Saturday, December 24, 2011

This is why

Because they prescribe inappropriate drugs and tell us to stop whining.
And if we don't, they prescribe more drugs until we can't do anything.

They make us sicker.
And call it treatment.
Just because we no longer complain.

Potent Drugs and Few Rules
Tens of thousands of powerful pills created to treat serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia are given to developmentally disabled people in the care of New York State every day. But a review by The Times of previously unreleased records, as well as interviews with state employees, clinicians, family members and outside experts, reveals that the psychotropic medications, which alter the brain’s chemistry, are often dispensed sloppily, without rigorous or regular review, by general practitioners with little expertise in the area. And low-level workers at state group homes are frequently given discretion to increase the medication “as needed,” despite their lack of significant training.
Psychologists who have worked inside the system describe a culture in which the drugs are used to control the disruptive behavior of the developmentally disabled — people with conditions like autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy — an approach increasingly discredited in the field.

I think I'm going to start calling this the Fruit Loop Protocol.