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More Toddlers, Young Children Given Antipsychotics
The rate of children aged 2 to 5 who are given antipsychotic medications has doubled in recent years, a new study has found.
Yet little is known about either the effectiveness or the safety of these powerful psychiatric medications in children this age, said researchers from Columbia University and Rutgers University, who looked at data on more than 1 million children with private health insurance.
“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. Prescribing antipsychotics to children in the upper range of that age span — ages 4 and 5 — is justifiable only in rare, intractable situations in which all other treatments, including family and psychological therapy, have been tried and are not working, Olfson said.
And it’s questionable whether 2- and 3-year-olds should ever be prescribed antipsychotics, Olfson said.
The study is published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Presumably, only children with the most severe mental problems would be given the potent drugs. Yet, less than half of children on antipsychotics had received any mental health services, including a mental health assessment or treatment from a psychotherapist or psychiatrist, the study authors noted.
“You don’t see the kinds of mental health services you would expect to see if we were dealing with the most profoundly disturbed toddlers,” Olfson said, raising the question of whether doctors had done everything they could to help the child before turning to medications.
The overall numbers of children prescribed antipsychotics remains small, at less than one half of one percent of the national sample. But the numbers are rising. 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 2007, he noted.
Research published online in December in the journal Health Affairs by the same research team suggested children on Medicaid are even more likely than children with private insurance to be prescribed antipsychotics.
The most common antipsychotic drug prescribed to children was risperidone (Risperdal), which accounted for nearly three-quarters of antipsychotic prescriptions. In adults and teens, risperidone is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Risperidone is also approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat unstable mood or irritability in children with autism aged 5 and up.
Children who were most likely to receive risperidone were male and aged 4 or 5, according to the report. The most common diagnosis was pervasive developmental disorder or mental retardation, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or disruptive behavior disorder.
Previous research has shown children on the drugs may experience metabolic and endocrine abnormalities. Little is known about their impact on the developing brain, Olfson added.
“I don’t want to minimize the problems children can have at this age, but there are psychological treatments that have been proven to help parents and the kids that emphasize the quality of the parent-child relationship,” Olfson said.
One reason for the uptick may be increasing numbers of children diagnosed with autism and some research showing risperidone may help with autism-related irritability, the researchers noted.
Dr. Peter Jensen, co-director of the division of child psychiatry and psychology at the Mayo Clinic, agreed that the trend is concerning. “We have no doubt there are prescribing practices out there that are very, very worrisome,” Jensen said.
It’s imperative that children receive a full mental health assessment before getting these drugs, to understand the family situation and school environment and if there is a family history of psychiatric problems, as well as undergoing a physical exam to rule out other medical problems.
“These agents should not be used as an adjunct to a family stressed to the max,” Jensen said. “With kids who are 2 to 5, most can be managed without these medicines. Rarely a 5-year-old goes on them. But a child of 2 or 3, in my experience, I have never had to put them on [an antipsychotic]. There is so much else that can be done.”
The stress and difficulty of coping with a child who has significant mental health issues, the need to have a child behave well enough to be permitted to attend school, as well as lack of adequate coverage for family therapy and mental health services, may push doctors and parents into believing they have little choice other than medicating the child, Jensen said.
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/634536.html
It is a fact that MSG, aspartame, food dyes, sodium nitrates & thousands of other chemicals put in our frankenfood causes children to be disruptive, violent, and/or just ‘bad kids’. Parents who do not understand or ignore the connection and can’t handle the problem they created, go and get ‘help’ and agree to drug their children. It’s easier to feed their child nuked disosaur shaped chicken & blue gatorade than spending the time cooking real food. Digestive stress causes these multiple problems! Wake up parents!
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I agree with Nick. I have never read anything so absurd in my life. These poor innocent children. Parents are feeding these children a chemical diet of food dyes, nitrates, artificial flavoring, stabilizers, sugar, artificial sugars, preservatives, food flavor enhancers and the list goes on and on to additives and chemicals that I can’t even read or pronounce. And they are surprised when children have a problem concentrating or handling their emotions appropriatley??? Are they CRAZY?? These poor children don’t have a chance. Drugging these children from their food to prescription drugs is a crime. Wake up People! There is such a thing as fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds and whole grains. Foods that humans can actually digest, process, assimilate and eliminate properly. Foods that are meant to keep the body and mind healthy and free from disease. Children need these more than ever. Please stop the madness!!
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I have would love to feed my kids more whole foods. However – my daughter is peanut allergic (severely) and nut allergic (as am I). Where can one find wholesome foods (in addition to fruits and veggies) that have not been processed in a plant or on equipement with peanuts or tree nuts. I’ve found it to be a real quandry. Thanks.
