by Conny Manero

Created on: February 22, 2008

A few months ago I had the opportunity of doing some temporary work for a private children's clinic.

In the company of their parents, children were interviewed by a psychiatrist, followed by a one on one interview.

Following these conversations, the psychiatrist would then dictate his/her findings into a tape recorder.
My job was to type up his/her notes.

In my first two days on the job, I got to hear of six cases where the patients ranging between the ages of six to twelve years old were diagnosed with bi-polar and were giving medication.

No doubt that some of these patients indeed suffered from bi-polar and needed medication, but some of them would have benefited more from strict discipline.

For instance, an eight year old boy flat out refused to do his homework, preferring to play computer games. When the parents objected, he threw tantrums.

Another patient, fifteen years old, had run off with her boyfriend. That same night she met another guy, promptly dumped her boyfriend and went home with the guy she just met.
When she eventually came home, the parents felt she needed to see a psychiatrist.
She too was diagnosed with bi-polar and given medication.

In my opinion, both cases had nothing to do with bi-polar. These kids needed to be taken in hand, firmly.

Another case I witnessed personally.

A child, seven years old, was brought in the clinic.
Together with his parents he sat in the chairs of the reception area.
While the parents waited patiently for the doctor, it did not take long for the child to grow bored.

He lay, half in, half out, of the chair; the hem of his shirt under his armpits; kicking the legs of the coffee table with his feet.

When told to stop, he got up and went to chat to the receptionist, bombarding her with questions.
When a call came in and she answered the phone, he had the nerve of telling her off that she should not do that, that he was talking to her and that it was rude not to listen.

When the psychiatrist eventually joined them, the kid gave him a filthy look and told the doctor that he had sure taken his sweet time; that they had been waiting for half an hour.

Later on I learned that this kid too had been diagnosed with bi-polar and was prescribed pills.

Please, give me a break. Therapy and medication was not the answer here, what he needed was a slap on his bottom.

But there you go, parents these days are not allowed to slap anymore. Parents who discipline their children that way can be sued.

Hm, if I had to sue my mother every time she slapped me, I could have gone and lived in the courthouse.

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