Study: More Kids on Prescribed Drugs

By LINDSEY TANNER Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) - When he was a toddler, Heath Barker was nicknamed ``the red tornado'' for his auburn hair and his penchant for tearing things up and jumping off the furniture. When he was just 4, he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and prescribed Ritalin.

A study of more than 200,000 preschool-age children shows this was no isolated case.

The number of 2- to 4-year-olds on psychiatric drugs including Ritalin and anti-depressants like Prozac soared 50 percent between 1991 and 1995, researchers reported in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Experts said they are troubled by the findings, because the effects of such drugs in children so young are largely unknown. Some doctors worry that such powerful drugs could be dangerous for children's development.

Heath's mother has anecdotal evidence suggesting - as the researchers do - that the number of youngsters on psychiatric drugs is still rising. Through her involvement in Internet support groups for parents of children with behavior problems, Michele Barker said she is hearing of more and more 3- and 4-year-olds being put on drugs like Prozac.

``It's become a quick fix,'' said Barker, 39, of Hot Springs, Ark.

Although the study did not examine reasons for the increases, Julie Magno Zito, the lead author and an assistant professor of pharmacy and medicine at the University of Maryland, suggested a few possibilities.

With an increasing number of children attending day care, parents may feel pressured ``to have their children conform in their behavior,'' Zito said. She also said there is a much greater acceptance in the 1990s of psychoactive drugs.

Dr. Joseph T. Coyle of Harvard Medical School's psychiatry department said the study reveals a troubling trend, ``given that there is no empirical evidence to support psychotropic drug treatment in very young children and that there are valid concerns that such treatment could have deleterious effects on the developing brain.''

``These disturbing prescription practices suggest a growing crisis in mental health services to children and demand more thorough investigation,'' Coyle wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.

The authors reviewed Medicaid prescription records from 1991, 1993 and 1995 for preschoolers from a Midwestern state and a mid-Atlantic state; and for those in an HMO in the Northwest. The states were not identified.

Use of stimulants, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and clonidine - a drug used in adults to treat high blood pressure and increasingly for insomnia in hyperactive children - were examined. Substantial increases were seen in every category except anti-psychotics, though in some cases the actual number of prescriptions was quite small.

The number of children getting any of the drugs totaled about 100,000 in 1991, and jumped 50 percent to 150,000 in 1995. That year, 60 percent of the youngsters on drugs were age 4, 30 percent were 3 and 10 percent were 2-year-olds.

The use of clonidine skyrocketed in all three groups. Although the numbers were small, the researchers said the clonidine increases were particularly remarkable because its use for attention disorders is ``new and largely uncharted.'' They noted that slowed heart beat and fainting have been reported in children who use clonidine with other medications for attention disorders.

Dr. David Fassler, chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's council on adolescents and their families, said the medications studied ``can be extremely helpful for some children, even quite young children.'' But they should be prescribed only after a comprehensive evaluation and in conjunction with other therapy, he said.

Their use is increasing in part because doctors are getting better at diagnosing behavior disorders at an early age, Fassler said.

However, because their effects on younger children and their development aren't known, Fassler said, the Food and Drug Administration has recently instructed pharmaceutical companies to study the connection.

Barker said Ritalin calmed her son and helped him do well in school. But it also stole his bubbly personality, so she took him off it after four years.

``He started becoming the so-called zombie,'' she said. The family altered his diet and tried nutritional supplements instead.

Now almost 12 and drug-free for nearly four years, Heath is repeating fifth grade and has some learning difficulties. But his mother said he seems happier, and so is she.

``I don't care if he's not an honor roll student,'' she said, ``because he's healthy.''

-- Honey, I just dosed the kids (@ .), February 22, 2000

Answers

Thank you for this post.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 22, 2000.

"""The number of 2- to 4-year-olds on psychiatric drugs"""

This is a sickness of western culture. I have had lots of experiance dealling with loved ones on psychiatric drugs an it has led me to conclude that there is a vast ignorance and or denial of the effects of such drugs on people.

I hate seeing things like this.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), February 22, 2000.

It's been said that, of the school shootings we've all heard so much about, not one of the perpetrators were NOT on these drugs. Further, most appeared to have been on them for years.

In my mind, I can see many of today's kids gulping nutrasweet-laced drinks like crazy, from bottle-time on. I've talked with mothers who have reported that getting kids off of that stuff alone has worked wonders in the kids' behaviors. Has nutrasweet (asperteme) ever been studied for this sort of (personality-altering) effect? There must be some studies in the pipeline not favorable to nutrasweet -- Monsanto just spun off that business.

Instead, the idea is to control the kid. Dose him up!

This study will proceed very, very slowly. Why? Because of huge money and power at stake. 'Money' for the pharmaceutical companies, of course. 'Power' brings in the Dept. Of Ed. and the whole educational establishment, which is very much about control. Yes, I know some very, very good teachers. And many of even them have told me that it is about controlling kids long enough to squeak them through proficiency tests.

Encouraging creativity, creative thought? Hammer that kid down -- or drug him down, more likely.

What I am most concerned about is the long-term impact on these kids' personality development. Stunted kids are not going to magically mature into solid citizens.

Like someone who lurks around here said a while back, this is a society with a 'now is too late' attention span, dealing with another problem with a tree-farm timeline.

-- redeye in ohio (not@work.com), February 23, 2000.

