Too many autistics are bieng prescribed too many drugs

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Truth ! They are addictive !
Had a good friend who quit Prozac cold-turkey around nearly a decade ago. Result...? ...suicide (hung himself).

About kids and pills.

It is a cheap way to handle the Poors.

If I'm an Aspie, and my parents have really deep pockets, I might go to one of the special schools that caters to kids on the spectrum to the tune of $60K+/year. The staff will pick apart what are my triggers. The class sizes will be smaller. My parents have probably found the best clinic and doctors in the area, and it doesn't matter if it's private pay or not. Medication will be the last resort for me.

If I live in a place like Detroit, I will be dumped into an inner city school with a class size of 38 Kindergartners. My parents may or may not have insurance or employment. They may not know how to work the system. My teacher will be over worked, and everything is in crisis mode. I may or may not get an IEP until 3rd grade.

When behaviors and meltdowns get point of clearing out the classroom into the hallway, leaving me in the room until administration shows up to kid wrangle, people will start talking about *testing*. I will get punted to whatever schmoe takes Medicaid.

Instead of talk therapy, play therapy or any kind of therapy, I'll get psychiatric medication to calm my happy ass down. This way school can keep me in a gen ed class, and me not having to worry about therapeutic foster care.

Medication is cheap way to handle behaviors. A bottle of antipsychotics is much cheaper that $250/week therapy session with a specialist.

Polypharmacy is a way to cheap out on the masses.

I like what big pharma has done to help so many people with problems. I might be in prison if it weren't for psych meds.

If I had to completely dissemble this complicated issue, into it's simplest parts, I would say that the hospital is ultimately a business, trying to balance profits with the potential for liabilities. They hire people, based on demographics, when that is subsidized, and do reportedly meet quotas or ration the treatments.

I am not especially against Western medicine, but see that I am not afforded every possible option, with some menu of pro's and con's. This is not an example of informed consent, in which you are the empowered decision-maker; of the one or two options, which you are given, there are countless possible solutions, some you might like better.

You are entitled to factual data, about yourself and your situation, and you can weigh risks and benefits -- all of them.

I wouldn't be so sure nor confident that they are actually out to truly help you as much as you think...

I started to get drugged in 4th grade before the diagnoses. I was diagnosed with ADD and I think that was when I started to get drugged and by 5th grade I was on more medicine and it was a lot. I was also taking vitamins and I am not sure how many pills I have gone through. That really affected my self esteem. Then in 6th grade I was taken off of everything and started taking antidepressants and that was it and then it was anti anxiety pills when I was 15 so two different pills I was taking.

I chose to take the anti medicine pills, I didn't make the other choices and it was forced on me because they said it would help me. Turns out I was on the wrong medicine for two years and all I can say is "WTF?" Good thing it didn't damage my brain or my body.

On the subject of psychiatric medications, there is a book that I encourage everyone to read. It's called Let Them Eat Prozac by Dr. David Healy, an academic psychiatrist at Bangor University. He goes into the history of psychiatric medications and a lot of the issues with them, along with a couple case studies. If you really want to learn some in-depth information about these drugs, I highly recommend it. The book should be available online for free on its associated website, unless something has changed since I last read it.

For myself, I only take medicine for acute conditions that can't be solved without medication. I've read and heard too much to have a positive perspective on pharmaceuticals in general. I also had the experience of a grandparent being on a drug that was later taken off the market because it caused the very problem it was supposed to stop. Irony.

Ugh serendipity. I've just been to the doctor about this.
I am in withdrawal from benzodiazepines at the moment. Accidentally quit them cold turkey due to inability to get a prescription renewal over easter. It's bad, but not fatal, and I do want to stop. But after six years (ish) I just planned to manage it better, rather than suddenly and by accident.
But I agree - too many pills are being given out when all many of them do is cover up the problem, not fix it. They mask, not treat, where other approaches may well be able to resolve the problem.
I told the doctor that since this has happened, I won't be put on another pill. They recommend diazepam type pills or anti-anxiety drugs for withdrawal, but really if you're just accepting of the fact that you're going to feel horrible for 8 weeks, it's entirely possible to do so without.
The underlying problem that I was taking them for is still there, after six years or so on these drugs (sleep issues).
I'm trying the CBT route and behavioural reconditioning to try and actually fix the problem, not just cover it up with drugs.
There has been some studies coming out that suggest a link between these kinds of anti-anxiety or sleep medications and cognitive decline. Also that when presenting to a doctor with a problem, the patient expects to be prescribed a pill, and there is pressure on doctors to do so.
I just hate the idea of being drug-dependent, of a chemical leash, altering my brain processes. I was dependent with many other things - this is the last of the pills and it's on the way out.
I don't know much about ADHD medications or anti-psychotics as I'm not psychotic or ADHD, but do believe the anti-anxiety and anti-depression medications are wildly over-prescribed, and instead of trying to fix their issues, now people just take a pill. NOT saying that in some cases they aren't needed. Just that they are being prescribed to and continually taken by people that may actually handle their issues and fix them by other means. People who don't try all avenues, because they're prescribed a pill that disguises the problem first.