Mental Health Blogs

An article in yesterday’s New York Times reports on a forthcoming study in Health Affairs wherein researchers from Columbia and Rutgers universities identify that kids in various states’ Medicaid programs are prescribed antipsychotics at four times the rate that kids whose parents have private insurance. The study found that 4 percent of Medicaid kids were getting antipsychotics versus 1 percent of privately-insured kids. The Medicaid kids were also mostly getting these nasty drugs for ADHD, conduct disorders and, gleaning from the article, pediatric bipolar disorder. Excepting the recent controversial approvals of Zyprexa and Seroquel for use in pediatric bipolar disorder and Risperdal and Abilify’s approved use in autism, these drugs are not approved for use in non-psychotic disorders. Not surprisingly, much of the Medicaid prescribing (and diagnosing) has been done by PCPs.

I became aware of the article late last evening and was so disgusted by it that I couldn’t post about it until today. I’ve been saying for a long time that American taxpayers have been underwriting much of the use of atypicals in our culture and that the government (both at state and federal levels) has been a handmaiden to Big Pharma’s campaign to get these drugs used off-label. The new study essentially confirms a lot of my sick hunches over the last few years and what I’ve been picked up on in the clinical literature over the last year or so.

I think we’re all aware that I have taken a fair amount of heat from other commentators on mental health issues as well as some parents for decrying the use of these drugs in kids and teens. It’s nice to have a study come out that says I’ve essentially been on point (and so have many of you readers).

I cannot wait to see the study in its entirety. I also would love to debate this person:

“‘Maybe Medicaid kids are getting better treatment,’ said Dr. Gabrielle Carlson, a child psychiatrist and professor at the Stony Brook School of Medicine. ‘If it helps keep them in school, maybe it’s not so bad.’”

First off, Carlson has zero data on which to base that claim. Second, I am so, so sick and tired of the school house and behavior therein being a justification for medicating children into the ground.

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Related posts:

1. JAMA Study Finds Explosive Weight Gain In Kids On Antipsychotics
2. JAMA Study Slaughters Antipsychotics For Kids, Teens Paradigm
3. FDA Panel Recommends Approval Of Antipsychotics For Kids Aged 10, Older
4. FDA Dubs Antipsychotics For Kids Effective With Substantial Risks
5. Questioning Antipsychotics In Kids, SF Chron Supports Their Use