavioral” drugs?

In the land of sensationalist news stories?
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