Could Jaycee Dugard have Stockholm syndrome?

Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed. (taken from Wikipedia)

Some psychologists are talking about the possibility that Jaycee Dugard may have developed Stockholm syndrome because she spent nearly two decades living with a different family. She now faces a different reality and she will never be able to go back in time. On CNN, you'll read how some are saying that Dugard's readjustment will largely depend on how she was treated in captivity.

Dugard is now 29 years old. She is an adult and I wonder how her family is adjusting to this entire situation. As a parent, I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a child and then to get reunited nearly 20 years later. It really is a shame that it took so long for Dugard's family to get reunited with her. My prayers go out to her family as they go through a major period of readjustment.

I'm still baffled by the fact that Dugard gave birth to two girls while living in captivity. I know several people who have given birth to children at home, but I don't think that most pregnant women living in the U.S. deliver their babies at home.

Alleged kidnapper Phillip Garrido kept a blog

According to CNN, the alleged kidnapper Phillip Garrido kept a blog (http://voicesrevealed.blogspot.com). Garrido's blog entries are posted by "THEMANWHOSPOKEWITHHISMIND." The blog currently has hundreds of unmoderated comments.

Considering the nature of the current case, I doubt this blog will remain online very long. This story has now reached international levels and I have to think that someone at Google will shut down this blog. According to the nature of his content, it sounds like he thought he had mind controlling powers. It seems like Garrido was delusional and/or he may have had some type of psychiatric illness. However, I'm not his doctor, so there's no way I could know that.

My heart goes out to Jaycee Lee Dugard and her entire family. I wish you the best as you restart a new life in freedom.

Do your children need ADHD medications?

Kids are hyper, aren't they? They also have really short attention spans, don't they? Did you catch the CNN story titled, "Does your child need ADHD drugs?" If you're not a healthcare professional, can you evaluate whether your children (who have ADHD) should be taking medications for their ADHD? What do we (as healthcare professionals) really understand about ADHD? We certainly know a lot more than we did 10 or 20 years ago. However, we probably also have a lot more to learn about the brain.

My concern with this CNN story is that parents (or children) may read this and decide that they may want to perform a little experiment and stop taking their ADHD medications. In this example, the girl eventually told (or confessed) to her parents that she had intentionally stopped taking her meds. But what if your child does the same thing and never tells you? Physicians don't generally recommend that children with ADHD should be making decisions about stopping medications. Who likes taking medications? I don't.

The CNN story also points to the dangers associated with free drug samples. You're not going to find free drug samples of cheap, generic drugs. Instead, you get samples of the latest and greatest. What happens when the samples run out? You end up paying for the latest and greatest instead of paying for cheap generics. For some families, that may not be a big deal. For others, that could become a significant financial strain. So do your children need ADHD medications? If so, which drugs are the best options?

Did you know that Consumer Reports has a list of ADHD drug recommendations? I love Consumer Reports, but should they be making such medical recommendations when ADHD therapy really needs to be tailored for each individual? These types of reports could mislead parents and children, so although they may be helpful for some, they could also confuse or mislead others. At the end of the day, I hope you're working with a really good healthcare professional who can explain why you (or your child) may need ADHD medications.

Health Effects of Texting in Teens

Do you text? I'm not a huge fan of texting, but I tweet like crazy (however, most of my tweets are automated). Teenagers and other young people have taken texting to an entirely new level by creating a language of acronyms that can only be understood for those who are familiar with texting. According to the Nielsen Company, teens sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008. Wow!

The NY Times has an article on the health effects of texting. Physicians and psychologists are worried about anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation. That doesn't sound good, does it? The article quotes Sherry Turkle, a psychologist who is director of the Initiative on Technology and Self at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Here's a snippet of the quote: "Among the jobs of adolescence are to separate from your parents, and to find the peace and quiet to become the person you decide you want to be," she said. "Texting hits directly at both those jobs."

Frequent typing on tiny thumb keyboards can also cause BlackBerry thumb.