"The Medicated Child" Tonight on PBS
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PBS's Frontline will be showing "The Medicated Child" tonight. I thought some of you might be interested. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/ Ten years ago, stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall were the drugs of choice to treat behavioral issues in children. Today, children as young as four years old are being prescribed more powerful anti-psychotic medications that are much less understood. The drugs can cause serious side effects and virtually nothing is known about their long-term impact. The increase in the use of anti-psychotics is directly tied to the rising incidence of one particular diagnosis — bipolar disorder. Experts estimate that the number of kids with the diagnosis is now over a million and rising. As the debate over medicating children continues to grow, FRONTLINE producer Marcela Gaviria confronts psychiatrists, researchers, and big pharma about the risks and benefits of prescription drugs for troubled children in "The Medicated Child."
thanks, i set my tivo kristin Thanks for info. Sounds interesting. Hope I don't miss it.Can you post a little synopsis for us, if we don't catch it? I tivod it and the one about Aspergers.. I felt so sad for the kids being put on so many meds~one on top of each other..the side effects are terrible. I knew virtually nothing about bipolar disorder before watching this show. For me, it was a really educational. The show focused on bipolar disorder. The work of Dr. Biederman was discussed. He wrote a paper in which he noted that many of the children being diagnosed with ADHD fit the criteria for bipolar. Since then, the number of children diagnosed with bipolar has increased by 4000%. The show opened with a profile of boy who was put on Ritalin when he was a toddler. The Ritalin caused anxiety, so another medication was prescribed. By the time this boy was 10 years old, he was on 8 different medications. His parents were concerned about this. He was hospitalized and taken of all meds. Within 24 hours a doctor told them he was bipolar and prescribed lithium. On this boy's 13th birthday, he woke up with a neck tic. He also rolled his head. In his case, taking him off the meds did not cause the tic to go away. He is now 16 years old and still on meds. The show discussed the fact that a lot is unknown about meds and children. In 1997, Clinton offered incentives to drug companies to study the effects of prescription drugs on children. One thing they found was antidepressants don't work on kids. This had lead to atypicals being prescribed. The show also questioned whether or not bipolar can really be diagnosed accurately in young children. They did show tape of a 5 year-old girl who was said to be a classic case of bipolar. They also spoke with a doctor who is trying to detect bipolar through MRI's before children show symptoms. Neither of my kids is on meds, and I hope they never have to be. It seems like an awful lot of guesswork which is scary to me. I felt for the families profiled who are struggling to help their children. Jeeze... I cant imagine kids so young on meds. Well I guess if they have a problem, and bi-polor tho I dont understand much about it is quite serious. But to medicate a 4 year old cause they have alot of energy! DUH! I know I had alot of energy as a kid, and I always thought that was normal, I know had I been born 5 years ago instead of 25 no doubt in my mind I would probably have some DR wanting me to take some ritalin er somethin. Thats horrible, let kids be kids, if they have a problem, a serious one, then I guess the parents must do what they must do, but for a little energy and not wanting to pay attention at school.WHen I was bad, my parents had a perscription for me, it was called 'grounded' and it worked wonders with no side effects. What is this world comming too?  I just got done watching this a few hours ago, it really is crazy how they just bog them down with so many meds.. I mean, it seems they work but at the same time it seems that its just SO WRONG..  |
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I have been lucky I havent had to put Sarah on meds so far and I hope I never have too..I am big on behavior modification and would try that first for sure now after seeing these poor kids.