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Archives | (September 2003)
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With A Stroke Of The Pen Part Two (cont.)
------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 3 of 6 YOU MUST BE CRAZY It is not just ADHD that is a problem. Another 5 percent of pediatric prescriptions were for antidepressants – drugs like Paxil and Zoloft. According to a study by the University of Maryland, there was a 250 percent increase in the number of children being prescribed psychiatric drugs between 1987 and 1996. More important, according to Dr. Michael Jellinek, editorial author of the study, the increases were recorded for many drugs when research supporting such use was “scant.” Dr. Jellinek was particularly concerned about the lack of research concerning the long-terms effects of such drugs on the brains of young children. He was particularly concerned about the effects of the drugs on pre-adolescents. In some instances they are being given to children as young as five years old. What the consequences of giving powerful psychotropic drugs that are known to have sexual side effects to children before they reach puberty is unknown. Moreover, the prescribing of such powerful drugs to preschool age children is rapidly increasing. An article in the February 23, 2000 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) “Trends in the Prescribing of Psychotropic Medications to Preschoolers” Dr. Julie Magno Zito of the University of Maryland examined data for two state Medicaid and one Health Maintenance Organization programs. They found that prescriptions of drugs such as Prozac to children from the ages of two and four years of age had more than doubled between 1991 and 1995. Dr. John Coyle of the Harvard Medical School is alarmed by the trend. He points out in an editorial in JAMA that it has not been demonstrated that doctors can actually diagnose illnesses such as schizophrenia in preschool children and that the use of psychotropic medications in children of that age may actually have detrimental effects! The reason for his concern is that the brain is still developing during the early stages of life. It is undergoing rapid development as synapses – the cells that connect the neurons that carry messages through the brain – rapidly increase in number and density. It is at this point in a child’s development that their brain is essentially being “wired” to carry such things as language, sight, motor skills and the other basic abilities that make it possible for an individual to function. Psychotropic drugs alter the way the brain functions. In particular, they act on neurotransmitters – the chemicals that carry messages allowing neurons to communicate with each other. Just what the affect of these actions are on the development of synapses and neurons in the very young is unknown. Animal experiments, however, show significant negative consequences. |
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