The Increasing Reliance of Mental Health Professionals On Drug Therapy Has Dangerous Consequences for Children

This was α simplier  Time .  Memory of  My Dad , R Nelson

Prescription drug abuse is growing increasingly popular. The growing trend is gradually

getting worse, and can include grave implications, such as coma and death. According to Dr. John Goathe, the director of the Burlingame Center for Psychiatric Research in Connecticut noted that the office visits for children being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs had increased more than 600% in the years of 1993-2002 (Szalavitz, M.,May 2009,Time Magazine). Even preschoolers are being exposed to anti-psychotic drugs. Children from the ages of 2- 4 have experienced a rapid growth rate by three times the amount of time over a 5 year span of time. (Null, G., the Drugging of our Children). The evidence will support the claim from professionals in the field of health. The intention of the argument is to bring awareness of the impending dangers our society is being presented with.

     
     There is a great fear of compromise with the children being medicated, while their brains

have not fully developed. According to (Null) In 1986, researcher found brain shrinkage in 50 percent of adults that had been treated with stimulants for hyperactivity since childhood.
Doctors are aware that high doses of stimulants can cause brain damage, but no one has
Questioned the concern that chronic low doses could also create brain damage in the cases of children that are being treated for ADHD. We are becoming a medicated society, and while I agree the severe cases do have a cause of medication, we are becoming increasingly dependent upon drugs, and we don't know the underlying implications of what will be the outcome of the side effects.

     The television advertisements are growing more in number marketing more new drugs that are relative to depression and emotional disorders. While listening to each commercial at the end you will be given a long list of side effects, and I think we are growing desensitized to the harm of the long term effects. Very often the side effects of the drugs can produce greater harm than good of the medication. The pharmaceutical companies are making an enormous amount of profit for a dangerous price at the expense of quality of life. (Null, Gary, The Drugging of our Children)noted “Ritalin’s side effects has a more potent effect on the brain than cocaine and we are supposed to be a country that eschews the use of mind altering substances, certainly for children”. There have been lawsuits filed against many unsafe medications and the Pharmaceuticals companies settled out of court. It was the highest lawsuit filed in US History. (Szalavitz,M.) Concluded in this case there were also huge criminal fines that were charged to some of the pharmaceutical companies for illegally marketing antipsychotic drugs. There were pay outs that were well over 5 billion dollars. There is a huge mark up on these medications and the production of new disorders continues to rise along with new medications to treat them with.

     
     Through the research that I have compiled it seems relevant that the Big Phara companies may be more concerned for their profits than human life. The doctors are being put in a position of offering drugs over behavioral therapy because the insurance companies will not pay for talk therapy. The drugs that are administered do not prove to be any more effective than talk therapy. It is much quicker and more economical for health professionals to administer these drugs because time is money, and the insurance companies are balking at talk therapy. Fortunately the talk therapy has no harmful side effects, verses psychotic drugs depressants. According to (Gardiner, Harris March, 2011, New York Times), recent research from studies have concluded that talk therapy is as effective, if not noted, for better results treating depression. There is a growing problem because psychiatrist’s can earn more money in three 15 minute appointments at 150.00 compared to 90 dollars for a 45 minute counseling session. Insurance company’s policies discourage talk therapies because of their reimbursement rates. I believe this has to do with profit over quality care of patients. Of course if you are wealthy, this will not affect you because cash is not a problem. One young doctor by the name of Matthew Levin stated that he was concerned of the rising possibilities of putting his earnings against the ethics of his patients care. He is hoping to avoid those issues.

      There are severe cases of mental illness that require drug treatment, and I am not disputing or arguing that fact. The problems are being reported that many, possibly half of the diagnosis’s are made are misdiagnosed. According to (Bruce,Shadrai; July, 2010) “Bi polar is often mistaken for depression, and this error occurs in almost half of those that have problems”. The problem with mis diagnosis is that while anti-depressants seem helpful for treating depression, it is not the proper way to treat those suffering from bi polar disorder. “Anti-depressants can worsen the disorder”. According to (Zimmerman, Mark) that lead the study in misdiagnosis he concluded by saying “Misdiagnosis can be very dangerous and have huge effects on the brain itself”. From the evidence I have researched these severe cases only make up 3 percent of the the population of the mentally ill and there are millions of prescriptions being written without the proper diagnosis. According to (Szalavitz,M.) there are many people that are being treated with Atypical Antipsychotic drugs and these drugs are for the treatment of schizophrenia and bi polar and this would make up about 3 percent. “In 2010 there were 56 million prescriptions filled for atypical antipsychotics”.

     The most dangerous side effect these drugs cause is suicidal thoughts. I have a compiling list of 29 pages full of teens as well as some adults that committed suicide and some committed murder, and these psychotropic drugs were in there systems. They had already been treated by a Psychiatrist. According to (Teen Screen Truth p.1) they raise the question if these drugs actually increase, suicide, violence and murder. They are quoted as saying. “If drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft, Ritalin, Xanax, Paxil, Thorazine and other related“anti-depressants” are actually an effective treatment, one would naturally expect suicides, murders and violent behavior to be decreasing, yet this is apparently the reverse of what is happening”. The statistics are growing higher regarding teen suicide. Some of these drugs in fact cause Akathisia, this is a mental agitation that can spark violent outbursts. It can also cause dissociative reactions, desensitizing the impact of the poor choices of wrong in the patients behavior. (Teen Screen Truth).

