Discussing Medication

With the recent approval by the FDA for physicians to prescribe the antipsychotic drug, risperdal, to adolescents, I once again question the widespread use of medications to treat mental health problems.

Now that this medication is approved, other pharmaceutical companies are competing for their formulations to pass through the process as quickly as possible. Hence more drugs will become available for younger and younger children.

We have already encountered this problem in the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder (AD/HD). Children as young as three or four years old are given medication. As one physician reports , "The latest research from the National Institute of Mental Health shows that, at the appropriate dosage, stimulants are safe and effective even for preschoolers." (www.additudemag.com/q&a/ask_the_add_medical_expert/1721.html)

A study by the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities further reports that "approximately 2.5 million children are being medicated for ADHD."
(health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/1585/0).

Given these numbers, isn't it time to rethink the way drugs are prescribed?

Admittedly, my views on this subject have changed over the past two decades. I used to be adamantly opposed to the use of medication (see Listening to Prozac, by Peter Kramer). But I have since witnessed how medication can be an essential adjunct to psychotherapy and, therefore, have at times recommended a psychiatric evaluation to explore its usefulness in particular instances for short periods of time.

But when medication is prescribed to children by a physician as the primary or only course of treatment, the risk is great that the problem is not being properly dealt with.

More in future blogs.