Posted by stjames on September 20, 2000, at 10:32:36
While the popular press uses scare tatics here is the real issue, from the Washington Post:
Don't Be Frightened . . . Of Medicine That Helps
By Patricia Dalton
Sunday, September 17, 2000; Page B01When the Journal of the American Medical Association reported last February that there had been a dramatic increase in the use of psychotropic medications for children between the ages of 2 and 4, I could see what was coming.
The JAMA report, citing data on 200,000 youngsters from different parts of the country, revealed that the use of stimulants such as Ritalin and antidepressants such as Prozac had doubled, in some cases even tripled, between 1991 and 1995. One important fact was lost: The number of preschoolers on those medications was low to begin with.snip
The Office of the Surgeon General reports that of the 70 million children and adolescents in the United States, 6 million to 9 million have a serious emotional disturbance--and only one in five of those receives professional help. By conservative estimates, 3 to 5 percent of school-age children are affected by ADHD and 2.5 percent by mood disorder; only 1.2 percent of these children are treated for ADHD and .3 percent for mood disorder. The proportion affected by depression rises to 8 percent in adolescence, and far fewer get treatment than need it in this age group as well.
Full text at http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17735-2000Sep16.html
james
poster:stjames
thread:44949
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