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Dosed: The Medication Generation Grows Up
Over the last two decades, we have seen a dramatic spike in young people taking psychiatric medication. As new drugs have come on the market and diagnoses have proliferated, prescriptions have increased many times over. The issue has sparked heated debates, with most arguments breaking down into predictable pro-med advocacy or anti-med jeremiads. Yet, we’ve heard little from the “medicated kids” themselves.
In Dosed, Kaitlin Bell Barnett, who began taking antidepressants as a teenager, takes a nuanced look at the issue as she weaves together stories from members of this “medication generation,” exploring how drugs informed their experiences at home, in school, and with the mental health professions.
For many, taking meds has proved more complicated than merely popping a pill. The questions we all ask growing up—“Who am I?” and “What can I achieve?”—take on extra layers of complexity for kids who spend their formative years on medication. As Barnett shows, parents’ fears that “labeling” kids will hurt their self-esteem means that many young children don’t understand why they take pills at all, or what the drugs are supposed to accomplish. Teens must try to figure out whether intense emotions and risk-taking behaviors fall within the spectrum of normal adolescent angst, or whether they represent new symptoms or drug side effects. Young adults negotiate schoolwork, relationships, and the workplace, while struggling to find the right medication, dealing with breakdowns and relapses, and trying to decide whether they still need pharmaceutical treatment at all. And for some young people, what seemed like a quick fix turns into a saga of different diagnoses, symptoms, and a changing cocktail of medications.
The results of what one psychopharmacologist describes as a “giant, uncontrolled experiment” are just starting to trickle in. Barnett shows that a lack of ready answers and guidance has often proven extremely difficult for these young people as they transition from childhood to adolescence and now to adulthood. With its in-depth accounts of individual experiences combined with sociological and scientific context, Dosed provides a much-needed road map for patients, friends, parents, and those in the helping professions trying to navigate the complicated terrain of growing up on meds.
From the Hardcover edition.
In Dosed, Kaitlin Bell Barnett, who began taking antidepressants as a teenager, takes a nuanced look at the issue as she weaves together stories from members of this “medication generation,” exploring how drugs informed their experiences at home, in school, and with the mental health professions.
For many, taking meds has proved more complicated than merely popping a pill. The questions we all ask growing up—“Who am I?” and “What can I achieve?”—take on extra layers of complexity for kids who spend their formative years on medication. As Barnett shows, parents’ fears that “labeling” kids will hurt their self-esteem means that many young children don’t understand why they take pills at all, or what the drugs are supposed to accomplish. Teens must try to figure out whether intense emotions and risk-taking behaviors fall within the spectrum of normal adolescent angst, or whether they represent new symptoms or drug side effects. Young adults negotiate schoolwork, relationships, and the workplace, while struggling to find the right medication, dealing with breakdowns and relapses, and trying to decide whether they still need pharmaceutical treatment at all. And for some young people, what seemed like a quick fix turns into a saga of different diagnoses, symptoms, and a changing cocktail of medications.
The results of what one psychopharmacologist describes as a “giant, uncontrolled experiment” are just starting to trickle in. Barnett shows that a lack of ready answers and guidance has often proven extremely difficult for these young people as they transition from childhood to adolescence and now to adulthood. With its in-depth accounts of individual experiences combined with sociological and scientific context, Dosed provides a much-needed road map for patients, friends, parents, and those in the helping professions trying to navigate the complicated terrain of growing up on meds.
From the Hardcover edition.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 31, 2012
This book has the advantage of not being polemical on the issue of medicating adolescents with psychotropic drugs. It has the disadvantage of not actually concluding anything. Psychotropic drugs are neither good nor bad for young people in general, the long-term effects are mostly unknown, and the experience of adolescents who use them varies widely. The author takes 210 pages to say this. So, as you can imagine, there's some padding.
If you enjoy reading journalistic style autobiographies of the experiences of depressed adolescents, you will probably find this book interesting. The stories of several adolescents (including the author herself) are followed from childhood to young adulthood. These stories are full of divorce, broken families, emotional and physical abuse, casual sexual hook-ups, abortion, heavy drinking, and other such circumstances, but only a very minimal effort is expended to explore the psychological effects of these experiences, ironically underlining the author's observation that drugs are cheaper than therapy while at the same time reflecting the present generation's perspective that depressive episodes are more likely to result from chemical imbalance than from misfortune, injustice, or poor choices.
There's quite a bit of storytelling, but very little data, research, or advice. If you're trying to decide whether or not to put your child on psychotropic medications, or whether or not to take them yourself, this book will be of little help. If you have come of age on psychotropic medications, and you are ambivalent about them, having deep concerns while still seeing their value to you, you may find comfort—if not answers—in the similar ambivalence revealed in these stories.
