CNN - Little people, lots of pills: Experts debate medicating kids

[Guest guest]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/23/kids.overmedicated/

Little people, lots of pills: Experts debate medicating kids

By Madison Park, CNN

May 23, 2011 7:27 a.m. EDT

Editor's note: Americans

have been led to believe -- by their doctors, by advertisers

and by the pharmaceutical industry -- that there is a pill

to cure just about anything that ails them. This week, the

networks of CNN go deep into the politics and the pills.

(CNN) -- Gavin Gorski, 11, opens his hands as his

father dispenses the pills.

An orange tablet, a green pill, white oval shapes and oblong

ones -- nine drugs total -- fall into his palm. The

fifth-grader scoops them into his mouth. Later in the day, he

takes eight more pills.

Gavin takes 119 pills every week.

The clozapine helps him with the hallucinations and voices he

hears. The lithium stabilizes Gavin's mood. Without them, he

stays up for nights and has no impulse control.

"We couldn't exist without him being medicated," said Rob

Gorski, Gavin's father. "We struggled with it at first. Nobody

wants to medicate their kids, but it comes to a quality of

life issue. When he is un-medicated, his quality of life is

really low."

Gavin started taking several drugs at age 5.

Increasingly more U.S. kids are taking behavioral drugs,

according to several studies.

The majority of cases are not as severe as Gavin's. The most

common reasons for use of antipsychotics by children are

intellectual disability, attention deficit/hyperactivity

disorder and disruptive behavior disorder.

But children's conditions could be misdiagnosed and drugs

prescribed for minor symptoms, experts say. Putting kids on

multiple drugs could put them at risk for drug interactions

and side effects, they say.

There also is potential for abuse, with parents intentionally

medicating their children to make their behavior more

manageable.

Drugging

kids for parents' relief called abusive

"If the child is horrendously disruptive -- self-injury and

hurting themselves -- yes, use medication in young children,"

said Dr. Mani Pavuluri, director of the Pediatric Brain

Research and Intervention Center at the University of Illinois

at Chicago. "But it's always cautious to wait until they're a

bit older than 5."

Pharmaceuticals should be the last resort after therapies and

behavioral interventions, Pavuluri said.

From 1999 to 2001, 0.78 per 1,000 children ages 2 through 5

used antipsychotic drugs. That rate increased to 1.59 by 2007,

according to a study published in the Journal of the American

Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

In a Columbia University study, the rates of antidepressant

use increased among people age 6 and older from 5.84% in 1996

to 10.12% in 2005.

Six years ago, Gorski and his wife mulled whether to put

their eldest son on several prescription drugs. The Gorskis

felt uneasy about putting their then-young son on so many

drugs.

Gavin has Asperger's syndrome and schizoaffective disorder,

which is similar to schizophrenia.

Without taking 17 pills each day, Gavin boasts that he can

jump out the window and fly. He can't differentiate between

reality and hallucinations. He loses all fear and runs in

front of cars. Sometimes, he becomes violent to his family

members.

The drugs help him so much, his father said.

"There is stigma attached to it," Gorski said about putting

his son on several drugs. "People think you can manage it with

diet and that you're making your child worse, that they're

poisoned. If you take meds for the right reasons, it serves a

purpose. It gives them a better life."

Other parents have expressed shock at the number of pills

Gavin needs to consume.

"We don't medicate him because it makes life easier. We

medicate him because it's best for him," said Gorski, a father

of three special-needs children in Canton, Ohio.

Medication for mental illnesses is the cornerstone of

treatment, especially when patients are aggressive and manic,

said Pavuluri, an American Academy of Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry spokeswoman.

She recalled a dramatic case of a 6-year-old patient who was

using Google to search the word suicide and trying to eat the

carbon off a pencil to harm herself.

In such cases, medication may be necessary, but doctors

should try to rely less on pills for milder psychological

disorders and examine the child's life as a whole, Pavuluri

said.

"It's very important to see that behavior is related to how

kids are being parented," Pavuluri said.

One diagnosis that is rapidly growing is attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder. Nearly one in 10 U.S. children has a

diagnosis of ADHD, according

to a 2010 report from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

Not all ADHD cases require medication, medical experts said.

There are nonpharmaceutical routes such as making sure the

child's home life is more organized. Parents can limit screen

time and teach planning skills to overcome some distractions,

several medical experts said.

ADHD:

Who makes the diagnosis?

