Re: How do you know who the kid is anymore?

June 6, 2006

" But many child psychiatrists say that antipsychotic medication is

the best

therapy available for children in urgent need of help who do not

respond well to

other treatments. "

If they would only look for the underlying cause first before putting

people on psych. meds. maybe the need for antipsychotics would go

down. I know antidepressants and stimulants cause psychosis. I'd bet

most of these kids' psychosis came from the use of one of these drugs

in the first place. Why is it so hard for people to understand this?

>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06psych.html?

pagewanted=1 & _r=1

>

> New York Times

> Use of Antipsychotics by the Young Rose Fivefold

> By BENEDICT CAREY

> June 6, 2006

>

> 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.

>

> 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 about the use of antipsychotics

in minors: only a handful of small studies have been done in children

and adolescents.

>

> " We are using these medications and don't know how they work, if

they work, or at what cost, " said Dr. March, a professor of

child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University. " It amounts to a

huge experiment with the lives of American kids, and what it tells us

is that we've got to do something other than we're doing now " to

assess the drugs' overall impact.

>

> But many child psychiatrists say that antipsychotic medication is

the best therapy available for children in urgent need of help who do

not respond well to other treatments. Without them, they say, many

unpredictable, emotionally unstable children would end up

institutionalized.

> Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia

University and the lead author of the study, financed in part by the

National Institute of Mental Health, said the popularity of

antipsychotic drugs might result in part from " the fact that

psychiatrists have few other pharmacological options in certain

patients. "

>

> The study, which looked at visits to pediatricians and other

doctors, found that psychiatrists were the most likely to prescribe

antipsychotic drugs.

>

> In light of how little these drugs have been studied in children,

Dr. Olfson said, " to me the most striking thing was that nearly one

in five psychiatric visits for young people included a prescription

for antipsychotics. "

>

> The Columbia investigators analyzed data from the National Center

for Health Statistics survey of office visits, which focuses on

doctors in private or group practices. They calculated the number of

visits in which an antipsychotic drug was prescribed to people under

the age of 21 and collected information on patients' medical

histories. The total number of visits that resulted in prescriptions

for the drugs increased to 1,224,000 in 2002 from 201,000 1993 to

1995.

>

> The researchers attributed some of the increase to the availability

of a new class of drugs for psychosis, called atypical

antipsychotics, that were introduced in the early and mid-1990's.

>

> The newer drugs, heavily marketed by their makers, were attractive

in part because they appeared less likely than older types of

antipsychotics to cause side effects like tardive dyskinesia, a

neurological movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease.

>

> From 2000 to 2002, the new study found, more than 90 percent of the

prescriptions analyzed were for the newer medications, and most of

the patients were boys, predominantly Caucasian children, who were

significantly more likely to see psychiatrists than other ethnic

groups.

>

> Some experts also pointed to an increase in the diagnosis of

bipolar disorder in children as a contributing factor. In recent

years, psychiatrists have begun to diagnose the disorder in extremely

agitated, often aggressive children with mood swings - short surges

of grandiosity or irritation that alternate with periods of despair.

These symptoms in children are thought to be related to the classic

euphoria and depressions of adult bipolar disorder.

>

> At the same time, several of the atypical antipsychotics, including

Risperdal from Janssen and Zyprexa from Eli Lilly, won approval for

the treatment of mania in adults.

>

> Some psychiatrists now routinely prescribe atypical

antipsychotics " off label " for young people thought to have bipolar

disorder, and researchers have begun to study the drugs in children

as young as preschool age.

>

> In the new study, about a third of the children who received

antipsychotics had behavior disorders, which included attention

deficit problems; a third had psychotic symptoms or developmental

problems; and another third were suffering from mood disorders. Over

all, more than 40 percent of the children were also taking at least

one other psychiatric medication.

>

> " We feel the medications are effective in children with bipolar and

have some data to show that, " said Dr. DelBello, an associate

professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, who has done

several studies of the drugs.