If you enjoy reading journalistic style autobiographies of the experiences of depressed adolescents, you will probably find this book interesting. The stories of several adolescents (including the author herself) are followed from childhood to young adulthood. These stories are full of divorce, broken families, emotional and physical abuse, casual sexual hook-ups, abortion, heavy drinking, and other such circumstances, but only a very minimal effort is expended to explore the psychological effects of these experiences, ironically underlining the author's observation that drugs are cheaper than therapy while at the same time reflecting the present generation's perspective that depressive episodes are more likely to result from chemical imbalance than from misfortune, injustice, or poor choices.
There's quite a bit of storytelling, but very little data, research, or advice. If you're trying to decide whether or not to put your child on psychotropic medications, or whether or not to take them yourself, this book will be of little help. If you have come of age on psychotropic medications, and you are ambivalent about them, having deep concerns while still seeing their value to you, you may find comfort—if not answers—in the similar ambivalence revealed in these stories.
November 5, 2012
PRIMARILY ANECDOTAL.
November 2, 2012
The author is close to my age and writes of the experience of being the first generation to grow up with widespread childhood use of psychiatric drugs such as Prozac and Ritalin.
Although twenty- and thirty-something adults from a variety of backgrounds are profiled, the author neglected to discuss the situation of teenagers and young adults who feel they may have benefited from antidepressants or other medication, but for whatever reason were prevented from taking them. Much is said of our parents, the baby boomers', embrace of the idea of a "magic pill"; but this is also the generation that pioneered general distrust of the medical establishment and helped make homeopathy a multibillion dollar industry.
I couldn't personally relate to all or even most of the patients' stories; I didn't start taking psychiatric medication until I was very much an adult. However, I found it comforting to read others talking of the near-universal side effects experience of life on SSRIs: the marathon sleeping sessions and constant drowsiness; the occasional detached-from-reality sensations that descend without warning.
Although twenty- and thirty-something adults from a variety of backgrounds are profiled, the author neglected to discuss the situation of teenagers and young adults who feel they may have benefited from antidepressants or other medication, but for whatever reason were prevented from taking them. Much is said of our parents, the baby boomers', embrace of the idea of a "magic pill"; but this is also the generation that pioneered general distrust of the medical establishment and helped make homeopathy a multibillion dollar industry.
I couldn't personally relate to all or even most of the patients' stories; I didn't start taking psychiatric medication until I was very much an adult. However, I found it comforting to read others talking of the near-universal side effects experience of life on SSRIs: the marathon sleeping sessions and constant drowsiness; the occasional detached-from-reality sensations that descend without warning.
December 18, 2012
ok book about author, five peers she interviews in depth, and to a lesser extent young adults in general who have grown up taking psychiatric medication. Raises interesting questions about issues such as how it affects one's sense of identity to be taking mood-altering or mood-stabilizing meds during a life stage when identity is forming, when moodiness is at a high level anyway, etc.
Limited by the near-total absence of meaningful research to review on the subject. Often an interesting question or topic would be raised, the author's hunch elaborated, and then the section would conclude with a thud as she candidly acknowledges that it could be like this or maybe for some people it's like that, or maybe neither or both.
Limited by the near-total absence of meaningful research to review on the subject. Often an interesting question or topic would be raised, the author's hunch elaborated, and then the section would conclude with a thud as she candidly acknowledges that it could be like this or maybe for some people it's like that, or maybe neither or both.
December 16, 2020
This is a serious and important subject. It is essentially about the question, “Who am I,” approached via the use of prescription drugs used to define, or accentuate, who you are. The book is well written in a measured and precise voice, and uses the self-disclosed case histories of six (I’m including the author) people; beginning in one instance, in 1993, when the subject was five years old. Barnett weaves the six case histories with current academic research, as well as interviewing many other young adults now on medication for a well rounded analysis.
This subject was first explored in Peter Kramer’s 1993 book, Listening To Prozac, which Barnett often cites. Barnett began her drug treatment at age seventeen, in the year 2000. She’s still taking anti-depressants and attributes her ‘high-level’ (my words) functioning with the treatment. In addition, I YouTubed her, so as to be able to watch and listen to her speech and manner. In that regard, she is also measured and precise. The drugs appear to work for her.
Barnett nibbles all around the edges of the essential question of “Who am I” and whether or not the drugs work. She asks good questions and is ambivalent about the answers. She correctly, I think, states that the authorities/professionals (doctors, therapists, teachers) have agreed that the biopsychosocial model is the right approach when considering what is going on in a child’s ‘beingness’ (my word.) I think the significant word in assessment is disorder, and then that which follows (for some, not all, of society’s children. After all, it costs money, knowledge, and access to even start the process.) — the diagnosis.
Barnett lays out explicitly that the diagnosis is not fixed but is ever changing and evolving and that NO ONE KNOWS what is going on – only that someone is disturbed, i.e. unhappy. Either the child, or the parent(s) or the teacher(s); and that the diagnosis then is a huge factor in determining the child’s/adult’s life, and subsequent outcome of said life – the subject’s health, well-being, and success. Barnett’s outcome, so far, has been good. Some of the others, not so much.
