Study: Anti-psychotic drug use soars among U.S. and U.K. kids

CHICAGO (AP) -- American children take anti-psychotic medicines at about six times the rate of children in the United Kingdom, according to a comparison based on a new U.K. study.

Side effects including weight gain and heart trouble have been reported in children using anti-psychotic drugs.

Does it mean U.S. kids are being over-treated? Or that U.K. children are being under-treated?

Experts say that's almost beside the point, because use is rising on both sides of the Atlantic. And with scant long-term safety data, it's likely the drugs are being over-prescribed for both U.S. and U.K. children, research suggests.

Among the most commonly used drugs were those to treat autism and hyperactivity.

In the U.K. study, anti-psychotics were prescribed for 595 children at a rate of less than four per 10,000 children in 1992. By 2005, 2,917 children were prescribed the drugs at a rate of seven per 10,000 -- a near-doubling, said lead author Fariz Rani, a researcher at the University of London's pharmacy school.

Sadly, I had to use Risperdal on my child with autism when he was about 8. He had explosive behaviors that were very hard for him to control. Life was a living h*ll with him. We started him on Risperdal and suddenly he could stop himself when things didn’t go the way he “needed” them to go. He slowly learned to control the worst of it.

After about two years, his weight had ballooned too much, and I had to take him off of it. But it really did help him, gave him that edge to control his wild emotions, until some maturity had kicked in to also help.

Working in Schools, I see this all the time. And it is more and more common. It starts like this.....

A student is a pain in the teacher’s butt. He is out of his seat, annoying and having some academic difficulty. The teacher, of course, tells the parent that it is ADHD and to go to the doctor. The concerned parent takes the child and gets them diagnosed ADHD and the child is placed on psycho-stimulants (i.e., speed) like Ritalin, Adderall, Strattera, etc. The incidence of motor tics on this is very high, and Strattera is going to be black box labeled with a warning about causing psychosis, hallucinations, mania and agitation.

The medicines, at the dose prescribed do nothing to improve academic or cognitive functioning, but do act as a chemical strait-jacket that gives an obsessive focus and behavioral restraint that is sold to the parents as an “improvement”. After a few years, students begin to experience odd reactions to the speed, particularly as it wears off after school. The child can begin to experience severe highs and lows and soon, their ever concerned school officials tell the parents that they think that they have bi-polar disorder. Despite the fact that it was universally accepted in the psychological and psychiatric field - until a few years ago - that children do not get bi-polar disorder and a diagnosis was not made until late adolescence.

The doctor then gives depakote for their bi-polar, which used to be an anti-seizure med. Or perhaps they get prozac, paxil, lexapro, or other anti-depressants. Now the child is on two medications, because they NEVER, EVER take them off the ritalin, adderall, etc.

For some of these hyper-medicated students, they now begin feeling depersonalized, hearing their name when no one is around, seeing things, and thinking becomes confused. And now the concerned parent takes them to the doctor who sadly tells the parent they think that the child is having a psychotic incident, and they prescribe Risperdol or one of the other atypical anti-psychotics. Now the poor kid is on three medications.

As a professional, I am seeing this with ever increasing frequency, especially among well to do parents and among wards of the state in foster homes. It is frightening to see what is being done to children, literally experimenting on them with all of this.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.