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Deborah E-P Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Lisa & other parents with children who have food sensitivities. You have my sympathy as it is difficult in this day & age to navigate the landmines of the grocery stores. Avoiding GMO’s and the nut contamination in a wide variety of foods, as well as misc. food dyes, nitrates, artificial flavoring, stabilizers, sugar, artificial sugars, preservatives, food flavor enhancers (MSG, HFCS, etc.) is tough.
The only way I’ve come up with is to stay away from all processed foods. You’ve got to do your best to shop for organic & transitional fruits & vegetables, plus buy hormone & antibiotic free meats. It’s not cheap, or easy to do but it can help to safeguard your health & that of your family as well.
FYI there are practitioners who can work with you to reduce severe nut allergies. I say this as a teacher at my daughter’s previous school has a child with such severe sensitivities that she went into shock after accidently touching or eating nuts. Fortunately her medications were on hand, but after that one experience her mother found someone to work with & they had huge success in dealing with the problem.
Hope it can be of help for you & your daughter too!
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Nick Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
I am fortunate to work at a health food store which has access to organic foods and supplements. Many customers have the same issues- how to feed their families healthier. It is easier when your children are very young and you can steer clear of the junk food, but with teenagers it is very tough. A wonderful resource is the Weston A. Price Foundation, (www.westonaprice.org) they teach non-politically correct nutrition. Before Monsanto, Big Ag, Big Pharm, the FDA, etc. started altering foods, our ancestors knew how to eat, they ate to live, not worrying about carbs, calories, points, fat, sodium, food pyramids, etc. I will add- make the transition with baby steps, Rome wasn’t built in one day!
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What I see is the urgency for parents to be educated to know what to feed their children in stead of harmful junk food as advertised by the Food Industry and TV.
A brilliant soft cover book ,”Disease-proof your child” by Dr.J Fuhrman gives excellent information on drugs of all kinds, diseases and great recipes that can help any parent.It is available at Barnes and Noble and Borders at $15.00
Our children are our future and as such need treatment that is beneficial to their wellbeing and does not numb and dumd them out.
Wake up, parents,and take responsibility for your children’s welfare.
merwede
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Insanity at its finest.
What MOST 4-5 year old boys need is good old fashioned EXERCISE in the fresh air.
If TEACHERS had brains, they would KNOW that kids are bundles of energy – with, or without, the chemical soup we are drowning them in – and require LOTS of physical exertion to just get them to the point they can learn.
I prescribe 5 minutes of play and 10 minutes of jumping jacks, tag, fast walking, climbing, throwing balls, jumping up and down.
My gawd what have our fellow citizens become? Can humans be this STUPID and NOT end up killing us all?
I blame this on the reality that a 4 or 5 year old is not meant to sit still and learn for more than seconds at a time – their brains are not prepared for this unnatural state of quietness and resting. For goodness sakes in many areas of the world 4 years olds are still breastfed!
Shots, toxins, pills and sitting on your butt, now there is a recipe for future health and success.
I defend to my death the right for my child to NOT be drugged for normal behavior. Why is the rest of the country so oblivious to the death they are welcoming into their lives?
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These drugs shouldn’t be given to anyone with or without other treatment options used up except in one case and one case only to halt an acute mania in its final stage, and then only for a maximum of 2-3 days. Any use beyond that is criminal. Discusting.
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I agree with all of the comments on food. A good healthy diet is so important for a child. Children are loaded with sugar and never taught to be obedient; no wonder why their acting crazy at school. Then doctors prescribe drugs to cure their ADHD. Did you know all over the world, demons are cast out of people who suffer from these things. As a missionary its extremely common to see this even in children. Of course, I ll be looked at as crazy, but in these other countries, there is no such thing as schizophrenic, bipolar, etc. People cast out the demons and people are healed.
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These drugs would likely exacerbate, if not cause, mental retardation. These drugs suppress mental and emotional functions. These are drugs designed not to help people, but to zombify people in institutions.
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I work in the field of autism; specifically with 2-5 year olds. After implementing behavioral strategies, most autistic children in my experience see remarkable results. Some really good options to consider:
1. Get a good (firm but loving and intuitive) behaviorist
2. Check for food allergies- this is huge as many have mentioned in their posts. Soy, nuts, and gluten allergies are really common.
3. Check into natural remedies. For example- many autistic kids are low in magnesium which normally provides a feeling of well-being. So simple… and safer.
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It’s the parents who need the anti-psychotics. Keep your legs together until you are ready to parent, people. Giving toddlers anti-psychotics is child abuse. Straighten out their diets and give the kids a stable, sane family with mom and dad. Take dad away and add child care and 24/7 television, and any little boy is going to act nuts. Plus, even normal, healthy little boys that age act nuts. It is called being a boy.
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This and stories like it lend a certain creedence to the tales of dumbing down the population.
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