The diagnosis determines what drugs are administered to treat the disorder. The drugs are discovered, uncovered, and tinkered with in laboratories – in universities and large corporations – which are funded by public (taxes) and private money (= profits from the sale of the drugs by the drug companies). The drugs are of various chemical configurations of elements that impact the human brain in regard to: attention, focus, depression, anxiety, aggression, compulsion, impulsivity, and psychosis, to name a few. In other words, the drugs are to try to manipulate a person’s brain to make them more socially agreeable and productive and less disorderly, and by extension – more happy. Some of these brain disorders are reflected in the diagnosis, examples of which are: Depression; Anxiety; Oppositional/defiant; Attention deficit; Attention-deficit hyperactivity; Conduct; Hypersexual; Bipolar; Post-traumatic stress; Insomnia; and my personal favorite because it covers just about any and everything unless one is in a state of complete and everlasting joy— the Adjustment disorder. And there is more. And there is a drug(s) for each of them – to control, manage, minimize, stabilize, and/or level the disorder. Maybe.
It’s fairy typical for a child/patient/client/subject to begin with a simple diagnosis of, say, depression, which is then followed by a prescription for an anti-depressant drug, say Prozac. That drug, for any number of UNKNOWN reasons, may or may not work, for a time – which leads to an adjustment by the professionals/parents etc. Then a different drug(s) is tried, and/or diagnosis – all of which have side affects/effects, and/or complications, and/or unintended consequences. Which, of course, require still more intervention/treatment etc. and so on until the child/patient/subject/adult reaches a point where they have no idea who they truly are. They are ‘a fish out of water’ trying to climb a tree. (Nod to Albert Einstein.) Some develop “illness identities” and/or “illness narratives.” What is certain and consistent across professions is that the professionals all agree that there is no cure, only remission (pg. XXIII). Here’s one progression Barnett recounts: Celexa then Zoloft for depression, Ambien for insomnia, Dexedrine for energy and focus, Klonopin for panic. This subject was eventually diagnosed with an autoimmune thyroid disorder and an associated tumor (pg. 196) at age thirty. She had begun treatment at age twelve because her parents were in therapy for a disintegrating marriage and she became the ‘“designated patient”’ (pg. 19).
Another certainty is that the Health business is huge, and is a large part of the American economy. Bartlett cites the cost of meds and doctor co-pays for a person can be $1,200 a month (pg.201). She herself, doesn’t know how many different doctors she’s had prescribing meds for her, “ … somewhere between seven and nine” (pg. 203). She asks early (pg. 25) “What purpose is the medication supposed to serve, …?” Peter Kramer writes of some people who use medication to become “‘better than well’ —more energetic, more assertive, more ambitious,” (pg. 28). That brings to mind the question of what is the difference between athletes using performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage, and regular people, workers, using psychotropic drugs to gain an advantage in a competitive ‘free market’ economy; or further, parents using drugs to give their children an advantage over other children?
All the drugs, and I mean all the drugs (to included alcohol); legal and illegal, prescribed or pushed or pursued, are basically used for the same purpose: People searching for the sweet spot — that precise place where you are at your optimal self. However and whatever that is defined as—a feeling, a performance, a function … and then the question: Who benefits from said optimal level? Certainly the benefits (the whos and the whats) from just the pursuit are many and widespread throughout society. Even when a person flames out, or has a breakdown, money changes hands, and other people profit.
Consider two recent, highly publicized, individual cases: David Foster Wallace, the acclaimed writer/teacher; and James Holmes, the PhD candidate and alleged mass murderer; both who were under psychiatric care. Both had breakdowns with far reaching effects on many, many people. Wallace hung himself at age forty-six, after a breakdown and twelve ECT treatments, after beginning drug therapy when he was a teenager. Holmes is awaiting trial for murder and attempted murder. I don’t know what other conclusion you can come to other than the drugs and the care didn’t work.
In the middle 90’s, I went back to school and got a degree in Psychology, and then went into the Field where I worked with children, for five years from 1996-2000, who were in residential treatment programs, both private and public. Previously I had no idea such facilities existed; and in addition, the extent of drug therapy that was being used to treat children and young adults, both males and females. My position was one of surrogate parent, which included dispensing medications. Everything Kaitlin Barnett details in her book I saw up close, and participated in, and can attest to. The diagnoses did frequently change and/or were added to, one on top of another. The drugs given to the children often changed. The drugs were given in all sorts of different combinations. Did they work? I never saw any change in behavior or temperament that correlated to changes in medication; but I never saw or knew the children before they were medicated. I did know of their ‘crimes’ and the crimes done to them, but that also was something I had no previous awareness of —what some parents and step-parents and boyfriends and girlfriends do to children. By the time social services takes control, or parents seek help, (in my opinion) the damage has been done and the drug therapy is a desperate attempt to do something that might work.
