COMMENTARY

World Experts Demand End to Child Drugging in the USA - Part I

By Evelyn Pringle
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/01509/child-drugging.html

Experts in the field of psychiatry and child development from all
over
the world arrived in Washington to attend the annual conference of the
International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. This
year's
conference focused on one specific goal - to end the mass-prescribing
of
psychiatric drugs to children. Evelyn Pringle
In addition to the seminars and presentations by psychiatric
experts
and academics, other presenters and speakers at the conference varied
from
patients and leaders of patient advocacy groups to social workers,
nurses,
educators, authors and lawmakers. The conference included presentations
on
the serious health risks associated with the new generation of
psychiatric
drugs now commonly prescribed to children, including attention deficit
medications, antidepressant drugs and atypical antipsychotics.
Much of the outrage expressed by speakers and attendees alike
stemmed
from the recommendation by the Bush Administration's New Freedom
Commission
on Mental Health to conduct "universal" mental illness screening of all
Americans from the age of "0" on up to the oldest living citizen.
The main topics of debate included the recommendations by the NFC
to
screen public school children in all 50 states with a program called
TeenScreen and the implementation in many states of programs modeled
after
TMAP (Texas Medication Algorithm Project), a treatment plan that
mandates
the use of the new expensive psychiatric drugs with all patients
diagnosed
with mental disorders who are covered by public health care programs
such as
Medicaid.
The new generation of antidepressant drugs include Prozac and
Cymbalta
by Eli Lilly; Paxil marketed by GlaxoSmithKline; Zoloft by Pfizer;
Celexa
and Lexapro from Forest Laboratories; Effexor by Wyeth, as well as
generic
versions sold by Barr Pharmaceuticals, Ranbaxy Labs and Genpharm. The
new
generation of atypical antipsychotics include Zyprexa by Eli Lilly;
Risperdal marketed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subdivision of Johnson
&
Johnson; Abilify by Bristol-Myers Squibb; Clozaril sold by Novartis,
and
Geodon by Pfizer. Many of the presentations at the conference focused
on the
pharmaceutical industry's role in the invention of both TMAP and
TeenScreen
and the many financial ties between the drug makers, the Bush
administration, a group of psychiatrists, and state policy makers
largely
credited with the creation and promotion of these two programs.
Minnesota Pediatrician Dr Karen Effrem produced a briefing
booklet and
CD entitled, "The Dangers of Universal Mental Health Screening," which
is
available at the ICSPP web site at http://www.icspp.org/. During her
presentation, Dr Effrem explained the history of TMAP and TeenScreen, a
52-question computerized self-administered questionnaire that takes 10
minutes to complete and was developed by Columbia University Children's
Psychiatric Center. "The New Freedom Commission, TMAP and TeenScreen,"
Dr
Effrem notes, "appear to be a blatant political/pharmaceutical company
alliances that promote medication, and more precisely, more expensive
antidepressants and antipsychotics, which are at best of questionable
benefit and come with deadly side effects."
During the portion on TeenSceen, Dr Effrem cited one study which
found
an 82% false-positive rate in students screened, meaning that if 100
students were tested, 82 were wrongly flagged as having some mental
disorder. "TeenScreen's extremely high false-positive rate makes the
test
virtually useless as a diagnostic instrument," she stated. According to
Dr
Effrem, it is "difficult, if not impossible" to diagnose young children
accurately, due to very rapid developmental changes."
Often, adult signs and symptoms of mental disorders in adults are
characteristics of normal development in children and adolescents," she
explains. Since the arrival of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
antidepressants (SSRI's) and atypical antipsychotics on the market,
countless studies have shown the so-called "wonder drugs" to be
ineffective
and harmful to children. But for years, drug companies have manipulated
data, suppressed negative clinical trials and published only the
studies
that showed positive results.
The truth is that the mass drugging of the entire population in
the US
with SSRI's has accomplished nothing when it comes to reducing
suicidality.
According to a June 2005 study, primarily funded by the National
Institute
of Mental Health, in the Journal of the American Medical Association,
although people who were likely to attempt suicide were far more likely
to
be treated with antidepressants in 2001-2003, the rates for suicide
attempts, gestures and ideation remained basically unchanged for over a
decade.
+ Read more:
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/01509/child-drugging.html