Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Psychotropic Drug Prescriptions For Teens Surge 250% Over 7 Year Period
Brandeis University via sciencedaily.com ^ | 2006-01-04 | NA

Posted on 01/04/2006 10:39:59 PM PST by neverdem

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-71 next last
To: garandgal

Couple of years ago I lost a close relative. I was in the hospital room when they flatlined. I do what I have to do, walk out of the room and the doctor says, "Do you want a valium?'

"Uh, why?"

"You seem upset."

"Well yeah, pal. I'm supposed to be upset. It's what happens in these circumstances..." Actually, I didn't say that, but felt like it. I just said "No thanks."

It kinda hit me later that they're using drugs as the first choice rather than solving the problems.


21 posted on 01/05/2006 12:52:49 AM PST by durasell (!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: sweetliberty
I'd be willing to bet that psychotropic drugs prescribed for children under 12 have risen exponentially as well. Almost every kid I work with is drugged, and many take 3-5 different psychottropic medications. It is downright sickening. It seems that childhood is now an illness and many relatively normal childhood behaviors are now unacceptable, or even criminal. Our kids are being screwed up at an alarming rate by everything from abusive parents, to public "educators," to self-appointed therapeutic messiahs. But we dare not do anything to make the little darlings feel shame or pain, and we certainly musn't teach them about God. Why, that would be abusive! < /sarcasm >

Some do have actual problems that need medical attention but ignorance on the part of medical professionals treating them plus pharmaceutical companies IMO unethical pressures lead to a massive misdiagnoses and gross over prescribing of unnecessary medications.

ADD ADHD is there BUT there is a more common set of disorders {they can test for and confirm} called Central Auditory Processing Disorders. The symptoms mimic closely ADD ADHD and it takes either a trained Speech Pathologist or Audiologist to diagnose it. If you ask a shrink about C.A.P.D. you're gonna get a blank stare. C.A.P.S. is sensory damage or dysfunction believed to be caused from such things as chronic ear infections or chronic allergies that can damage a kid or adults Inner Ear.

There is a lot of information on CAPD out there. The best part is that the information comes far removed from Mental Health and even in most cases Pharmaceutical Company influences. Vestibular Research holds some answers but here is a clear danger the Mental Health pro's better face and understand. If you give a child or an adult who has sensory or motor sensory dysfunction drugs that can over tax their sensory system or cause a Serotonin migration to the brain, you stand a good risk of an adverse medication reaction called Serotonin Syndrome.

Serotonin is a chemical 98% contained in the stomach used for promoting digestion. The other 2% is located either in the brain or blood stream. When an adult or kid is given SSRI's and has this reaction the person can go psychotic even in the early stages {first few days of SSRI usage}.

It is a very real reaction and the person is not responsible nor can they control how they react to it. It is the same as giving them LSD maybe worse. Their hallucinations which can last up to 3-5 days from stopping the medication is their reality.

I don't argue the fact some adults need antidepressants as I have seen the good they can do. But I have also watched in horror for nearly a week someone in acute Serotonin Syndrome induced twice because the doctors insisted she needed more Zoloft.

The simple fact is doctors today do not do basic medical history & work ups to catch basic what used to be common problems and treat them. If a kid has an ear infection history, Chronic tonsilitus, Chronic streph Throat, vision dysfunction, trouble understanding you, and or sinus allergies, and acts like they have ADD ADHD they likely don't need Ritalin or an SSRI then.

They are acting out because their audio/visual sensory flooding & saturaterad environment is triggering them to act out. TV's can do it. Video games can do it also. A noisy class room is one they can not learn in. They can not listen and take notes etc. The behavior is caused by the frustration and agitation of multi-tasking which may be an impossibility or near impossibility for them. When that is understood & dealt with properly the symptoms subside somewhat and behavior improves. If not and they get prescribed sensory enhancers you can have a kid or adult ready to do harm to others.

22 posted on 01/05/2006 1:12:37 AM PST by cva66snipe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: durasell
It kinda hit me later that they're using drugs as the first choice rather than solving the problems.

And just try getting a health insurance policy if you have ever been prescribed a psychotropic drug; these teenagers will be "marked" for life.

No more coverage for any type of mental health issues, unless they can find a group policy with no restrictions. Lovely.

23 posted on 01/05/2006 1:17:07 AM PST by garandgal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: All
ADD ADHD or is this the problem instead? Instead of Ratilin read this first.