>

> Dr. DelBello said that the field " desperately needs more research "

to clarify the effects of the antipsychotic drugs but that many

children struggling with bipolar disorder got more symptom relief on

these drugs than on others, allowing psychiatrists to cut down on the

overall number of medications a child is taking.

>

> Pedersen of Dallas, the mother of a 17-year-old boy being

treated for bipolar disorder, said he was unpredictable, hostile and

suicidal before psychiatrists found an effective cocktail of drugs,

which includes a daily dose of antipsychotic medication.

>

> " Believe me, I would never choose having him on these meds, " Ms.

Pedersen said in a telephone interview. " It's not fun watching a

child deal with the side effects. But finding the right combination

of medicine has made his life worth living. "

>

> Yet this process is one of trial and error for many children. Ms.

Pedersen said her son had responded badly to the first two

antipsychotic drugs he received. And some experts think the way that

psychiatric drugs are prescribed is obscuring any understanding of

underlying disorders and the optimal treatments.

>

> " If you're going to put children on three or four different drugs,

now you've got a potpourri of target symptoms and side effects, " said

Dr. Magno Zito, an associate professor of pharmacy and medicine

at the University of land.

>

> Dr. Zito added, " How do you even know who the kid is anymore? "

>

> You can go here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06psych.html?

pagewanted=2 & _r=1 and participate in the " Readers Opinions " or you

can write a letter to the editor here: letters@...

>

> ++

>

> If you would rather not receive the latest news via this e-mail

line, please send a message to

> records@... with " UNSUBSCRIBE ME " in the subject line.

>

> (posted as a requirement under legal and contractual requirements.)

>

June 6, 2006

" But many child psychiatrists say that antipsychotic medication is

the best

therapy available for children in urgent need of help who do not

respond well to

other treatments. "

If they would only look for the underlying cause first before putting

people on psych. meds. maybe the need for antipsychotics would go

down. I know antidepressants and stimulants cause psychosis. I'd bet

most of these kids' psychosis came from the use of one of these drugs

in the first place. Why is it so hard for people to understand this?

>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06psych.html?

pagewanted=1 & _r=1

>

> New York Times

> Use of Antipsychotics by the Young Rose Fivefold

> By BENEDICT CAREY

> June 6, 2006

>

> 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.

>

> 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 about the use of antipsychotics

in minors: only a handful of small studies have been done in children

and adolescents.

>

> " We are using these medications and don't know how they work, if

they work, or at what cost, " said Dr. March, a professor of

child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University. " It amounts to a

huge experiment with the lives of American kids, and what it tells us

is that we've got to do something other than we're doing now " to

assess the drugs' overall impact.

>

> But many child psychiatrists say that antipsychotic medication is

the best therapy available for children in urgent need of help who do

not respond well to other treatments. Without them, they say, many

unpredictable, emotionally unstable children would end up

institutionalized.

> Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia

University and the lead author of the study, financed in part by the

National Institute of Mental Health, said the popularity of

antipsychotic drugs might result in part from " the fact that

psychiatrists have few other pharmacological options in certain

patients. "

>

> The study, which looked at visits to pediatricians and other

doctors, found that psychiatrists were the most likely to prescribe

antipsychotic drugs.

>

> In light of how little these drugs have been studied in children,

Dr. Olfson said, " to me the most striking thing was that nearly one

in five psychiatric visits for young people included a prescription

for antipsychotics. "

>

> The Columbia investigators analyzed data from the National Center

for Health Statistics survey of office visits, which focuses on

doctors in private or group practices. They calculated the number of

visits in which an antipsychotic drug was prescribed to people under

the age of 21 and collected information on patients' medical

histories. The total number of visits that resulted in prescriptions

for the drugs increased to 1,224,000 in 2002 from 201,000 1993 to

1995.

>

> The researchers attributed some of the increase to the availability

of a new class of drugs for psychosis, called atypical

antipsychotics, that were introduced in the early and mid-1990's.

