I have a lot to say about antipsychotic use in kids and adults; but will make one comment:

Seroquel has done nothing with regard to decreasing my depression. The depression, and mania cycled exactly the same as if I was off of Seroquel.

What Seroquel did do for me:

Slammed me down to sleep longer than I ever usually slept at night, leaving me to deal with a 3 hour fog in the morning. Feeling like you can't start your day until noon? I'd rather have that kind of hangover from booze.

Just for the record, in case someone from AstraZeneca is reading this: After a 3 month personal trial on this med: it failed. I am now reducing it and increasing Lamictal. Goal being to use in emergency situations only as in "short term use'.

Read it and weep.

"And would someone please explain to me why we are using these drugs in children without appropriate scientific evidence for their use."

$$$$$

Re: children and medications:

Readers must also know, that if alarmed at the use of antipsychotic medications in kids--do not forget they are being used in autistic kids as well. Just to calm them down.
Autistic children have patterns and schedules that must be kept, which is often hard to do in a school setting. Firedrills, days off of school (for instance snow days) can all throw an autistic child off schedule, which can result in agitation, and behavorial "problems". It is becoming quite trendy to medicate these kids who in general do not have a psychiatric issue, with antipsychotics. Risperdal is quite popular.(I am talking 10 yr.olds here).
The broad reach into children's lives to calm down behaviors has reached an all time high with medications.
The autistic child will have a meltdown, whether medicated or not, if the schedule is the least bit changed.
Schools often place enormous pressure on a parent to send their child to school calm and "normal". Once medication is on the record, it is quite common for a parent to receive a call during the day asking if the child took their meds---because of a meltdown.

Been there and still doing that.

I still dither about medication. Many of my pals have taken that road, but I still feel that mine are too young and that there are no longitudinal studies. There again, when I read Temple Grandin say how her life was improved by them I start leaning towards the other edge of the fence.
I just wish the answers were more definitive.
Best wishes

Every one should read about Temple Grandin. Her personal story is fascinating; and I would also be inclined to listen to what she has to say re: medication use; I would especially like to know her thoughts on this entire topic of medication use in any child.

The finite length of patent protection being a bit of a bugbear for big pharma meant that they needed to do their best put the 'A' into 'Atypical' in the early studies of Risperdal, Clozapine, Zyprexa etc.

Not only are the pharmas' claims that these drugs are more effective difficult to sustain, their claims that they have less severe side-effects are also the product of an experimental sleight of hand. By comparing the 'atypicals' to the nastiest of the 'typicals', e.g. Haldol, Prolixin/Modecate, they were able to paint a far rosier picture of their benignity than was warranted.

Risperdal, for example, flattens the tyres and fogs up the windscreen as effectively as chlorpromazine. Prescribed it as a teenager, I remember feeling trapped within my own body, appalled at my inability to just get up and do something, anything, hence exacerbating my sadness. The thought of putting an even younger child into a prolonged and demoralising state of detachment just beggars belief.

In fact, the black box warnings placed on medications regarding their use in paediatric populations should to placed around psychiatry per se. Inducting a child into the psychiatric system in any way whatsoever runs the risk of severely compromising their psychosocial development, regardless of whether medication is prescribed. Concepts such as free will, personal responsibility, natural resilience, and the self in relation to others are corrupted, and 'behaviour modification' mostly takes the form of the subtle eliciting of symptoms that are 'expected' to emerge but have not yet done so, not to mention the child picking up from other patients all sorts of new ways to deal with their distress that otherwise might never have occurred to them, like, say, cutting themselves. Hence more diagnoses, more medications, and a further downward spiral.

Apologies for submitting a somewhat discursive rant as my first comment on this blog. No, I'm not a Scientologist - I've just been through it all and only barely survived. I look forward to reading other posts and comments.