By Dr. Joseph Mercola | May 10, 2022
previously published Sept 2019, and now updated . This extract includes the info on children full article here> https://alethonews.com/2022/0
… Considering the many serious psychological and physical risks associated with psychiatric drugs, it’s shocking to learn that hundreds of thousands of American toddlers are on them. In 2014, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a mental health watchdog group, highlighted data showing that in 2013:45
Hundreds of Thousands of Toddlers on Psychiatric Drugs
- 274,000 babies aged 1 and younger were given psychiatric drugs — Of these, 249,699 were on anti-anxiety meds like Xanax; 26,406 were on antidepressants such as Prozac or Paxil, 1,422 were on ADHD drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall, and 654 were on antipsychotics such as Risperdal and Zyprexa
- In the toddler category (2- to 3-year-olds), 318,997 were on anti-anxiety drugs, 46,102 were on antidepressants, 10,000 were prescribed ADHD drugs and 3,760 were on antipsychotics
- Among children aged 5 and younger, 1,080,168 were on psychiatric drugs
These are shocking figures that challenge logic. How and why are so many children, babies even, on addictive and dangerously mind-altering medications? Considering these statistics are 6 years old, chances are they’re even higher today. Just what will happen to all of these youngsters as they grow up? As mentioned in the article:46
“When it comes to the psychiatric drugs used to treat ADHD, these are referred to as ‘kiddie cocaine’ for a reason. Ritalin (methylphenidate), Adderall (amphetamine) and Concerta are all considered by the federal government as Schedule II drugs — the most addictive.
ADHD drugs also have serious side effects such as agitation, mania, aggressive or hostile behavior, seizures, hallucinations, and even sudden death, according to the National Institutes of Health …
As far as antipsychotics, antianxiety drugs and antidepressants, the FDA and international drug regulatory agencies cite side effects including, but not limited to, psychosis, mania, suicidal ideation, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and even sudden death.”
Children Increasingly Prescribed Psych Drugs Off-Label
Making matters even worse, recent research shows the number of children being prescribed medication off-label is also on the rise. An example offered by StudyFinds.org,47 which reported the findings, is “a doctor recommending antidepressant medication for ADHD symptoms.”
The study,48 published in the journal Pediatrics, looked at trends in off-label drug prescriptions made for children under the age of 18 by office-based physicians between 2006 and 2015. Findings revealed:
“Physicians ordered ≥1 off-label systemic drug at 18.5% of visits, usually (74.6%) because of unapproved conditions. Off-label ordering was most common proportionally in neonates (83%) and in absolute terms among adolescents (322 orders out of 1000 visits).
Off-label ordering was associated with female sex, subspecialists, polypharmacy, and chronic conditions. Rates and reasons for off-label orders varied considerably by age. Relative and absolute rates of off-label orders rose over time. Among common classes, off-label orders for antihistamines and several psychotropics increased over time …
US office-based physicians have ordered systemic drugs off label for children at increasing rates, most often for unapproved conditions, despite recent efforts to increase evidence and drug approvals for children.”
The researchers were taken aback by the findings, and expressed serious concern over this trend. While legal, many of the drugs prescribed off-label have not been properly tested to ensure safety and efficacy for young children and adolescents.
As noted by senior author Daniel Horton, assistant professor of pediatrics and pediatric rheumatologist at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, “We don’t always understand how off-label medications will affect children, who don’t always respond to medications as adults do. They may not respond as desired to these drugs and could experience harmful effects.”
In 2020 mental health experts and reviewers were still at-odds over prescribing these drugs for children, yet hesitant to call a stop to it:49
“Antidepressants are prescribed for the treatment of a number of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents, however there is still controversy about whether they should be used in this population …
Treatment decisions should be tailored to patients on an individual basis, so we recommend clinicians, patients and policy makers to refer to the evidence provided in the present meta-review and make decisions about the use of antidepressants in children and adolescents taking into account a number of clinical and personal variables.”
Educate Yourself About the Risks
If you, your child or another family member is on a psychiatric drug, I urge you to educate yourself about the true risks and to consider switching to safer alternatives. When it comes to children, I cannot fathom a situation in which a toddler would need a psychiatric drug and I find it shocking that there are so many doctors out there that, based on a subjective evaluation, would deem a psychiatric drug necessary.
Sources and References
- 1, 3 NIH. Major Depression. January 2022
- 2 NIH.gov Major Depression Statistics Last Update: February 1, 2019
- 4 Psychother Psychosom. 2013;82(3):161-9
- 5 JAMA Internal Medicine 2017;177(2):274-275
- 6 Quote Wizard January 6, 2022
- 7, 45, 46 PR Web May 21, 2014
- 8 The BMJ April 19, 2013
- 9 Richard Smith Non-Medical Blogs
- 10, 11, 14 CrossFit.com June 28, 2019
- 12, 16, 27, 28, 29, 30, 40 Gøtzsche PC. Deadly psychiatry and organised denial 2015 (PDF)
- 13 Gøtzsche P.C. (2017) Psychopharmacology Is Not Evidence-Based Medicine. In: Davies J. (eds) The Sedated Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Pages 23-49
- 15 Anxiety — The Inside Story: How Biological Psychiatry Got It Wrong, by Niall McLaren
- 17 Schizophr Bull. 2012 Jun;38(4):661-71
- 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 MadinAmerica.com May 21, 2017
- 19 American Journal of Psychiatry Published online May 5, 2017
- 24 Int J Risk Saf Med. 2019;30(2):59-71
- 25 PLOS One April 20, 2022
- 26, 31, 32, 36, 41 Crossfit.com June 4, 2019
- 33 Addiction October 12, 2011; 107(5)
- 34 International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 2013; 25(3): 155-168
- 35 Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences August 22, 2019
- 37 Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine October 2016; 109(10): 381-392
- 38 BMJ January 2016; 352: i65
- 39 CMAJ 2017 Feb 6;189(5):E194-E203
- 42, 44 Baumhedlundlaw.com Paxil Lawsuit
- 43 Above the Law April 21, 2017
- 47 Studyfinds.org September 16, 2019
- 48 Pediatrics September 12, 2019
- 49 Frontiers in Psychiatry September 2, 2020
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