Misdiagnosed and Over-Medicated
Today an estimated six million American children are currently taking some sort of psychiatric medication. According to Frontline’s Marcela Garviria, 1 million of those are being treated specifically for a condition called bipolar disorder. In the past decade, pediatric mental illness diagnosis has risen a surprising 4,000%, and in most of those cases the children were diagnosed as bipolar. Although mental illnesses are evident among children in today's society, misdiagnosis is causing kids to become over-medicated because parents are not giving doctors correct information, doctors are too often offering a quick fix, and medical professionals are failing to accept new alternative treatments.
Some parents, who feel that their child’s behavior is beyond their control, will find a physician that will prescribe medication for their child. A child who has been misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, for example, and takes medication for it - will become lethargic and zombie-like. This, in effect, will make the parents’ job easier. They no longer have an energetic child who will present a challenge. Some parents, when in the doctor’s office, will actually exaggerate their child’s symptoms, so the doctor will be more likely to prescribe the quick fix medication. Unnecessary medication will indeed transform their child, and create adverse side effects. Unfortunately, this is one example of parents providing doctors with misinformation for personal gain.
If parents cannot figure out how to control their kids, there are doctors who can provide the perfect, fix-it quick, pill. Unfortunately, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association, provides no information of how to diagnose bipolar disorder in children, yet every day doctors are prescribing medication for children to aid in mental health issues, providing a quick fix for parents. Rebecca Riley died of a psychiatric drug overdose at only 4 years of age. In Katie Couric’s story featured on CBS 60 Minutes, she reported that Rebecca was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the tender age of 2. According to her mother, Rebecca “had difficulty sleeping and seemed hyperactive.” The doctor prescribed Rebecca to ingest 10 pills a day, because supposedly “she was driving her mother insane.” Realistically, Rebecca died from drugs that were meant to give her mother more peace and sanity.
Still, to this day, little clinical research has been done on children and the long term effects of most psychiatric drugs are still unknown. Parents and doctors continue to make the decision to medicate children, without any attempt to utilize alternative treatments first. There are many available alternative treatments that don’t get enough consideration or credit. According to the National Mental Health Information Center, some alternative treatments include: nutrition & diet, counseling/self-help, expressive therapies, and relaxation techniques.
The psychiatrists prescribing these medications claim that these mental disorders have always been around, but they are just now recognizing symptoms and treatments for them. Since there are no actual tests for psychiatric disorders, doctors are admittedly hypothesizing. Every case is different and doctors must experiment with a variety of adult medication in each individual case. Their goal is to see how the patient reacts to a specific medication. This is done through behavior evaluation, usually performed by parents. Doctors can then provide a diagnosis.
Dr. Kiki Chang, M.D., Assistant Professor and Director of Mood Disorders at Stanford, is researching, and a proponent to, the early detection and prevention of bipolar disorder. Dr. Chang uses “neuroimaging” to detect brain reactions. His research shows that a specific part of the brain of a potential bipolar child is actually smaller than that of healthy child. His philosophy includes putting a child, who is at higher risk of developing the disorder, on medication sooner. He believes that this may actually prevent a development of the full blown disorder.
Professor of Psychiatry Joseph Biederman, MD of Harvard University is a highly respected child psychiatrist who advocates medicating children. According to The Boston Globe, child psychiatrist Dr. Biederman believes and advocates that bipolar symptoms can develop in a newborn baby thus warranting future treatment.
Long term side effects are still unknown, because there hasn’t been enough data collected; however, short term effects of medicating children are being recognized. Some of these adverse effects can become permanent even when the medication is discontinued. Tics, involuntary body spasms, are one side effect of some psychiatric medications. Even after discontinuing the medication causing them, in some cases the tics have continued, thus becoming a permanent side effect. Other side effects include dependency, weight gain, diabetes, and anxiety. Additional medications are usually prescribed to counteract these side effects.
Sedated, overmedicated, and misdiagnosed, children are being drugged by parents and doctors on a daily basis. Unfortunately, some parents are taking the easy way out and providing doctors with false or exaggerated information in hopes of a quick solution, and most doctors are willing to provide it. Obviously some of these children truly need psychiatric medications, but the majority of the medicated populations aren’t being offered alternative treatments, which could potentially help the root of the problem. Doctors are prematurely diagnosing and offering medication as a first resort and while short term side effects are recognized, what will be the long term effects 20 years from now?
Garviria, Marcela. “The Medicated Child.” Frontline. 8 Jan. 2008
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/
DSM-IV – TR Index. “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”
American Psychiatric Association
http://www.dsmivtr.org/
Couric, Katie. “What Killed Rebecca Riley.” CBS NEWS 30 Sep. 2007.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/28/60minutes/main3308525.shtml
Today an estimated six million American children are currently taking some sort of psychiatric medication. According to Frontline’s Marcela Garviria, 1 million of those are being treated specifically for a condition called bipolar disorder. In the past decade, pediatric mental illness diagnosis has risen a surprising 4,000%, and in most of those cases the children were diagnosed as bipolar. Although mental illnesses are evident among children in today's society, misdiagnosis is causing kids to become over-medicated because parents are not giving doctors correct information, doctors are too often offering a quick fix, and medical professionals are failing to accept new alternative treatments.
