Child antidepressant use increases

[Thom Little]

The number of U.S. children and teens who were diagnosed with depression more than doubled between 1995 and 2002, while the use of antidepressant drugs rose and the use of psychotherapy or counseling declined.

.......

While guidelines call for children to be treated with either mental health counseling or a combination of counseling and medication, the study found a trend of antidepressants replacing talk therapy.

In addition, although only one antidepressant, Prozac (fluoxetine), has been specifically approved for patients younger than 18, prescriptions for other antidepressants rose after 1995 as well -- with children receiving prescriptions for them on an "off-label" basis.

"These trends raise concerns regarding the widespread off-label use of antidepressants lacking reliable evidence of safety and efficacy for use in children and adolescents," the study authors report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051124/hl_nm/child_antidepressant_dc;_ylt=Aj8wUOqQcVjLyAwWitxTCces0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3czJjNGZoBHNlYwM3NTE-

[rpannier]

1. The US has become a society that medicates its problems

instead of dealing with them. Why should dealing with children be any different?

[lostnfound]

2. "Born to Buy" places much blame on our insanely commercialized culture

Rather than targeting 'violence on TV' or 'sex on TV', the author studied the overall impact of TV watching on children's happiness, health and relationship with their parents.

Depression and low-self-esteem are highly correlated with TV-watching. An excess of advertising not only on TV but in every corner of their lives is telling them they need to buy more stuff to be happy.

[DemExpat]

6. Too much electronic activity from TV and computers.

Too much of this can't be good for growing children.
IMO.

DemEx

[depakid]

3. This despite evidence that they're generally ineffective

when compared with placebos and that several of them significantly increase the risk of suicide. Bush's FDA tired to cover that up in 2004- by suppressing its own lead scientist Andrew Mosholder's report.

Current data from meta-analyses suggests that counseling and therapy are actually more effective in most cases, though as the article states:

"The fact that counseling declined as antidepressant use rose suggests that for many children, drugs were used instead of, rather than as a complement to, counseling, according to Ma and her colleagues....

This study, the researchers conclude, "raises concerns about physicians' adherence to evidence-based medicine."

Note also that 1997 was the year that the Clinton administration began allowing the pharmaceutical companies to advertise on TV....

[Divernan]

4. Parenting skills apparently steeply declining also.

When I go alone or with friends to a restaurant, and am subjected to screaming, screeching children at other tables, I am the one who could use an antidepressant. I raised three kids into well adjusted, successful adults (liberal dems all). They were taught about "inside" voice levels versus "outside" (playground) voice levels. Tantrums did not result in rewards, and consequently once past the terrible twos, tantrums were not thrown.

At the restaurants, it appears that the parent(s) have developed the ability to completely tune out/ignore the noise. The kids scream so long and so loud that their voices are hoarse and raspy. Lately, when the hostess asks "smoking or non-smoking?", I have responded "What about child-free?" I have also toyed with the idea of suggesting that whenever parents allow a child to scream at the top of their lungs in a restaurant, that every other diner in the place turn and scream right back!

You see and hear the same behavior in grocery stores and malls, and even in the pool at the Y. One mom had been playing with her seven year old son for a solid hour in the pool and then told him it was time to leave. The bellowing of this kid while he wrapped his arms around the ladder and kicked out at his mother was an incredible scene. When she managed to drag him out, you could hear him yelling through the walls of the locker room.

There are a lot of good books on parenting skills/how-to-parent.
One thing child psychologists teach is that children have internal clocks when it comes to hunger pains. Kids should eat around 5 or 5:30 latest. If they don't eat when they feel hungry, the hunger pangs end and when you try to feed them at 7, 8 or 9 p.m., they are very cranky, but no longer feel hungry. I don't blame little kids for screaming when they are dragged into a restaurant hours after they should have been well fed and put to bed. But I am disgusted with their parents. They should feed the kids at a reasonable hour and hire a babysitter or order takeout for themselves if they don't want to eat until a later hour.

