Children and Adolescents
Obesity in Men Diagnosed With ADHD as Children
May 20, 2013
A 33-year controlled, prospective study conducted as a collaboration by researchers in New York, Mexico, and Verona, Italy found that men diagnosed with ADHD as children had significantly higher rates of obesity as adults. The causal link, however – whether a common neurobiological dysfunction underlies both ADHD and obesity, or a tendency toward impulsiveness, or an effect of ADHD medication – is unclear.
Categorized in: ADHD, Adult, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Obesity/Metabolic Syndrome, Psychiatric Drugs, Research, Stimulants
Does DSM-5 Matter? Yes; but not for Psychiatrists
by Vivek Datta, M.D., M.P.H.
May 13, 2013
What makes the DSM so pernicious is that it is a cultural document whose influence transcends not only psychiatric practice but also the Western civilization from which it originates. Each revision of the DSM rescripts and reimagines how we make sense of our experiences, reinterprets what thoughts, feelings and behaviors are socially sanctioned, and ultimately what it means to be human.
Full Article
Categorized in: Bipolar, Blogs, Depression, DSM, Featured Blogs, Psychiatric Drugs, Rethinking Psychiatry/Medical Model, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders
Chew on This: FDA Embraces Big Pharma; Takes Aim at Big Gum
by David Ross, M.Ed., LPCC
May 10, 2013
May 8th in the USA Today: “WASHINGTON (AP) — Wrigley says it is taking a new caffeinated gum off the market temporarily as the Food and Drug Administration investigates the safety of added caffeine.” Really? Major Tranquilizers, Amphetamines, Benzodiazepines, and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors have all been approved by the FDA for the treatment of “mental illness.” These drugs are being prescribed to youth, some as young as 3 and 4 years of age. My Big League Chew is more dangerous than Uncle Jim’s Seroquel or my big brother’s Adderall?
Full Article
Categorized in: ADHD, Blogs, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured Blogs, Psychiatric Drugs, Stimulants
Classism in Disguise
by Chaya Grossberg
May 7, 2013
For everyone who goes on psychiatric drugs, the reason comes back to power imbalances in their personal life. Women who’s husbands “make all of the money” and have an unequal share of the power, kids who’s parents have power over them—frequently people who have less money and security, therefore less platform for authority than those around them. Mental illness is not in fact an illness but an unequal division of power and sense of security in a social group.
Full Article
Categorized in: Blogs, Community, Depression, Depression, Featured Blogs, Psychiatric Drugs, Recovery/Empowerment, Rethinking Psychiatry/Medical Model, Trauma/Distress
How Much can a Psychiatrist Charge to Visit With a Dead Research Subject?
by Carl Elliott, M.D., Ph.D.
May 4, 2013
At the University of Minnesota, the answer is apparently $1,446. If harmless clerical errors were to blame for oddities like this, that fact should be easy to clarify simply by looking at the relevant documents. But if there are systematic issues with the administration of clinical trials that makes it possible to bill for a visit with a dead subject, those issues would be important for other universities and private trial sites as well.
Full Article
Categorized in: Blogs, Featured Blogs, Research, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders, Suicide | Tagged as: Antipsychotics, billing, Dan Markingson, Quintiles, Schizophrenia, University of Minnesota
Treating one Disease by Causing Another
by Bruce Charlton
May 4, 2013
Treating one disease by causing another is actually a pretty mainstream therapeutic strategy in medicine – and especially psychiatry. The idea is to use a milder or temporary disease to treat a more severe or permanent one. In a recent development neuroleptic/antipsychotic drugs are being given to tens/hundreds of thousands of over-active children (aka ‘bipolar’). Parkinson’s disease certainly puts a stop to hyperactivity!
Full Article
Categorized in: ADHD, Antipsychotics, Blogs, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured Blogs, Foreign Correspondents, Psychiatric Drugs, Stimulants
Autism Linked to Antidepressants During Pregancy
April 22, 2013
A study of the Swedish medical birth registry, conducted by researchers from Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S.A., found a 3.3X greater risk of autism in the offspring of women reporting antidepressant use during pregnancy. The researchers, however, urge caution as the results explain only a small percentage of the prevalence of autism.
