Use of second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) alongside other medications is growing rapidly among youth who are less impaired, according to a study published online in June in the Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and reported this month in Psychiatric Services. Swedish and American researchers analyzed Medicaid data from 2004-2008 and found that, while SGA use overall increased by 22% among youth, about 85% of those people were taking multiple psychiatric medications. They also found that the biggest increases in use of multiple medications were occurring among youth who were having less serious psychiatric problems.
“The present study illustrates that the trend of increasing SGA use, which is occurring in the context of stable or declining use of other medication, is due in large part to sustained concurrent use of SGAs with other medications, an exposure that is known to have serious side effects and unknown long-term effects and drug-drug interactions,” stated the study. “Even more problematic is that the exposure to concurrent SGA is increasing disproportionately among youth with less perceived comorbidity and impairment. Such trends indicate a growth in off-label prescribing among children for whom evidence of benefit is lacking.”
“We knew that antipsychotic use was increasing among youth, but were surprised to learn just how often children with ADHD or depression receive an antipsychotic as part of their treatment, and when they do, it is for sustained periods of time,” one of the researchers told Psychiatric Services. “In a society that often doesn’t offer other services to respond to these behaviors, we should not be surprised at how quickly the use of antipsychotics has grown.”
In their study’s conclusion, the researchers cautioned that, “Concurrent SGA regimens will require further research to determine efficacy and potential drug–drug interactions, given a practice trend toward more complex regimens in less-impaired children/adolescents.”
More Youth Using Antipsychotics Concurrent With Other Medications (Psychiatric Services, August 01, 2014. DOI: 10.1176/appi.pn.2014.8a7)
Growth in the Concurrent Use of Antipsychotics With Other Psychotropic Medications in Medicaid-Enrolled Children (Kreider, Amanda R. et al. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. June 2014. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2014.05.010)
What remains to be seen is how long will youth who are being labeled and then prescribed neuroleptic drugs will continue to be “less impaired.” It is no doubt Human Experimentation to use psychotropic drugs “off label;” WHY the hell is it a Standard Clinical Practice? Crimes against humanity should not be a standard of care!
Report comment
“Crimes against humanity should not be a standard of care.” You’re absolutely right, but they are today.
When a government gives a faction of the people (or one industry) the legal right to poison (via forced medication) anyone they want, for any reason they want (including because it’s personally profitable for physicians and hospitals). Those given the right to poison others legally will absolutely abuse their power, for completely unethical reasons. Period.
Case in point, I had a “bad fix” on a broken bone covered up with a bad drug cocktail, by the “attending physician” at the “bad fix” on a broken bone surgery and his wife, my PCP. According to medical records, because she was paranoid of a legitimate malpractice suit, I had no plans to sue, however. But her mandated drug cocktail resulted in a confessed “Foul up” with the drugs, by another doctor.
I eventually switched medical insurance groups, thanks to some ethical nurses and upon the recommendation of a subsequent doctor, to get away from an apparently medically known white wall of silence problem amongst that group of doctors.
But I ended up, likely due to withdrawal symptoms of the drugs I was mandated to take, being taken to my local hospital anyway, due to a sleep walking / talking problem, one night ever in my life. Five paramedics dragged me out of my own bed, while the sixth one told them that what they were doing was illegal, since I was “neither a danger herself, nor anyone else, since she agreed to just go back to sleep.”
I was taken to the “Foul up” confessing doctor’s hospital, given a hypnotic drug, then medically unnecessarily shipped to a hospital within my new insurance group, to a Dr. V R Kuchipudi.
http://chicagoist.com/2013/04/16/chicago_hospital_owner_doctors_arre.php
http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2013/pr0416_01a.pdf
V R Kuchipudi has now been arrested by the FBI for having lots of patients medically unnecessarily shipped long distances to him, “snowing” patients, and then performing unneeded tracheotomies on them, for profit.
According to Advocate Good Samaritan hospital’s medical records, Kuchipudi admitted me with a fictitious “chronic airway obstruction,” exactly what an unneeded tracheotomy would cure. Then it magically turned into “bipolar,” when that “airway obstruction” didn’t turn into “brain death.” (Checking that I was actually an organ donor was the only concern noted in Advocate Good Samaritan hospital’s medical records, regarding that supposed “airway obstruction” issue. Take your name off the organ donor list, if you were a kind enough human being to put yourself on it.)
I was “snowed” by Kuchipudi, and his Advocate psychiatrist partner in crime, Humaira Saiyed, but thankfully, their egregious and willy nilly miss-medication didn’t result in an unneeded tracheotomy. My insurance company thankfully refused to pay for what Saiyed, alone, claimed was a need for hospitalization at a state mental hospital for life. I did the mandated outpatient treatment with a different psychiatrist, who once again, weaned me off all drugs.
But, according to an insurance company I tried to get subsequent health insurance through, Saiyed had been illegally listing me as her “outpatient,” at a hospital that agrees I’ve never been their patient, since 2006. And when I called and asked her to stop inappropriately listing me as her “outpatient” at a hospital I’d never been to, she once again listed me as her “outpatient” at Advocate Good Samaritan hospital. I know this because two months after I’d moved out of Illinois, Advocate employees called and asked me why I didn’t show up for an appointment I’d never made. It did prove to be an embarrassment for them when I explained I’d moved out of state, never made an appointment with her, and that Saiyed had “delusions of grandeur” I’d ever choose her to be my doctor.
“Crimes against humanity should not be a standard of care.” Kuchipudi and friends have been committing “crimes against humanity,” even the FBI agrees. And apparently the medical community has set up a system to make it easy for doctors to protect their own, and commit “crimes against humanity” (the HIPPA laws benefit doctors, and harm patients who refuse signing HIPPA forms, once they’ve dealt with such egregious medical crimes, and I have subsequent medical evidence of this).
And, unfortunately, I have a letter from Advocate Good Samaritan hospital’s lawyer, and have been informed they still believe, that all Kuchipudi’s crimes against patients are “appropriate medical care” – no doubt, due to their greed. “Crimes against humanity,” even according to the FBI, are considered “appropriate medical care” by the mainstream medical community today.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. “Forced treatment” laws should be repealed. The medical community does not have the ethics to handle their right to force medicate any patient, for profit, for any reason that financially benefits them.
Report comment
Sounds like a version of the “cash for kids” scandal.
http://kidsforcashthemovie.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal
Report comment
RE: “We knew that antipsychotic use was increasing among youth, but were surprised to learn just how often children with ADHD or depression receive an antipsychotic as part of their treatment”
It’s that Vyvance an inferior form of Dexedrine they call “effective” for 12-14 hours by adding an extra long drawn out anxiety ridden crash followed by insomnia to the original Dexedrine experience .
More anti psychotics are being used on kids as a direct result of the Vyvance get a new patent on an old drug scam.
Now Shire agrees to test Vyvanse in preschoolers
http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/patent-extension-grabs-shire-agrees-test-vyvanse-preschoolers/2014-06-12
Report comment
ADHD diagnosis – > amphetamines (aka stimulants) -> psychosis/mania -> bipolar/schizophrenia diagnosis -> anti-psychotics -> …and it goes down from there
Not mentioning that being labelled and medicated also leads to “depression”, aggressive behaviour etc. which goes into a positive feedback loop with SSRIs etc.
I’m happy I’m not a kid now.
Report comment
I know ,
1. Read the side effects of “Vyvance”.
2. Read the symptoms of bipolar.
The symptoms are the same.
Report comment
That is not only criminal but plain scary…
Report comment
Its very scary – the best way to become long term psychiatric is by taking strong psychiatric drugs.
Report comment