Click here to get to the link

Click here to get to the link

Click here to get to the link

Click here to get to the link

It is more common simply because the triggering conditions are more common. This has been here since man likely. But todays technology is placing some kids and some of us adults into a world that is overtaxing our abilities to process the audio & visual events around us. The result can be Cognitive Behavioral Problems. That means depression, anxiety, agiation, and other reactions. Here is a great description a long read but worth it.

COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF VESTIBULAR DISORDERS

The Mental Health Profession does not look for this problem nor do many family doctors who refer a kid to a shrink.

24 posted on 01/05/2006 1:34:42 AM PST by cva66snipe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: garandgal

Now there's an interesting angle...


25 posted on 01/05/2006 1:37:46 AM PST by durasell (!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: TheCrusader

..."America's children are suffering from a nation gone mad with "legal" immorality of every kind, divorced parents, substance abuse, a lack of parental/teacher authority, violence glorified in tv/videos/movies, pressure to have sex by age 12, Satanic worship, body piercings, homosexual deviancy being almost worshipped by society, and worst of all from living in a country where God's name is prohibited by the state. In other words children are being raised in the chaos that State atheism has fostered. And the best answer they can find for our children is to feed them psyotropic drugs."...

I doubt that children today can ever grow up in a normal way, even with great parents. These outside forces have overwhelmed the home..Only God can set this right again..


26 posted on 01/05/2006 2:50:03 AM PST by jazzlite (esat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: sweetliberty

..."It seems that childhood is now an illness and many relatively normal childhood behaviors are now unacceptable, or even criminal. Our kids are being screwed up at an alarming rate by everything from abusive parents, to public "educators," to self-appointed therapeutic messiahs. But we dare not do anything to make the little darlings feel shame or pain, and we certainly musn't teach them about God. Why, that would be abusive!..."

And, don't forget that boys must be feminine and "sensitive" and girls must be masculine and "bold." You know, they must show the same interests..They must show only unisex traits. If they do not, then, they might need a psychotropic drug. Also, if they are given a sex survey in kindergarten and are not yet interested or are ignorant of what sex is, etc., etc., then they need treatment to teach them what their little bodies need. We are truly a sick nation, and are becoming more and more like the Europeans and the Netherlands where, I hear, anything goes. The adults who are going along with this are probably "drugged" themselves..It is no wonder the little ones need drugs to help them endure what has become a lost childhood and a lost gender legacy.


27 posted on 01/05/2006 2:59:17 AM PST by jazzlite (esat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

It's not just teens. About half of my family is on ssomething to help them "cope". I think trusting in God and working with Him is much better than trusting in drugs.


28 posted on 01/05/2006 3:00:45 AM PST by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: traviskicks
Well, how about letting pharmacies sell directly to consumers?

In many instances, I'd be more inclined to trust my pharmacist than my doctor. I have only had doctors hand me prescriptions for things that would kill me three times. The pharmacist knows his drugs better, and is more likely to spot potential interactions between medications.

29 posted on 01/05/2006 3:05:35 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: sweetliberty
I think I'd rather trust the long term effects of the tried and true methods of appropriately applied butt whuppings, thoughtful listening, conscientious guidance and lots of hugs.

Much better program, IMO.

30 posted on 01/05/2006 3:07:40 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: durasell; sweetliberty
aren't you curious about the long term effects of complex compounds on developing brains?

I am curious. The question, of course is whether these treatments are a). necessary b). effective and c). doing more good than harm?

As soon as scientists figured out how to effectively use anti-biotics, their use gew at a much more rapid pace. Obviously their use was to save lives.

In many respects these psycotropic drugs are only one place removed (at that) of "lifestyle" drugs.

But, for doctors to keep prescribing them and for the parents to be satisfied, these drugs must have an effect that is pleasing at least for the parents.

31 posted on 01/05/2006 3:11:25 AM PST by Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit ("A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." - Dwight D. Eisenhower)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit

I'm sure the drugs are having the desired effect. The question is: will the long term effects be something less than desirable?

They are "lifestyle drugs" (if I understand the definition correctly). A woman's husband leaves her for the local cocktail waitress, a first move for her is to go on Prozac. I can't tell you how many women I've met who use the drug. Some of them like to mix the Prozac up with alcohol, pot and other misc. drugs -- so they have a nice stew of chemicals simmering away in their skulls.