There could be bigger issues affecting children's behavior

and attention, like a death in the family, an abusive

relationship and other life experiences, experts said.

The problem could be a result of poor parenting, said Dr.

, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

"We are medicating children sometimes for ferociously awful

behavior based on poor parenting," she said.

The behavior is construed as ADHD, and more severe cases are

diagnosed as bipolar disorder, she said.

While stressing there are legitimate cases that call for

medicating children, , who practices in Murrietta,

California, warned against throwing pills at a problem.

Sometimes, parents fake a condition for the child in hopes of

getting drugs for themselves, she said.

Some parents request prescription drugs because their kids

misbehave in school, get low grades or got a lower SAT score

than they had hoped for, said.

ADHD drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin have become popular

on college campuses for students who don't have the condition

but want to boost their academic performance through better

focusing.

A 2010 CDC survey found that one in five U.S. high school

students said they had taken a prescription drug such as

OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin or Xanax

without a physician's prescription.

"Who holds the key to the medicine?"

said, about who controls access to the prescription

drugs. "Not the drug companies, the parents, the teachers --

the doctors. They should stop this in the tracks."

© 2011 Cable News Network. Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights

Reserved.

[Guest guest]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/23/kids.overmedicated/

Little people, lots of pills: Experts debate medicating kids

By Madison Park, CNN

May 23, 2011 7:27 a.m. EDT

Editor's note: Americans

have been led to believe -- by their doctors, by advertisers

and by the pharmaceutical industry -- that there is a pill

to cure just about anything that ails them. This week, the

networks of CNN go deep into the politics and the pills.

(CNN) -- Gavin Gorski, 11, opens his hands as his

father dispenses the pills.

An orange tablet, a green pill, white oval shapes and oblong

ones -- nine drugs total -- fall into his palm. The

fifth-grader scoops them into his mouth. Later in the day, he

takes eight more pills.

Gavin takes 119 pills every week.

The clozapine helps him with the hallucinations and voices he

hears. The lithium stabilizes Gavin's mood. Without them, he

stays up for nights and has no impulse control.

"We couldn't exist without him being medicated," said Rob

Gorski, Gavin's father. "We struggled with it at first. Nobody

wants to medicate their kids, but it comes to a quality of

life issue. When he is un-medicated, his quality of life is

really low."

Gavin started taking several drugs at age 5.

Increasingly more U.S. kids are taking behavioral drugs,

according to several studies.

The majority of cases are not as severe as Gavin's. The most

common reasons for use of antipsychotics by children are

intellectual disability, attention deficit/hyperactivity

disorder and disruptive behavior disorder.

But children's conditions could be misdiagnosed and drugs

prescribed for minor symptoms, experts say. Putting kids on

multiple drugs could put them at risk for drug interactions

and side effects, they say.

There also is potential for abuse, with parents intentionally

medicating their children to make their behavior more

manageable.

Drugging

kids for parents' relief called abusive

"If the child is horrendously disruptive -- self-injury and

hurting themselves -- yes, use medication in young children,"

said Dr. Mani Pavuluri, director of the Pediatric Brain

Research and Intervention Center at the University of Illinois

at Chicago. "But it's always cautious to wait until they're a

bit older than 5."

Pharmaceuticals should be the last resort after therapies and

behavioral interventions, Pavuluri said.

From 1999 to 2001, 0.78 per 1,000 children ages 2 through 5

used antipsychotic drugs. That rate increased to 1.59 by 2007,

according to a study published in the Journal of the American

Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

In a Columbia University study, the rates of antidepressant

use increased among people age 6 and older from 5.84% in 1996

to 10.12% in 2005.

Six years ago, Gorski and his wife mulled whether to put

their eldest son on several prescription drugs. The Gorskis

felt uneasy about putting their then-young son on so many

drugs.

Gavin has Asperger's syndrome and schizoaffective disorder,

which is similar to schizophrenia.

Without taking 17 pills each day, Gavin boasts that he can

jump out the window and fly. He can't differentiate between

reality and hallucinations. He loses all fear and runs in

front of cars. Sometimes, he becomes violent to his family

members.

The drugs help him so much, his father said.

"There is stigma attached to it," Gorski said about putting

his son on several drugs. "People think you can manage it with

diet and that you're making your child worse, that they're

poisoned. If you take meds for the right reasons, it serves a

purpose. It gives them a better life."

Other parents have expressed shock at the number of pills

Gavin needs to consume.

