Prozac Nation

His teacher had diagnosed him with some attention deficit He didn't conform to her rules to be quiet and just to sit

I had the chance to listen in

between a teacher and parent

The teacher told the mother "Dear

your son needs help, that's apparent"

 

She suggested that the mother

visit a doctor that she knew

One who'd give him medication

to control the fits that he threw

 

His teacher had diagnosed him

with that Attention Deficit

He didn't conform to her rules

to be quiet and just to sit

 

He was no different from those

that all of us knew growing up

Acting unruly like a dog

who doesn't know he's still a pup

 

But now we claim this is disease

though that seems but only a ploy

To make a common worker bee

of what once was a little boy

 

Time out is what we do to them

when our children all misbehave

It has about the same effect

as master becoming the slave

 

A child who won't sit still in school

is no more or less of a joy

In my day they were not called sick

what they said was "he's just a boy"

 

Tate

Author's Note

Some of the parents who listened to doctor Spock in the 60s and 70s.Those who tried the kinder gentler approach to raising little Henry. Are now held hostage by their unruly children. So thank you doctor Spock for everything you didn't do. And for all the answers you professed to have but really never knew. Now the public schools want to discontinue the teaching of cursive writing and spelling . As they see it why do we need them anymore? However they also told us we didn't need the phonics that they discontinued back when children could read? The schools got one thing right. Why try to teach children to write if they can't even read? I would truly be interested in knowing just how many parents have been told by teachers that their children need medication. So if this is the case I would like to take a poll. Tell us all how many of you there truly are. Is this just a way to manage overflowing classrooms? When was it we gave teachers the right to diagnose medical problems? In years gone by we would have thought that an affront. It is truly out of their expertise. But I hear over and over that that teachers recommend certain doctors to make sure the children are medicated. If this is not the case tell me. I could be wrong . However it seems it would be more productive to fix the broken schools. Instead of saying the children are broken.

Reviews

[roarke]

ADD is an alphabet soup designer condition. I could speak volumes here. People, teachers, parents, society of this era look for the magic bullets... there are none. It's not one thing, eureka! and here's the one pill. It's a life time of things, ALL THINGS WE DIDN'T DO, but heaven forbid it's OUR fault.

A diagnosis of ADD works in the favor of institutions and pharmaceutical companies, not the children. It's all gibberish. If you think you have a child with ADD or ADHD, do these things first.
1. Turn off the electronic stimulation and spend time with the child.
2. Make sure his psychotropic chemicals are balanced by a good uninterrupted nights rest.
3. Make sure he gets PLENTY of physical exercise, whether it's sports, chores, or physical hobbies.
4. Be aware that ADHD behavior can be caused by a wide range of conditions, like food allergies, bad bacteria in the gut, ANY processed food, food coloring and additives.
5. Many symptoms of ADD can also be matched to characteristics of low spectrum Autism like Asperger's Syndrome.
6. Some of the characteristics of ADD are due to lagging cognitive development, where the child is not as mature for his chronological age, a 20 y/o acting like a 15 y/o for instance.

None of these things mean there's anything wrong with the child.

these just to name a general few. But no one knew these things in the days Tate is writing about here. Back then most of the things, problems I listed above didn't exist in our home life culture. Be ware the changes for convenience or having to make MONEY and don't short change the kids.

I know, I have a child like this. It's difficult, but it's not about pills, it's about lifestyle. Change it.

Parents brought their children into this world, it's not the responsibility of Sesame Street, baby sitters, Day Care, schools, psychiatric institutions to RAISE those children. Your child is a direct reflection of YOU. If you want a change in your child, change YOUR lifestyle first.

We're a society of pills, let's not make that the legacy for our children. Doing the right thing is always light years harder than just looking for a magic bullet.

[Dominique Lambright]

I like this because it reminds me of all the things on the news that they claim are diseases when all it is is normal behavior

[Tate Morgan]

Sad the way we treat everything as a disease

[Dominique Lambright]

It is. Just another way for the government to make money. Creating illusions that influence people to think the worst.

[Tate Morgan]

It is both a way to make money for the drug companies and a way to make parents feeol they are not responsible for their childrens education

[Dominique Lambright]

Which wouldn't make sense to me. I feel like you always need to do your own research, even if the information is coming from a "professional" (which doesn't always mean they are professional just because they attained the title)

[Tate Morgan]

In any case when did teachers obtain the title doctors assistant?

[Dominique Lambright]

Exactly! Lol

[Deborah Brooks-Langford]

wow Tate.. this happened to my son when he was small in school.. the doctors gave him the medicine I through it away.. I was not having my son on drugs and not himself.. great article her love the poem
blessings
Debbie

[Tate Morgan]

I am sorry to hear that .I agree to not allow that to happen if you can help it

[Michael G. Smith]

Time out? I wish. Me and the leather belt had a tough love relationship. These days I beginning to think us A.D.D people are actually the normal ones. Prozac Nation is a great song by Dokken, check it out.

