Antidepressant Russian Roulette

Simon told Psychiatric News, "I'm one of the people who does these studies for a living, so I can sit back and say that, yes, this is a really interesting and complicated problem. But that's not very helpful to my patients."
…
"At this point," …"it is difficult to even make a solid statement that `on average, this whole group of drugs either increases or decreases risk of suicide.'"…

—Jim Rosack, "Antidepressants and Suicide: Some Answers, Questions," November 17, 2006, Psychiatric News

Naughty Kids Need Discipline Not Drugs

"A whole generation is in danger of becoming drug-dependent because parents and doctors want to "medicalise" bad behaviour, rather than control it through diet, discipline and parental devotion. Consultant child psychiatrist Dr Sami Timimi argues that medicalisation of childhood problems is due to a search for "an easy cure that fits in with our fast lifestyles and gives us a quick answer".
…
"So far, so bad. But I also learn that drug companies secretly fund support groups for parents of kids diagnosed with behavioural problems. In other words, they are fuelling this Ritalin bonanza - despite evidence linking their very profitable drugs to sudden deaths and heart problems."

—Paul Routledge, "Naughty Kids Need Discipline Not Drugs," 17 November 2006, Sunday Mirror, www.sundaymirror.co.uk

Drug "Cocktails" for Kids - A Dangerous Mix

"Last year in the United States, about 1.6 million children and teenagers — 280,000 of them under age 10 — were given at least two psychiatric drugs in combination, according to an analysis performed by Medco Health Solutions at the request of The New York Times. More than 500,000 were prescribed at least three psychiatric drugs. More than 160,000 got at least four medications together…
...

"Stimulants like Ritalin are by far the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medicines in children. But doctors routinely pair stimulants with antidepressants, antipsychotics and anticonvulsants, even though some of these medications can cause serious side effects, have few proven pediatric psychiatric benefits and lack clear evidence about how they interact or influence mental and physical development."

—Gardner Harris, "Proof is Scant on Psychiatric Drug Mix for Young," November 23, 2006, New York Times

Worldwide Abuse in Psychiatric Hospitals

"Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI), has found children with disabilities hidden and wasting away, near death, in Romania's adult psychiatric facilities. A report released by MDRI, Hidden Suffering: Romania's Segregation and Abuse of Infants and Children with Disabilities, describes teenagers weighing no more than 27 pounds. Some children are tied down with bedsheets, their arms and legs twisted and left to atrophy."

# # #

"In its report, Behind Closed Doors: Human Rights Abuses in the Psychiatric Facilities, Orphanages and Rehabilitation Centers of Turkey, MDRI describes the widespread use of ECT treatment on psychiatric patients – including children – without the use of anesthesia. Investigators also found evidence of children dying from starvation,
dehydration and lack of medical care in so-called rehabilitation centers."

# # #

"In October 2003, MDRI sent a mission to Paraguay to document the situation of Julio and Jorge. For more than four years, two boys, Julio, age 17, and Jorge, age 18, have been locked in six-by-six feet isolation cells, naked and without access to bathrooms in the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital of Paraguay."

# # #

These quotes are from the Mental Disability Rights International web site (www.mdri.org). The reports found there are hard to read; the photographs painful to look at. Yet this is reality in psychiatric hospitals—worldwide—in 2006. Why? Start demanding answers and let's hold this profession responsible for its actions.

Another Teen Killer Took Antidepressants

Rody J. Phillips was 14 when he stabbed and killed a 7-Eleven clerk. He had been taking antidepressants for a month before the fatal attack and had told police he heard voices in his head.

Phillips attorney said, "If Rody hadn't been taking the drugs this wouldn't have happened. I don't think he saw what was happening to him."

—Data from "Teen Sentenced to Five Years For Killing Popular Salesclerk," by Tom Jackman, Washington Post Staff Writer, September 9, 2006

Perfect Children

I would agree with the assessment that psychiatric drugs may be being overprescribed because "health insurers are reluctant to pay for `talk' therapies and other nonmedication treatments." But there are at least two other factors contributing to the problem. One is the direct advertising of psychiatric drugs to the public. And the other is an expectation in some circles that children must be perfect.

—Dorothy W. Cantor, former president of the American Psychological Association, from her letter to the Editor of the New York Times, January 15, 2003

The "Baby Blues" Makes me See Red

I've known for a while that psychs think nothing of giving Prozac to infants so it didn't come as a surprise when ABC News had its story on the "Baby Blues." But it irritates and concerns me to see how such an irresponsible and dangerous practice gets calm acceptance.

These are infants! Tiny children whose bodies can't even sit up without support.

Lest you've forgotten, it's a struggle being born. And babies can't communicate with words. They can't say: I'm hungry, thirsty, wet, happy, in pain, feeling sick. They're not in control, and it's damn frustrating. But it's all part of the growing process of life.

Give them kindness and love. Feed them mother's milk—not pills.

Guesswork Leads to Multiple Labels, Conflicting Diagnoses

"A child’s problems are now routinely given two or more diagnoses at the same time, like attention deficit and bipolar disorders. And parents of disruptive children in particular — those who once might have been called delinquents, or simply “problem children” — say they hear an alphabet soup of labels that seem to change as often as a child’s shoe size."

The article states that these conflicting diagnoses come from psychiatrists, psycholgists, family doctors, pediatricians, and social workers, "each with their own biases," and notes that, "Psychiatrists have no blood tests or brain scans to diagnose mental disorders."

—from TROUBLED CHILDREN, "What’s Wrong With a Child? Psychiatrists Often Disagree," By Benedict Carey, November 11, 2006, nytimes.com

Staggering Numbers of Children on Drugs

"A 2005 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University revealed a disturbing 212-percent jump from 1992 to 2003 in the number of teens 12 to 17 abusing controlled prescription drugs. These included depressants and stimulants.

"Americans spent some $2.5 billion in 2003 on psychiatric drugs for children… That represented an attention-grabbing jump in just three years of 183 percent in such spending overall and of 369 percent in spending for ADHD drugs for preschoolers.

"At a congressional hearing in May 2000 Terrance Woodworth, a deputy director in the Drug Enforcement Administration, testified some 17 million prescriptions for psychoactive drugs for minors are written each year -- 40 percent of them for youngsters 3 to 9 and 4,000 for tots 2 and under."

—Ped Med: The ADHD quandary, by Lidia Wasowicz, UPI Sr. Science Writer, Jan. 27, 2006

CA NAACP: Stop Psych Drugging of Foster Children

"…Since 1999 State & Federal regulations provide a financial incentive for Group Homes and Foster Parents to use psychiatric drugs on these children…."

" Ever since the American Psychiatric Association admitted no lab tests exist to diagnose any mental disorder, the entire legitimacy of psychiatry has become questionable. Couple this with the 19 international warnings about how psychiatric drugs have been linked to causing diabetes, liver failure, violence, suicide and sudden death, it becomes apparent that strict constraints against psychiatry must be called for to protect children."—Dr. Lawrence Hooper, M.D., Chmn. of the San Jose NAACP Health Committee

[Quotes taken out of October 29, 2006 press release from Rick Callender, President, San Jose Silicon Valley NAACP (www.sanjosenaacp.org): CA NAACP Calls for Ending Use of Psychiatric Drugs on Foster Youth]