The number of kids on behavior control drugs is truly alarming and reflects, I think, the lack of parenting skills at patiently rewarding and reinforcing good behavior. I truly feel sorry for teachers faced with kids like this in the classroom every day.

[DemExpat]

5. Use of drugs for children is going up in all western countries,

I believe. :-(

Something terribly wrong with this lifestyle, if you ask me.

I remember, (as an expat American) finding American children extremely well-behaved, polite, and QUIET - and this was only about 15 years ago when we would visit the US.
Compared to Dutch kids here in the very crowded urban area of the big cities in Holland where I was used to seeing noisy and rude kids out and about.
(But no screaming in restaurants.....what's up with THAT?)

Drugging most of these unhappy kids isn't the answer - I think it is adding to the disaster in the making.

:-(

DemEx

[catabryna]

10. I think that a good many parents...

are sensitive to the fact that restaurants are places where all sorts of people gather from seniors, to the childless, to people who just want to read the paper and drink a cup of coffee.

As a result I, for one, taught my son that restaurants are a place where the "inside voice" is used. In fact, we actually practice by going out about once a month. We started out with family restaurants and now we can go to some of the more fancy establishments.

Now, grocery stores are a different matter. I think there's too much damned stimulation in those places but, as a widow, I have no choice but to take him. So, we're working on that one right now. That, and libraries!

[DemExpat]

11. I think kids can be taken just about anywhere as long as they

don't cause extreme disruption to ruin others' experiences.....:D

I also took my kids out to eat, to shops and supermarkets, libraries, etc. with no behavioral problems.
Only once, we took our kids to see the ballet Nutcracker Suite before Christmas and my then 8 year old son got a terrible case of the giggles so I had to get up with him and leave.... :grr: :7:7:7


:hi:

DemEx

edit: I was questioning how much I thought it had changed in the US - from seeing well-behaved kids at movies and restaurants in the past to unruly and tantrum-throwing nowadays (Some of them, of course...:-))

[catabryna]

14. Oh, no worries...

I understood exactly what you were saying...

I don't know how long you've been gone but, it's unfortunate that unruly children are on the increase here as well. I have a VERY busy, right-brained (probably would be labeled ADHD) son who's four. He's a talker, a runner, a real mover and shaker, and is wound up from the time he opens his eyes until he closes them. While it's difficult for me, I know his limitations and avoid places where he can be easily distracted and cause discomfort for others.

Which actually brings us around to the orignal post... I refuse to medicate my son, so we are trying Omega 3. I'm tempted to give him some coffee and see if it has the opposite effect on him! ;-)

[DemExpat]

15. You know, catabryna,

I do know how hard it can be.....my first born daughter was a "hyper" baby who "never" slept until she was about 5 years old.....:bounce::crazy:

I supported one of my girlfriend's resistance to medicating her youngest son who really did have some behavioral and energy problems, even though schools and child Psychiatrist recommended meds for ADHD.

He didn't cause trouble at school, but his learning and attention wasn't up to par....

So she did not medicate him and had some very tough years through his teenage years, but, to show a very happy ending here, he is now at an excellent Music Conservatory here (plays drums/piano and guitar) and has changed from a difficult, closed and surly boy into a happy, open and friendly young man. The change in him is really amazing, and I believe stems from his having found his place in society now where he can express himself and all of his energy in MUSIC.... We are all so happy for him.

All the best with your special guy there, and good luck with diet and supplements.
I have had very good results through the last 15 years for myself, kids and pets with Homeopathy (from a doctor, not from off the shelf remedies).....might be worth a try if you have access to a good one.

:hi:

DemEx

[Nevernose]

7. We have a generation of parents warped by touchy-feely pop-psychology BS

I know, I'm one of them, or could be if I didn't have an immunity to TV-psychology bullshit and a healthy degree of common sense. I am, in short, an asshole. Kids screaming and whining in public places that are supposed to be relaxed are not just "kids being kids," they're kids being brats. Take 'em outside for a few minutes, sheesh.

