Currently when a child or teen is anxious, sad, depressed, they are given a medication before any functional medicine tests are done to see if there is a vitamin/mineral imbalance, gut or hormone issues, etc. If their condition gets worse they are given another medication and another and another only to make matters worse and create suicidal thoughts and actions. The same scenario happens when depressed, anxious, or suicidal kids go into inpatient mental facilities where they don’t get good organic food, sunlight, and exercise. So MY IDEA ON A POLICY IS: 1). Provide Gov’t assistance or mandate that insurance companies pay for Functional Medicine tests and treatment, including but not limited to nutritional counseling, supplements, IV therapies, personal trainers, and other alternative therapies like Reiki, Reflexology, Massage, Cold Exposure, etc. prior to any psychiatric medicines being given to kids and teens. 2) Mandate (or only offer payment assistance) to in patient/residential facilities that first look for the root cause of the problem (Functional Medicine) and address the issues uncovered, while offering whole plant based organic food, lots of exercise and sunlight and only use medications as a last resort. The idea is to find and treat the root cause and keep these kids off these dangerous and ineffective drugs. Inpatient hospitals and facilities are the worst and have ruined my granddaughters life with the amount of medications they put her on only to have her suffer the worst side effects from those drugs. Let’s stop the first line of defense which is using drugs that will and do make the situation worse and instead find the root cause and help these children. Right now insurance companies only pay for conventional doctors and medicines - this is wrong. Thank you for your time, Martha
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I strongly agree with this approach. No psychiatric drug has ever cured anything while the side effects can be devastatingly disastrous. The entire psychiatric industry must be re-examined and if they are not providing cures for what they consider mental illness, then they should not be in the business of treating it.