Re: OT? PBS airs The Medicated Child Tues. Jan 8

[Guest guest]

I hope that we can view this show in Ontario also. God knows, some of our media have also been hijacked by other forces, AasaLeigh leighcpe <lleighcpe@...> wrote: I taped a note to the microwave so I don't forget to watch it. Leighanacat_11 <anacat_11 > wrote: Since PBS has been somewhat "captured" by the current administration, I can't imagine that the airing will be

much of an expose, but you never know. VERACARE <veracareahrp (DOT) org> wrote: From: "VERACARE" <veracareahrp (DOT) org>"Infomail1ahrp (DOT) org" <Infomail1ahrp (DOT) org>Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 17:04:45 -0500CC: Subject: PBS Frontline: The Medicated Child_Tuesday Jan 8 ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountabilityhttp://www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com FYIOn Tuesday, Jan. 8, at 9:00 PM (Eastern), 10:00 PM (Pacific), PublicBroadcasting System will examine the most controversial issue in Americanhealthcare:why are more than 6 million American children being forced to take powerful,toxic psychiatric

drugs--some starting as young as two years old? Is it good medicine? What's the evidence to support the practice?The program promises to examine what many psychiatrists are beginning toacknowledge: American children are being subjected to an uncontrolled highrisk experiment. Millions of American children are being prescribed the mosttoxic brain damaging drugs--with absolutely no scientific evidence of atherapeutic benefit to support the practice. The increasing use of antipsychotic drugs for children is correlated with aninexplicable epidemic in American children being "diagnosed" as bipolar, anunprecedented diagnosis in children. Bipolar just happens to be an FDAapproved use for antipsychotic drugs. So, the marked increased rates of bipolar diagnoses in children over thelast five to seven years appears to be a case of the drugs prompting thediagnosis. Indeed, as Dr.

Hyman, a neuroscientist and former director of theNational Institute of Mental Health, acknowledges, those diagnoses areunsupported by scientific evidence. Psychiatry's sling-shot prescribing practices rely on an irresponsibledictum: shoot first, ask questions years after major harm has been done. Such a cowboy mentality has led to a market-driven chemical assault on ourchildren.Children's fears, cries, and anxieties, are being muffled with toxic drugsthat undermine their mental and physical health. Psychiatrists who are financially invested in expanding the market arediverting parents' attention from the lack of science and the drugs' harmfuleffects.Hopefully, viewers will wake up to the fact that America's children are thetarget of psychopharmacological abuse.There is no credible scientific evidence demonstrating a therapeutic benefitfrom antipsychotics. These

drugs' most prominent effect is somnolence.How many children--like four-year old Riley-- will be sacrificedbefore this lethal paradigm of "treatment" in psychiatry is halted?Is bad medicine any better just because it is promoted by influentialHarvard University child psychiatrists ?Contact: Vera Hassner Sharavveracareahrp (DOT) org212-595-8974http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/FRONTLINE EXAMINES WHY MORE THAN 6 MILLION AMERICAN CHILDREN ARE TAKINGPOWERFUL PSYCHIATRIC DRUGSFRONTLINE presentsTHE MEDICATED CHILDTuesday, January 8, 2008, at 9 P.M. ET on PBSTen years ago, stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall were the drugs of choiceto treat behavioral issues in children. Today, children as young as fouryears old are

being prescribed more powerful anti-psychotic medications thatare much less understood. The drugs can cause serious side effects andvirtually nothing is known about their long-term impact.The increase in the use of anti-psychotics is directly tied to the risingincidence of one particular diagnosis - bipolar disorder. Experts estimatethat the number of kids with the diagnosis is now over a million and rising.In recent years, there's been a dramatic increase in the number of childrenbeing diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders and prescribedmedications that are just beginning to be tested in children. The drugs cancause serious side effects, and virtually nothing is known about theirlong-term impact. "It's really to some extent an experiment, tryingmedications in these children of this age," child psychiatrist Dr. Bacon tells FRONTLINE. "It's a gamble. And I tell parents there's

no way toknow what's going to work."In The Medicated Child, airing Tuesday, January 8, 2008, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS(check local listings), FRONTLINE producer Marcela Gaviria confrontspsychiatrists, researchers and government regulators about the risks andbenefits of prescription drugs for troubled children. The biggest currentcontroversy surrounds the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Formerly calledmanic depression, bipolar disorder was long believed to exist only inadults, but, in the mid-1990s, bipolar in children began to be diagnosed atmuch higher rates, sometimes in kids as young as 4 years old. "The rates ofbipolar diagnoses in children have increased markedly in many communitiesover the last five to seven years," says Dr. Hyman, a former directorof the National Institute of Mental Health. "I think the real question is,are those diagnoses right? And in truth, I don't

