Furious Seasons

November 12, 2007

British Backlash Against ADHD Treatments, Anti-Psychotics For Kids

This evening British time, the BBC's "Panorama" program--which kicks ass the way "60 Minutes" did back in the day--is taking on ADHD treatments for kiddos. As usual, researchers will come off looking dumb. Says William Pelham of the University of Buffalo in a promo for the piece:

"'We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn't happen to be the case.'
"'The children had a substantial decrease in their rate of growth so they weren't growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and in terms of their weight.'"

Stunted growth? No problem, because there were other benefits for kids taking these drugs, right?

"'And the second was that there were no beneficial effects--none.'"

Oops.

Turns out that after three years kids saw better results from therapy than from meds. Hm, that's not something they tell parents on that annoying adhdroadmap.com commercial. I wonder why.

ThisisLondon.co.uk notes that "Panorama" will also talk about how anti-psychotics such as Zyprexa are being given to thousands of kiddos with ADHD. As I noted on this site two weeks ago, about 50 percent of kids getting anti-psychotics in Florida's Medicaid program are getting them for ADHD, a condition for which anti-psychotics are not FDA-approved much less researched at all. Seventy-five percent of those meds are going to little boys. If that doesn't piss off every adult who reads this, then...I just don't know what to say.

I'll post a link to the streaming version of the program later today.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at November 12, 2007 11:38 AM

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Comments

I just watched the show. Shelley Jofre who's the producer is the one who knocked the lid off Paxil/Seroxat a few years back. She really is one of my heroes (heroines). She has guts to take on the establisment the way she does and kudos to the BBC for letting her do it. And the show confirms my theme song: things might look good when you first start these drugs; yep, they really "work" but watch out -- down the line they bite back bigtime.

Posted by: Sara at November 12, 2007 02:23 PM

Where'd you watch it Sara? Would love to see it.

Posted by: Gianna at November 12, 2007 02:59 PM

What if some psych drugs really do work in the short term, i.e. ssri's or whatever for severe depression, major tranquilizers for psychosis (believe me, I'm not saying they do;0), but that doesn't mean taking them forever is helpful or even advised, sort of like anti-biotics, the folks that take them 3 or 4 times in their lives when they really need them are much better off than the people who take them at the drop of a hat, and then once again alcohol. Few dispute the fact that a stiff drink can help in a moment of crisis. Most people dispute the fact that staying at the level of intoxication that first stiff drink provided is benefical.

Posted by: Sally at November 12, 2007 03:09 PM

Sally, I'm not exactly sure where I stand on "short term" use. I don't think I'd ever recommend an SSRI for instance (even though I have no doubt they might make you feel "better than well" at some point in the treatment) but I do think there are some situations in which it is quite possible a medication could be life saving, particularly a benzo (if you're not already addicted). My take on it is that all psych drugs are either stimulants or sedatives (and some even have the added mystery of changing colors from one to the other after you've been on them awhile) and maybe there are short term applications where artificial stimulation or, more likely, sedation could be life saving. But no one should kid themselves that they're solving a problem long term by using a drug.

Posted by: Sara at November 12, 2007 03:26 PM