Bipolar disorder

... Chicago Defender / Health Sign up for our e-mail newsletter E-mail Kids' prescriptions for anti-psychotic drugs skyrockets by Lindsey TannerMarch 20, 2006 Soaring numbers of American children are being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs _ in many cases, for attention deficit disorder or other behavioral problems for which these medications have not been proven to work, a study found.

The annual number of children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, the study said.

That is an increase from 8.6 out of every 1,000 children in the mid-1990s to nearly 40 out of 1,000.

But more than half of the prescriptions were for attention deficit and other non-psychotic conditions, the researchers said.

The findings are worrisome "because it looks like these medications are being used for large numbers of children in a setting where we don't know if they work," said lead author Dr.

William Cooper, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

The increasing use of anti-psychotics since the mid-1990s corresponds with the introduction of costly and heavily marketed medications such as Zyprexa and Risperdal.

The packaging information for both says their safety and effectiveness in children have not been established.

Anti-psychotics are intended for use against schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses.

However, attention deficit disorder is sometimes accompanied by temper outbursts and other disruptive behavior.

As a result...

...ba href=/bipolar disorder/a/b, he suffers from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

He is on two mood stabilizers, along with the stimulant Adderall for the ADHD (the blue pill) and several sleep medications, the last because without them, he can go for days without sleeping.

In addition to the psychiatric medications, he takes medicine for asthma and for severe migraine headaches that send him to his dark, quiet bedroom until the pain and nausea subside.

It's a mountain of trouble for a little boy to deal with, and even with medications and therapy, Tyler has terrible days, so bad that already in his young life, he has been hospitalized at Southwest 17 times, with several stays lasting 90 days.

Tyler's story is a disturbing glimpse into the far- from-carefree lives experienced by millions of American youngsters and their families dealing with serious illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder, a raft of anxiety disorders and, in very rare instances, even early onset of the devastating mental illness, schizophrenia.

A Harvard Medical School researcher last year found that half of all cases of mental illness start by age 14, often with mild symptoms that go untreated and turn into serious disorders.

According to the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Illness, one in 10 American children has a ...

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