Think polypharmacy is a problem of the elderly? Think again:
Bottles of psychiatric medications fill the shelves. Stephen, 15, takes the antidepressants Zoloft and Desyrel for depression, the anticonvulsant Lamictal to moderate his moods and the stimulant Focalin XR to improve concentration. Jacob, 14, takes Focalin XR for concentration, the anticonvulsant Depakote to moderate his moods, the antipsychotic Risperdal to reduce anger and the antihypertensive Catapres to induce sleep.Over the last three years, each boy has been prescribed 28 different psychiatric drugs.
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{ 3 comments }
Where were all these kids when we were growing up decades ago? That is, kids allegedly this massively out of whack didn’t seem to exist back then. Yet now that the tools of psychiatry have expanded the rate of diagnosis has seemed to increase to follow. If your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like a nail; if you have lots of different hammers, then you can refine problems into many different types of nails, but the problem is still seen pretty much the same never-the-less.
My nephew, with a severe organic brain condition, bludgeoned my sister-in-law to death last year. He was on escalating polypharmacy. We still wonder whether his behavior came to this in spite of the drugs, or because of the drugs.
I agree that overprescription is a problem, as is the medicalization of social problems (ie problems with the way we organize schooling ends up making kids take pills, rather than re-organizing schooling). And once the kid gets labelled as “sick” there’s very little he/she can do to escape that label and the treatment that ensues. Still, there are mentally ill kids who need drug and talk therapy, so it’s a really difficult issue for doctors. Perhaps part of the solution begins with different and better medical education for doctors.
“Where were all these kids when we were growing up decades ago?”
Some were in institutions, special education, etc. Children with psych conditions are now more likely to be in regular classrooms.
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