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Why are doctors giving anti-psychotic drugs to toddlers?


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https://www.thecut.com/2017/04/why-are-doctors-giving-anti-psychotic-drugs-to-toddlers.html

 

Doctors are prescribing anti-psychotics to young children. I used to be surprised when I read stuff like this, but I've come to understand that either a disturbing number of psychiatrists have prominent psychopathic traits, or they are irredeemably incompetent.

 

Some quotes:

 

"A 2015 Journal of the American Medical Association study found that in 2010, 418,000 kids under 12 were prescribed an anti-psychotic annually, which is not to say that that many children have psychotic disorders. According to a 2011 Pediatrics study of foster-care children given anti-psychotics, only a quarter were diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. "

 

"With anti-psychotic drugs, though, off-label use seems to have occurred at a particularly alarming rate. Those for whom the drugs were initially intended — adults with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — make up, respectively, just 1 and 1.5 percent of the U.S. population, so drug companies have also promoted the use of anti-psychotics to treat sleeplessness, anxiety, and mild to moderate depression. A 2015 American Journal of Psychiatry study found that more than one of every five patients who visited a psychiatrist for anxiety in 2007 left with a prescription for an anti-psychotic drug."

 

"According to the group’s own conflict-of-interest disclosures, the team of experts tasked with writing the foundation’s guidelines for pediatric bipolar disorder — guidelines that advocate treatment with medication — were paid speakers for nearly every major pharmaceutical company that manufactures an atypical anti-psychotic drug, including Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly."

 

Fun stuff.

 

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Wow.  What a powerful and sad article.  That poor Mom feels so mad at herself for trusting the doctors to give her what's right for her child.  I'm sure a lot of us know how she feels. 
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