think we yet know theanswer."Like many of the 1 million children now diagnosed with bipolar, 5-year-old was initially believed to suffer from an attention deficitdisorder. His parents reluctantly started him on Ritalin, but over the nextfive years, would be put on one drug after another. "It all started tofeel out of control," 's father, Ron, told FRONTLINE. "Nobody ever saidwe can work with this through therapy and things like that. Everywhere welooked it was, 'Take meds, take meds, take meds.'"Over the years, 's multiple medications have helped improve his mood,but they've also left him with a severe tic in his neck which doctors arehaving trouble fully explaining. "We're dealing with developing minds andbrains, and medications have a whole different impact in the youngdeveloping child than they do in an adult," says Dr. nne Wamboldt,

thechief of psychiatry at Denver Children's Hospital. "We don't understand thatimpact very well. That's where we're still in the Dark Ages."DJ Koontz was diagnosed with bipolar at 4 years old, after his tempertantrums became more frequent and explosive. He was recently prescribedpowerful antipsychotic drugs. "It is a little worrisome to me because he isso young," says DJ's mother, . "If he didn't take it, though, Idon't know if we could function as a family. It's almost a do-or-diesituation over here." DJ's medicines seem to be helping him in the shortrun, but the longer-term outlook is still uncertain. "What's not reallyclear is whether many of the kids who are called bipolar have anythingthat's related to this very well-studied disorder in adults," says Insel, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health. "It's notclear that people with that adult illness

started with what we're nowcalling bipolar in children. Nor is it clear that the kids who have thisdisorder are going to grow up to have what we used to call manic-depressiveillness in adulthood."While some urge caution when it comes to bipolar in children, FRONTLINEtalks with others who argue that we should intervene with drug treatments ateven younger ages for children genetically predisposed to the disorder. "Thetheory is that if you get in early, before the first full mood episode, thenperhaps we can delay the onset to full mania," says Dr. Kiki Chang ofStanford University. "And if that's the case, perhaps finding the rightmedication early on can protect a brain so that these children never doprogress to full bipolar disorder."FRONTLINE's 2001 documentary Medicating Kids can be watched online atwww.pbs.org/frontline/shows/medicatingThe Medicated Child is a

FRONTLINE co-production with RAINMedia, Inc. Thewriter and producer is Marcela Gaviria. The co-producer is Will Cohen.FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS.Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Majorfunding for FRONTLINE is provided by The D. and T. MacArthurFoundation. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation. FRONTLINEis closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and described forpeople who are blind or visually impaired by the Media Access Group at WGBH.FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Theexecutive producer of FRONTLINE is Fanning.pbs.org/pressroomPromotional photography can be downloaded from the PBS pressroom.Press contactsDiane Buxton(617) 300-5375diane_buxtonwgbh (DOT) orgAlissa Rooney(617) 300-5314alissa_rooneywgbh (DOT) orgPhil Zimmerman(617) 300-5366phil_zimmermanwgbh (DOT) org Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Mobile. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

They did a show on this in 2001. It was fantastic. I'm sure this will

be just as good. Here is the link to the 2001 show:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/

[Guest guest]

I watched all 6 segments online.

Very interesting.

Please take the time to watch.

Robin's STORY very interesting.

