This is in response to the op-ed published Friday, May 2: “Is increased drugging of nation’s children really the answer?”
It is simply not true that mental illnesses have not been verified by science.
Check out what Yale is doing at the neural level, for example. We may not yet understand all the mechanisms of all mental illness, or even much of it, but we do know that people who experience mental illness have verifiable biological changes, such as a smaller hippocampus.
That said, I am not suggesting that children need to be drugged. But those who need medication should have access to it, and those who need behavioral therapy should have access to that.
The result will be happier and healthier children overall, and very possibly the cost will be lower than waiting many years to diagnose problems.
Wallingford resident Barbara Sloan, M.Ed., is a former secretary of the board of directors for NAMI-CT (National Alliance for Mental Illness). She also developed and managed treatment programs for teens and adults in South Carolina and Connecticut, focusing on addictions as well as mental health issues.