Some parents, who feel that their child’s behavior is beyond their control, will find a physician that will prescribe medication for their child. A child who has been misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, for example, and takes medication for it - will become lethargic and zombie-like. This, in effect, will make the parents’ job easier. They no longer have an energetic child who will present a challenge. Some parents, when in the doctor’s office, will actually exaggerate their child’s symptoms, so the doctor will be more likely to prescribe the quick fix medication. Unnecessary medication will indeed transform their child, and create adverse side effects. Unfortunately, this is one example of parents providing doctors with misinformation for personal gain.
If parents cannot figure out how to control their kids, there are doctors who can provide the perfect, fix-it quick, pill. Unfortunately, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association, provides no information of how to diagnose bipolar disorder in children, yet every day doctors are prescribing medication for children to aid in mental health issues, providing a quick fix for parents. Rebecca Riley died of a psychiatric drug overdose at only 4 years of age. In Katie Couric’s story featured on CBS 60 Minutes, she reported that Rebecca was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the tender age of 2. According to her mother, Rebecca “had difficulty sleeping and seemed hyperactive.” The doctor prescribed Rebecca to ingest 10 pills a day, because supposedly “she was driving her mother insane.” Realistically, Rebecca died from drugs that were meant to give her mother more peace and sanity.
Still, to this day, little clinical research has been done on children and the long term effects of most psychiatric drugs are still unknown. Parents and doctors continue to make the decision to medicate children, without any attempt to utilize alternative treatments first. There are many available alternative treatments that don’t get enough consideration or credit. According to the National Mental Health Information Center, some alternative treatments include: nutrition & diet, counseling/self-help, expressive therapies, and relaxation techniques.
The psychiatrists prescribing these medications claim that these mental disorders have always been around, but they are just now recognizing symptoms and treatments for them. Since there are no actual tests for psychiatric disorders, doctors are admittedly hypothesizing. Every case is different and doctors must experiment with a variety of adult medication in each individual case. Their goal is to see how the patient reacts to a specific medication. This is done through behavior evaluation, usually performed by parents. Doctors can then provide a diagnosis.
Dr. Kiki Chang, M.D., Assistant Professor and Director of Mood Disorders at Stanford, is researching, and a proponent to, the early detection and prevention of bipolar disorder. Dr. Chang uses “neuroimaging” to detect brain reactions. His research shows that a specific part of the brain of a potential bipolar child is actually smaller than that of healthy child. His philosophy includes putting a child, who is at higher risk of developing the disorder, on medication sooner. He believes that this may actually prevent a development of the full blown disorder.
Professor of Psychiatry Joseph Biederman, MD of Harvard University is a highly respected child psychiatrist who advocates medicating children. According to The Boston Globe, child psychiatrist Dr. Biederman believes and advocates that bipolar symptoms can develop in a newborn baby thus warranting future treatment.
Long term side effects are still unknown, because there hasn’t been enough data collected; however, short term effects of medicating children are being recognized. Some of these adverse effects can become permanent even when the medication is discontinued. Tics, involuntary body spasms, are one side effect of some psychiatric medications. Even after discontinuing the medication causing them, in some cases the tics have continued, thus becoming a permanent side effect. Other side effects include dependency, weight gain, diabetes, and anxiety. Additional medications are usually prescribed to counteract these side effects.
Sedated, overmedicated, and misdiagnosed, children are being drugged by parents and doctors on a daily basis. Unfortunately, some parents are taking the easy way out and providing doctors with false or exaggerated information in hopes of a quick solution, and most doctors are willing to provide it. Obviously some of these children truly need psychiatric medications, but the majority of the medicated populations aren’t being offered alternative treatments, which could potentially help the root of the problem. Doctors are prematurely diagnosing and offering medication as a first resort and while short term side effects are recognized, what will be the long term effects 20 years from now?
Garviria, Marcela. “The Medicated Child.” Frontline. 8 Jan. 2008
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/
DSM-IV – TR Index. “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”
American Psychiatric Association
http://www.dsmivtr.org/
Couric, Katie. “What Killed Rebecca Riley.” CBS NEWS 30 Sep. 2007.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/28/60minutes/main3308525.shtml
National Mental Health Information Center. “Alternative Approaches to Mental Health Care.”SAMHSA
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/KEN98-0044/default.asp
Chang, Kiki., and Pedersen, Lisa. “Offspring Studies Seek Early Markers.” 10 Apr. 2003.
http://www.bpkids.org/site/DocServer/changoffspringstudies.pdf?docID=143
Allen, Scott. “Backlash on bipolar diagnosis in children, MGH psychiatrist’s work stirs debate.”
The Boston Globe 17 June 2007.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2007/06/17/backlash_on_bipolar_diagnoses_in_children/
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/KEN98-0044/default.asp
Chang, Kiki., and Pedersen, Lisa. “Offspring Studies Seek Early Markers.” 10 Apr. 2003.
http://www.bpkids.org/site/DocServer/changoffspringstudies.pdf?docID=143
Allen, Scott. “Backlash on bipolar diagnosis in children, MGH psychiatrist’s work stirs debate.”
The Boston Globe 17 June 2007.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2007/06/17/backlash_on_bipolar_diagnoses_in_children/
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