[Tate Morgan]

So did i and my father we had an understanding . it wasnt a matter of whether we were in for it only when lol

[Leslie Philibert]

I can add little more than the good advive of the review below. I work with such children, and one now tends to use medication very sparsely. The Rockwell print is brillant.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you I understand the drugs make them perform better however wouldnt we all on riddlin

[Epipsychologist]

I think that basically my whole generation has been misdiagnosed as attention deficient. Or at least, they would have been if everyone had gone to the doctors. I was diagnosed once, and I wasn't trying to be, and I just never asked for meds. But if you give kids who are competitive the option to take pills that will make them better, before they realize the positives of ignoring Adderal, they will take it. It's the same as if you offered little kids steroids, and all they knew was that it would make them better athletes. That said, most of the people I know take Adderal and do fine. I don't think it has too many health effects (like roids) but it seems like doctors over prescribed smart pills, not realizing that my generation was more distracted by the changing, electronically stimulated worlds around them than by any brain disorder.

[Tate Morgan]

I know your generation was treated that way it is not because they were any different from the rest . it is simply that teachers liked the results of giving children adderal a methamphetamine. Of course they act better of course they do better but they are high

[Baby Ricochet]

Ritalin or Concerta is the drug of choice for ADD. I've been put on Ritalin before, as well as Prozac, Wellbutrin, Serzone, Paxil, Zoloft, Valium, Xanax, and several other antidepressant, anti-anxiety medications. All of it for PTSD. I was notoriously "Non-compliant" because after a few weeks of taking them I would stop which pissed my doc and therapist off to no end. All I take now is Temazepam for sleep which works great. The way I figure it after all the violence I witnessed during my deployments it's normal to be slightly freaked out for the rest of your life. If I wasn't I'd be worried

[Tate Morgan]

I am half one way half the other My contention lies in the use of psychotropic drugs on children.

[Pryde Foltz]

As a former teacher, mostly with the young ones, I can tell you sitting still and focusing is a skill to be learnt like any other. The problem is we often ask it when I a child is too young. Boys in particular, as your poem pointed out, might need a little more time to master the skill. Practise makes perfect, a little bit at a time, remove the distractions. But that boy with ADD in a study carrel to finish his math and poof it gets done. Equally, they need time to let loose. It is a balance. I would look at diet modification, but the idea of drugging a child has never 'sat' well with me. Really, and among my former peers that seemed to be the overwhelming feel, at least here in Canada. No quick fix just a lot of hard work and care.

[Tate Morgan]

thank you Pryde. i suppose we all wish for the days of old when such things were ignored as idiosyncrasies.

[Pryde Foltz]

Half the time, we just need a little sleep. But to be clear, I do not see ADD as a pathology, just an area that for the sake of future opportunity needs to be worked on. But I make it sound far less complicated than it is, I suppose.

[Rita L. Sev]

I am opposed to any of my students being "medicated" for acting like - well, like kids. I have taught plenty of lively children over the years - and had several whose parents had them tested and then drugged. There is something missing in those kids... So many factors go into who our kids become - and most important is the time and energy parents provide... Good poem here, Tate.

[Tate Morgan]

i SO AGREE THERE IS SOMETHING MISSING WITH THE ONES ON RIDDLIN THEY ARENT THEIR SELVES THEY ARE DRUGGED

[Blank]

Ah, ADHD

I personally am ADHD, it's all classified under ADHD now, so even though I'm not hyperactive in the least it's still ADHD. That being said, it's a disorder that is highly misunderstood and overdiagnosed. It's not an excuse for me, I've never been medicated and I have no intentions of ever being medicated and my diagnosis wasn't made until I was well into my 20's and I simply went to that appointment to confirm what I already knew, which is that my mind doesn't quite work the same as some other people's.

I got through school with my GPA never dipping below a 3.0... I doubt my elementary school teachers would have ever guessed that because they talked to my mom several times about my daydreaming and inattention in class, that I never did my homework on time (although it always eventually got done), but I clearly had a desire to be a good student, everyone was quite perplexed.

By the time I got into middle school I had figured out my coping mechanisms, but I honestly believed the worst of myself because where other kids excelled I felt I was barely scraping by, and by the end of high school I had this paranoia that in spite of my good grades everyone would somehow find out that I didn't really deserve those grades. I could not understand why I couldn't just do it, I wanted to be one way but it was so hard, I couldn't believe that it was that hard for everyone, every single day, and I knew I wasn't lazy or stupid, so what was it?

I would have done better in school had I been medicated, I'm sure, but as my doctor says, everyone works better on speed! I didn't need medication then, and I don't need it now, the thing that has helped me the most in overcoming my day to day challenges is understanding. If I had understood what had made school so difficult for me I honestly think I would have done better and not have been scared off of college.

I plan to keep an eye on my daughter, I'll never seek out medication but if I notice in her what is in me I think that as a parent it's my responsibility to help my child with that challenge. In my experience more parents need to realize their role in their children's education.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you I agree it is nopt a good thing to do to children they grow aT DIFFERENT RATES AND IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS THANK YOU

[Angel]

Tate, you just officially became my hero.

[Tate Morgan]

LOL I will take a Bow then lol Thank you They wanted to make my son take their poison i told them no They needed to let them out to play more

[Angel]

My youngest daughter was "diagnosed" with ADHD about ten years ago. I was naïve...or at least I started out that way. I thought these "professionals" knew better than I did.
There followed two years of hell...however, we did get her off the Ritalin...and today she is a beautiful young mother of two wonderful little girls.
Except...the oldest girl was born with a severe heart defect and has undergone several open heart surgeries...

I totally agree...less sitting in front of a video game or a computer...and more climbing trees, swimming in lakes, riding bicycles, playing baseball, walking in the woods...etc, etc, etc, etc...

[Tate Morgan]

They should call these drugs what they are "speed"