Barnett concludes with suggestions for vigilance by parents and to involve the child in their treatment decisions, i.e. have conversations with your children about what and why things are being done, or not done, to and with them. Good advice, in my opinion. I highly recommend this book. Period.
End Notes:
pg. 198 “the complicated and largely unknown interplay of genetic, environmental, social, and psychological factors in the development and course of psychiatric disorders.”
Brain disorders are often referred to as “Chemical imbalances.” Even though this is speculation, it is used as causation so as to exonerate any person; and then everyone can feel better about themselves and what they are doing and/or have done. It, the disorder, is a disease. Sometimes this is referred to as the disease model.
Residential treatment is a place holder in The System just above a psychiatric hospital or prison, and below foster care or group home placement. It is also sometimes used by families and doctors to stabilize a child who is too unmanageable for normal family and school life.
This subject was first explored in Peter Kramer’s 1993 book, Listening To Prozac, which Barnett often cites. Barnett began her drug treatment at age seventeen, in the year 2000. She’s still taking anti-depressants and attributes her ‘high-level’ (my words) functioning with the treatment. In addition, I YouTubed her, so as to be able to watch and listen to her speech and manner. In that regard, she is also measured and precise. The drugs appear to work for her.
Barnett nibbles all around the edges of the essential question of “Who am I” and whether or not the drugs work. She asks good questions and is ambivalent about the answers. She correctly, I think, states that the authorities/professionals (doctors, therapists, teachers) have agreed that the biopsychosocial model is the right approach when considering what is going on in a child’s ‘beingness’ (my word.) I think the significant word in assessment is disorder, and then that which follows (for some, not all, of society’s children. After all, it costs money, knowledge, and access to even start the process.) — the diagnosis.
Barnett lays out explicitly that the diagnosis is not fixed but is ever changing and evolving and that NO ONE KNOWS what is going on – only that someone is disturbed, i.e. unhappy. Either the child, or the parent(s) or the teacher(s); and that the diagnosis then is a huge factor in determining the child’s/adult’s life, and subsequent outcome of said life – the subject’s health, well-being, and success. Barnett’s outcome, so far, has been good. Some of the others, not so much.
The diagnosis determines what drugs are administered to treat the disorder. The drugs are discovered, uncovered, and tinkered with in laboratories – in universities and large corporations – which are funded by public (taxes) and private money (= profits from the sale of the drugs by the drug companies). The drugs are of various chemical configurations of elements that impact the human brain in regard to: attention, focus, depression, anxiety, aggression, compulsion, impulsivity, and psychosis, to name a few. In other words, the drugs are to try to manipulate a person’s brain to make them more socially agreeable and productive and less disorderly, and by extension – more happy. Some of these brain disorders are reflected in the diagnosis, examples of which are: Depression; Anxiety; Oppositional/defiant; Attention deficit; Attention-deficit hyperactivity; Conduct; Hypersexual; Bipolar; Post-traumatic stress; Insomnia; and my personal favorite because it covers just about any and everything unless one is in a state of complete and everlasting joy— the Adjustment disorder. And there is more. And there is a drug(s) for each of them – to control, manage, minimize, stabilize, and/or level the disorder. Maybe.
It’s fairy typical for a child/patient/client/subject to begin with a simple diagnosis of, say, depression, which is then followed by a prescription for an anti-depressant drug, say Prozac. That drug, for any number of UNKNOWN reasons, may or may not work, for a time – which leads to an adjustment by the professionals/parents etc. Then a different drug(s) is tried, and/or diagnosis – all of which have side affects/effects, and/or complications, and/or unintended consequences. Which, of course, require still more intervention/treatment etc. and so on until the child/patient/subject/adult reaches a point where they have no idea who they truly are. They are ‘a fish out of water’ trying to climb a tree. (Nod to Albert Einstein.) Some develop “illness identities” and/or “illness narratives.” What is certain and consistent across professions is that the professionals all agree that there is no cure, only remission (pg. XXIII). Here’s one progression Barnett recounts: Celexa then Zoloft for depression, Ambien for insomnia, Dexedrine for energy and focus, Klonopin for panic. This subject was eventually diagnosed with an autoimmune thyroid disorder and an associated tumor (pg. 196) at age thirty. She had begun treatment at age twelve because her parents were in therapy for a disintegrating marriage and she became the ‘“designated patient”’ (pg. 19).
Another certainty is that the Health business is huge, and is a large part of the American economy. Bartlett cites the cost of meds and doctor co-pays for a person can be $1,200 a month (pg.201). She herself, doesn’t know how many different doctors she’s had prescribing meds for her, “ … somewhere between seven and nine” (pg. 203). She asks early (pg. 25) “What purpose is the medication supposed to serve, …?” Peter Kramer writes of some people who use medication to become “‘better than well’ —more energetic, more assertive, more ambitious,” (pg. 28). That brings to mind the question of what is the difference between athletes using performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage, and regular people, workers, using psychotropic drugs to gain an advantage in a competitive ‘free market’ economy; or further, parents using drugs to give their children an advantage over other children?