>

> The newer drugs, heavily marketed by their makers, were attractive

in part because they appeared less likely than older types of

antipsychotics to cause side effects like tardive dyskinesia, a

neurological movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease.

>

> From 2000 to 2002, the new study found, more than 90 percent of the

prescriptions analyzed were for the newer medications, and most of

the patients were boys, predominantly Caucasian children, who were

significantly more likely to see psychiatrists than other ethnic

groups.

>

> Some experts also pointed to an increase in the diagnosis of

bipolar disorder in children as a contributing factor. In recent

years, psychiatrists have begun to diagnose the disorder in extremely

agitated, often aggressive children with mood swings - short surges

of grandiosity or irritation that alternate with periods of despair.

These symptoms in children are thought to be related to the classic

euphoria and depressions of adult bipolar disorder.

>

> At the same time, several of the atypical antipsychotics, including

Risperdal from Janssen and Zyprexa from Eli Lilly, won approval for

the treatment of mania in adults.

>

> Some psychiatrists now routinely prescribe atypical

antipsychotics " off label " for young people thought to have bipolar

disorder, and researchers have begun to study the drugs in children

as young as preschool age.

>

> In the new study, about a third of the children who received

antipsychotics had behavior disorders, which included attention

deficit problems; a third had psychotic symptoms or developmental

problems; and another third were suffering from mood disorders. Over

all, more than 40 percent of the children were also taking at least

one other psychiatric medication.

>

> " We feel the medications are effective in children with bipolar and

have some data to show that, " said Dr. DelBello, an associate

professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, who has done

several studies of the drugs.

>

> Dr. DelBello said that the field " desperately needs more research "

to clarify the effects of the antipsychotic drugs but that many

children struggling with bipolar disorder got more symptom relief on

these drugs than on others, allowing psychiatrists to cut down on the

overall number of medications a child is taking.

>

> Pedersen of Dallas, the mother of a 17-year-old boy being

treated for bipolar disorder, said he was unpredictable, hostile and

suicidal before psychiatrists found an effective cocktail of drugs,

which includes a daily dose of antipsychotic medication.

>

> " Believe me, I would never choose having him on these meds, " Ms.

Pedersen said in a telephone interview. " It's not fun watching a

child deal with the side effects. But finding the right combination

of medicine has made his life worth living. "

>

> Yet this process is one of trial and error for many children. Ms.

Pedersen said her son had responded badly to the first two

antipsychotic drugs he received. And some experts think the way that

psychiatric drugs are prescribed is obscuring any understanding of

underlying disorders and the optimal treatments.

>

> " If you're going to put children on three or four different drugs,

now you've got a potpourri of target symptoms and side effects, " said

Dr. Magno Zito, an associate professor of pharmacy and medicine

at the University of land.

>

> Dr. Zito added, " How do you even know who the kid is anymore? "

>

> You can go here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06psych.html?

pagewanted=2 & _r=1 and participate in the " Readers Opinions " or you

can write a letter to the editor here: letters@...

>

> ++

>

> If you would rather not receive the latest news via this e-mail

line, please send a message to

> records@... with " UNSUBSCRIBE ME " in the subject line.

>

> (posted as a requirement under legal and contractual requirements.)

>

June 6, 2006

" But many child psychiatrists say that antipsychotic medication is

the best

therapy available for children in urgent need of help who do not

respond well to

other treatments. "

If they would only look for the underlying cause first before putting

people on psych. meds. maybe the need for antipsychotics would go

down. I know antidepressants and stimulants cause psychosis. I'd bet

most of these kids' psychosis came from the use of one of these drugs

in the first place. Why is it so hard for people to understand this?

>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06psych.html?

pagewanted=1 & _r=1

>

> New York Times

> Use of Antipsychotics by the Young Rose Fivefold

> By BENEDICT CAREY

> June 6, 2006

>

> 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.

>

> 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 about the use of antipsychotics

in minors: only a handful of small studies have been done in children

and adolescents.

