Antipsychotic Use Doubles In America’s Toddlers
Need more evidence that America has lost its soul and that psychiatry has lost its mind? A study published today in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (it’s not online yet) asserts that twice as many young toddlers are getting antipsychotics as in the late-1990s. We’re talking kids aged 2 to 5, getting drugs which have no approval for their age group.
“In 1999-2001, about one in 1,300 were being treated with antipsychotics. By 2007, that had risen to one in 630, according to Olfson.
“For 5-year-olds, about one in 650 were being treated in 1999-2001. That doubled, to one in 329, in 1997, he noted.”
The most commonly-prescribed antipsychotic for toddlers is Risperdal.
“‘It is a worrisome trend, partly because very little is known about the short-term, let alone the long-term, safety of these drugs in this age group,’ said study author Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City.”
If thought leaders are calling this a problem, then why do doctors continue to prescribe these drugs to tots? How much is pharma making off little kids?
Coupled with research out last month from Olfson that kids on Medicaid get antipsychotics at four times the rate of privately-insured kids, it is clear to me that we have a looming disaster among America’s kids. I don’t even know what to do to avert it anymore.
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Posted in Furious Seasons