All the drugs, and I mean all the drugs (to included alcohol); legal and illegal, prescribed or pushed or pursued, are basically used for the same purpose: People searching for the sweet spot — that precise place where you are at your optimal self. However and whatever that is defined as—a feeling, a performance, a function … and then the question: Who benefits from said optimal level? Certainly the benefits (the whos and the whats) from just the pursuit are many and widespread throughout society. Even when a person flames out, or has a breakdown, money changes hands, and other people profit.
Consider two recent, highly publicized, individual cases: David Foster Wallace, the acclaimed writer/teacher; and James Holmes, the PhD candidate and alleged mass murderer; both who were under psychiatric care. Both had breakdowns with far reaching effects on many, many people. Wallace hung himself at age forty-six, after a breakdown and twelve ECT treatments, after beginning drug therapy when he was a teenager. Holmes is awaiting trial for murder and attempted murder. I don’t know what other conclusion you can come to other than the drugs and the care didn’t work.
In the middle 90’s, I went back to school and got a degree in Psychology, and then went into the Field where I worked with children, for five years from 1996-2000, who were in residential treatment programs, both private and public. Previously I had no idea such facilities existed; and in addition, the extent of drug therapy that was being used to treat children and young adults, both males and females. My position was one of surrogate parent, which included dispensing medications. Everything Kaitlin Barnett details in her book I saw up close, and participated in, and can attest to. The diagnoses did frequently change and/or were added to, one on top of another. The drugs given to the children often changed. The drugs were given in all sorts of different combinations. Did they work? I never saw any change in behavior or temperament that correlated to changes in medication; but I never saw or knew the children before they were medicated. I did know of their ‘crimes’ and the crimes done to them, but that also was something I had no previous awareness of —what some parents and step-parents and boyfriends and girlfriends do to children. By the time social services takes control, or parents seek help, (in my opinion) the damage has been done and the drug therapy is a desperate attempt to do something that might work.
Barnett concludes with suggestions for vigilance by parents and to involve the child in their treatment decisions, i.e. have conversations with your children about what and why things are being done, or not done, to and with them. Good advice, in my opinion. I highly recommend this book. Period.
End Notes:
pg. 198 “the complicated and largely unknown interplay of genetic, environmental, social, and psychological factors in the development and course of psychiatric disorders.”
Brain disorders are often referred to as “Chemical imbalances.” Even though this is speculation, it is used as causation so as to exonerate any person; and then everyone can feel better about themselves and what they are doing and/or have done. It, the disorder, is a disease. Sometimes this is referred to as the disease model.
Residential treatment is a place holder in The System just above a psychiatric hospital or prison, and below foster care or group home placement. It is also sometimes used by families and doctors to stabilize a child who is too unmanageable for normal family and school life.
August 24, 2013
A good idea, but poorly executed. It's a fascinating topic, but the book suffers from a lack of meaningful analysis (it is unclear whether she wanted the subjects' experiences to speak for themselves or simply did not have anything interesting to say about the subject) and a poor grasp of the scientific information. It would have been a stronger book if she had provided more incisive analysis or had simply allowed the subject's stories to speak for themselves and left out the sociological analysis.
Several things struck me: every single one of the young adults interviewed in the book was seriously failed by the adults in their lives. (After I finished this book, I called my parents to thank them for being so much more competent than the parents in the book.) From this sample one might easily conclude that childhood mental illness is a result of adults failing to do their jobs. I was also struck by how incredibly mild the symptoms that triggered the initial medication were. From the sample, only two appear to have been well served by medication, in that it successfully treated a serious disease. All of the subjects also received lousy mental health care.
I do like the fact that she allowed all of her subjects to talk about what it means to be on medication at a young age. I also appreciated the discussion of the difference between the parents' view and the kids' view of the situation. Another excellent part of this book is the context of the subjects' problems; we get an excellent view of their life situations during the medication process and each subject either had serious stresses or parents who just weren't able to give their kids what they needed.
There are two subjects who are good examples of how psychiatric medication can be helpful, one with classic manic depression and one with OCD. They're good examples of kids who actually need medication. And in both cases, it is clear that they are severely sick.
In the end, I felt really angry about Paul. He was foster kid who ended up on a slew of meds due to behavioral problems. (He is very open that there were logical reasons for his behaviors.) At about 10, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and put on atypical antipsychotics, which caused diabetes. Diagnosing bipolar disorder in pre-pubescent children is very controversial, and is probably on its way out due to the APA's findings that the scientific evidence doesn't support it. There is no discussion of the controversy surrounding pre-pubescent bipolar diagnoses, which is a major oversight. The author seems to take his biopolar diagnosis at face value, despite significant evidence that it was incorrect. Fortunately, he did grow up to become a functional adult and has been med-free for eight years.