>

> " We are using these medications and don't know how they work, if

they work, or at what cost, " said Dr. March, a professor of

child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University. " It amounts to a

huge experiment with the lives of American kids, and what it tells us

is that we've got to do something other than we're doing now " to

assess the drugs' overall impact.

>

> But many child psychiatrists say that antipsychotic medication is

the best therapy available for children in urgent need of help who do

not respond well to other treatments. Without them, they say, many

unpredictable, emotionally unstable children would end up

institutionalized.

> Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia

University and the lead author of the study, financed in part by the

National Institute of Mental Health, said the popularity of

antipsychotic drugs might result in part from " the fact that

psychiatrists have few other pharmacological options in certain

patients. "

>

> The study, which looked at visits to pediatricians and other

doctors, found that psychiatrists were the most likely to prescribe

antipsychotic drugs.

>

> In light of how little these drugs have been studied in children,

Dr. Olfson said, " to me the most striking thing was that nearly one

in five psychiatric visits for young people included a prescription

for antipsychotics. "

>

> The Columbia investigators analyzed data from the National Center

for Health Statistics survey of office visits, which focuses on

doctors in private or group practices. They calculated the number of

visits in which an antipsychotic drug was prescribed to people under

the age of 21 and collected information on patients' medical

histories. The total number of visits that resulted in prescriptions

for the drugs increased to 1,224,000 in 2002 from 201,000 1993 to

1995.

>

> The researchers attributed some of the increase to the availability

of a new class of drugs for psychosis, called atypical

antipsychotics, that were introduced in the early and mid-1990's.

>

> The newer drugs, heavily marketed by their makers, were attractive

in part because they appeared less likely than older types of

antipsychotics to cause side effects like tardive dyskinesia, a

neurological movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease.

>

> From 2000 to 2002, the new study found, more than 90 percent of the

prescriptions analyzed were for the newer medications, and most of

the patients were boys, predominantly Caucasian children, who were

significantly more likely to see psychiatrists than other ethnic

groups.

>

> Some experts also pointed to an increase in the diagnosis of

bipolar disorder in children as a contributing factor. In recent

years, psychiatrists have begun to diagnose the disorder in extremely

agitated, often aggressive children with mood swings - short surges

of grandiosity or irritation that alternate with periods of despair.

These symptoms in children are thought to be related to the classic

euphoria and depressions of adult bipolar disorder.

>

> At the same time, several of the atypical antipsychotics, including

Risperdal from Janssen and Zyprexa from Eli Lilly, won approval for

the treatment of mania in adults.

>

> Some psychiatrists now routinely prescribe atypical

antipsychotics " off label " for young people thought to have bipolar

disorder, and researchers have begun to study the drugs in children

as young as preschool age.

>

> In the new study, about a third of the children who received

antipsychotics had behavior disorders, which included attention

deficit problems; a third had psychotic symptoms or developmental

problems; and another third were suffering from mood disorders. Over

all, more than 40 percent of the children were also taking at least

one other psychiatric medication.

>

> " We feel the medications are effective in children with bipolar and

have some data to show that, " said Dr. DelBello, an associate

professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, who has done

several studies of the drugs.

>

> Dr. DelBello said that the field " desperately needs more research "

to clarify the effects of the antipsychotic drugs but that many

children struggling with bipolar disorder got more symptom relief on

these drugs than on others, allowing psychiatrists to cut down on the

overall number of medications a child is taking.

>

> Pedersen of Dallas, the mother of a 17-year-old boy being

treated for bipolar disorder, said he was unpredictable, hostile and

suicidal before psychiatrists found an effective cocktail of drugs,

which includes a daily dose of antipsychotic medication.

>

> " Believe me, I would never choose having him on these meds, " Ms.

Pedersen said in a telephone interview. " It's not fun watching a

child deal with the side effects. But finding the right combination

of medicine has made his life worth living. "

>

> Yet this process is one of trial and error for many children. Ms.

Pedersen said her son had responded badly to the first two

antipsychotic drugs he received. And some experts think the way that

psychiatric drugs are prescribed is obscuring any understanding of

underlying disorders and the optimal treatments.

