Ok, so  I was eager to  see one of my clients today, a sweet faced 9year old girl who we'll call Tasha*. I wanted to check in with Tasha since her psychiatrist upped her antidpressant prescription.  I was hoping that the increase in dosage would decrease her irritability/sadness--something the previous dosage seemed only to slightly do.

Me: "How are you doing with the change in your meds? Any side effects?"

 Tasha said, "Well....I just started them today. Mom said she'd give me three chances and if my behavior and bad attitude didn't improve--my medicine dose would be increased."

Me: "What wha...Hunh?"

 I've heard of psychotropics being used as a tool for for treatment in mental illness--but as a form of punishment by a parent?

Ok so Grrr! That just pissed me off. It made me want to throw things... big hard things....at the head of Tasha's mom. Unfortunately this is not the first time one of my  parents have used meds this way. (Or the first time I wanted to do bodily harm to one  of my client's parents...but I digress.)

There have been many parents who I have worked with, who have admitted to using their kids pills like "behavioral aspirin."  For example:

Neighbor: Oh, I see your little Billy is trying to staple the neighbor kid to the cat.

Billy's Mom: "Oh--well I better call him in and give him his pill. He hasn't had one in several weeks--but that should make it better."

That's not how it fucking works, parents!!!!!!!

There's a process, this shit builds up in the system and works with brain chemicals. Some pills move in and out the system really fast and others move slower. But antidepressants and stimulants are not meant to act that way!  Sigh..... 

But back to Tasha's mom--and my other parents like her: Maybe it's me. Maybe I've failed as a therapist to properly educate my clients and parents about pills. But how many stinkin' times can I go over psycho educational literature with parents about treatments, disorders, and pills. Maybe I should resign myself to the fact that if the parent isn't going to get it now--they never will.

However, trust and believe--if I'm your child's therapist and I hear you are being all fast and loose with your kid's psychotropics--I will cuss you out. But don't worry--I'm from the midwest--I'll do it with a smile.