Kyle Warren of Opelousas, La., was presented with antipsychotic drugs at 18 months old to mollify temper tantrums. By the time he was 3, reports the newest York Times, Kyle had been diagnosed with autism, BPD, hyperactivity, sleeping disorders and oppositional defiant disorder. His mom explains the medicine transformed him into “a drooling, sedated, overweight zombie”. This has been happening often which explains why experts have gotten involved. The question is whether or not small children should be receiving antipsychotics at all. Source of article – Antipsychotics for toddlers pose severe risks by Personal Money Store.
Antipsychotic prescriptions often double
A study was done by the FDA in 2009. This study showed that antipsychotic drugs are being prescribed to more than 500,000 adolescents and children. Many assume that the greatest growth is among teenagers dealing with schizophrenia (as that is the age when the disease is believed to manifest), but the study suggests that “tens of thousands” of preschoolers are becoming customers of large pharmaceutical businesses.
From 2000 to 2007, kids that are privately insured and ages 2 to 5 have doubled the amount of antipsychotics being used by then, reports the Times citing a Columbia University study. Of those children included within the survey, only 40 percent actually received what is considered a correct mental health assessment as defined by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Antipsychotic medication stopped from being given to toddlers
There is a major concern that kids are getting antipsychotics too early in their lives. A professor of clinical psychology consulted for a Lane University program aimed at assisting low-income families with children who have mental health issues, Dr. Mark Olfson, is horrified by the practice.
“There are too many children getting on too many of these drugs too soon,” he told the Times.
Olfson is just one of numerous doctors that suggest these heavy medications shouldn’t be written for children or infants as often as they are. Diagnosis of mental conditions in young children is a highly inexact science, to put it mildly. Since there is such a debate to whether children’s brains are even developed enough to get these drugs, the FDA’s acceptance of AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb-branded antipsychotics for use on toddlers is surprising to many.
Thus, doctors can legally prescribe antipsychotics for toddlers for off-label use, despite a lack of safety research. And of course, the profit is all being made by the pharmaceutical companies.
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.
And all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it.
-From “Lost Generation” by Jonathan Reed
Further reading
NCBI
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20215922
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/02/business/02kids.html?_r=1 and partner=rss and emc=rss and pagewanted=all
Bio Med Central
biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/9/80
Actupny
actupny.org/reports/durban-licensing.html
Generations lost
youtube.com/watch?v=MR4EWSbXLWA
Alternatives to toxic psychiatric drugs
youtube.com/watch?v=sBN2Zjz4W-
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