>

> " If you're going to put children on three or four different drugs,

now you've got a potpourri of target symptoms and side effects, " said

Dr. Magno Zito, an associate professor of pharmacy and medicine

at the University of land.

>

> Dr. Zito added, " How do you even know who the kid is anymore? "

>

> You can go here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06psych.html?

pagewanted=2 & _r=1 and participate in the " Readers Opinions " or you

can write a letter to the editor here: letters@...

>

> ++

>

> If you would rather not receive the latest news via this e-mail

line, please send a message to

> records@... with " UNSUBSCRIBE ME " in the subject line.

>

> (posted as a requirement under legal and contractual requirements.)

>

June 6, 2006

" But many child psychiatrists say that antipsychotic medication is

the best

therapy available for children in urgent need of help who do not

respond well to

other treatments. "

If they would only look for the underlying cause first before putting

people on psych. meds. maybe the need for antipsychotics would go

down. I know antidepressants and stimulants cause psychosis. I'd bet

most of these kids' psychosis came from the use of one of these drugs

in the first place. Why is it so hard for people to understand this?

>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06psych.html?

pagewanted=1 & _r=1

>

> New York Times

> Use of Antipsychotics by the Young Rose Fivefold

> By BENEDICT CAREY

> June 6, 2006

>

> 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.

>

> 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 about the use of antipsychotics

in minors: only a handful of small studies have been done in children

and adolescents.

>

> " We are using these medications and don't know how they work, if

they work, or at what cost, " said Dr. March, a professor of

child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University. " It amounts to a

huge experiment with the lives of American kids, and what it tells us

is that we've got to do something other than we're doing now " to

assess the drugs' overall impact.

>

> But many child psychiatrists say that antipsychotic medication is

the best therapy available for children in urgent need of help who do

not respond well to other treatments. Without them, they say, many

unpredictable, emotionally unstable children would end up

institutionalized.

> Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia

University and the lead author of the study, financed in part by the

National Institute of Mental Health, said the popularity of

antipsychotic drugs might result in part from " the fact that

psychiatrists have few other pharmacological options in certain

patients. "

>

> The study, which looked at visits to pediatricians and other

doctors, found that psychiatrists were the most likely to prescribe

antipsychotic drugs.

>

> In light of how little these drugs have been studied in children,

Dr. Olfson said, " to me the most striking thing was that nearly one

in five psychiatric visits for young people included a prescription

for antipsychotics. "

>

> The Columbia investigators analyzed data from the National Center

for Health Statistics survey of office visits, which focuses on

doctors in private or group practices. They calculated the number of

visits in which an antipsychotic drug was prescribed to people under

the age of 21 and collected information on patients' medical

histories. The total number of visits that resulted in prescriptions

for the drugs increased to 1,224,000 in 2002 from 201,000 1993 to

1995.

>

> The researchers attributed some of the increase to the availability

of a new class of drugs for psychosis, called atypical

antipsychotics, that were introduced in the early and mid-1990's.

>

> The newer drugs, heavily marketed by their makers, were attractive

in part because they appeared less likely than older types of

antipsychotics to cause side effects like tardive dyskinesia, a

neurological movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease.

>

> From 2000 to 2002, the new study found, more than 90 percent of the

prescriptions analyzed were for the newer medications, and most of

the patients were boys, predominantly Caucasian children, who were

significantly more likely to see psychiatrists than other ethnic

groups.

>

> Some experts also pointed to an increase in the diagnosis of

bipolar disorder in children as a contributing factor. In recent

years, psychiatrists have begun to diagnose the disorder in extremely

agitated, often aggressive children with mood swings - short surges

of grandiosity or irritation that alternate with periods of despair.

These symptoms in children are thought to be related to the classic

euphoria and depressions of adult bipolar disorder.

>

> At the same time, several of the atypical antipsychotics, including

Risperdal from Janssen and Zyprexa from Eli Lilly, won approval for

the treatment of mania in adults.

