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StumbleSUN EDITORIAL:
An alarming picture
Data show sizable increase in use of antipsychotic drugs for young children
Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
The New York Times on Thursday reported on the disturbing increase in young children being prescribed antipsychotic drugs. Some statistics stood out:
• The Food and Drug Administration, according to a 2009 study, found that more than half a million children and adolescents in this country are taking antipsychotic drugs.
• A study by Columbia University reported a doubling of antipsychotic drugs prescribed for 2- to 5-year-olds from 2000 to 2007 (those covered by private insurance). And, contrary to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry standards, just 40 percent of these patients had received a proper mental health assessment.
Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of child psychiatry and the top researcher in the government-funded study by Columbia University, summed up the troubling findings when he said: “There are too many children getting on too many of these drugs too soon.”
The Times illustrated this problem by telling the story of Kyle Warren of Louisiana. As early as 18 months old, he was taking a daily antipsychotic drug in response to his severe temper tantrums. Eventually, this progressed to more drugs as diagnoses were made by doctors — autism, bipolar disorder, hyperactivity, insomnia and oppositional defiant disorder. As the Times reported, by the time he was 3 his “daily pill regimen multiplied: the antipsychotic Risperdal, the antidepressant Prozac, two sleeping medicines and one for attention-deficit disorder.”
His mother, Brandy Warren, said she was at “wit’s end” before agreeing to the medication. The young boy suffered from the medications’ side effects — he was sedated, drooling and overweight. “All I had was a medicated little boy,” she told the Times. “I didn’t have my son. It’s like, you’d look into his eyes and you would see just blankness.”
Ultimately his mother took him to a Tulane University medical school professor. Dr. Charles Zeanah didn’t believe the diagnosis that Kyle had bipolar disorder and disagreed with the treatment. “I have never seen a preschool child with bipolar disorder in 30 years as a child psychiatrist specializing in early childhood mental health,” Zeanah said.
After Zeanah came into the picture, Kyle was entered into a therapy program for low-income families set up by child psychiatrists at Tulane, Louisiana State University and the state. He was weaned off most medications, so he now takes just one drug, for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
So how is Kyle doing now at 6 years old?
According to the Times, he is a month into first grade and is receiving high scores, and he laughs and is rambunctious like other boys his age.
There are myriad reasons why children have been given unnecessary drugs. To begin with, it is much less expensive to give medication to children than to provide family counseling. Additionally, drug companies have been aggressive in their marketing of these and other drugs, which too many doctors are willing to prescribe. Parents often are desperate, looking for anything that can help their children.
None of this is to say that prescription drugs aren’t beneficial in treating attention-deficit disorders. Indeed, therapy alone or a combination of therapy and medication can make an incredible, positive difference — that is, if the doctor’s diagnosis is correct. But what also is clear from the Times’ informative report is that there is an alarming use of antipsychotic drugs in young children, and that is an issue the medical community must address.
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Our Medical Industrial Complex in action
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Drugs for kids, parents who don't want to deal with their children and schools also
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The new easy way
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Add the heart industry with by pass and angio and stents and the surgeons, cardios and hospitals and private ins. companies are raking it in as we line up to eat cheeseburgers and omelets and every fat you can imagine to clog our pipes , but they do not want to talk about that ... idiots
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Have A Good One
In the early 90's my son was prescribed ridalin for ADD. He was about 5 yrs old at that time. I was a little leary of him taking that drug because I had heard so many bad stories about it. My wife told me that if there was a problem with the drug, the doctor wouldn't have prescribed it. I still had an uneasy feeling about it.
He took his first dose that night he went to bed. About 2 in the morning I was awoken by him screaming in terror, calling my name. I believe I took 2 or 3 steps at a time to get up to his room and found him sitting up in bed screaming, crying, sweating, and he had a terrifying look on his face as he was looking straight forward.
I started talking to him as he was screaming,"Dad where are you? I can't see you!". I was standing right in front of him. I sat with him all night as he trembled in bed and finally fell asleep.
When my wife and I got up the next morning we checked on him and he was still sleeping. We left the upstairs and went downstairs to have some coffee. I told her that our son was not going to take this crap. We decided to go to the doctor that prescribed the drug to our son. The doctor told us that it will take some time for him to get used to the drug. I told the doctor 'bull' and we left. We took him off the ridalin and in 2-3 yrs he was alright.
Every human beings body metabolism is different than each others. Some drugs work the exact opposite on some than the others. I didn't care what the doctor told me the day after my sons incident, my sons' history with ridalin was over.
Yes, now every emotion a developing child has is marketed as a new disease! We are creating a generation of turnips!
Let's create the cure before the disease!
Mr. Sun, the alarms have been ringing for 25 years...it must have just hit your hearing frequency and decibel level...now, all of the problems that most people have said 'were none of my business' or 'it's not my place to get involved' are upon us all...I wish I believed it was better late than never, but I don't...
It's a little thing known as drug-mongering. Convince ppl that they are less adequate if they suffer from a common ailment and that they must take a certain drug to relieve themselves of their affliction.
It works so well that there is very BIG money in it.
The next time you hear someone claim Americans spend more on drugs to support the development of new drugs consider that drug companies spend about twice as much advertising (drug-mongering) as they do on research and development.
as gbigs will attest to, americans are stupid people. whether its george bush or sharom angle, double cheese and fries or chatting on the cell phone in traffic, we possess a healthy amount of individuals in this country that dont have a clue. we love drugs; there must be a drug store or pusher on every street corner in this drug addled country of ours and sales are up w/o any sign of a downturn. uppers, downers,italin for the brats,steroids for the jocks, hell, we even have pills to help us have sex w/ the old lady!
yes, my friends, they sold us a bill of goods and we cant stop buying this crap.