And I've got a largely-respectful, well-adjusted, and well-mannered kid to show for it. Kids don't need friends, since they can make those on their own; they need parents who can model proper behavior, encourage good actions, and correct the wrong actions.

I'd also agree with you that the number of kids on behavior drugs is staggering, and represents the mind-set of people who have no idea of how to be a parent. They want to do the right thing and help their kids, but have no idea how. Take them to the doctor if there's something wrong with them, right? It doesn't occur to most parents that the underlying problem might not be with their children, but with them. Ultimately, I blame the television and a culture of consumerism & selfishness, but that's a whole other rant.

(I'd also like to say that there a good many children out there who genuinely DO need medication for depression or other psychological disorders, and this fact should not be overlooked)

[MountainLaurel]

13. Thank you for those last points

I always feel so sorry for children who are out late or stuck at the grocery store at 7 pm. I'm 33, and when I don't eat, I get cranky, nauseous, and a headache. I am well aware that my emotions are getting out of control, and usually I try to keep it to myself. Imagine being a five-year-old without the ability to keep things in check. My mom once told me that one of her first parenting lessons what that my brother and I both needed to be fed on time or else bad things would happen -- it should have dawned on her quickly, since she's the same way. She actually asked my now-husband before the wedding to make sure he was aware of the issue. (Oh. Yeah. He. Was.)

[HuckleB]

16. Not likely.

Most people didn't go to restaurants like we do now, not so very long ago.

[Nevernose]

8. How much is insurance companies refusal to cover counseling?

It seems to me that many insurance companies no longer cover psychological counseling, and if they do, it's at a greatly reduced rate. They still love to cover pharmaceuticals, though.

[lovelaureng]

9. One cure-all for our entire American society.

There are a record number of adults on them as well. This is disturbing in so many ways.

[Angry Girl]

12. It's Bush's New Freedom Initiative, started in a few years ago

http://www.beverlye.com/200410131912.html

The New Freedom Initiative — a plan to screen the entire U.S. population for mental illness and to provide a cradle-to-grave continuum of services for those identified as mentally ill or at risk of becoming so.Under the plan, schools would become the hub of the screening process — not only for children, but for their parents and teachers.There are even components aimed at senior citizens, pregnant women, and new mothers.

In April 2002, President Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to conduct a “comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system.” The commission issued its recommendations in July 2003, chief among them being that schools are in a “key position” to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at educational facilities.Now they are ready to “go national.”

<snip>

Here, the plot begins to thicken.TMAP promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs.For that reason, the commission’s nationwide version of the proposal sent up red flags in the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General.OIG employee Allen Jones essentially blew the whistle when he revealed that key officials had received money and perks from drug companies with a stake TMAP. Some members of the New Freedom Commission had served on advisory boards for me pharmaceutical companies whose products were being recommended. Other members had indirect ties to TMAP.Jones was sacked in May for speaking to the British Medical Journal and the New York Times.

“TMAP,” said Jones, “arose during a period of decreased FDA oversight and vastly increased sophistication in pharmaceutical industry marketing practices. These practices aggressively pursued favorable public and professional ‘opinion’ through media promotion and biased reporting of drug trial results.”

http://www.beverlye.com/200410131912.html


New Freedom Initiative/Mandatory Mental Health Screening of American Children Passes
http://www.infowars.com/articles/brave_new_world/new_freedom_paul_amendment.htm

[philb]

17. The main problem is toxic exposures, including vaccines which have

high levels of mercury thimerosal, aluminum, formaldehyde,etc.

National Academy of Sciences study said that 50% of the pregnancies of the 90s resulted in birth defects or developmental disabilities- such as autism, ADHD, mood disorders, learning disabilities, excema, asthma, chronic allergies, MD,CF, etc.

And it has been documented in the medical literature that the majority of those were caused by toxic exposures- with a large part of this due to high exposures to toxics through vaccinations:

http://www.flcv.com/kidshg.html
http://www.flcv.com/tmlbn.html