A young girl became obsessed with death and knives when she was prescribed anti-depressants – and was then medicated with drugs used to sedate violent criminals.
Seren, who moved to Perth from the UK with her parents, was seven years old when she was diagnosed with ADHD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder and anxiety.
She was initially prescribed Ritalin to help manage her ADHD, before taking Prozac to treat her severe panic attacks.
Her parents, Susy and Karl Parker, became distressed when they noticed their young child’s behaviour change as the drugs took affect.
‘She would ask ”if I jumped off this bridge now and I died, what would happen? What would happen if I put my hands into the garage door”,’ Ms Parker, told A Current Affair on Tuesday.
On the advice of multiple medical practitioners, Susy Parker chose to medicate her daughter, Seren
The ‘wild child’ began to see a psychologist after her parents noticed she was unable to carry out simple tasks such as washing her hair or eating breakfast.
Seren’s mental health problems flared up when she began taking Prozac, making grim comments about death.
Seren was just seven years old when she was diagnosed with ADHD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder and ‘extreme’ anxiety
Susy and Karl pleaded for doctors to help address their daughter’s dark behaviour, but told the couple: ‘She’s just trying to manipulate you and trying to cause attention.’
‘Just continue the medication and she’ll be fine,’ the health professionals advised.
Seren’s behaviour spiralled even further when a paediatrician prescribed her with another form of medication.
The leaflet of the medication explicitly stated children under the age of 14 were prohibited from taking it. Seren was just seven at the time.
Susy’s research found the prescribed drug was used to sedate violent inmates in Canadian prisons.
‘I thought well, if that’s happening to grown man in prison in Canada, then why are you giving it to my child?’ she said.
Seren (pictured with her mother) was initially prescribed Ritalin to help manage her ADHD, before taking Prozac to treat her severe panic attacks
Seren’s parents decided to risk taking her off all her medication and said they saw positive results almost immediately.
When the couple decided to treat their daughter’s health problems with nutrition and exercise, Seren’s concentration improved overnight.
The parents found Seren’s reading levels skyrocketed quickly and she was able to achieve three A grades in school.
The change is a stark contrast to when she used to try and escape school, jump over fences and ‘bite children’ when she was younger.
Seren is now going on 12, and is the best she has ever been.
Seren went from a bubbly, bright and happy child to what the couple could only describe as macabre
When the couple decided to treat their daughter’s health problems with nutrition and exercise, Seren’s concentration improved overnight
Mrs Parker has since adopted a more holistic approach to her daughter’s wellbeing, monitors her eating habits and worked on fixing Seren’s gut health, which she later learned is directly linked to the brain.
They later learned Seren was bordering on anaemic – which often impacts concentration – and removed gluten and dairy from her diet for a six week cleanse.
The results, they said, were remarkable.
‘Her school told us they were seeing a completely different child,’ Mrs Parker previously told Daily Mail Australia.
The mother-of-three said in addition to the adjustments to Seren’s life, when they took her off medication they had to ‘radically adjust their parenting style’.
‘We were quite controlled. Don’t do this, you’ll get a penalty for that, but these kids don’t respond to that.
‘It makes their behaviour worse. These children are quite intuitive, they know when people are being rude or unkind to them and it is triggering. When she has an outburst, you almost have to just let it go. It feels so alien, but it works.
‘I made the decision a long time ago to stop making apologies for her. She’s a great kid in so many ways and I needed to accept that yes she is a bit different and no she doesn’t have to be normal.’
She now has the ability to focus in school and is a budding horse rider and self-taught contortionist. Mrs Parker said she has developed an interest in helping homeless people in the community.
Seren is now going on 12, and is the best she has ever been
She said parents in a similar situation should ‘trust their intuition more’, seek alternative options and do their own research.
But she said the most important thing for her family was to simply appreciate her daughter’s individuality.
‘These kids are so beautiful, but because they don’t fit in and conform, we miss all the lovely things they bring to the table and to this world.’
Several short term studies have shown that adolescents who take anti-depressants have an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
Mrs Parker said she has developed an interest in helping homeless people in the community
Psychologist Sandy Rae said the individual development of the child needs to be discussed with parents and teachers well before medication is prescribed.
‘The first point of attack should always be psycho-social rather than going down a medical or medicalisation of children,’ she told A Current Affair.
Former politician turned Mental Health patient advocate Doctor Martin Whiteley said it was ‘disturbing’ and ‘alarming’ to know a seven-year-old had been prescribed with Prozac.
He is urging for more research into the long-term ramifications of medicating children.
Mrs Parker has since adopted a more holistic approach to her daughter’s wellbeing, monitors her eating habits and worked on fixing Seren’s gut health, which she later learned is directly linked to the brain