"We don't medicate him because it makes life easier. We

medicate him because it's best for him," said Gorski, a father

of three special-needs children in Canton, Ohio.

Medication for mental illnesses is the cornerstone of

treatment, especially when patients are aggressive and manic,

said Pavuluri, an American Academy of Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry spokeswoman.

She recalled a dramatic case of a 6-year-old patient who was

using Google to search the word suicide and trying to eat the

carbon off a pencil to harm herself.

In such cases, medication may be necessary, but doctors

should try to rely less on pills for milder psychological

disorders and examine the child's life as a whole, Pavuluri

said.

"It's very important to see that behavior is related to how

kids are being parented," Pavuluri said.

One diagnosis that is rapidly growing is attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder. Nearly one in 10 U.S. children has a

diagnosis of ADHD, according

to a 2010 report from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

Not all ADHD cases require medication, medical experts said.

There are nonpharmaceutical routes such as making sure the

child's home life is more organized. Parents can limit screen

time and teach planning skills to overcome some distractions,

several medical experts said.

ADHD:

Who makes the diagnosis?

There could be bigger issues affecting children's behavior

and attention, like a death in the family, an abusive

relationship and other life experiences, experts said.

The problem could be a result of poor parenting, said Dr.

, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

"We are medicating children sometimes for ferociously awful

behavior based on poor parenting," she said.

The behavior is construed as ADHD, and more severe cases are

diagnosed as bipolar disorder, she said.

While stressing there are legitimate cases that call for

medicating children, , who practices in Murrietta,

California, warned against throwing pills at a problem.

Sometimes, parents fake a condition for the child in hopes of

getting drugs for themselves, she said.

Some parents request prescription drugs because their kids

misbehave in school, get low grades or got a lower SAT score

than they had hoped for, said.

ADHD drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin have become popular

on college campuses for students who don't have the condition

but want to boost their academic performance through better

focusing.

A 2010 CDC survey found that one in five U.S. high school

students said they had taken a prescription drug such as

OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin or Xanax

without a physician's prescription.

"Who holds the key to the medicine?"

said, about who controls access to the prescription

drugs. "Not the drug companies, the parents, the teachers --

the doctors. They should stop this in the tracks."

© 2011 Cable News Network. Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights

Reserved.

[Guest guest]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/23/kids.overmedicated/

Little people, lots of pills: Experts debate medicating kids

By Madison Park, CNN

May 23, 2011 7:27 a.m. EDT

Editor's note: Americans

have been led to believe -- by their doctors, by advertisers

and by the pharmaceutical industry -- that there is a pill

to cure just about anything that ails them. This week, the

networks of CNN go deep into the politics and the pills.

(CNN) -- Gavin Gorski, 11, opens his hands as his

father dispenses the pills.

An orange tablet, a green pill, white oval shapes and oblong

ones -- nine drugs total -- fall into his palm. The

fifth-grader scoops them into his mouth. Later in the day, he

takes eight more pills.

Gavin takes 119 pills every week.

The clozapine helps him with the hallucinations and voices he

hears. The lithium stabilizes Gavin's mood. Without them, he

stays up for nights and has no impulse control.

"We couldn't exist without him being medicated," said Rob

Gorski, Gavin's father. "We struggled with it at first. Nobody

wants to medicate their kids, but it comes to a quality of

life issue. When he is un-medicated, his quality of life is

really low."

Gavin started taking several drugs at age 5.

Increasingly more U.S. kids are taking behavioral drugs,

according to several studies.

The majority of cases are not as severe as Gavin's. The most

common reasons for use of antipsychotics by children are

intellectual disability, attention deficit/hyperactivity

disorder and disruptive behavior disorder.

But children's conditions could be misdiagnosed and drugs

prescribed for minor symptoms, experts say. Putting kids on

multiple drugs could put them at risk for drug interactions

and side effects, they say.

There also is potential for abuse, with parents intentionally

medicating their children to make their behavior more

manageable.

Drugging

kids for parents' relief called abusive

"If the child is horrendously disruptive -- self-injury and

hurting themselves -- yes, use medication in young children,"

said Dr. Mani Pavuluri, director of the Pediatric Brain

Research and Intervention Center at the University of Illinois

at Chicago. "But it's always cautious to wait until they're a

bit older than 5."

Pharmaceuticals should be the last resort after therapies and

behavioral interventions, Pavuluri said.

