Are Doctors Overmedicating Kids?
Are Doctors Overmedicating Kids?
Featuring our guest Brooke Siem
Hello Podcast Family,
The law of averages says that if you’re a parent, there’s a decent chance at some point a teacher or a doctor or someone in a position of authority recommended or will recommend that you that you consider a prescription drug for your child to help them function better in school or in life.
We don’t need to go into all of the possible symptoms or behaviors that may have triggered these people into action, but at some point, they saw the signs they look for that causes them to institute a protocol where they meet with parents and make recommendations, very often with a pharmacological element.
Our guest for this episode, Brooke Siem, has a personal story that resonates with parents and children by the hundreds of thousands. People who have trusted doctors and others, and who in the end, find themselves dealing with addiction, and a long list of side effects, along with yet more prescription drugs to deal with those side effects. It can be a never-ending cycle.
That is, until you want off. And that’s where Brooke’s story comes to life. After 15 years of taking antidepressants, she took herself out of the cycle. It was a long, disruptive and painful experience, but today she’s happy she did it.
Brooke is the author of a book called, “May Cause Side Effects.” It tells the story from the time her father died when she was 15, and how the support system that was supposed to help her introduced her to what would be a heavy regimen of psychological drugs. And then her struggles with antidepressant withdrawal.
Brooke has also contributed to the Washington Post, Psychology Today and many other publications, all to draw attention to the issues surrounding doctors and the healthcare system over-prescribing anti-depressants to kids.
In this episode we talk about her story, her book, her insights and advice, and a little bit about her time on the Food Network’s “Chopped” program where she appeared as a contestant, and won, all the while dealing with antidepressant withdrawal.
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