This is a topic close to my own life. My son Cameron will be 14 this summer. He has spent 5 YEARS (real time) in the hospital in his life time for several problems. The "doctors" told me when he was 6 months old that he was retarded and probably blind due to his ordeal at birth and instructed me as a parent according to their protocol. I, having a " I will create my own reality and this child is part of it" attitude decided to decrease the drugs that Cam was on. to make an incredibly long story short, Cameron is now a slightly below average student in 7th grade, yea he has some concentration problems but I will NEVER feed the boy ritilin or any of the drugs they tell me he needs to cope with being a human being, he is a miracle already in my eyes and I see no need to hurry the process along.

Laurie

-- Laurie (laurelayn@yahoo.net), February 23, 2000.

There are SOME children with genuine medical problems who require pharmaceutical therapy to cope with their issues. But the dirty little secret of our times is this: Having no one at home while these young children are moving from babyhood, to toddler, to school age student is taking a toll. The reason so many children are unteachable by school age is because they have not been parented -- they have grown up in day care centers. These children do not understand limit- setting, rules, appropriate conduct, etc. and THEN we send them to the classroom for these overwhelmed teachers to deal with. I m no shill for schoolteachers. I have had my share of battles with them, but you have to feel sorry for what they deal with each day. I have always said that I don't care which parent stays at home with kids (mom or dad). But SOMEONE to do the heavy lifting it takes to raise a child, day by day. We cannot expect a $10.00 per hour worker to RAISE the seven or eight children in her care the same way a parent would. In our family, we have had to cope with these very tough choices and it will delay my husband's retirement by ten years. It will have been worth it if we are able to turn out a productive, decent, caring and law abiding son. Will keep you posted.......

-- Daisy Jane (deeekstrand@access1.com), February 23, 2000.

BTW, this is one area in which I hope the Internet may hold real promise. As more and more people are able to work from their home, during hours more convenient for their families, we may see a real improvement in family life and therefore in child development. If the Internet does nothing else, the flexibility in employment will be a real blessing for everyone. Keeping my fingers crossed.......

(I am now off my soapbox, gang!!)

-- Daisy Jane (deeekstrand@access1.com), February 23, 2000.

Boy, is Daisy Jane ever right. I raised 4 children, and the third was a pistol! Many of these kids, with endless hours of time and good parenting will turn out to be real achievers because of the very characteristics that drive parents and teachers to the wall... that high energy and drive!

Focused in the right direction, with lessons on how to manage feelings and actions, they can really go places. But, it takes not just a parent at home, it takes involvement on BOTH parents' part. The stay at home parent must have the child as their primary "job", and put their outside the home interests in second place. Too many young couples do not get the idea of being a "team" working to accomplish a common goal.

There are stay at home parents who spend too much time on social life, entertaining, do-good work, etc. and are not available to their children before and after school and in the evenings... We are a self-involved society, and until that changes, our children will fail.

They are born with undeveloped brains. These brains do not develop properly without our patient teaching. Qualaity time is crap!

Children need quantity time, as the daily incidents and small events that offer us teaching moments do not occur on "schedule", but crop up at any odd moment. If we aren't there at the time they happen, the opportunity to have the most impact can be lost forever. We will lose that "moment"!

This is not a popular idea, as we are told by the media that we can "have it all", much of this message is designed just to sell us "stuff" that will not satisfy the soul, and we end up endlessly hungry for the next fashion, the next material acquisition, the next vacation, a better or younger mate, a bigger house, car, better body, whatever... thinking that "more and better stuff" will make us happy!

What fools we are, and how our childr

-- housemouse (inlittlehole@nevermind.now), February 23, 2000.

A Child,5 or 6 Years old,shoved off at 7 in the Morning to some Institution,called School, is a Crime,similar to "Child Abandonement". This Child,after spending more Time every Day in one of these Institutions,called Schools,than an Adult working full Time,has absolutely no Chance to develop normally.Individual Development and learning how to interact in Family Environment is never learned.The Herd Instinct is beeing imprinted at an early Age,which in later Years manifests itself as feeling only comfortable in Gangs.One can see the unqualified Crop of "counsellors"and "Child Developement Experts"everywhere.How do You explain to a Horse that he IS a Horse??

-- Adam Riese (zero@ed.zero), February 23, 2000.

While surfing this morning, I found this article that supports my point above... i do not know how to post the link, so just copy and paste...

http://www.sightings.com/health3/ritg.htm

Hope somehow parents will get the message...

Just a little housemouse here

-- housemouse (inlittlehole@nevermind.now), February 23, 2000.

I used to live opposite a lady who provided private day care for pre- school children. Every day at 5-30ish, I'd watch the well manicured parents screech to a halt, leap out of their BMW's and physically drag their screaming, terrified offspring off "home". Home in this case being where they spend a few tired, cross hours with one or two complete strangers, then getting in a night's sleep before being returned to the only adult that they loved and trusted, the woman who had become - de facto - their mother.

I often wondered if the flustered, angry looking parents ever dragged the wrong purple faced toddler away by mistake. And if they'd even care if they did.

-- _ (_@_._), February 23, 2000.

Could the ever increasing number of ADD, etc. be linked to diet?

-- cin (cinlooo@aol.com), February 23, 2000.

link

-- cin (cinlooo@aol.com), February 23, 2000.