Drugs for Bad Behavior Cause Alarming Weight Gain in Kids

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From National Post: Antipsychotic drugs are increasingly being prescribed to children as young as two for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, aggression and behavior problems. A new study shows that these drugs can cause dramatic weight gain, putting kids at risk for future diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.

“Dr. Allen Frances, professor emeritus at Duke University, said weight gains of ‘this enormous magnitude’ can set children up for future diabetes and cardiovascular disease. ‘This is a terrifying study.’

Frances said antipsychotics are being ‘wildly and recklessly overused, very often by primary care doctors with little expertise, or time, under the influence of drug company aggressive marketing.’

He said the drugs are often prescribed to poor children and children in foster care. ‘It’s a form of social control. It’s medicalizing problems that are social problems.’

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  1. “Frances said antipsychotics are being ‘wildly and recklessly overused, very often by primary care doctors with little expertise, or time, under the influence of drug company aggressive marketing.’”

    Blaming the PCPs, as opposed to the psychiatrists, Frances?

    “He said the drugs are often prescribed to poor children and children in foster care. ‘It’s a form of social control. It’s medicalizing problems that are social problems.’” Medicalizing problems that are social problems is what France’s DSM is all about.

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