The number of children diagnosed with depression has more than doubled from 1995–2003. This is according to an article in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Worse still, the use of antidepressants to treat children diagnosed with depression has increased while the use of non–chemical forms of treatment has decreased.
“The number of children labelled as depressed and prescribed antidepressants has doubled in a few years.”
Between 1995-1996, 1.44 million kids aged 7-17 visited a doctor with symptoms of ‘depression’, such as inability to concentrate, fatigue, abnormal appetite, headaches, poor memory, poor athletic performance, altered sleeping patterns, poor posture and bad attitude (sounds like the effects of undetected and uncorrected Subluxation to us). That number more than doubled to 3.22 million by the end of 2003. As diagnosed adolescent depression increased, doctors started to prescribe antidepressant drugs more and more, while recommending mental health counselling, nutritional improvements, chiropractic and other non-chemical forms of care less and less. These findings point to possible cases of inappropriate prescribing to children, since accepted guidelines call for children to be treated without drugs first.
The answer is directly related to the increase in drug advertisements, the perception that drugs are more effective than other forms of care, and the fact that drugs are more convenient than anything else! How ironic, considering that last year, the FDA directed antidepressant manufacturers to include “black box” labels on their products that warn of the increased risk of suicidal behaviour that has been noted in adolescents taking antidepressants.
Children don’t need to be drugged – they need to be cared for and loved. Having a child’s spine and nerve system checked for subluxation is the first step to righting aberrant emotional states and other symptoms of depression. If you haven’t already had your child checked for subluxation, please do so soon. “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”
Want More Energy?
How can we obtain more energy? Being energized is the most magnificent feeling one can have. Think back to a particular morning when you woke up and, as soon as your eyes opened, you were alert with magnificent powerful energy. You were precise and awake. You had a special awareness about you. You had a certain strength and clarity. That was the optimal energy flowing through you – at that point in your life.
Now, if this can occur once, it can occur every day. The key word is can. The energy source never changed, but the expression of that energy source changed. “The sun is always shining, only clouds sometimes get in the way.”
Well, this brilliancy about your body, this energy, this aura, this life force, is always shining. There are, however, many things interfering with this energy source that create different levels of feeling, emotion, alertness and strength. The key to tapping into this energy source is to remove all major interference. Yes, there are outside interferences that can affect this energy such as gravity, poor posture at home, school and work, poor sleeping habits, etc. The biggest identifiable interference to our internal energy however, comes from the INSIDE. Vertebral Subluxation is the condition that interferes with the life force and energy that travels from brain to body, tissue, cell and organ. If there is interference in that energy source, that magnificent power, feeling and euphoria when we wake up in the morning cannot be achieved because the body was unable to rest at the level it should have. This interference creates a dampening of the energy source in the human body. Chiropractic correction of the subluxation will change a life by re-establishing a harmony and balance of this energy from brain to tissue, cell and organ. If this point can be expressed properly to the individual man, woman and child, that feeling of alertness, euphoria and precision as we wake in the morning will be a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year occurrence.
“The sun is always shining, only clouds sometimes get in the way.”
Remember, this month’s Theme of the Month is Depression, Stress & Your Spine. This month, all of your friends, co-workers and family members who are battling with Depression, Stress & Your Spine are entitled to an Initial Subluxation Check-up. Be sure to speak to a member of our team to get your “New Patient Welcome Packet” that you can give to the friend, co-worker or family member that you have in mind.
For Your Health,
Dr. Mat Pastore