From 1999 to 2001, 0.78 per 1,000 children ages 2 through 5

used antipsychotic drugs. That rate increased to 1.59 by 2007,

according to a study published in the Journal of the American

Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

In a Columbia University study, the rates of antidepressant

use increased among people age 6 and older from 5.84% in 1996

to 10.12% in 2005.

Six years ago, Gorski and his wife mulled whether to put

their eldest son on several prescription drugs. The Gorskis

felt uneasy about putting their then-young son on so many

drugs.

Gavin has Asperger's syndrome and schizoaffective disorder,

which is similar to schizophrenia.

Without taking 17 pills each day, Gavin boasts that he can

jump out the window and fly. He can't differentiate between

reality and hallucinations. He loses all fear and runs in

front of cars. Sometimes, he becomes violent to his family

members.

The drugs help him so much, his father said.

"There is stigma attached to it," Gorski said about putting

his son on several drugs. "People think you can manage it with

diet and that you're making your child worse, that they're

poisoned. If you take meds for the right reasons, it serves a

purpose. It gives them a better life."

Other parents have expressed shock at the number of pills

Gavin needs to consume.

"We don't medicate him because it makes life easier. We

medicate him because it's best for him," said Gorski, a father

of three special-needs children in Canton, Ohio.

Medication for mental illnesses is the cornerstone of

treatment, especially when patients are aggressive and manic,

said Pavuluri, an American Academy of Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry spokeswoman.

She recalled a dramatic case of a 6-year-old patient who was

using Google to search the word suicide and trying to eat the

carbon off a pencil to harm herself.

In such cases, medication may be necessary, but doctors

should try to rely less on pills for milder psychological

disorders and examine the child's life as a whole, Pavuluri

said.

"It's very important to see that behavior is related to how

kids are being parented," Pavuluri said.

One diagnosis that is rapidly growing is attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder. Nearly one in 10 U.S. children has a

diagnosis of ADHD, according

to a 2010 report from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

Not all ADHD cases require medication, medical experts said.

There are nonpharmaceutical routes such as making sure the

child's home life is more organized. Parents can limit screen

time and teach planning skills to overcome some distractions,

several medical experts said.

ADHD:

Who makes the diagnosis?

There could be bigger issues affecting children's behavior

and attention, like a death in the family, an abusive

relationship and other life experiences, experts said.

The problem could be a result of poor parenting, said Dr.

, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

"We are medicating children sometimes for ferociously awful

behavior based on poor parenting," she said.

The behavior is construed as ADHD, and more severe cases are

diagnosed as bipolar disorder, she said.

While stressing there are legitimate cases that call for

medicating children, , who practices in Murrietta,

California, warned against throwing pills at a problem.

Sometimes, parents fake a condition for the child in hopes of

getting drugs for themselves, she said.

Some parents request prescription drugs because their kids

misbehave in school, get low grades or got a lower SAT score

than they had hoped for, said.

ADHD drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin have become popular

on college campuses for students who don't have the condition

but want to boost their academic performance through better

focusing.

A 2010 CDC survey found that one in five U.S. high school

students said they had taken a prescription drug such as

OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin or Xanax

without a physician's prescription.

"Who holds the key to the medicine?"

said, about who controls access to the prescription

drugs. "Not the drug companies, the parents, the teachers --

the doctors. They should stop this in the tracks."

© 2011 Cable News Network. Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights

Reserved.

[Guest guest]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/23/kids.overmedicated/

Little people, lots of pills: Experts debate medicating kids

By Madison Park, CNN

May 23, 2011 7:27 a.m. EDT

Editor's note: Americans

have been led to believe -- by their doctors, by advertisers

and by the pharmaceutical industry -- that there is a pill

to cure just about anything that ails them. This week, the

networks of CNN go deep into the politics and the pills.

(CNN) -- Gavin Gorski, 11, opens his hands as his

father dispenses the pills.

An orange tablet, a green pill, white oval shapes and oblong

ones -- nine drugs total -- fall into his palm. The

fifth-grader scoops them into his mouth. Later in the day, he

takes eight more pills.

Gavin takes 119 pills every week.

The clozapine helps him with the hallucinations and voices he

hears. The lithium stabilizes Gavin's mood. Without them, he

stays up for nights and has no impulse control.

"We couldn't exist without him being medicated," said Rob

Gorski, Gavin's father. "We struggled with it at first. Nobody

wants to medicate their kids, but it comes to a quality of

life issue. When he is un-medicated, his quality of life is

really low."