In regards to kids, I would tend to view them as victims in this thing. You have GPs from HMOs prescribing these things like aspirin.


32 posted on 01/05/2006 3:40:51 AM PST by durasell (!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: garandgal

"And just try getting a health insurance policy if you have ever been prescribed a psychotropic drug; these teenagers will be "marked" for life."

Also do not forget...these kids will never legally own fire arms. Pretty sneaky way to promote a gun ban, hugh?


33 posted on 01/05/2006 4:57:49 AM PST by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit
"for doctors to keep prescribing them and for the parents to be satisfied, these drugs must have an effect that is pleasing at least for the parents."

I have kids whose parents will shop around for a doctor until they get the diagnosis, and the drugs, that they want. Medicating them is far easier than actually parenting them.

To be fair, many of these parents were never parented themselves so they really have few inherent resources to draw on..

34 posted on 01/05/2006 5:17:00 AM PST by sweetliberty (Stupidity should make you sterile.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Dumb headline.... The prescription rate is up because the variety and effectiveness of drugs are up, while OTC availability is down.

20 years ago, they didn't prescribe drugs for ADHD, but self-medication was rampant through the availability of OTC drugs, like amphetamines, which now require a prescription. It's just that in 1980, they didn't classify amphetamines as psychotropic o r as prescription, they were OTC diet pills!

In 1994, when the survey period started, Prozac was the new kid on the block. People were very mistrusting of its effects, and frankly, with good reason; Prozac had the crudest effects. There are now dozens of safer drugs on the market which did not exist in 1994.


35 posted on 01/05/2006 5:31:51 AM PST by dangus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sweetliberty
Drug use (legal) in our society is alarming. Doctors have turned my 90 year old mother into a $800 dollar-a-month drug addict with their drugs. It has not brought her happiness and we're desperate to make her more comfortable. I am resentful and bitter.

One day at lunch there were several mothers. At least three of them had children or grandchildren on drugs. It's a disgrace. Doctors don't have a clue what they're doing. They're just throwing sh__ against a fence post and hoping some sticks.

36 posted on 01/05/2006 6:29:56 AM PST by Conservativegreatgrandma
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
The study shows that by 2001, one in every ten of all office visits by teenage boys led to a prescription for a psychotropic drug. Other findings in the study show that a diagnosis of ADHD was given in about one-third of office visits during the study period. Also, between 14 and 26 percent of visits in which psychotropic medications were prescribed did not have an associated mental health diagnosis...

REALLY scary stuff here. How did our nation survive for its first 200 years before we had ADHD and psychotropic drugs to give the children?
37 posted on 01/05/2006 6:34:14 AM PST by AD from SpringBay (We have the government we allow and deserve.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traviskicks

I don't think there should be any restrictions (i.e. no presecriptions needed, and no ban on direct-to-patient advertising) for any drug that doesn't have significant potential to cause harm to people OTHER than the person taking it. And frankly, if you take the drug alcohol as an unchangeable standard for where that line is drawn, there's practically no drug on the market today which would require a prescription. Alcohol is causing tens of thousands of deaths each year in this country, many of them innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the time, and crossed paths with the driving or violent drunk.

Currently, there's no way any drug could even get approval for prescription sale, much less OTC sale, with even a tenth of deaths inflicted by alcohol. There is no rational basis for such a system. And principles of liberty require that adults be allowed to do stupid dangerous things to themselves. If somebody wants to shoot up chemotherapy drugs, because they imagine that the ganglion cyst on their wrist is cancer, and don't want to pay a doctor and lab to find out what it really is, that's their business.


38 posted on 01/05/2006 8:25:07 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: GovernmentShrinker; Smokin' Joe

And principles of liberty require that adults be allowed to do stupid dangerous things to themselves.
----

Agreed. Before I meant to say 'pharmaceutical companies' should be able to sell driectly to consumers, not 'pharmacies'.

And we need to abolish the damn FDA.


39 posted on 01/05/2006 8:46:53 AM PST by traviskicks (http://www.neoperspectives.com/secondaryproblemsofsocialism.htm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: GovernmentShrinker

btw, interesting take/anology w/ alchol.


40 posted on 01/05/2006 8:47:33 AM PST by traviskicks (http://www.neoperspectives.com/secondaryproblemsofsocialism.htm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-71 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson