Too often, poverty is treated with pills
“The study, which was published in JAMA Paediatrics, a medical journal,looked at 35,244 children born in an unidentified mid-Atlantic state in 2007 and followed them until the end of 2014, when they were seven years old. All the children were enrolled in Medicaid, which provides free or cheap health care to low-income Americans. By the age of eight, when children are typically learning about fractions and the solar system, nearly 20% of those studied had received a psychiatric diagnosis. The rate in the population at large is around 14%, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. Just over 10% of children in the study group received medication to alter their mental state.”