In the continuing saga of drugging children too much, now it seems that there has been a marked increase in drug therapy vs. psychotherapy for depression. If you know a child who is entering treatment for depression, please read this article and make sure that the child is not drugged as a knee-jerk reaction. It would be interesting to know how many parents try to deal with their kid’s depression at home in order to avoid drug therapy.

Yahoo! shared results of an interesting Stanford study that revealed an increase in drug therapy along with a decrease in psychotherapy as treatment for youth depression.  It is not clear why this is happening, especially since these findings directly conflict with recommendations by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  Basically, parents need to be active participants in all of their children’s healthcare, and don’t be afraid to question a doctor.  There will always be people ready to question your parenting decisions, and if it isn’t the doctor, it will be someone else.  So, step right up and take it in the chest if necessary.  Your kids will thank you for it.