The other subject who stands out was Claire. She was one of those kids with a nervous and sensitive temperment (full disclosure: I was one too) who reacted to stress by melting down or lashing out, which her parents dealt with this by either ignoring her outbursts or keeping her from situations that might provoke it instead of teaching her to deal with anxiety/adversity/negative emotions. Eventually, she is diagnosed with depression and put on meds which don't seem to have done much good, though she stays on them. As a young teen, she makes a movie with her parents about depression in teens and her parents encourage her to construct her identity around her depression diagnosis. There is no discussion of the ethical problems inherent in the movie or encouraging an 11 year old to identify principally as a person with X disability. As a woman in her thirties, she is fragile and still prone to meltdowns when stress arrives.
Another subject suffers with depressive symptoms for years, and the meds don't seem to help her. Then she is diagnosed with a thyroid condition that requires removing the thyroid. This is treated as an aside, despite the fact that thyroid problems are notorious for producing psychiatric symptoms. The assumption is that she'll still need meds and there's no exploration as to why nobody checked her thyroid when she deteriorated and didn't respond to conventional treatments.
There is a brief discussion of whether some of the relapses/breakdowns were actually just withdrawal symptoms. Some of the subjects mention that they are pretty sure some of the alleged relapses were in fact withdrawal. Others are convinced that the fact that the feel bad if they go without meds for a couple of days and feel better the day they resume the meds is proof they have a biological disease and need the meds; even though that pattern is always a result of withdrawal or the placebo effect, the author doesn't seem to have pointed this out to her subjects and asked how they reconcile this information with their beliefs.
Then there's the science. The sources are scattershot. When she discusses self-injury, she mentions an article from the New York Times Magazine about a young woman who was cured of her self-injury by Prozac, but doesn't mention the clinical trials that have shown SSRIs appear to increase self-injury in young people. She mentions that clinical trials showed tricyclic antidepressants were ineffective for childhood depression, but doesn't mention that clinical trials have shown that SSRIs, with the exception of Prozac, are also ineffective for childhood depression. This seems odd, given that just about every one of her subjects took an SSRI at some point. There's a bit of a discussion of whether early use of psych meds might negatively affect brain development, there's no mention of the animal studies that show exposure to the drugs at various stages in development leads to what looks like animal mental illness in adulthood.
Several things struck me: every single one of the young adults interviewed in the book was seriously failed by the adults in their lives. (After I finished this book, I called my parents to thank them for being so much more competent than the parents in the book.) From this sample one might easily conclude that childhood mental illness is a result of adults failing to do their jobs. I was also struck by how incredibly mild the symptoms that triggered the initial medication were. From the sample, only two appear to have been well served by medication, in that it successfully treated a serious disease. All of the subjects also received lousy mental health care.
I do like the fact that she allowed all of her subjects to talk about what it means to be on medication at a young age. I also appreciated the discussion of the difference between the parents' view and the kids' view of the situation. Another excellent part of this book is the context of the subjects' problems; we get an excellent view of their life situations during the medication process and each subject either had serious stresses or parents who just weren't able to give their kids what they needed.
There are two subjects who are good examples of how psychiatric medication can be helpful, one with classic manic depression and one with OCD. They're good examples of kids who actually need medication. And in both cases, it is clear that they are severely sick.
In the end, I felt really angry about Paul. He was foster kid who ended up on a slew of meds due to behavioral problems. (He is very open that there were logical reasons for his behaviors.) At about 10, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and put on atypical antipsychotics, which caused diabetes. Diagnosing bipolar disorder in pre-pubescent children is very controversial, and is probably on its way out due to the APA's findings that the scientific evidence doesn't support it. There is no discussion of the controversy surrounding pre-pubescent bipolar diagnoses, which is a major oversight. The author seems to take his biopolar diagnosis at face value, despite significant evidence that it was incorrect. Fortunately, he did grow up to become a functional adult and has been med-free for eight years.
The other subject who stands out was Claire. She was one of those kids with a nervous and sensitive temperment (full disclosure: I was one too) who reacted to stress by melting down or lashing out, which her parents dealt with this by either ignoring her outbursts or keeping her from situations that might provoke it instead of teaching her to deal with anxiety/adversity/negative emotions. Eventually, she is diagnosed with depression and put on meds which don't seem to have done much good, though she stays on them. As a young teen, she makes a movie with her parents about depression in teens and her parents encourage her to construct her identity around her depression diagnosis. There is no discussion of the ethical problems inherent in the movie or encouraging an 11 year old to identify principally as a person with X disability. As a woman in her thirties, she is fragile and still prone to meltdowns when stress arrives.
