Parenting: Homesickness in Students

I received a question the other day about a study being conducted with college and university counselors regarding homesickness in students. Specifically, any potential ways to prevent and treat homesickness, and whether or not homesickness negatively impact a student’s studies.

I smell a rat. There’s been a big trend by the medical industry to define “disorders” like ADD, ADHD, and others like bi-polar disorder, etc. and then to treat them with drugs that make pharmaceutical companies rich.

In the meantime, behavior modification, that used to be a parent’s job, and in today’s latchkey child world have become a therapist’s job, are forgotten, ignored or denied — or some combination of the trio.

The first smell of rat comes from the fact that homesickness is being studied by pediatricians. Hello? Did anyone read Doctor Spock? Do the words separation anxiety have any meaning to anyone besides money hungry pharmaceutical companies any more? Before parents became so precious with their children that they forgot that these creatures are human beings, they dealt with kids who normally had sleep issues, bullying issues, separation issues, etc. It was all normal.

NOW that drug companies are making big bucks over DISORDERS and SYNDROMES that result from regular, old fashioned, human behavior, there are drug-funded studies to make the pharmaceuticalization of America legitimate.

Granted…there are MANY wonderful things that medicine, technology, hospitals, doctors, medical professionals, scientists and caretakers do and lives that are saved and enhanced.

HOWEVER, there studies and syndromes that are legitimized to make our country’s legalized drug dealers, rich.