Researchers from Tufts and Harvard find in a review of 233 medical charts of psychiatrically hospitalized youth at three points in time (1991, 1998 and 2008) that rates of psychotropic medication use rose over time, while rates of hospitalization for youth with more severe psychiatric disorders stayed the same. Results appear online in Psychiatric Quarterly.
Abstract → Meagher, S., Rajan, A., Wyshak, G., Goldstein, J. “Changing Trends in Inpatient Care for Psychiatrically Hospitalized Youth: 1991-2008.” Psychiatric Quarterly 2012 DOI 10.1007/s11126-012-9235-1
This is strange because I remember reading several things in recent years that said hospitalization of children for psychiatric illness has skyrocketed in the last 15 years. It’s too bad I cant remember exactly where I read them. Maybe it was here? I just know I read something about there being like a 20-fold increase, or something remarkable.
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It is not surprising really since the underlying causes of mental break-down are never adressed but just masked by increasing doses of medication.
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