Another subject suffers with depressive symptoms for years, and the meds don't seem to help her. Then she is diagnosed with a thyroid condition that requires removing the thyroid. This is treated as an aside, despite the fact that thyroid problems are notorious for producing psychiatric symptoms. The assumption is that she'll still need meds and there's no exploration as to why nobody checked her thyroid when she deteriorated and didn't respond to conventional treatments.
There is a brief discussion of whether some of the relapses/breakdowns were actually just withdrawal symptoms. Some of the subjects mention that they are pretty sure some of the alleged relapses were in fact withdrawal. Others are convinced that the fact that the feel bad if they go without meds for a couple of days and feel better the day they resume the meds is proof they have a biological disease and need the meds; even though that pattern is always a result of withdrawal or the placebo effect, the author doesn't seem to have pointed this out to her subjects and asked how they reconcile this information with their beliefs.
Then there's the science. The sources are scattershot. When she discusses self-injury, she mentions an article from the New York Times Magazine about a young woman who was cured of her self-injury by Prozac, but doesn't mention the clinical trials that have shown SSRIs appear to increase self-injury in young people. She mentions that clinical trials showed tricyclic antidepressants were ineffective for childhood depression, but doesn't mention that clinical trials have shown that SSRIs, with the exception of Prozac, are also ineffective for childhood depression. This seems odd, given that just about every one of her subjects took an SSRI at some point. There's a bit of a discussion of whether early use of psych meds might negatively affect brain development, there's no mention of the animal studies that show exposure to the drugs at various stages in development leads to what looks like animal mental illness in adulthood.
November 25, 2024
4/5
pretty good read. i liked that it focused on a few people’s stories and also that the author talked about her personal experience too. a bit dry at times and wordy/lengthy but interesting topic. would love to see a follow up now that it’s been like 10 years?
pretty good read. i liked that it focused on a few people’s stories and also that the author talked about her personal experience too. a bit dry at times and wordy/lengthy but interesting topic. would love to see a follow up now that it’s been like 10 years?
June 21, 2012
Dosed is a book that will be welcome to many, many people, and not just those who have taken medications. It covers psychiatric medications and the people who grew up taking them. Specifically, seeks to answer the question of how the medicated teens feel about who they are - their actual identities. This may seem like a non-issue, especially to those of us who have never taken these kinds of meds, let alone grown up on them. The author herself admits that this is something she had not considered for a long time. The truth is however, that taking a drug that can affect the way you behave, feel about the world or feel about your self can be thought of as affecting who you are.
Does it? That is the question, and it is a weighty one. The author follows the life histories of several young people who grew up on psychiatric medications. They have varied backgrounds and diagnoses and they have different outlooks on the issue. At one end we have Claire, whose parents were very forthcoming with her about her diagnosis and the medications she was on. While still a teenager, she spoke out about the issue of depression across the country and even made a documentary about it. At the other end we have Paul, who was raising in foster care. Unlike Claire, he received little to no information on either his diagnoses or the medications he was put on. His impression of the issue is understandably very different. Those are just two examples and there are a lot more who fall on a spectrum of feelings on the issues and faith in the drugs.
Dosed will be of interest to a wide variety of readers - those who take or have taken psychiatric medications, those with friends or family on medications or dosed with a mental illness, psychiatrists, therapists and any who are interested in the field, or finally, people like me who have never taken medication of any kind but who considered it at some point. For myself, I never considered taking medications, but as a teen who had a very hard time of things, I remember when the issue was brought up. I refused to consider it, largely because I felt that happiness brought on by medication would be "false". I wanted no part of it at the time. My thoughts have changed over time, but reading this book had me wondering how my life might have been different if I had taken something. Even having not taken anything, I could sympathize with many of those discussed in the book.
Dosed takes no sides - it is not an advocate for medication or for the idea that medications are unnecessary. Instead it covers the issues surrounding the issue and it does it in near exhaustive detail (it is thorough and even clinical in tone but not dry). As such, I imagine this will be considered a must-read book among those affected by or interested in mental illness for years to come.
Does it? That is the question, and it is a weighty one. The author follows the life histories of several young people who grew up on psychiatric medications. They have varied backgrounds and diagnoses and they have different outlooks on the issue. At one end we have Claire, whose parents were very forthcoming with her about her diagnosis and the medications she was on. While still a teenager, she spoke out about the issue of depression across the country and even made a documentary about it. At the other end we have Paul, who was raising in foster care. Unlike Claire, he received little to no information on either his diagnoses or the medications he was put on. His impression of the issue is understandably very different. Those are just two examples and there are a lot more who fall on a spectrum of feelings on the issues and faith in the drugs.
Dosed will be of interest to a wide variety of readers - those who take or have taken psychiatric medications, those with friends or family on medications or dosed with a mental illness, psychiatrists, therapists and any who are interested in the field, or finally, people like me who have never taken medication of any kind but who considered it at some point. For myself, I never considered taking medications, but as a teen who had a very hard time of things, I remember when the issue was brought up. I refused to consider it, largely because I felt that happiness brought on by medication would be "false". I wanted no part of it at the time. My thoughts have changed over time, but reading this book had me wondering how my life might have been different if I had taken something. Even having not taken anything, I could sympathize with many of those discussed in the book.