>

> Some psychiatrists now routinely prescribe atypical

antipsychotics " off label " for young people thought to have bipolar

disorder, and researchers have begun to study the drugs in children

as young as preschool age.

>

> In the new study, about a third of the children who received

antipsychotics had behavior disorders, which included attention

deficit problems; a third had psychotic symptoms or developmental

problems; and another third were suffering from mood disorders. Over

all, more than 40 percent of the children were also taking at least

one other psychiatric medication.

>

> " We feel the medications are effective in children with bipolar and

have some data to show that, " said Dr. DelBello, an associate

professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, who has done

several studies of the drugs.

>

> Dr. DelBello said that the field " desperately needs more research "

to clarify the effects of the antipsychotic drugs but that many

children struggling with bipolar disorder got more symptom relief on

these drugs than on others, allowing psychiatrists to cut down on the

overall number of medications a child is taking.

>

> Pedersen of Dallas, the mother of a 17-year-old boy being

treated for bipolar disorder, said he was unpredictable, hostile and

suicidal before psychiatrists found an effective cocktail of drugs,

which includes a daily dose of antipsychotic medication.

>

> " Believe me, I would never choose having him on these meds, " Ms.

Pedersen said in a telephone interview. " It's not fun watching a

child deal with the side effects. But finding the right combination

of medicine has made his life worth living. "

>

> Yet this process is one of trial and error for many children. Ms.

Pedersen said her son had responded badly to the first two

antipsychotic drugs he received. And some experts think the way that

psychiatric drugs are prescribed is obscuring any understanding of

underlying disorders and the optimal treatments.

>

> " If you're going to put children on three or four different drugs,

now you've got a potpourri of target symptoms and side effects, " said

Dr. Magno Zito, an associate professor of pharmacy and medicine

at the University of land.

>

> Dr. Zito added, " How do you even know who the kid is anymore? "

>

> You can go here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06psych.html?

pagewanted=2 & _r=1 and participate in the " Readers Opinions " or you

can write a letter to the editor here: letters@...

>

> ++

>

> If you would rather not receive the latest news via this e-mail

line, please send a message to

> records@... with " UNSUBSCRIBE ME " in the subject line.

>

> (posted as a requirement under legal and contractual requirements.)

>

June 6, 2006

This is what I wrote in my " letter to the editor " . How many kids are

being treated with antipsychotics due to a reaction to an ssri? I know

that my son would have entered that merry go round if I hadn't

intervened when I did.

> If they would only look for the underlying cause first before putting

> people on psych. meds. maybe the need for antipsychotics would go

> down. I know antidepressants and stimulants cause psychosis. I'd bet

> most of these kids' psychosis came from the use of one of these drugs

> in the first place. Why is it so hard for people to understand this?

>

June 6, 2006

This is what I wrote in my " letter to the editor " . How many kids are

being treated with antipsychotics due to a reaction to an ssri? I know

that my son would have entered that merry go round if I hadn't

intervened when I did.

> If they would only look for the underlying cause first before putting

> people on psych. meds. maybe the need for antipsychotics would go

> down. I know antidepressants and stimulants cause psychosis. I'd bet

> most of these kids' psychosis came from the use of one of these drugs

> in the first place. Why is it so hard for people to understand this?

>

June 6, 2006

This is what I wrote in my " letter to the editor " . How many kids are

being treated with antipsychotics due to a reaction to an ssri? I know

that my son would have entered that merry go round if I hadn't

intervened when I did.

> If they would only look for the underlying cause first before putting

> people on psych. meds. maybe the need for antipsychotics would go

> down. I know antidepressants and stimulants cause psychosis. I'd bet

> most of these kids' psychosis came from the use of one of these drugs

> in the first place. Why is it so hard for people to understand this?

>

June 6, 2006

This is what I wrote in my " letter to the editor " . How many kids are

being treated with antipsychotics due to a reaction to an ssri? I know

that my son would have entered that merry go round if I hadn't

intervened when I did.