      We should be able to feel comfortable knowing that doctors are providing us with healthy
decisions concerning our heath. The problem that is being encountered is the side effects are growing at an accelerated rate and the overload can impair the better judgments of our health care providers. They have to sift through so many side effects and this takes a great deal of time. In an investigation done by (Duke, John Dr.) he stated “the concern of doctors being overloaded with side effects and a possible weakening in judgment to treat their patients safely.”While some of the side effects are listed on medicine bottles and are announced in the media, this is to protect the pharmaceutical companies and also the doctors that write out the prescriptions unfortunately leaving the patients vulnerable. This does not apply to all doctors but is very likely that it does happen with many of them.

    
     The greatest and most alarming conclusions lie within our children. There is a new wave of medications that have been drawn to children. ADHD and ADD. It is becoming common
practice in the public school system to determine whether our children need drugs. According to (Null, G.p.2 paragraph 4)he noted “ In some instances taking medicine is a prerequisite for attending school, with refusal to comply considered grounds for dismissal, or worse, removal of the child from the home by the state”. According to (Baughman, Fred Dr.) a board certified child Neurologist trained at New York University and Mount Sinai, he stated “It’s one thing for a court to intervene and take over as legal guardian in a case where a child’s life is truly at risk, but quite another when psychotropic drugs are forced on children who don’t fit into the mold.”

      
     Teachers are the ones that usually disclose the information to the parents along with the school counselor. This is dangerous because teachers are not doctors. It is not uncommon for 5 year old children to wiggle in their desks. Normal children are full of natural energy. According to (Null,G. p.3 para 2) he stated “What one person views as distractibility, for instance another may view as natural inquisitiveness” Many times these children are placed on medications and it is simply not needed. The psychologists of the school and recommendationsof the teacher’s evaluations of the student pressure the parents to drug their children and the parents comply because they believe they are doing what is in the best interest of their child. According to Psychologist (McGuiness, Diane, 1991) she concluded by saying, “We have invented a disease, given it medical sanction, and now must disown it. The major question is, how do we go about destroying the monster we’ve created?” There are parents that now grief and wish they would have sought after second opinions but they cannot because there children are dead. (Teen Screen Truth).

     
     This information I am about to share in one that is startling and could in fact cause life time implications on this generation of children being medicated with anti-psychotic drugs. When a child reaches the age of puberty there frontal lobe begins to grow and develop at the most growth rate since infancy. It doesn’t fully develop until the age of around 20. These years are very critical for children. The frontal lobe of our brain is where our emotions of judgment, anger and self-control and reasoning lie. (Psychology and Life 18^thedition) We often wonder why teenagers are so hard to deal with at this age and this gives us a general idea of why this can be a critical time for them. It is normal development because there are huge changes in the frontal lobe that can cause emotional upheaval during these years. The drugs can actually slow down the growth of normal development by blocking areas of the brain that have not fully matured. I am afraid we may be selling our children out to these pharmaceutical companies.  Teen suicide is increasing daily and the statistics of these drugs are ever showing there ugly faces. Psychiatrist (Cole, Joseph, p.9 Para. 1) stated “The brains of young children are developing rapidly, he pointed out, the drugs can alter the process”.

     
     Something very important to remember, according to (Null, G p. 9 Para. 6) The majority of doctors that are prescribing these medications are M. D.’s, they are not Psychiatrists, but primary care givers. They do not have the qualified training of mental illnesses to know what can happen in writing prescriptions for these life altering drugs. It has a great deal to do with quality health care and once again finances over quality of life. (Parents Magazine) points out, “Here, as with almost everything else in the tangled world of health care, behavioral problems, partly because most managed-care plans readily cover the cost of medication but often won’t pay for long-term alternative treatments, such as talk or behavioral therapy.

In my conclusion the point I hope I have properly demonstrated is that we must be careful
with these medications. Research all you can before making a decision to use them and I
would strongly recommend that you get a second opinion and be sure the proper tests are being conducted in order to determine the correct diagnosis. I believe we are on a down ward spiral in the mental health profession with the abuse of anti-depressive and psychotic drugs. There is compounding evidence that money serves a great value to the pharmaceutical industry over quality of life.

References:

Bright, Paul (July 2009) Mark Zimmerman’s study of Bi polar often misdiagnosed, study reveals

Bruce, S. (July 2010) Bipolar is Often misdiagnosed as Depression


Gardiner, H. (March 2011) Talk doesn’t pay, so Psychiatry turns instead to drug therapy. New York Times

Null, G. The Drugging of our Children (familyrightsassociation.com/bihn/white_papers-articles/drugging_our_children/) Joseph Cole

Teen Screen Truth- www.teenscreentruth.com/psychiatry_drugs_suicide.html

Szalavitz, M. (May 2009) Drugging the Vunerable: Atypical Antipsychotics in Children and the Elderly, Time Magazine