The main thesis of Generation Rx is that mind altering drugs prescribed to America's youth is done so not because there is a clear defined problem in those receiving the drugs but because the youth are an untapped profit mechanism. according to the film, the only mental imbalance that has been found it youth are the ones that were caused by the chemicals in the pills they were prescribed. Society has a defined ideals in how children should act and if they don't fit within those ideals, they are identified as individuals who may have problems. Doctors and Psychiatrists take advantage of a parents desire to have "normal" children and make unreal amounts of money on these youth.
The documentary had many points supporting this thesis. It stressed on many occasions that the points it was making were facts and not opinions. Some of the most compelling arguments were that these drugs that are giving to youth were not designed for their age group. Children are constantly growing and changing so the documentary made a good point in saying, "how do we know how they are suppose to be if they are altered from a very young age?" other arguments include the fact that there has been a %400 increase in prescriptions for some of these medications. Lastly, there is a lack of scientific creditability in prescribing to youth. There has been no conclusive research that shows improvement.
The thesis of this film relates to class because these are the children that are labeled deviant from a very young age and they grow older with that label and the stigma fallows them around. They are diagnosed depressed at a young age, prescribed medication which disables their brain and inhibits them to develop coping skills, they are then diagnosed with other disorders such as bipolar disorder due to the chemicals in the drugs and are trapped in a downwards spiral to nowhere. The deviant children of elementary school grow up to be the defiant youth of high school and then everyone is shocked when school shootings and traumatic events occur with these youth being the ones responsible.
The most convincing argument is that %100 percent of the FDA panel members of mood altering drugs have financial ties to the drug companies. These are the individuals who are responsible for approving the drugs and approving who gets the use the drugs. If that isn't convincing then I don't know what is.
The least convincing is that the documentary is very bias. Drugs do help some people and the documentary leaves us with the perception that doctors are just freely prescribing drugs with absolutely no regard for the patient.
The documentary stated that the FDA is well aware of all the above statements and goes to great lengths to hide it. It would be interesting to do a survey of these FDA panel members and try to figure out the justifications they have in their minds to why it should be okay to prescribe these medications to youth. No one wants to view themselves as causing harm to children so I'm sure that every single panel member has created narratives as to why doctors should have the ability to prescribe mood altering drugs to youth. I think it is safe to say that none of them will say that it is because they are making money off it.
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