> If they would only look for the underlying cause first before putting

> people on psych. meds. maybe the need for antipsychotics would go

> down. I know antidepressants and stimulants cause psychosis. I'd bet

> most of these kids' psychosis came from the use of one of these drugs

> in the first place. Why is it so hard for people to understand this?

>

June 6, 2006

Nan, that is exactly right! As a member of the medical profession I

truly believed that if a drug was FDA approved, it was thoroughly

tested, as do most of my colleagues. I believed that if a commercial

was on TV that it met the " rigorous standards " of FDA approval.

Little did I know that this was a shame at best, a criminal act at

worst. My enlightenment in the last 3 years has made me a skeptic of

any drug that is FDA approved... that is a good thing, but not the

way it should have to be.

> I know exactly why people don't know. Because they are

too busy to look.

> Also, even though most people understand what propaganda is they

don't

> realize that by not doing their own investigations into everything

that

> might be important then they are really giving the responsibility

over to

> someone else.

>

> I think a lot of people are also not really educated enough to be

able to

> take out the important stuff from all the rest and put it together.

It's not

> a trick you learn in school at all.

>

> I know our educational system has been twisted for the worse and

I'm pretty

> sure that when you have conditioned a people to NOT look and

complacently

> feed at the trough of PR and adverts without questioning then you

can herd

> that people anywhere you want.

>

> As far as the " doctors " go, even they have been conditioned to look

at

> things a certain way. There are mavericks but they are few.

>

> Jim

>

> >

>

June 6, 2006

Nan, that is exactly right! As a member of the medical profession I

truly believed that if a drug was FDA approved, it was thoroughly

tested, as do most of my colleagues. I believed that if a commercial

was on TV that it met the " rigorous standards " of FDA approval.

Little did I know that this was a shame at best, a criminal act at

worst. My enlightenment in the last 3 years has made me a skeptic of

any drug that is FDA approved... that is a good thing, but not the

way it should have to be.

> I know exactly why people don't know. Because they are

too busy to look.

> Also, even though most people understand what propaganda is they

don't

> realize that by not doing their own investigations into everything

that

> might be important then they are really giving the responsibility

over to

> someone else.

>

> I think a lot of people are also not really educated enough to be

able to

> take out the important stuff from all the rest and put it together.

It's not

> a trick you learn in school at all.

>

> I know our educational system has been twisted for the worse and

I'm pretty

> sure that when you have conditioned a people to NOT look and

complacently

> feed at the trough of PR and adverts without questioning then you

can herd

> that people anywhere you want.

>

> As far as the " doctors " go, even they have been conditioned to look

at

> things a certain way. There are mavericks but they are few.

>

> Jim

>

> >

>

June 6, 2006

Nan, that is exactly right! As a member of the medical profession I

truly believed that if a drug was FDA approved, it was thoroughly

tested, as do most of my colleagues. I believed that if a commercial

was on TV that it met the " rigorous standards " of FDA approval.

Little did I know that this was a shame at best, a criminal act at

worst. My enlightenment in the last 3 years has made me a skeptic of

any drug that is FDA approved... that is a good thing, but not the

way it should have to be.

> I know exactly why people don't know. Because they are

too busy to look.

> Also, even though most people understand what propaganda is they

don't

> realize that by not doing their own investigations into everything

that

> might be important then they are really giving the responsibility

over to

> someone else.

>

> I think a lot of people are also not really educated enough to be

able to

> take out the important stuff from all the rest and put it together.

It's not

> a trick you learn in school at all.

>

> I know our educational system has been twisted for the worse and

I'm pretty

> sure that when you have conditioned a people to NOT look and

complacently

> feed at the trough of PR and adverts without questioning then you

can herd

> that people anywhere you want.

>

> As far as the " doctors " go, even they have been conditioned to look

at

> things a certain way. There are mavericks but they are few.