Gavin started taking several drugs at age 5.

Increasingly more U.S. kids are taking behavioral drugs,

according to several studies.

The majority of cases are not as severe as Gavin's. The most

common reasons for use of antipsychotics by children are

intellectual disability, attention deficit/hyperactivity

disorder and disruptive behavior disorder.

But children's conditions could be misdiagnosed and drugs

prescribed for minor symptoms, experts say. Putting kids on

multiple drugs could put them at risk for drug interactions

and side effects, they say.

There also is potential for abuse, with parents intentionally

medicating their children to make their behavior more

manageable.

Drugging

kids for parents' relief called abusive

"If the child is horrendously disruptive -- self-injury and

hurting themselves -- yes, use medication in young children,"

said Dr. Mani Pavuluri, director of the Pediatric Brain

Research and Intervention Center at the University of Illinois

at Chicago. "But it's always cautious to wait until they're a

bit older than 5."

Pharmaceuticals should be the last resort after therapies and

behavioral interventions, Pavuluri said.

From 1999 to 2001, 0.78 per 1,000 children ages 2 through 5

used antipsychotic drugs. That rate increased to 1.59 by 2007,

according to a study published in the Journal of the American

Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

In a Columbia University study, the rates of antidepressant

use increased among people age 6 and older from 5.84% in 1996

to 10.12% in 2005.

Six years ago, Gorski and his wife mulled whether to put

their eldest son on several prescription drugs. The Gorskis

felt uneasy about putting their then-young son on so many

drugs.

Gavin has Asperger's syndrome and schizoaffective disorder,

which is similar to schizophrenia.

Without taking 17 pills each day, Gavin boasts that he can

jump out the window and fly. He can't differentiate between

reality and hallucinations. He loses all fear and runs in

front of cars. Sometimes, he becomes violent to his family

members.

The drugs help him so much, his father said.

"There is stigma attached to it," Gorski said about putting

his son on several drugs. "People think you can manage it with

diet and that you're making your child worse, that they're

poisoned. If you take meds for the right reasons, it serves a

purpose. It gives them a better life."

Other parents have expressed shock at the number of pills

Gavin needs to consume.

"We don't medicate him because it makes life easier. We

medicate him because it's best for him," said Gorski, a father

of three special-needs children in Canton, Ohio.

Medication for mental illnesses is the cornerstone of

treatment, especially when patients are aggressive and manic,

said Pavuluri, an American Academy of Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry spokeswoman.

She recalled a dramatic case of a 6-year-old patient who was

using Google to search the word suicide and trying to eat the

carbon off a pencil to harm herself.

In such cases, medication may be necessary, but doctors

should try to rely less on pills for milder psychological

disorders and examine the child's life as a whole, Pavuluri

said.

"It's very important to see that behavior is related to how

kids are being parented," Pavuluri said.

One diagnosis that is rapidly growing is attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder. Nearly one in 10 U.S. children has a

diagnosis of ADHD, according

to a 2010 report from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

Not all ADHD cases require medication, medical experts said.

There are nonpharmaceutical routes such as making sure the

child's home life is more organized. Parents can limit screen

time and teach planning skills to overcome some distractions,

several medical experts said.

ADHD:

Who makes the diagnosis?

There could be bigger issues affecting children's behavior

and attention, like a death in the family, an abusive

relationship and other life experiences, experts said.

The problem could be a result of poor parenting, said Dr.

, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

"We are medicating children sometimes for ferociously awful

behavior based on poor parenting," she said.

The behavior is construed as ADHD, and more severe cases are

diagnosed as bipolar disorder, she said.

While stressing there are legitimate cases that call for

medicating children, , who practices in Murrietta,

California, warned against throwing pills at a problem.

Sometimes, parents fake a condition for the child in hopes of

getting drugs for themselves, she said.

Some parents request prescription drugs because their kids

misbehave in school, get low grades or got a lower SAT score

than they had hoped for, said.

ADHD drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin have become popular

on college campuses for students who don't have the condition

but want to boost their academic performance through better

focusing.

A 2010 CDC survey found that one in five U.S. high school

students said they had taken a prescription drug such as

OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin or Xanax

without a physician's prescription.

"Who holds the key to the medicine?"

said, about who controls access to the prescription

drugs. "Not the drug companies, the parents, the teachers --

the doctors. They should stop this in the tracks."

© 2011 Cable News Network. Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights

Reserved.