Dosed takes no sides - it is not an advocate for medication or for the idea that medications are unnecessary. Instead it covers the issues surrounding the issue and it does it in near exhaustive detail (it is thorough and even clinical in tone but not dry). As such, I imagine this will be considered a must-read book among those affected by or interested in mental illness for years to come.
May 1, 2012
A really valuable book with a careful, balanced review of the pros and cons of life on meds. There’s hardly any family out there, really, that hasn’t been touched by mental illness, and having a book that deals head-on with the identity issues and coping strategies that result from growing up “medicated” is an amazing resource. The best parts of the book are the real-life journeys of child psych patients and how their experiences on meds have not only affected how they’ve thought about their lives, but even in some cases, impacted the efficacy of the medication. Also striking are the sections in which Ms. Bell Barnett discusses how children are often deeply and enduringly affected by how their parents and healthcare professionals explain their treatment to them—moreover, children who don’t receive a clear explanation about their condition are often at risk for self-modifying or abandoning their treatment altogether. For this reason alone, I think this book is a must-read for anyone who has, works with, or treats children taking pscyhotropics: the case studies will help you understand how young people process and make decisions about their medications—for better or for worse—and how talking with them about it openly can really be its own life-saving intervention.
October 15, 2012
The book follows the lives of a half dozen people or so who have been medicated for anxiety, depression or both since they were between 9-12 and are now basically in their early 30's. The bookdoes not come to any strong conclusions though I would say that in each case except maybe one they are all worse off for being on the various meds (mostly ssri's). It becomes clear that when put on the meds new and more difficulties emerged which I believe where generated by the meds and their affect on the brain or their problems grew worse. The book is maddening and sad and there is not much hope if any offered through the book. It also becomes clear that the idea that these meds are here to stay (for many reasons, money being one of them) is depressing itself.
What emerges is a view of life, how it is to be lived and what we are as human beings that disturbingly accepts & adopts low expectations. Thus our view of life and what it should be is less than energizing. It can be summed up this way "what-ever!"
What emerges is a view of life, how it is to be lived and what we are as human beings that disturbingly accepts & adopts low expectations. Thus our view of life and what it should be is less than energizing. It can be summed up this way "what-ever!"
June 1, 2013
An excellent read for anyone interested in what “medicated kids” have to say rather than just their parents, docs, teachers or other people who so very often like to speak on their behalves. Bell Barnett makes excellent use of scientific research and other studies while seamlessly interweaving the stories of several real life “medicated kids”, including herself in an un-selfconscious manner. Her subject is certainly territory that needs to be further explored, and Dosed is a good beginning to what I hope will be more scientific and practical writing by and about mental health consumers themselves.
June 11, 2012
A well-researched account of the various issues confronting adults who have taken antidepressant and ADD medication since childhood. Indeed, the exploration of the many uncertainties surrounding treatment, including questionable efficacy, long and short-term side effects, haphazard care, issues surrounding pregnancy, and general questions about identity are relevant to anyone taking (or prescribing) such medications over a prolonged period. The author enlivens her narrative with case histories and frank descriptions of her own adolescent travails.
October 24, 2012
You follow three people in the beginning and then later into the book you are introduced to two more people as you read through the years. This book touches on how drugs have helped and how people are too quick to medicate. Paul is one of those medicated when he didn't need to be, and from what I've seen and heard, it is his story that I connect with the most. All of these peoples stories are touching and give you a look in how it would be like growing up medicated.
September 12, 2012
Reading Dosed while in the midst of my own very conflicted inner thought game about the effects that being dosed since a fairly young child have had on the person I have grown into as a young adult really helped me to sort out some of the confusion and conflict that I've been going through, if only to see that others have been dealing with the very same issues, some brought on by the same source.
June 17, 2012
I didn't get much out of this book at all. The author didn't seem to prove her point particularly well. It was also a little dry. I thought it was interesting that another book with an incredibly similar title but different author appeared on Goodreads giveaways recently.
January 1, 2013
Shockingly, openly biased book about medication. I had seen an interview with the author prior to reading it, so I expected the bias. This topic could have been handled in a much better way. I doubt I'll read anything Ms. Barnett writes in the future.
October 6, 2014
I found this book to be very thought provoking and insightful. I would recommend this to anyone working in social work, mental health fields, the school systems, or anyone working with kids or yound adults who suffer from mental illness.
July 16, 2012
Really made me think about things and ask myself questions I hadn't before.
April 15, 2012
Interesting perspective. I like that there are real cases to express the view point of the book.
November 2, 2012
Accurate
January 22, 2013
Very informative, but a bit dry. If I had kids, I would really think about medicating them.
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