PBS Frontline: The Medicated Child_Tuesday Jan 8 ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountabilityhttp://www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com FYIOn Tuesday, Jan. 8, at 9:00 PM (Eastern), 10:00 PM (Pacific), PublicBroadcasting System will examine the most controversial issue in Americanhealthcare:why are more than 6 million American children being forced to take powerful,toxic psychiatric drugs--some starting as young as two years old? Is it good medicine? What's the evidence to support the practice?The program promises to examine what many psychiatrists are beginning toacknowledge: American children are being subjected to an uncontrolled highrisk experiment. Millions of American children are being prescribed the mosttoxic brain damaging drugs--with absolutely no scientific evidence of atherapeutic benefit to support the practice. The increasing use of antipsychotic drugs for children is correlated with aninexplicable epidemic in American children being "diagnosed" as bipolar, anunprecedented diagnosis in children. Bipolar just happens to be an FDAapproved use for antipsychotic drugs. So, the marked increased rates of bipolar diagnoses in children over thelast five to seven years appears to be a case of the drugs prompting thediagnosis. Indeed, as Dr. Hyman, a neuroscientist and former director of theNational Institute of Mental Health, acknowledges, those diagnoses areunsupported by scientific evidence. Psychiatry's sling-shot prescribing practices rely on an irresponsibledictum: shoot first, ask questions years after major harm has been done. Such a cowboy mentality has led to a market-driven chemical assault on ourchildren.Children's fears, cries, and anxieties, are being muffled with toxic drugsthat undermine their mental and physical health. Psychiatrists who are financially invested in expanding the market arediverting parents' attention from the lack of science and the drugs' harmfuleffects.Hopefully, viewers will wake up to the fact that America's children are thetarget of psychopharmacological abuse.There is no credible scientific evidence demonstrating a therapeutic benefitfrom antipsychotics. These drugs' most prominent effect is somnolence.How many children--like four-year old Riley-- will be sacrificedbefore this lethal paradigm of "treatment" in psychiatry is halted?Is bad medicine any better just because it is promoted by influentialHarvard University child psychiatrists ?Contact: Vera Hassner Sharavveracareahrp (DOT) org212-595-8974http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/FRONTLINE EXAMINES WHY MORE THAN 6 MILLION AMERICAN CHILDREN ARE TAKINGPOWERFUL PSYCHIATRIC DRUGSFRONTLINE presentsTHE MEDICATED CHILDTuesday, January 8, 2008, at 9 P.M. ET on PBSTen years ago, stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall were the drugs of choiceto treat behavioral issues in children. Today, children as young as fouryears old are being prescribed more powerful anti-psychotic medications thatare much less understood. The drugs can cause serious side effects andvirtually nothing is known about their long-term impact.The increase in the use of anti-psychotics is directly tied to the risingincidence of one particular diagnosis - bipolar disorder. Experts estimatethat the number of kids with the diagnosis is now over a million and rising.In recent years, there's been a dramatic increase in the number of childrenbeing diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders and prescribedmedications that are just beginning to be tested in children. The drugs cancause serious side effects, and virtually nothing is known about theirlong-term impact. "It's really to some extent an experiment, tryingmedications in these children of this age," child psychiatrist Dr. Bacon tells FRONTLINE. "It's a gamble. And I tell parents there's no way toknow what's going to work."In The Medicated Child, airing Tuesday, January 8, 2008, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS(check local listings), FRONTLINE producer Marcela Gaviria confrontspsychiatrists, researchers and government regulators about the risks andbenefits of prescription drugs for troubled children. The biggest currentcontroversy surrounds the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Formerly calledmanic depression, bipolar disorder was long believed to exist only inadults, but, in the mid-1990s, bipolar in children began to be diagnosed atmuch higher rates, sometimes in kids as young as 4 years old. "The rates ofbipolar diagnoses in children have increased markedly in many communitiesover the last five to seven years," says Dr. Hyman, a former directorof the National Institute of Mental Health. "I think the real question is,are those diagnoses right? And in truth, I don't think we yet know theanswer."Like many of the 1 million children now diagnosed with bipolar, 5-year-old was initially believed to suffer from an attention deficitdisorder. His parents reluctantly started him on Ritalin, but over the nextfive years, would be put on one drug after another. "It all started tofeel out of control," 's father, Ron, told FRONTLINE. "Nobody ever saidwe can work with this through therapy and things like that. Everywhere welooked it was, 'Take meds, take meds, take meds.'"Over the years, 's multiple medications have helped improve his mood,but they've also left him with a severe tic in his neck which doctors arehaving trouble fully explaining. "We're dealing with developing minds andbrains, and medications have a whole different impact in the youngdeveloping child than they do in an adult," says Dr. nne Wamboldt, thechief of psychiatry at Denver Children's Hospital. "We don't understand thatimpact very well. That's where we're still in the Dark Ages."DJ Koontz was diagnosed with bipolar at 4 years old, after his tempertantrums became more frequent and explosive. He was recently prescribedpowerful antipsychotic drugs. "It is a little worrisome to me because he isso young," says DJ's mother, . "If he didn't take it, though, Idon't know if we could function as a family. It's almost a do-or-diesituation over here." DJ's medicines seem to be helping him in the shortrun, but the longer-term outlook is still uncertain. "What's not reallyclear is whether many of the kids who are called bipolar have anythingthat's related to this very well-studied disorder in adults," says Insel, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health. "It's notclear that people with that adult illness started with what we're nowcalling bipolar in children. Nor is it clear that the kids who have thisdisorder are going to grow up to have what we used to call manic-depressiveillness in adulthood."While some urge caution when it comes to bipolar in children, FRONTLINEtalks with others who argue that we should intervene with drug treatments ateven younger ages for children genetically predisposed to the disorder. "Thetheory is that if you get in early, before the first full mood episode, thenperhaps we can delay the onset to full mania," says Dr. Kiki Chang ofStanford University. "And if that's the case, perhaps finding the rightmedication early on can protect a brain so that these children never doprogress to full bipolar disorder."FRONTLINE's 2001 documentary Medicating Kids can be watched online atwww.pbs.org/frontline/shows/medicatingThe Medicated Child is a FRONTLINE co-production with RAINMedia, Inc. Thewriter and producer is Marcela Gaviria. The co-producer is Will Cohen.FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS.Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Majorfunding for FRONTLINE is provided by The D. and T. MacArthurFoundation. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation. FRONTLINEis closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and described forpeople who are blind or visually impaired by the Media Access Group at WGBH.FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Theexecutive producer of FRONTLINE is Fanning.pbs.org/pressroomPromotional photography can be downloaded from the PBS pressroom.Press contactsDiane Buxton(617) 300-5375diane_buxtonwgbh (DOT) orgAlissa Rooney(617) 300-5314alissa_rooneywgbh (DOT) orgPhil Zimmerman(617) 300-5366phil_zimmermanwgbh (DOT) org

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