When Psychiatric Drugs Replace Real Care for Children A recent article in The New York Times told the story of a young woman who had been prescribed ten different psychiatric drugs by the time she graduated from high school. Sadly, she is not an outlier—she is part of a rapidly growing population of American children medicated for emotional and behavioral struggles. In fourth grade, Renae Smith began having difficulty in school and was prescribed Focalin for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). By her freshman year of high school, she reported severe anxiety and depression and was prescribed Prozac. When its effects waned, Effexor was added. Additional medications followed to stabilize mood—and still more to counteract side effects of the existing drugs. By the time she graduated high school, Renae was taking five different psychiatric medications simultaneously and had been prescribed ten psychiatric drugs total—none of which addressed the underlying caus…