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[FiveNotions]

Big pharma creating another generation of weakened, dysfunctional, and addicted individuals ... not to mention, guaranteeing that the market for their drugs continues to expand ... not to mention that most of the drugs are going to boys/young men ...

http://news.yahoo.co...-180422778.html

FTA:

A growing number of teens and young adults are being prescribed antipsychotics, a new study suggests.

In particular, it appears they’re being used to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – a condition for which the powerful drugs are not approved.

The percentage of teens using antipsychotics rose from 1.10 percent in 2006 to 1.19 percent in 2010. Use among young adults ages 19 to 24 rose from 0.69 percent to 0.84 percent, the study found.

With roughly 74 million children under 18 in the U.S., these small percentages add up to large numbers of medicated kids.

. . .

Overall in 2010, approximately 270,000 antipsychotic prescriptions were dispensed to younger children, 2.14 million to older children, 2.80 million to adolescents, and 1.83 million to young adults, the authors write.

Antipsychotic drugs include Abilify (aripiprazole), Risperdal (risperidone), Seroquel (quetiapine), Zyprexa (olanzapine) and others.
. . .

Among children 18 and under, the most common reason for antipsychotics was ADHD, the study found. This diagnosis accounted for about 53 percent of prescriptions for younger children, 60 percent for older kids, and 35 percent for teens.

“This is concerning because evidence of antipsychotics’ efficacy for treating a number of behavioral health disorders is lacking,” said Meredith Matone, a research scientist with PolicyLab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

. . .

“Increasingly, many youth are receiving these medications to treat behavior problems in the absence of a more severe psychiatric illness,” she said.

Part of this may be due to who is prescribing the drugs, according to an editorial by Dr. Christoph Correll, a psychiatry researcher at the Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

Out of roughly seven million antipsychotic prescriptions written for children, adolescents and teens in 2010, only 29 to 39 percent came from a child and adolescent psychiatrist, he noted in the editorial.

“I was most surprised by the fact that the majority of youth receiving antipsychotics did not have a mental disorder diagnosis,” Correll told Reuters Health

. . .
The study also exposed a gender gap, with prescriptions for boys outpacing girls during elementary, high school and college years.

“The peak use among adolescent boys, who are frequently diagnosed with ADHD and are also treated with stimulants, strongly suggests that antipsychotics are commonly used to treat impulsive aggression and other behavioral symptoms,” Olfson said.

Before parents agree to start their child on antipsychotics to manage aggressive behavior, they should ask about alternative treatments such as anger management, counseling for parents on how to respond to aggression, and other psychosocial options, he said.

“The main takeaway for clinicians and families is that for youth without psychiatric symptoms, alternatives to antipsychotic treatment should be tried whenever possible,” Correll said. “When antipsychotics are used, the lowest risk agents should be used for the shortest time possible.”
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[lady2882Nancy]

It is not surprising to me that medications are now being used to fight problems with children that used to be dealt with using discipline.

 

Parents who do not spend time with their children or set rules and boundaries for their children when young are then left with children who are unruly, undisciplined and acting out so the parents seek help from the doctor in "controlling" their child's behavior.

 

Until parents relearn the art of raising properly behaved children with appropriate discipline, I only see the use of these meds increasing.