Categorized in: Adult, Antidepressants, Autism, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Pregnancy & Birth Defects, Psychiatric Drugs, Research
Early Intervention in Psychiatry Features Articles Linking Childhood Trauma and Psychosis
April 14, 2013
Patrick McGorry (and others) write, in an editorial in Early Intervention in Psychiatry, about the strong evidence linking childhood trauma with psychosis, as well as about the weaker evidence regarding effective treatments specific to trauma in psychosis. The issue features further articles about aspects of trauma and psychosis, including papers about the presence of anxiety in psychosis, childhood trauma and premorbid adjustment, and “Feasibility of Mindfulness-Based Therapy in Patients Recovering From a First Psychotic Episode.”
Categorized in: Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Non-Drug Approaches, Schizophrenia and Psychosis, Trauma/Distress
“More U.S. Children Being Diagnosed With Youthful Tendency Disorder”
April 8, 2013
The Onion satirizes the ADHD “epidemic”: “‘As horrible as the diagnosis was, it was a relief to finally know,’ said Beverly. ‘At least we knew we weren’t bad parents. We simply had a child who was born with a medical disorder.’”
Categorized in: ADHD, Around The Web, Children and Adolescents, Disorders
Winners of the American Dream
by Alice Keys, M.D.
April 7, 2013
Since I left the psychiatric prescribing trenches and came south for the winter, I’ve been staying in a beach town within driving distance of a technology metropolis. I take breaks from my writing and walk to the beach. There, I meet and talk with the winners of the American dream. They are intelligent, highly educated and financially successful. They take their beach vacations here.
Full Article
Categorized in: ADHD, Anxiety, Blogs, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Featured Blogs, Psychiatric Drugs, Rethinking Psychiatry/Medical Model | Tagged as: ADHD, Alice Keys MD, mental health, psychiatric diagnosis, psychiatric medication
On World Autism Day: Why I Am Concerned About the Use of Antidepressants During Pregnancy
by Adam Urato
April 2, 2013
Autism rates are on the rise, with the latest report from the US Centers for Disease Control showing 1 in 50 children to be affected. Prozac, the first of the SSRI antidepressants, was launched in 1987 and sales have risen since then. Estimates are that up to 13% of US pregnancies are exposed (or around 500,000 US pregnancies per year). Available scientific data from animal and human studies raise serious concerns that exposure to SSRIs during pregnancy damages the developing brain and may cause neurodevelopmental abnormalities, including autism.
Full Article
Categorized in: Antidepressants, Autism, Blogs, Disorders, Featured Blogs, Psychiatric Drugs
The New York Times Opens a Can of Worms on the Increased Use of Stimulants for ADHD
by Jonathan Leo, Ph.D. / Jeffrey Lacasse, Ph.D.
April 1, 2013
In today’s NYTs there is an excellent article by Alan Schwartz and Sara Cohen on the rapid rise of the ADHD Diagnosis. The series of articles by Schwartz is especially refreshing given that for decades the Times reporters, for the most part, have ignored the critics. The Times quotes several promoters of the ADHD diagnosis who now have second thoughts. It is a tad humorous that the Times chooses to publish the confessions of those who promoted the diagnosis, rather than mention the critics who were apparently correct all along.
Full Article
Categorized in: ADHD, Blogs, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured Blogs | Tagged as: ADHD, NYTs, Ritalin, Stimulants
Adderall Blamed for Leap into Tiger’s Den
March 29, 2013
The mother of a man charged with trespassing for leaping from a monorail into a tiger’s den at the Bronx Zoo, where he was mauled, says that he had been planning the leap for about year – since he first started taking Adderall.
Categorized in: ADHD, Adult, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured News, Hearing Voices, In the News, Psychiatric Drugs, Stimulants
Spirituality & Recovery, Faith & Mental Illness
by Faith Rhyne
March 29, 2013
What is “healthy” spirituality and what supports it? Is it our human right to question our spiritual orientations, to experience transcendence and dark nights of the soul? Is it not normal to go through strange and transforming processes in our becoming who we are? Is it not our right to have significant questions about God or to get bold ideas and big feelings about the world and our place in it?
Full Article
Categorized in: Adult, Blogs, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured Blogs, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders
Patterns of Adverse Childhood Events Associated with Characteristics of Bipolar Disorder
March 27, 2013
BMC Psychiatry offers an examination of the history of childhood abuse among 141 patients with bipolar disorder found that fins “childhood trauma is associated with a more severe course of bipolar illness… By using specific trauma factors (physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse/neglect) the associations become both more precise, and diverse.”
