Bad Baby! Take Your Risperdal! (Antipsychotic)

After posting about the increase in psychotropic drug use in children and commenting that doctors should stop giving antipsychotics to children without schizophrenia I got some words of praise from Philip Dawdy at Furious Seasons and some interesting information from Lisa Van Syckel who gave me a list of ages and drugs given to kids in NJ which I found shocking, as well as data on antipsychotic drug sales to kids in NJ. Here are some examples of kids given antipsychotics in NJ:

• A months old infant on chloral hydrate (sleeping pill).
• A two year old on Strattera (ADHD psychotropic drug).
• A three year old on methylin (methylphenidate, or Ritalin, a stimulant ADHD drug)
• A four year old on Concerta (extended release methylphenidate for ADHD)
• A two year old and a three year old on Risperdal (risperadone)
• A three year old on Adderall (amphetamine salts)
• A two year old on Ativan (lorazepam) (sedative, sleeping pill)
• A three year old on Ritalin
• A three year old on Focalin (dexmethylphenidate, ADHD stimulant drug)
• A four year old on Zyprexa (olanzapine)
• A three year old on Paxil (paroxetine)
• A three year old on Seroquel (quetiapine)
• An infant on Valium (diazepam)
• A four year old on Ambien (sleeping pill)
• A four year old on Prozac (fluoxetine)

Meanwhile sales of antipsychotic drugs to children continues to climb (data from NJ)

Shocking!

Come on guys! Here is some more free continuous medical education (CME) that is not funded by pharma! Babies don’t sleep through the night but they don’t need a pill! Toddlers have tantrums but don’t have bipolar disorder in need of antipsychotic drugs! It doesn’t matter if three year olds don’t concentrate because they aren’t in school anyway and they don’t need ADHD drugs! Three year olds don’t develop “major depression!”

Stay tuned for more CME.

[originally posted November 20, 2008]

Dan Abshear wrote on November 20 2008

“Bad Baby, Take Your Risperdal!” That title is intriguing.

Parents may give their kids drugs to displace their own fallacies and shortcomings as a parent? Get their kids on meds as an excuse?

It’s possible, and while I’m not a shrink, I’ve thought of this possibility in the past.

Regardless, I’m opposed to medicating kids in such a way, so thanks for the post,

Dan

Lisa Van Syckel wrote on November 20 2008

Dr. Bremner has been quite gracious to the Physicians who prescribe. Dr. Ilena Bernal,NJ, who was a psychiatrist at UMDNJ Behavioral Health prescribed my daughter risperdal without my consent. Dr. Robert Hendren a clinical Trial Investigator for risperdal at UMDNJ Behavioural health. Was he aware that children were given the investigational drug risperdal w/out parental consent? It was my belief that he did, and his peer reviewed paper on psychotic children in a hosptal setting is flawed!! and he has refused my calls to discuss this issue…

It should be noted that there are apprx. 39,000 children in NJs Foster Care Program. In Oct of 2006, 39,517 psychotropic drugs were prescribed for NJs most vulnerable children. Senator Joseph Vitale NJ has blocked a Parental informed consent bill from his [legislative docket. The parental informed consent bill would require such for prescription of psychotropics to kids (that don't work for them anyway, editorial note)]

Barbara wrote on November 20 2008

Doug, you wrote Three year olds dont develop major depression! I would add that three year olds that have been abused look depressed but are suffering from Acute Stress Disorder or PTSD. Charlie Whitfield has a new book coming out where he writes about the topic…

Doug Bremner wrote on November 20 2008

Hi Barbara, thanks for writing in. I totally agree that abused three year olds can have behavioral disturbances that are related to brain disturbances. However I think the problem is that psychiatrists are seeing these kids and saying they have a ‘chemical imbalance’ related to ‘major depression’ and the treatment of choice is an SSRI. Although these kids certainly have problems with their brains I think that giving psychotropics to them is highly problematic as they are not the same as classic adult major depression (where there have been positive clinical trials, albeit the results are not as great as some might think) and on top of that there have been no clinical trials in three year olds of SSRIs, and the studies in teens with ‘depression’ are negative. So not discounting the disorders, just the approach to treatment.

Lisa Van Syckel provided the following post on November 20 2008

Thursday, May 4, 2006

By EILEEN STILWELL

Courier-Post Staff

Had Laurie Yorke known about the potential for harm to her son four years ago when a child psychiatrist prescribed Paxil, a popular antidepressant, to treat a single panic attack, she would have said, “No thanks.” “Instead, taking the drug as prescribed launched her adolescent son on a two-year emotional roller coaster that triggered two suicide attempts and outbursts of aggressive and psychotic behavior that forced the former “A” student out of school, she said. ” “The good news said Yorke, a registered nurse, is her son, Ryan, now 18, has survived, unlike many other adolescent Paxil users.” “Yorke spoke passionately Wednesday at a press conference called to release a study on a deceptive marketing practice commonly used by drug companies.” Read more about Laurie Yorke’s experiences here.

A post about Laurie’s son on antidepressants is posted here.