Documentary-Louis Theroux: Americas Drugged Children

Continuing on the theme of prescription drug abuse, I found a Louis Theroux documentary on the use of anti-psychotic medicine on children in America. Although these medicines are more serious than over the counter painkillers, I am interested in the notion of taking medical drugs to mask issues that individuals might have, and how they are seen as a 'quick fix' solution.

Jack suffers with OCD and ADHD, and takes Citalopram 

(antidepressant)...HE IS SIX YEARS OLD!?

• Big question: do these disorders actually exist within kids? Or is it just a case of bad behaviour?
• For many parents in the US, antipsychotic medication is seen as a 'God send'

Jack, aged 6

• Kicked out of school because he couldn't sit still and gets angry when he doesn't win something
• Has OCD, having therapy to work on exposures
• Has a lot of anxieties with certain things
• Can't wear certain types of clothes which make him anxious (avoidance)
• Takes citalopram

Hugh, aged 10

• First had suicidal ideations aged 7
• Diagnoses: ADHD, Asperges, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bipolar
• Medication: Extended release adderol-fidgit less, tennex-controlls impulses, 200mg seroquin- antipsychotic for bipolar
• Everyone in Hugh's family is on medication, EVEN THE DOG!!!!
• Mom: "It's hard to separate his personality from his illness"
• Mom: "He is more comfortable with anger, it's his default emotion. He just wants to be in control"

This documentary was really difficult to digest and form a balanced opinion on. There certainly isn't enough research into children's mental health in general for one thing, therefore prescribing them drugs that are suitable for 18 years plus doesn't seem to be the most suitable and ethical option.

I suppose that Louis' approach was more of a traditional, British attitude, heavily emphasising the question as to whether these disorders actually exist within children, or whether it is just a case of bad behaviour. Yet, a mental illness is a mental illness. There is a lot of stigma around antidepressant/antipsychotic medicine in the fact that it just 'masks the problem' and 'you become like a zombie', and that people are seen as 'weak' if they decide to start taking them. But then again, the masking of the problems comes as a relief from the utter anguish of soul destroying symptoms, creating the space to make sense of things on a level playing field. But then you could ask, how on earth could a six year old make sense of his thoughts and behaviour when he is so YOUNG and still developing!?

The argument could go on for ages, and it's frustrating, and has confused me somewhat. I think I'll bring this up in my presentation next week and get some feedback on whether or not this would be an interesting subject area to enlarge on.

Documentary: The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs

Last night I watched a documentary on BBC iPlayer about a doctor, Chris Van Tulken, who sets up an experiment to attempt to stop giving patients prescriptions. I started to become really engaged with the psychology behind the patients attitude towards taking prescription drugs and pain killers at a level that they were unaware was extremely dangerous.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07w532p/the-doctor-who-gave-up-drugs-episode-1

One of the most important issues raised in this documentary was the scare of antibiotic resistance beginning to become a serious problem in the medical industry. This is a really terrifying concept that isn't currently a main news item (partly because nothing terrible has yet happened in terms of antibiotics becoming resistant) but something that urgently needs to be addressed to the public.

Then a little lightbulb lit up in my head saying, 'could I use this as a research question?!' Possibly! I'm not going to make any brash decisions yet but it's something I feel I can really sink my teeth into as I find it so interesting.

Facts I found out:

• The NHS hands out 1 billion prescriptions per year
• 1 in 5 people in Blackpool take antidepressants
• In a lifetime, a healthy person could take up to 100,000 pills
• Half of the NHS budget is spent on GP surgeries
• Overuse of medicine is one of the most serious health issues
• Prescriptions for pain killers have cone up by 50% in the last decade
• No.1 cause of liver injury is paracetamol
• Antibiotic resistance- vital for treating and preventing bacterial infections-we have used them so much that they have evolved to become resistant
• Superbugs will kill 10 million people by 2050
• 9/10 GP's feel pressurised to prescribe antibiotics
• 5 million people in the UK take antidepressants

