Use of Antipsychotics by the Young Rose Fivefold

NY Times ^ | June 6, 2006 | BENEDICT CAREY

[neverdem]

The use of potent antipsychotic drugs to treat children and adolescents for problems like aggression and mood swings increased more than fivefold from 1993 to 2002, researchers reported yesterday.

The researchers, who analyzed data from a national survey of doctors' office visits, found that antipsychotic medications were prescribed to 1,438 per 100,000 children and adolescents in 2002, up from 275 per 100,000 in the two-year period from 1993 to 1995.

The findings augment earlier studies that have documented a sharp rise over the last decade in the prescription of psychiatric drugs for children, including antipsychotics, stimulants like Ritalin and antidepressants, whose sales have slipped only recently. But the new study is the most comprehensive to examine the increase in prescriptions for antipsychotics.

The explosion in the use of drugs, some experts said, can be traced in part to the growing number of children and adolescents whose problems are given psychiatric labels once reserved for adults and to doctors' increasing comfort with a newer generation of drugs for psychosis.

Shrinking access to long-term psychotherapy and hospital care may also play a role, the experts said.

The findings, published yesterday in Archives of General Psychiatry, are likely to inflame a continuing debate about the risks of using psychiatric medication in children. In recent years, antidepressants have been linked to an increase in suicidal thinking or behavior in some minors, and reports have suggested that stimulant drugs like Ritalin may exacerbate underlying heart problems.

Antipsychotic drugs also carry risks: Researchers have found that many of the drugs can cause rapid weight gain and blood lipid changes that increase the risk of diabetes. None of the most commonly prescribed antipsychotics is approved for use in children, although doctors can prescribe any medication that has been approved for use.

Experts said that little was known...

[Dunstan McShane]

Please tell me I wasn't the only one wondering who the heck Rose Fivehold was.

I thought the Young Rose Fivefold was a rock group, like the Dave Clark Five or something.

[tertiary01]

Thanks to Zyprexa®, young Rose Fivefold can smile through washday drudgery.

She just gets to worry about becoming a diabetic now.

[Tax-chick]

Ah, that makes it much clearer!

[bwteim]

Glad to be of service;)

[little jeremiah]

Wag - don't know if you want this for this list or not. Horrible! Take a look, mm!

[metmom]

Shrinking access to long-term psychotherapy and hospital care may also play a role, the experts said.

You don't think that a lack of discipline could be a factor?

I can't help but wonder what the long term affects are going to be after screwing up these kids body chemistry at such a young age. I regret having two of my kids on antibiotics so much, and it wasn't really a lot compared to most kids I know. However, I still think it had an effect and I'd certainly do it different now, if I had to do it again.

I am grateful, however, that we did nothing else. I think if they had been in public school instead of homeschooled, they would have been labeled ADD and ADHD. One lady at church suggested that to me, so I'm sure the schools would have done it. They weren't ADD or ADHD; they were bored.