More Kids Are Getting Anti-Psychotic Drugs

[mzmolly]

Link

Soaring numbers of American children are being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs — in many cases, for attention deficit disorder or other behavioral problems for which these medications have not been proven to work, a study found.

The annual number of children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, the study said. That is an increase from 8.6 out of every 1,000 children in the mid-1990s to nearly 40 out of 1,000.

But more than half of the prescriptions were for attention deficit and other non-psychotic conditions, the researchers said.

The findings are worrisome "because it looks like these medications are being used for large numbers of children in a setting where we don't know if they work," said lead author Dr. William Cooper, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

Have these anti-psychotics been adequately tested in children? And, are long term health effects being taken into consideration? My guess - NO and NO.

[patrice]

1. I taught high school for 9 years. Amerika is medicating its Young.

And then it wonders why they can't keep them off of pot, and methamphetamines, and alcohol, and cocaine, and heroin, and mushrooms, and speed and ecstacy and . . . .

[mzmolly]

3. Thanks for the educated input.

No pun intended. ;)

Joking aside - it's tragic.

[patrice]

15. You're right, It is! - because something important is lost.

[LostinVA]

27. My mom's a pediatric nurse, and says this drives her crazy

Parents, teachers, "specialists" (and that is a self-given title) call the office all day saying a kid needs to be drugged up. Why? Oh... just because. Talking alot in class, etc., many times just normal kid stuff. Hell, I talked alot in class. Her doctor is great, though -- he won't do it unless he sees him, AND a child psychiatrist he knows sees the kid. And even then, he is very particular about what he gives, and will ONLY do it after other things have been tried (tutoring, diet change, exercise, etc.)

[patrice]

30. Quick and Easy Parenting.

I also taught at a private school that specialized in this market for families with lots of money.

[LostinVA]

31. Yup... sad

[TexasLawyer]

33. Don't be too quick to judge, guys.

I have 2 bi-polar school-aged children, and for some reason anti-psychotics like Risperdal really help them function.

These are kids who, when not medicated, cut themselves, attempt suicide, beat people up, steal, run away, get kicked out of school for being disruptive, and cannot make or keep friends. Parents with psychologically well children have no idea of the living hell that children like mine have been in, and consequently the living hell these sick children can inflict on those around them.

I look on drugs like this as a miracle.

[JuniperLea]

2. I have always believed that too many kids are on those drugs

And some very brilliant kids at that. The smarter the kid, the harder they are to deal with. I think parents, teachers and doctors just don't want to deal, so they medicate.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. My son's stepmother talked his dad into this...

Nick hated them. made him feel ill, disconnected. I took him off and he's been fine.
He never gave me trouble anyway. He didn't like HER and was mouthing off and acting up.
I was sooooo pissed about it.

[JuniperLea]

11. Point in case!

I think anyone who gives a child medication like that because they themselves can't deal are evil, evil wicked people!!! Shame on that woman!

[mzmolly]

5. I tend to agree.

:(

[Yupster]

10. Twenty years from now

when we have a better knowledge of the side-effects, then we'll know how much damage we've been doing to our boys.

[JuniperLea]

14. So many people think kids are wired, or over-active somehow1

They are just being kids, fcol!

[patrice]

32. One of the side effects, not so much to do with the biological effects of

chemicals, but more developmental in nature, is that the kinds of changes that people make naturally, the ones that we refer to sometimes as maturation, or adaptive learning, will be less likely, because the systems are being changed by the presence of these psychoactive drugs. After some as yet unspecified "critical period" those developmental changes will be less and less likely to happen, until, to all intents and purposes, they are gone entirely, individually and amongst groups.

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. We will also be able to judge the effectiveness of the treatment

since they will be healthy adults by then.

[WI_DEM]

6. Don't tell Tom Cruise or he'll be jumping up and down on sofa's

and knocking his head against walls because of it.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. The military has a problem with this fact.... Geez, Dick, all

you had to do was get medicated in school.... you wouldn't have had to get those 5 deferrments, justified or otherwise.

[boobooday]

8. I refused to put my son on ritalin

Even though it was suggested several times.

He's okay. He's almost nineteen now, and he is learning to deal with his emotions.

The thing that always bothered me was: for how long? How long do we dose our children to control their behavior? Do they just grow into a new drug? When do you know they don't need it anymore?

It seems to me that the pharmaceutical companies are developing products, and then generating the so-called demand for them, in many cases.

Like depression drugs. I know that many people are clinically depressed, but look how often these drugs are prescribed to women. When I was a kid, doctors were prescribing downers to housewives left and right -- my mom had valium and a few others when I was growing up in the 70's. Now they give women anti-depressents (stimulants). When you look at the big picture, it seems like the absolute brutality of economic and social conditions are driving these waves of prescription pacifiers. Oh, does life totally suck? Must be something wrong with YOU. It couldn't be that you are working your ass off trying to do everything, and still not making it. Must be YOUR PROBLEM. Well, we've got something for that. One of these every day.

And now our kids are supposed to take drugs so they can be more easily supervised by overworked, underpaid teachers.

And then they're supposed to "just say no" to recreational drugs.

[mzmolly]

9. Excellent post.

:toast:

[boobooday]

13. Thanks! I think you raised a very important topic

That's one of the first things we need to question.

Harper's had a scary piece on the marketing of the flu shot. It is ridiculous that we have to look at our health care providers the same way we look at used car salesmen, like they could just be trying to sell us somethin'

:toast:

[JuniperLea]

12. Good for you!

"She went running for the shelter of her mother's little helpers..."

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. I put both of my sons on Ritalin

and it made a HUGE difference. Both graduated from high school, one is now on the Dean's list in college.

ADD makes kids unavailable for learning. My older kid couldn't concentrate long enough to learn much of anything. He was in 2nd grade, couldn't read, was inept in Math and had horrible self esteem. Ritalin was a godsend for him. My younger son was hyper in the womb and was literally impossible to keep calm until he started on Ritalin at age 6.

My kids worked with pediatricians, psychologists, psychiatrists and developmental pediatricians as well as counselors to treat and understand their ADD. We never once doubted the accuracy of the diagnosis we received and found that a combination of counseling and medication was the best approach to help them learn the self management skills they lacked. We spent tens of thousands of dollars on their care, fought hundreds of battles with schools, little league coaches and music teachers to make their childhood happy and their education as fair and accessible to them as possible. We helped found parent support groups in our area and are still active in national groups for families affected by ADD.

There are indeed many many kids who do have the neurobiological condition called ADD which affects everything they do. Their lives are tragic without some treatment for their disability. They often disrupt the education of the other children in school with them. They usually have few if any friends. Many are literally out of control and unable to 'calm down' their brains and attend to tasks. Chemical intervention is critical and appropriate. I have seen first hand not only in my own kids, but in hundreds I have taught, the miraculous changes brought on by proper medication and counseling.

It is unfair to those who really do have ADD to post these stories of kids who managed without Ritalin. They most likely were NOT ADD. The misinformation on this topic has continued unabated for too many years now. We can thank the Scientologists for continuing their national campaign of misinformation and inaccuracy concerning ADD. Indeed, SOME children and adults are improperly prescribed medications for behavior which is within their ability to change and control. But there are still significant numbers of people who need psychiatric medication and who lead functioning, rather than dysfunctional, lives because of the medications they take.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

17. Your kids needed it, mine didn't...

there's the difference. My kid does not have ADD, but they diagnosed him 'borderline' and dosed him up. Now Nick has a best friend, who is ADD, and there is such a huge difference in their behaviour. For instance today, they came in the house and Kyle was bouncing off the walls, I asked him if he took his meds today, and he hadn't. My son would just get lathargic and cranky because he didn't feel 'right'. He said there are several kids in his class like him, they don't act like Kyle, but they are on it anyway.

I'm glad your boys are doing well now! You are a good mom, keeping after the 'professionals' until they got it figured out. :hug:

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. There is a big range of behaviors and 'problems' in ADD kids

No offense, but I doubt your kid has enough expertise to determine whether kids really need meds or not. Some ADD kids get bouncy, others get lethargic.

[boobooday]

18. My son was diagnosed as ADD

He was born to a mother who was addicted to alcohol. He didn't learn the same way, and still can't express his intelligence in the same ways as his peers (i.e. by performing on tests). But he has learned to live in his own head. Maybe drugs would have helped him, or maybe not.

However, I never had the insurance coverage or the money to hire my own psychologists, counselors, and pediatricians, and I didn't trust the people who wanted to prescribe drugs to my son. What about parents who can't afford to hire experts?

And I did acknowledge that there are people who benefit from the medications, but not everyone gets the medical supervision they need while they are on these drugs, and that's a dangerous way to go as well.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. How do you know they aren't getting the medical supervision they need?

I have a huge problem with that statement since ADD medications are so tightly restricted by FDA regs. Only one month worth of meds may be prescribed at a time, there are no refills allowed. Doctors may not call in the prescriptions to a pharmacy, they must be picked up at the doctor's office following an appointment. So these kids are seeing a doctor at least once a month just to get their meds. That is hardly a lack of medical supervision.

[fed-up]

22. Did you ever try a strict diet change? Avoid processed foods, serve whole

foods etc?

One of my younger brothers was diagnosed ADHD and retarded back in the 1960's. He was given dexidrine and put in the EH (Educationally Handicapped) class. Our diet was heavy on packaged/canned foods as was common starting after WWII. They finally figured out that he had a GENIOUS IQ and just needed glasses.

In high school he stopped the meds and had started long distance running in elementary school. Those two things helped immensely.

I think at least 4/6 of my family members suffer from mild ADD, but when we watch what we eat the symptoms are minimized.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Diet doesn't affect it.

It's a neurobiological condition. What you eat doesn't change the way your brain attends to tasks. We tried the diet with our older kid but it didn't help. Medication and counseling is really the best treatment for a kid who is really ADD.

I know - there is always someone who swears by the diet. But reputable scientific evidence doesn't support it.

[LostinVA]

28. And, it stunts their physical growth and often their development growth

[ContraBass Black]

21. They widely prescribe anti-psychotics for depression as well.

Scary.

[LostinVA]

29. Drugs for ADULTS, that have never been tested for side effects for kids

Very, very scarey...

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. There is more research on the effects of stimulant meds on kids

than there is for almost every other drug on the market today. Stimulant meds have been prescribed for kids with attention and hyperactivity problems for nearly 70 years. Penicillin doesn't have a history that extensive.

[H2O Man]

23. One of the things

that I found most troubling in the years before I retired was how many children and teens were being prescribed medications for psychiatric issues. I think it is important to put this into the context of a move by insurance and drug companies to reduce many people's access to actual therapy, and to replace it with infrequent visits with a doctor for a prescription, and case management. Clearly, I am not against either doctors, case managers, or prescriptions.

There are good reasons to examine behavioral issues on the large scale. Our culture refuses to recognize, much less address, the close relationship between A.D. disorders and the television set. We also have a society that puts children, as a group, on an unhealthy diet. I also think that it is silly, at best, to expect 12-year old boys are going to behave well for an extended period in a classroom setting.

Children referred for evaluation are generaly "rated" by parents, teachers, etc, to "measure" their behavior at home, in school, and to a degree, in the community. Such imput from parents and teachers can be extremely beneficial. Or, in some cases, it is just the opposite.

If a kid comes from an abusive household, and she "acts up" in school, no matter how accurate the teacher is, unless the reality of her homelife is documented and appreciated, that girl becomes a double and then triple victim. I want that kid being abused to act up and act out, if that is the only way that she is able to say, "Help me." I think that to ignore this, and prescribe medication to handcuff her mind, to make the unacceptable acceptable, is a crime.

If a boy is "a handful," and his parents use that tv for a nanny/babysitter, and then try to please him by feeding him the sugar-rich, nutritionally empty shit being aimed at America's children, that family should have help adjusting their lifestyle, not a pill to make junior a zombie who will sit passively in front of the tv for four hours, and then act up until he gets his next dose.

Look at what these medications do to those people who have serious and persistent mental illnesses. Good God Almighty, they have side-effects that are damaging. It doesn't take great insight to recognize the potential for severe damage in the long run, especially because so many are prescribed when they absolutely should not be. It's a sin, and it was becoming systematic when I was working.

Thanks for letting me rant.

[mzmolly]

24. Great post!

Thanks for the rant. :hi:

"Children referred for evaluation are generaly "rated" by parents, teachers, etc, to "measure" their behavior at home, in school, and to a degree, in the community. Such input from parents and teachers can be extremely beneficial. Or, in some cases, it is just the opposite."

What is also interesting is that much of the "rating system" for ADHD is highly subjective. So much so, that the dx is becoming even more controversial among respected professionals.

http://membership.americanmentalhealth.com/index.tpl?page=1070242267282767&cart=325552051&target=contFrame

The last paragraph in the memo above is of particular interest.

[noonwitch]

25. That's because there are more anti-psychotic drugs to market

It's too bad, some of those drugs are miracle drugs for mentally ill adults, who previously had to take mind-numbing doses of things like Thorazine in the past.

But only psychotic kids need to be on anti-psychotics.

[SPKrazy]

34. Anti-Psychotic Drugs?

That is even counterintuitive to the notion of attention deficit disorders.

Their brains are already not processing things coherently or quickly enough, and instead their attention changes.

antipsychotic drugs wouldn't help that at all in my opinion.