>

> Jim

>

> >

>

June 6, 2006

Nan, that is exactly right! As a member of the medical profession I

truly believed that if a drug was FDA approved, it was thoroughly

tested, as do most of my colleagues. I believed that if a commercial

was on TV that it met the " rigorous standards " of FDA approval.

Little did I know that this was a shame at best, a criminal act at

worst. My enlightenment in the last 3 years has made me a skeptic of

any drug that is FDA approved... that is a good thing, but not the

way it should have to be.

> I know exactly why people don't know. Because they are

too busy to look.

> Also, even though most people understand what propaganda is they

don't

> realize that by not doing their own investigations into everything

that

> might be important then they are really giving the responsibility

over to

> someone else.

>

> I think a lot of people are also not really educated enough to be

able to

> take out the important stuff from all the rest and put it together.

It's not

> a trick you learn in school at all.

>

> I know our educational system has been twisted for the worse and

I'm pretty

> sure that when you have conditioned a people to NOT look and

complacently

> feed at the trough of PR and adverts without questioning then you

can herd

> that people anywhere you want.

>

> As far as the " doctors " go, even they have been conditioned to look

at

> things a certain way. There are mavericks but they are few.

>

> Jim

>

> >

>

June 6, 2006

Exactly! The thing is people are not paying attention and they are trusting

others to pay attention. We find ourselfs being the only ones who are paying

attention. Things are getting better through all of our efforts but I was

just commenting to a friend about how often the drug companies are in

trouble with the FDA and state governments, aside from all the lawsuits from

the public over drug reactions et cetera. No one seems to be paying

attention to the fact that there is no history of trust in the medical

industry and yet most people still do trust big pharma or don't pay enough

attention to prevent themselves from getting screwed.

MERCK and GSK have been promoting themselves like crazy on the news recently

and people will be lulled by it, it's happened so many times before. Either

that or the company will change it's name and no one will notice or quickly

forget. " The patient comes first " really makes me roll my eyes.

What about the losers that keep stock in these companies? After what I know

I would consider it to be completely unethical to hold stock in any of these

companies. Profits be damned.

We are all guilty of being " uneducated " and there are many reasons for this.

We talk about how people won't listen all the time in our group. It's human

nature I guess. If it doesn't happen to a person then it may not be very

real to them how bad it is. I have a feeling that most people can't deal

with it because it's so upsetting also. Sometimes the upset is real hard on

people. It's hard on me but I can do something about it, I think many feel

they can't do anything about it so it just makes them feel bad. I'm guessing

since I'm doing stuff it's easier for me.

I guess the best thing would be to get people to see what's happening and

then immediately have something they could do about it. Write a letter or

call a congressman is actually easy. If your a constituent then you might be

amazed at how much lawmakers will listen.

Jim

I think the key for those of us who have been among the " uneducated " masses

Jim speaks of is the violation of our trust. I was raised to believe that

doctors are among the most learned people and to trust their expertise. I

thought that the FDA was a legitimate, objective overseer of the public

health and well-being and, therefore, the drugs they approve and allow to be

marketed have been tested for tolerability and long-term effects. I thought

that we had learned our lessons with " Thalidomide " back in the 60's/70's and

now made sure that drugs with adverse effects were not marketed. I thought

that when the commercials said there was a chemical imbalance causing my

son's symptoms the commercials were following " truth-in-advertising " tenets

set forth many years ago.

Terry

Jim <mofunnow@...> wrote:

I know exactly why people don't know. Because they are too busy to look.

Also, even though most people understand what propaganda is they don't

realize that by not doing their own investigations into everything that

might be important then they are really giving the responsibility over to

someone else.

I think a lot of people are also not really educated enough to be able to

take out the important stuff from all the rest and put it together. It's not

a trick you learn in school at all.

I know our educational system has been twisted for the worse and I'm pretty

sure that when you have conditioned a people to NOT look and complacently

feed at the trough of PR and adverts without questioning then you can herd

that people anywhere you want.

As far as the " doctors " go, even they have been conditioned to look at

things a certain way. There are mavericks but they are few.

Jim

>

June 6, 2006