The Overuse of Psychotropic Medications for Children Essay -- Antidepr

In less than a year, John Geis was seen by four different medical doctors who diagnosed him with five separate illnesses, including autism, bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression), insomnia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). John's pill regimen kept multiplying, consuming a daily cocktail of mind-altering drugs. The harmful concoction included Risperdal (antipsychotic), Prozac (antidepressant), Adderall (psychostimulant). John's story is far too common in America today. In this paper, I will explore what lead up to the mass labeling and drugging of young boys in America. I will provide evidence of unethical and illegal business practices by the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, driven by greed. Psychiatry once subscribed to the Freudian view that mental illness comes from roots in unconscious conflicts (usually appearing in adolescence), that affects the mind as though it were separate from the brain. With the introduction of psychoactive drugs in the 1950s, and sharply accelerating in the 1980s, it was then that the psychiatric focus shifted to the brain, as if it were a physical disease. Psychiatrists began to refer to themselves as psychopharmacologists, and became far less interested in exploring the life stories of their patients and more interested in treating their patients with drugs. The psychiatric profession became optimistic that the use of psychoactive drugs would be beneficial with the new biological model that psychiatry adopted. Their optimism began to fade as serious side-effects of the drugs were becoming apparent, and an anti-psychiatry attitude began to spread rapidly. (Angell) Consequently ,with the   new medical model came the need ... ... XXXIII, No. 13, 4 July 1997, p. 31. Perdone, Matthew, and Pete Yost. "Johnson & Johnson to Pay $2.2 Billion to Resolve Drug Marketing Allegations." Huff Post. HuffingtonPost.com, 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. . Stolzer, J.M. "A Systematic Deconstruction of the â€Å"Disordered American Boy† Hypothesis." New Male Studies:An International Journal 1.3 (2012): 77-95. Print. Webster, Richard (2005). Why Freud Was Wrong: Sin, Science and Psychoanalysis. Oxford: The Orwell Press. pp. 595–596 Wilson, Duff. "Child’s Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Young." New York Times [New York City] 1 Sept. 2010, Late ed., Business Day: 11. Print. Zilbergeld, Bernie (1983). The Shrinking of America: Myths of Psychological Change. Boston: Little, Brown & Company. pp. 78–79