Patient Case Studies

Sarah

• Age 24
• Single mother to a 1 year old
• Lost brother and father to suicide
• Suffers with anxiety and depression
• Has been taking antidepressants for 8 years
• Home environment, complete unorganised mess e.g. empty drinks bottles laying around, late brothers stuff shoved into one room unsorted
• Enjoyed swimming in her youth
• Experiment:Wild swimming; freezing cold water sends the body into shock, then releases endorphins creating sensations of euphoria
• Sarah used these swims as an alternative therapy. Exercise, and cold water shocks are natural antidepressants. Practiced twice a week she was able to take control of her mental wellbeing and slowly ween off the antidepressants.

Wendy

• Fifties
• Chronic shoulder pain for 20 years
• Been taking dangerous amounts of strong pain medication for 20 years
• Not been committed to physiotherapy practice
• Experiment: Placebo pain chart; recording when she has pain, medication she takes and whether it if effective or not.
• Result: The pain relief was often psychological
• Wendy then committed to practicing her physiotherapy exercises and stopped taking painkillers with such a carefree attitude.

Ideas?

• Study further into prescription drug addiction
• Think about visual methods to educate the public about this issue
• Look more into alternative therapies rather than pharmaceutical prescriptions

Reading Through Dissertations

To get a rough idea of the layout, structure and content of a dissertation, I spent a few hours in the library having a look at some of the third years' that have just graduated. I planned to read through more than one, but only managed to read Rebecca Hollingsworth's on Food Waste, which was really interesting.

Having chosen to base her research project on an issue that isn't being passed around the news like a hot potato was a wise choice. This meant that she wasn't just regurgitating peoples reactions and opinions about a matter that is almost inescapable to the publics attention. Food waste is an important issue, but it is not on the same level as the Syrian crisis for example. Due to this it is clear that Rebecca was able to gain strong primary and secondary research and successfully raise awareness about how to prevent food wastage both in her essay and practical response.

I found out that dissertations are sectioned into chapters which threw me off a bit thinking about the volume that I would actually have to write, but its more like short essays on a specific part of the topic which makes more sense. Rebecca's essay seemed to flow really well putting more emphasis on what she actually wanted to find out from a research perspective than focusing on getting all of the academic writing techniques in there; I only found one or two in hers. I presumed that to get the marks you needed to cram as much triangulation into each side of writing as possible, but maybe I was wrong! Besides, if you use it too much the direction of the essay seems to go around in circles.

This afternoon was really helpful and has provided me with more knowledge on what the end result of my research project will look like. In the upcoming weeks it will be a good idea if I read through a few more dissertations just to get a broader perspective and sense of variety of how different topics are executed in writing.

Motivation Please

Problem

I'm seriously struggling with any means of motivation for my COP3 project; it's a vicious cycle of worrying about a topic, putting it off because I don't want to worry about it, and worrying about it even more!

I made the mistake of getting 12 books out of the library that could all be relevant to my topic, but the sheer volume of them was enough to make me apprehensive about picking any of them up and reading them. As well because we have had so long off from college now I'm totally out of the swing of studying, which hasn't helped matters.

Where I'm at now

I know that I want the basis of my research project to be about how visual language and imagery can influence and alter human behaviour in either the learning or the healing environment.

I have read up a little on Pedagogy and art therapy but that is it so far. I am aware that the main thing that is worrying me is that I don't know my specific question, which I know develops in time, but I struggle to motivate myself to research very broad and uncertain topics.

What I'm going to do about it

• Sort my library books out, pick out a maximum of three that are relevant and seem manageable. Return the rest, or come back to them at a later date.
• Have a look at documentaries/films about human behaviour with possible links to art
• Share my worries with Pete? He could point me in the right direction
• Read some dissertations in the library to get a rough idea of the framework