Categorized in: Adult, Bipolar, Bipolar, Childhood Adversity/Trauma, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Trauma/Distress
Excessive Mood & Behavior Arousal in Juveniles Treated with Antidepressants
March 27, 2013
In a study of 6,767 reports of antidepressant trials in juveniles treated for depressive and anxiety disorders, the risk of psychopathological behavioral or mood elevation was 3.5x greater with antidepressants than with placebo. The authors (which include Giovanni Fava of the University of Bologna and Ross Baldessarini of Harvard Medical School) urge “particular caution and monitoring for potential risk of future bipolar disorder.”
Categorized in: Adult, Antidepressants, Anxiety, Bipolar, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, Psychiatric Drugs, Research
Medicating ADHD: Diagnosis and the Long-Term Effects of the Medications
March 25, 2013
Robert Whitaker appears on Science for the Public on March 20, 2013, speaking about how the ADHD is diagnosed and why users of medications for ADHD should be cautious.
Science for the Public → Discuss →
Categorized in: ADHD, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs, Stimulants, Videos
Hospital Stays for Juvenile Bipolar Jumped 434% from 1997 to 2010
March 20, 2013
A report from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project finds that hospital stays for a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children aged 5-9 increased 696% from 1997 to 2010, 475% in children aged 10-14, and 345% in those aged 15-17. By 2010, mood disorders had become the most frequent principal diagnosis in children aged 1-17.
Categorized in: Bipolar, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Research
Whether Bullied or Bullying: Increased Psychiatric Disorders
March 15, 2013
A North Carolina study of 1,420 participants finds higher rates of agoraphobia (4.6x), generalized anxiety disorder (2.7x), and panic disorder (3.1x) among victims of bullying. Among those who had been both bullies and victims, the study found higher rates of depression (4.8x), panic disorder (14.5x), agoraphobia (26.7x) and suicidality (18.5x) in both childhood and young adulthood. Results appeared in JAMA Psychiatry.
Categorized in: Addiction, Adult, Anxiety, Anxiety, Childhood Adversity/Trauma, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, Non-Drug Approaches, Trauma/Distress, Violence
“Child Who Just Lost Balloon Begins Lifelong Battle With Depression” (The Onion)
March 7, 2013
The humor newspaper The Onion satirizes the conversion of transient human emotions into lifelong illnesses, reporting that “Shortly after losing grip of a helium-filled balloon and watching it float into the air above the San Diego Zoo Tuesday, local child Caleb Tremont, 3, reportedly began a battle with chronic depression that will last for the rest of his life.”
Categorized in: Antidepressants, Around The Web, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, Psychiatric Drugs
No Link Between Teen Depression and Violent Crime
February 20, 2013
Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, find little evidence that adolescent depression predicts violent crime.
Categorized in: Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Violence
Robot Bullies Rats into Depression to Test Antidepressant Medication
February 19, 2013
Japanese engineers have devised a robotic rat that bullies laboratory rats into a state of depression, creating a model of human depression they deem suitable for testing antidepressants. The research, published this month in Advanced Robotics, reports that continuous attacks in young and intermittent attacks (in response to movement) in older rats is most effective.
Categorized in: Adult, Antidepressants, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Non-Drug Approaches, Psychiatric Drugs, Trauma/Distress
Love Note for Valentine’s Day: Beware of Those Pedaling ADHD Drugs
by Gretchen LeFever Watson
February 14, 2013
A recent New York Times front-page story about ADHD care gone awry concluded with disturbing quotes from a an information session that was held in Norfolk, VA last October. “ADD and Loving It?!” was sponsored by Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD)—the leading advocacy group for ADHD. The story raises questions our country’s love affair with ADHD by detailing the tragic death of an aspiring medical student from the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area who became addicted to ADHD drugs.
Full Article
Categorized in: ADHD, Blogs, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured Blogs
Violence, Depression in Parents Linked to Kids’ ADHD, Depression
February 7, 2013
A prospective study of 2,422 children from 2004 to 2012 found that children whose parents reported Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and depressive symptoms were 4x more likely to have a diagnosis of ADHD, even after adjusting for other variables. Children of parents who reported depressive symptoms alone were 2x more likely to have been prescribed medication.
Categorized in: ADHD, Adult, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Non-Drug Approaches, Psychiatric Drugs, Trauma/Distress, Violence
“You Keep Giving Adderall to my Son, You’re Going to Kill Him”
February 3, 2013
The New York Times, in an extraordinarily lengthy front-page article, chronicles the descent of popular college class president, athlete, and aspiring medical student into an ADHD diagnosis, Adderall addiction, psychosis, and suicide.
Categorized in: Addiction, ADHD, Adult, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Psychiatric Drugs, Stimulants