The Return: Midnight Chapter 6

Bonnie couldn't get to sleep after Damon's words to her. She wanted to talk to Meredith, but there was an unseeing, unhearing lump in Meredith's bed. The only thing she could think of was to go down to the kitchen and huddle up with a cup of cocoa in the den, alone with her misery. Bonnie wasn't good at being alone with herself. But as it turned out, when she got to the bottom floor, she didn't head for the kitchen after al . She went straight to the den. Everything was dark and strange-looking in the silent dimness. Turning on one light would just make everything else even darker. But she managed, with shaking fingers, to twist the switch of the standing lamp beside the couch. Now if only she could find a book or something†¦ She was holding on to her pil ow as if it were a teddy bear, when Damon's voice beside her said, â€Å"Poor little redbird. You shouldn't be up so late, you know.† Bonnie started and bit her lip. â€Å"I hope you're not stil hurting,†she said coldly, very much on her dignity, which she suspected was not very convincing. But what was she supposed to do? The truth was that Bonnie had absolutely no chance of winning a duel of wits with Damon – and she knew it. Damon wanted to say, â€Å"Hurting? To a vampire, a human fleabite like that was†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But unfortunately he was a human too. And it did hurt. Not for long, he promised himself, looking at Bonnie. â€Å"I thought you never wanted to see me again,†she said, chin trembling. It almost seemed too cruel to make use of a vulnerable little redbird. But what choice did he have? I'l make it up to her somehow, someday – I swear it, he thought. And at least I can make it pleasant now. â€Å"That wasn't what I said,†he replied, hoping that Bonnie wouldn't remember exactly what he had said. If he could just Influence the trembling woman-child before him†¦but he couldn't. He was a human now. â€Å"You told me you would kil me.† â€Å"Look, I'd just been knocked down by a human. I don't suppose you know what that means, but it hasn't happened to me since I was twelve years old, and stil an original human boy.† Bonnie's chin kept trembling, but the tears had stopped. You are bravest when you're scared, Damon thought. â€Å"I'm more worried about the others,†he said. â€Å"Others?†Bonnie blinked. â€Å"In five hundred years of life, one tends to make a remarkable amount of enemies. I don't know; maybe it's just me. Or maybe it's the simple little fact of being a vampire.† â€Å"Oh. Oh, no!†Bonnie cried. â€Å"What does it matter, little redbird? Long or short, life seems al too brief.† â€Å"But – Damon – â€Å" â€Å"Don't fret, kitten. Have one of Nature's remedies.†Damon pul ed out of his breast pocket a smal flask that smel ed unquestionably of Black Magic. â€Å"Oh – you saved it! How clever of you!† â€Å"Try a taste? Ladies – strike that – young women first.† â€Å"Oh, I don't know. I used to get awful y sil y on that.† â€Å"The world is sil y. Life is sil y. Especial y when you've been doomed six times before breakfast.†Damon opened the flask. â€Å"Oh, al right!†Clearly thril ed by the notion of â€Å"drinking with Damon,†Bonnie took a very dainty sip. Damon choked to cover a laugh. â€Å"You'd better take bigger swigs, redbird. Or it's going to take al night before I get a turn.† Bonnie took a deep breath, and then a deep draft. After about three of those, Damon decided she was ready. Bonnie's giggles were nonstop now. â€Å"I think†¦Do I think I've had enough now?† â€Å"What colors do you see out here?† â€Å"Pink? Violet? Is that right? Isn't it nighttime?† â€Å"Wel , perhaps the Northern Lights are paying us a visit. But you're right, I should get you into bed.† â€Å"Oh, no! Oh, yes! Oh, no! Nonono yes!† â€Å"Shh.† â€Å"SHHHHHH!† Terrific, Damon thought; I've overdone it. â€Å"I meant, get you into a bed,†he said firmly. â€Å"Just you. Here, I'l walk you to the first-floor bedroom.† â€Å"Because I might fal on the stairs?† â€Å"You might say that. And this bedroom is much nicer than the one you share with Meredith. Now you just go to sleep and don't tel anyone about our rendezvous.† â€Å"Not even Elena?† â€Å"Not even anybody. Or I might get angry at you.† â€Å"Oh, no! I won't, Damon: I swear on your life!† â€Å"That's – pretty accurate,†Damon said. â€Å"Good night.† Moonlight cocooned the house. Fog misted the moonlight. A slender, hooded dark figure took advantage of shadows so skil ful y that it would have passed unnoticed even if someone had been watching out for it – and no one was.

Essay on Fotune is a Woman The Conception of Virtu

Niccolo Machiavelli ‘Les Principalipos’ 4. Fortune is a woman, says Machiavelli. What does this mean, and what is its significance for Machiavellis conception of virtà ¹? Fortune is a woman says Machiavelli. Such a claim has been used to reveal Fortune’s nature. It has allowed us to study her ways, to learn how to interact to her. Fortune is a powerful woman, and requires virtu to resist her. Machiavelli uses this picture to help people understand more simply the nature of Fortune so they might be able to react more appropriately when Fortune comes to its opposition. Machiavelli teaches â€Å"†¦that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, because Fortune is a woman, and if you want to keep her under it is necessary to beat her and†¦show more content†¦That to beat and force Fortune down is to not be afraid of its opposition. The fear of such could cripple Fortune’s resistor from executing decisions impetuously. Decisions like these may compromise safety, but prove themselves necessary at times for the prosperity of the resistor. In Machiavelli’s depiction of virtu, regarding the womanly fortuna, he proves the ne ed for the virtuous man to use his freewill to exercise ruthlessness over Fortune in order to control the partial sphere of influence he has over her. For at times, when having the end in mind while picking the means, a resistor to Fortune may be required to pick a cruel means in order to obtain successful resistance against Fortune. For instance, an admiral of Machiavelli’s virtu may see it proper to use a blitzkrieg tactic in order to defeat an enemy. He would realize the likelihood of the military operation ending in great causalities for his troupes, but would also see the bloodbath necessary to defeating his enemy. If the admiral were too cautious or fearful as to make such a bold move, he could face lesser odds of victory. Machiavelli shows this approach to be successful more often than not backed by his reference to Pope Julius II, who acted impetuously in his dealings, and deemed successful. So we see that resisting Fortune can require a level of virtu that is able to make tough and risky decisions in an unflinching manor; Virtu that is unafraid of the possible injuring